TOPIC: Passed PMP Exam today on 21st May’2017

Well!! Guys 21st May’17 shall be one of the inedible moments in my life as my daughter turned 11 months today & my wife shall have her birthday after 2 days, so I have a pleasant surprise to give them to officially become part of PMP certified club. 
I was waiting to write my story after having witnessed some many inspiring stories from the successful test takers so I thought I should take the pain of writing it today itself.
So, here you go!!!!

Preparation Time: 12 weeks
Study Material: PMPrep Cast, Rita Mulcahy 8th edition & PMBOK Guide
Word of caution: Having too much study material can also confuse you in understanding the things,so make sure you choose your study material accordingly.

I submitted my application in Feb'17 end & within a week i got reply from PMI to proceed with the application.

I booked my exam date exactly 45 days before to ensure that i get a date on Sunday.Please be sure to check the prometric center dates availability & ensure to book the dates in advance.Also, as Cornelius mentions in his prepcast videos, having a target date makes you more disciplined to follow a study plan.


1st month I went through the Prepcast videos & got to get the how the entire process groups are integrated & how the process works including the ITTOs.
2nd Month I thoroughly studied the PMBOK guide to firm up the basics.
3rd Month I went through the Rita Mulcahy book & I must say that this book contributed a lot to strengthen my basic understanding of the entire knowledge areas & a major contributor for my success in the exam.
Last 2 weeks before the exam I skimmed Rita Mulcahy for the 2nd time & concurrent readings of the PMBOK guide.
Visiting the Prometric Center a week before: This really helped me to get the directions as it was almost 25 miles from my home & helped me have a relaxed car travel on the day of the exam.
A night before the exam i just skimmed the PMBOK Guide Glossary & ensured to get a sleep of at least 7 hours.Make sure to have a good sleep & have a mild breakfast in the morning before the exam as you would need that strength during the exam.
I had carried biscuits with me & the center asked me to keep that in the locker.After i finished my exam since i was completely exhausted, the biscuits came handy to drive me back home.
On the day of the Exam: I reached almost 2 hours before the scheduled time & the invigilator allowed me due to available slots. In fact I got a call from the center a day before asking me to come at least an hour before as my slot was in the afternoon.
As is a known fact now that you can’t prepare the brain dump sheets during the 15 minute tutorial, but in fact I never had time to prepare even during my mock exams & since the formula based questions account to about 5% of the total question base, I had no issues in writing the formulas as & when the questions came in, but again it varies based on the individual.
When the exam stared, I was a bit nervous, but after 4-5 the nervousness went away. So, don’t panic & try to keep your calm.
Finally after giving the feedback questionnaire when I clicked on submit button, the Congratulations!! Word popped up on my screen. Hurrah!! 
Taking a break during Exam: Even while taking the Simulator exams I realized that I was left with 5-10 minutes while completing the exam & same happened in the actual exam as well leaving no roam for me to take a break. So, be sure to use the washrooms before entering the exam room so that you can withstand for the next 4 hours. Of course!! It varies on individual basis. 


Lessons Learned: There is no perfect single revision material. A combination of materials is better including the PMBOK Guide.
Make sure to use the Exam Simulators(One of the best products developed by Prepcast team) & review the incorrect answers with explanation given at the bottom diligently. The Exam Simulator not only accesses your strengths, but also gauges your weak areas.

I gave 5 Simulator exams(once every week and the last one almost 6 days before the actual exam date) & got scores of 72,75,76,83 & 80 respectively. I feel that if your average score after 4-5 mocks is in between 75-80% then you should be fine.
Special Thanks: Special mention of Mark Wuenscher (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for reviewing my PMP application & providing prompt, diligent response and Cornelius Fichtner for the PrepCast sessions.

Hope this helps information helps & all my best wishes for your preparation. Good Luck!!!!!

Rishi,

Congratulations and thank you for writing such an in-depth lessons learned.

Question: If you compare The PM Exam Simulator to the actual exam overall, how close would you say are our questions to what you saw?

Hi Cornelius,

Actually, i wanted to write on that,but was not sure on the ground rules that i need to follow based on PMI Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct, so had given not mentioned those details.

So,here you go, hopefully this content can be published i.e.

The only difference i saw in between the PMP Exam Simulator & the Actual Exam was that the questions in the Exam Simulator are lengthy(7-8 lines sometimes) whereas, the average number of lines i saw in actual exam was not more that 4 lines with few exceptions.
The verbiage & the manner in which the situational questions are presented which accords the majority of the question bank is quite similar & the final score or proficiency levels that i got in actual exam was also almost similar to the Exam Simulator.

I'm so glad that i bought this product.

Hope this information helps.

Hi Rishi,

Thank you for this feedback. In fact, that is what I had expected. Our team has been "shortening" our questions over the past several months on an ongoing basis and will continue to do so. In the past, the questions were quite lengthy - but not any longer. So we are working on that.

And just so you know, it is perfectly OK to share what you have shared. Here is what PMI says about this:

When you submit an application, you agree to abide by the PMI Certification Application/Renewal Agreement. Among other things, this document addresses post-examination questions and discussions. It states: “…Furthermore, I agree not to discuss, debrief or disclose, in any manner, the specific content of PMI examination questions and answers, to any individual.”

Your feedback is quite general and not specific in the least. So no problem there at all.

Congratulations dear !!
This is an awesome and in depth guide for people like us who are preparing for PMP.

Corenelius,

The prepcast exam questions are very similar!!! I just passed yesterday 5/24/17 on my first try. Your prepcast exams helped me prepare for the 4 hour exam the most. I took over 19 hours worth of exams on your site (4 full length exams but I didn't need all the time) in 2 weeks and scored 80-83% on them. I believe taking full practice exams is crucial to prepare for how long of an exam it was.

I also used the Andy Crowe book and the 1 week free Velociteach trial. That trial only had 100 questions in the prep exam, scored 81% there and 80% in his book (full exam). Those questions are decent too, but I believe using different sources helps prepare for how the variety in how questions can be presented. I scored 69% on Expert Accelerated Crosswinds and 77% on the Advanced Accelerated. Beware that these are difficult but many are low quality questions. Rita's book questions seemed much trickier than the ones on the exam, which I think is fine for reinforcement, but did not help me build confidence. Her tips on how to deal with anxiety and questions are good however, and the book itself is helpful for people with no/little PM background.

Regarding the exam, the changes they said they made were obvious. Most questions were situational. Only 2 network diagrams and a few EVM calculation questions. They focus a lot on how to handle stakeholders and change within all the knowledge areas. They also focus a lot on lessons learned.

My results - Moderately Proficient on Initiating and Closing, Proficient on Planning/Executing/M&C.

Please check my Blog post on Blogger.

I passed the PMP exam yesterday (January, 22, 2018):

hmjundi.blogspot.com/2018/01/my-journey-towards-pmp-certification.html

Nice Job Rishi... Great choices for preparation... Happy birthday to your daughter and wife!

Glad to share that I passed my PMP exam few hours ago...Going to take a deep sleep now...Thank you for your simulator package...It really helped a lot. Although I got very nervous during the exam...But end result was sweet....Keep on doing the great work....