I passed my PMP exam on 6th Jan. 2018, after three months of study after office and weekends. Here are my ramblings which may help others.
If you don’t know, first search and discover what type of learner you are (visual, auditory or kinesthetic). It will help you a lot 1) to speed up preparation process, and 2) you can avoid to buy unnecessary training materials. I found that I have to write and make notes to memorize and/or have to type in excel/word file. Listing while driving or just readying don’t work in my case.
Overall in broad terms - around 40% memorizing, 60% understanding of logical relationships, process, common sense, business sense, projectile environment experience etc. Without memorizing some basic stuff, you can’t understand processes and other logical stuff or in exam you will confuse due to confusing answer choices. Also more memorization help to quickly connecting missing dots especially ITTO questions.
Do a full 4 hrs test at beginning to test your speed (time per Q). Not everyone may have this issue but some may have (depends on your set of Qs and your personal reading speed and your memory etc). If your time per Q not reasonable (in simulation tests), you may have to plan “a plan” for test day (e.g. don’t take break, drink less, time spent on brain dump, marked question review etc). Due to this approach I managed to successfully attempt all 200 Qs and did not take break.
Creating your own Mind maps really helps. I also created of hand notes around 8 pages and excel based notes sheet of all key points of incorrect answers helped a lot.
Don’t download others excel notes or mind maps, create your own and review occasionally and a day before exam.
I did not feel need to write memory dump before exam. Either you know or you don’t know. If you can memorize formula upto just before exam you will remember during exam too. However I wrote formulas and KA-process chart (pmbok) almost 2-3 times per week and after 1st month, it started to shine in my mind .
Remembering ITTO was really difficult. With combination of memory + logical approach I was able to answer questions as I could not memories all. However I created two excel sheets of all ITTO in different layouts to get comfortable with it. Some people make/buy flash cards. You to figure out what will work for you. More detailed on this can be seen on AutomationMedia.com
Maintain mind power, energy level and high morale. You need to figure out what work for you.
Try to maintain positive mental state during study and quick learning. Don’t study when tired/upset.
Don’t do simulator exams when tired otherwise you will start to demoralize.
Don’t do intensive study or questions just before exam. Give you mind rest at least 24 hrs before exam. Simply review notes or other light things a night before.
Have good night sleep so that you can attack on Qs with full potential and mental energy.
Resources used:
I think best combination is Rita book + any one detailed resouce (book/audio etc e.g. PMBOK/ or any other PMP training material).
I feel Rital book alone is not enough as it don't address everyting. However it is very important to understand real PMP stuff.
#1:
• Study twice - GlobalKnowledge training manuals, typical 5 day training offered by employer.
• Did end of chapter questions once, 25 Qs in each KA.
• In-depth review of incorrect answers. It took more time to review question than actual module reading.
#2:
• Quick Study once – Rita book
• Did end of chapter questions once.
• In-depth review of incorrect answers.
#3
PMBOK – misc topics and key definitions only.
quick search to see word appearing in which areas.
#4
Did couple of online free tests but did not have good feeling as some were very easy (not helpful to find gaps) and some were too difficult (demoralizing).
#5
Got PrepCast Simulator subscription (got on Dec. 22nd-used up to Jan. 4th only - passed pmp exam on Jan 6th).
• Started doing time based 20-40 Qs daily after office and then dive deep in wrong incorrect answers.
• Then used feature “pick questions from incorrectly answered Qs” to keep morale high and feeling good.
• The exam Qs wording was slightly different than Prepcast Qs and more were like Rita or GK books Qs, but most questions seem to be shorter than Prepcast.
• Practice of long wording in PrepCast Qs helped a lot to practice time management, tricky Qs with unrelated wording etc.
• PrepCase Qs helped me to find gaps in last 2 weeks which worked very well in my case.
My exam time limit was expiring in March, 2018 and also exam changing date, so I decided to go for 1st try with whatever preparation I have. I attempted 448 Qs out of total 1800 in PrepCase simulator (2 full tests and many small time based quizzes). I kept remaining questions for 2nd attempt, if required.
At the end, I had around 4 minutes left, so I did not review my marked questions. After 196th Q, my heart beat started to rise and after 200th Q, immediately wanted to see result and decided to end torture (due to no break), so I pushed the end button, rejected survey option and crossed my fingers and start waiting hr glass of preparing results…...
and CONGRATULATIONS!! screen popped up and I was DONE
and big sign of relief
and got my personal life back which was on hold from last 3 months.
More detailed experience/prep. techniques I used, will be soon on AutomationMedia.com
