Congrats!

Hello,
I passed the PMP exam today (1/29/2018) on my first attempt and thought I’d share my preparation and results.

This forum and PM PrepCast contributed greatly to my success – so thank you to all of you!

PMP Exam Results:
• Above Target in all 5 domains
• Above Target overall

My Study Plan:
1. Read a chapter in the PMBOK and watch the Velociteach online videos (I needed to get my 35 contact hours and had not yet discovered PM PrepCast). I highlighted the PMBOK extensively (too much) but did not take notes until I watched the video. I took the quizzes offered at the end of the videos.

2. Once I had my 35 hours I applied for my PMP, waited about 5 days, and got my acceptance.

3. I knew I wasn’t ready for the exam but I needed something to baseline my learning, so I took 2 200-question exams to baseline my knowledge:
Velociteach: 80%
RMC (Rita): 69%

4. My next step was to combine Rita’s book with PM PrepCast learning quizzes to really drill in concepts and make sure I knew the topics. I would read a chapter in Rita’s book, doing only the exercises I felt I needed to do, and take the end of chapter exams she provided. I would then take 2 to 4 20 question PM PrepCast “learning exams” for each chapter/knowledge area. I had to be careful not to take too many “learning exams” so that I wouldn’t get a lot of duplicate questions when I was ready to take the full exams later. Here are my scores from all of these exams:
>>if this doesn't display correctly in the post, the first # is the score of Rita, the rest are PM PrepCast

KA Rita Score PM PrepCast Learning Quizes
Integration 77% 80%, 85%, 90%
Scope 90% 80%, 70%, 85%, 95%
Time 82% 80%, 85%, 80%, 80%
Cost 79% 90%, 70%
Quality 90% 90%, 90%
HR 77% 75%, 90%
Comm 91% 85%, 75%
Risk 90% 80%, 80%
Procurement 68% 85%, 80%
Stakeholder 75% 80%, 70%


I reviewed all my wrong answers after each exam and took notes (these became part of my “Master Notes” notebook). During the exams I also noted down any questions I felt I was guessing on or that I felt wasn’t as “solid” in my mind as it needed to be. I reviewed those after each test and made notes on those in my “Master Notes” notebook.

5. During this time I also created and practiced my dump sheet, which consisted of the formulas and the processes. I created my dump sheet before every exam so that I could practice it and have it down to about 10 minutes. I know some people say not to bother with a dump sheet but I can tell you that sometimes the difference between a right and wrong answer was simply putting my finger on the process on my dump sheet to orient myself where I was in the overall process.

6. I then took six 200-question exams, taking a day or two off in between where I just reviewed the wrong answers and any unsure ones and putting those in my “Master Notes” notebook. Here are my results of those full exams:

Test Score
PM PrepCast Exam 1 85.5%
PM PrepCast Exam 2 84%
PM PrepCast Exam 3 86%
PM PrepCast Exam 5 89%
RMC (Rita) Exam 82%
PM PrepCast Exam 7 85.5%


7. After every full exam (except the RMC one), I would look at “My Statistics” on PM PrepCast and focus my attention on the last tab called “Exam Feedback”. That tab tells you how many questions in the simulator you are answering correctly the first time. I was answering 83% correctly the first time, which gave me solid hope that I was ready to take the real exam.

The exam itself was very similar to PM PrepCast exams, although I think the questions were a bit more ambiguous. All were situational. I had several EV questions and at least two network diagram/float calculation ones.

Now, it’s time to celebrate!

Jean