Hi Everyone,
I wrote my PMP exam on March 15th, 2019 and passed on the first attempt. I managed to get two Above Targets and three Targets.
To be honest I went into the exam unsure if I would pass the exam. In the practice exams, I was scoring in the range of 70% to 92%. I was taking practice exams from 2 books, one of their websites and those available from PM PrepCast. I did this in just about 10 weeks, I DO NOT RECOMMEND this, wish I could have taken 4-6 more weeks.
So my study plan was not my own, I used Rahul Kakkar's study plan. I will highlight it below:
1. PM PrepCast
2. PMBOK 6th Edition
3. The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, by Andy Crowe
4. Head First PMP
Rahul indicated a week per chapter, this ideal as long as you set aside time everyday to dedicate to studying. I crammed in more at times. Use your weekends to get a majority of the studying completed.
Rahul's next step was to first go through the lessons in The PM PrepCast, followed by the corresponding chapter in Head First PMP, Andy's book, and the PMBOK. In that order.
Make sure to do all the exercises in The PM PrepCast and all books.
Rahul suggested to set aside a month for doing practice tests, I agree and wished I did the same to go in with more confidence.
Feedback about the books:
Head First PMP is a book that is NOT boring, it presents the content in a "fun" way. It made getting through the content more palatable. The exercises are key to this book as it helps to reinforce the topic covered.
Andy's book is more up my alley in terms of it being straight to the point. I was able to get through the content faster and get the facts. I wish this book had exercises.
Both books had lots of practice questions at the end of each chapter, Head First PMP at the end had an additional section of questions by Knowledge Areas and then a 200 questions exam. Andy's book just had a set of 200 questions at the end.
The explanations for the questions were better in Head First PMP, Andy's book was more straight to the point and does not always get too deep into the why and why not of the answer.
All in all, I am relieved and surprised at the actual exam. I got one PERT question where they gave all the values and just had to plug them into the formula. I got one Earned Value calculation and that was more algebraic than it was Earned Value, lastly, there was only one CPM question. The rest were heavy in Quality, Procurement, Risk and Stakeholder areas. I was concerned about the lack of Earned Value and CPM questions as I progressed through the exam.
Until next time....
Anill Maharaj.
