PMP Passed, How did it go ?

Background

 

Just gave PMP and passed with proficiency in Initiating, Planning, Execution, Control process groups, and moderately proficient in Closing Process group.

Due to the dryness of the subject it immensely helped me to stick with a schedule, do the homework, do the finals as per the schedule and meet the “milestones” set .Once I did that I felt prepared for the exam preponed the exam by 1 week to enjoy the July4th holiday with the family.

My 2 cents for exam preparation, I would see Scope, Time and Cost as the core areas for preparation and the rest as supporting areas. It does not mean they are any less important, but these three areas nicely flow from each other and should be treated as one coherent unit. PMBOK, while having its weaknesses in explaining few things, is actually pretty good read and I read the PMBOK once apart from other exercises and material s.

These are the dates and scores of my preparation:

Exam Date	Exam Name	Score
6/14	E7-200	74.50%
6/16	PM Study Free(pmstudy.com)	70.60%
6/24	Headfirst	82%
6/27	PM Study Paid Exam1(pmstudy.com)	81.14%
Preponed the exam by 1 week
6/29	PM Study Paid Exam2(pmstudy.com)	82%

July 1st was my real exam.

There are couple of topics that needs special emphasis.

1) Earned Value Management

•     CV, CPI, SV,SPI, TCPI,EAC,ETC          

2)ITTO

•     The next most important piece, in terms of the number of questions, other than the earned value management is the ITTO’s.
•    Pmstudy.com emphasizes a bit more on the ITTO’s and the exact PMBOK terminology. I found the actual exam not that tough when it came to ITTO

Exam Day

  Coming to the exam day, I finished the exam with 30 minutes still left on the clock. My less prepared friends grappled for time toward hte end and did not have time to review the marked questions. The exam has lot of math, more than you would prepare for, so this less practiced area will take away the time . Unless you are really good at sure shot concepts , like ITTO's where there is no much leeway to twist the questions , you will be short of time. As the saying goes preparation is the key.

 

I would give myself atleast 6 weeks for the end to end preparation and guage the preparedness with the exam results like I did . when I start hitting 80% I know I am doing a disservice and the curve is actually going down side, so I just preponed the exam. If you think you are not ready yet , just postpone the exam. Thats okay and is not the end of the world.

 

I took a banana and a bottle of water, I was not allowed to open locker during the break , as its PMP exam. So put the stuff up. My energy wasnt drained ,where I need a banana break.So just took a 3 min break and resumed the exam.

 

Brain dump of formulas was okay , but my logic is if you remember that far, you will remember the next three hours, its easy to read from brain than from a paper that was all scribbled up, but what ever is convinient for you. PMP is actually a logical exam, if you rely on it.