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“Is the new PMP^® exam harder?”, this is the often asked question ever since PMI moved to the new PMP^® exam on 2 Jan 2021.

Pete Vasquez prepared for the 2020-PMP exam and had to take the new PMP^® exam due to lack of time. And in this article he answers, having been on both sides of the new exam rollover line, whether the new exam is hard. Or harder (hint: he scored overall Above Target! ) Don’t miss his top tips at the end of this article.

Pete is a native of Los Angeles, CA, and has an AB in Diplomacy and World Affairs and an MBA in Corporate Finance. He has over 20 years of Business Analyst experience in a variety of industries including banking, utilities, and education, and over 4 years of IT PM experience primarily in utilities.

When not working, Pete is actively looking for the next flight to somewhere new with a camera to take a million photos of the land, people, and night sky.

What made you take up PMP^® certification?

I have been a business analyst for quite a long time and started the process to take the IIBA certification, but I noticed that there was not very much importance given for it by employers.

Thus I thought that moving on to Project Management might be beneficial when I took a job managing resource allocation and got familiar with Earned Value as a measure of project health.

After that assignment, I started looking for and found an opportunity to work as an Associate Project Manager and got first-hand experience requirements for the PMP exam.

This experience convinced me that getting into the world of Project Management filled with opportunities for growth and fulfilling work would be the right path forward.

PMP certification is the best possible step to take for the 36- degree focus it has on all aspects of Project management, including the Agile approach now.

How does it feel now that you are certified?

Now I see the PMP certification as a reinforcement of my MBA. I am more interested in the organizational aspect of executing value proposition as opposed to sitting in an executive suite and managing direct reports.

I want to continue a career of developing work environments that facilitate the growth of all associated stakeholders.

So, I trust the PMP certification will help open doors for me to new and interesting challenges.

Also read: Peter Hua shares 3 things that helped him pass his PMP exam

Can you talk about the study resources you used..

I looked at a variety of resources: online, local training organizations, community college courses, university programs.

And I considered paying quite a lot for a comprehensive program. With so many years after my last academic or testing activity, it was difficult to get my head back into the focus required to formally study for, and take an exam.

Contemplating my experience I took the first step by joining PMP.org and downloading the PMBOK. I needed to understand the framework and identify my knowledge gaps. [continue reading…]

Being a busy working mom makes preparing for PMP^® online exam is one of the toughest tasks. Shweta was up to it, she in fact aced the exam with Above Target score. Many have asked her how she did it, and in this week’s ‘PMP Lessons Learned’ article she shares all the insights she gained at every step of the preparation.

Shweta Sawant is a post graduate in Business Administration and E-business Management and a graduate in Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering. She has over 14 yrs of rich IT and project management experience. She loves connecting with people, is a polyglot and knows an 6 languages including German and French. Shweta is a foodie and a chef herself.

This is fairly deep-dive interview, get a paper and pen to make some notes, especially if you are taking the PMP^® exam online.

What made you take up PMP^®?

Since my developer days I have known that PMP^® is a prestigious certification and it brings with it honor, recognition and opportunities. I took the plunge as soon as I was eligible for it.

I am considering CSM next, to be recognized by the Agile community as well.

Shortly after PMP certification I have already increased my network by 30%. I am sure it is just the beginning of great opportunities ahead.

Which study resources did you consider for the exam preparation?

I took Joseph Phillips’s Udemy course, then went on to Rita Mulcahy – PMP Exam Prep. I attempted all the end of chapter questions.

Half way through Rita’s, I was also answering Andrew Ramdayal’s PMP Exam prep questions on audible, when I couldn’t be in front of the laptop. It made me realize the importance of PMBOK. I went through it completely a month before the exam.

In last 10 days, I took 3 PrepCast exams and the PMI’s 200 mock questions.

Mock exams take a lot of energy and time, I didn’t want to overdo it as I didn’t want it to work the law of diminishing returns.

How did you approach the exam and what was your study plan?

I took prints of the ITTO’s and data flow diagrams of all processes from PMBOK.

I would go through them questioning myself about what I want to achieve from the process, which inputs do I need, from where do they come, and what techniques I can use to achieve the process goals, also where the outputs would be used.

This I did for a month.

It did take time, as I had other commitments.

When I was confident I purchased PrepCast simulator, took full length 4hr exams, in the atmosphere that I would take the main online exam, assessed and reviewed areas of improvement.

Also read: How Swapna built a successful PMP campaign

Can you please tell our readers about some of the issues you faced during your PMP^® journey, and how did you overcome them?

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This week Swapna Basana shares how she built a successful PMP^® campaign. Swapna lives in the beautiful city of Austin in Texas. With a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering, she have 15 years of experience working in various startups as well as fortune 50 companies. Swapna loves running outdoors and exploring different parks with her kids.

Tell us the reason you took up PMP^®

Ever since I started working in the Project management field I wanted to get formal project management education. On researching the certification possibilities the PMI PMP^® stood out for me as the gold standard sorts.

I had planned to take this exam couple of years ago, but had to postpone because of new job.

Now that I am certified I hope PMP will help me achieve the dream of being the best project manager that I can be. I got the confidence to believe in myself and handle anything once I saw that Congratulations message.

Which study resources did use in your preparation?

Couple of years ago I used Simplilearn course for a little bit, but then I felt I needed something more when I took up preparation seriously.

Upon researching a lot I selected Shiv Shenoy’s PM Exam Last Mile Prep Program as I felt having a mentor is what I need apart from the course materials. Shiv was a very good mentor who helped me through tough phases of the preparation.

For practicing the tests I used Cornelius’ PrepCast simulator.

Also read: Discover Vijay’s secret to a successful PMP run!

How did you build a successful PMP^® campaign?

When I setup my test date I felt like I had a lot of time and did not focus on much my preparation. As the exam date was getting closer though about 3 months before the exam date I started getting very serious.

With all the 3 kids mostly at home because of schools partly closed, I needed some amount of planning to be done in order to carve out time for me to study.

Thankfully I was able to get into a rhythm after some trial and errors. I used Shiv Shenoy’s 12-week plan as my exam study plan which helped me immensely.

At a high level, this is how it worked out as a successful PMP^® Campaign –

1. I researched and chose the best possible study resource that I am enjoy learning from
2. Got a mentor that can help me get past blockers, act as a sounding board, and help me accelerate the study
3. Worked a study plan with the mentor and refined it as ‘life happened’
4. Practiced my 4hr ‘craft’ with an awesome exam simulator
5. Hit the milestones – the final one being the exam!

This was my PMP study approach – [continue reading…]

This week one of my PMP program students, Vijay Chatlani shares his PMP^® exam preparation steps and study insights. Vijay is a Civil Engineer by profession with 7+ years of rich experience and currently working in Oman. In this article, Vijay answers the most pressing question: How to study for PMP^® exam.

Vijay has been through the grind and has come up triumphant bringing along with it few tips that, hopefully you can use in your exam preparation.

What made you take up PMP^®?

I only had PMP^® in mind since one of my seniors had told me about it a few years back. My primary goal is to understand all aspects of Project Management and learn the approaches, tools and techniques to manage projects the right way.

Now that I am PMP^® certified, I’m looking to progress in my career to take up challenging projects. I am positive to come across better opportunities during this pandemic situation. I would also like to be a mentor like you.

Also read: Sandra Jones shares how she failed PMP^®, took it again in 3 days and passed it!

Which study resources did you use for your preparation?

Well, it was a tough task to research and choose the right study resources for my preparation. Below are the ones I used along with the reason for choosing them out of many alternatives.

• PMBOK Guide – I read that many questions on the exam can be traced to this book, so I chose this although this could be a hard to read.
• PM Exam Last Mile Prep Program – I chose this for the ease of learning, and end-to-end support. I simply loved the mind mapping approach to video trainings.
• Rita Mulcahy – I needed a book to get another perspective, and end-of-chapter questions to test my knowledge.
• PrepCast Simulator – This is a simulator that is mentioned about on forums to have questions similar to the exam.
• Aileen’s Question and Answer videos in YouTube.
• I had a bunch of PMP^® aspirants like me, with whom I used to discuss the concepts.

You may want to join LinkedIn or Facebook groups for free now.

And how did you study for PMP^®?

I followed the study plan from PM Exam Last Mile prep program – it really helped me streamline the timeline based study sequence that I would follow for my preparation. [continue reading…]

“Gimme some tips to pass PMP^® exam”, is the most often asked question of me. With over 250 successful PMPs sharing their experience on this blog, the common thread behind the PMP^® exam is clearly – the steely determination to get it done. No matter what.

In this week’s ‘PMP^® Lessons Learned’ article Sandra Jones shares her PMP^® journey. Sandra is from Grenada in the Caribbean. She has served within the Ministry of Finance as a Project Officer before moving to St. Lucia for a work assignment at the OECS Commission. Presently she works for the local Telecommunication Regulatory Commission managing Internet and Broadband related projects.

Sandra is a student of my PMP^® program and in this interview she shares the exact steps she took to prepare well, along with top tips to pass PMP exam.

Why PMP^®?

I started off as a Project Officer in 2006, I pursued and attained a Master’s Degree in Project Management 2 years later. As I held more demanding positions throughout the years, I knew I had to get certified as market demand kept changing.

After an exam failure, cold feet and life getting in the way, a few years later I took up my studies again with the goal of passing the PMP^® before the exam changed for good.

Now that I am PMP^® certified, I expect that this will help me stand out as a professional in the industry having other qualifications and experience. I believe with the qualification I will be able to take up more opportunities and gain improvement throughout my career.

Which study resources did you use for the exam preparation?

I used the PMBOK Guide, Rita’s Book, attended face to face classes, but eventually along with the books I went totally online using Dan Ryan’s live classes and Shiv Shenoy’s PM Exam Last Mile Prep Program.

I also utilized a PMP EXAM: Quick Reference Guide for ‘on the go’ study.

How did you approach the exam and what was your study plan?

In hindsight, on my first attempt I started off directionless. 🙂

My studies were sporadic and clearly I didn’t understand the number of hours of work needed to pursue this certification.

In my final attempt I signed up with at least 2 PMP^® groups where invaluable insights have been shared.

Just prior to the exam and right after application and payment I tried to do at least one knowledge area per week, using Rita’s book & Shiv Shenoy’s Last Mile Prep – paying close attention to the chapters, Knowledge Capsules, videos and end of section questions/quizzes.

I also used PMBOK Guide mainly as a reference for glossary of terms etc.

In the last few weeks before exam I also started using the exam simulator and practice exams within the Last Mile prep course.

You may be interested in: Insightful tips to pass PMP^® exam shared by a former Air Force Sergeant

You have been part of PM Exam ‘Last Mile‘ prep program (thank you!). Could you please share how it helped you?

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