.

Why PMP?

That’s a longer story to share. I’ve been doing informal project management for over a decade now. I took online certificate courses but did not feel prepared to actually sit for the exam, so I procrastinated.

That was 2015.

Since then this has totally been hanging over my head, the one last hurdle. And there is some real competition out there! So I knew I needed to get the certification, so that I could move on to my next development goal.

A ride is bound to have few potholes

Self-doubt … fear of failure… fear of success… I overcame them pretty much just by pushing them aside and not focusing on them.

It’s wasted energy.

Once I did that and dedicated my time to getting it done, it wasn’t really all that difficult.

Oh and when I applied… I was audited!!

That was a nail-biting period. I sort of dragged my feet — thinking ‘why did they pick me? I’m doomed!’ .. all that negative thinking… do away with it (I know it’s hard).

It took me about a month to submit my audit materials, even though I had all of them ready within about a week – my college transcripts, my PDU verification, and the sign-off on hours from two managers who had left my organization – one, 6 months prior and the other a year prior.

That’s another item. Always have people in your corner, who have confidence in you when you don’t have it yourself.

First, I’ll share the study resources I used, then my approach in the form of 10 study tip. I’ve learned that leveraging others’ experience helps in exam preparation. Hence I hope you’ll make most out of my experience.

My PMP study sources

I researched for the best ones out there and chose the following –

• Rita Mulcahy,
• Cornelius Fichtner’s PM PrepCast
  
• Oliver Lehmann (site, 75Q, 175Q)
  
• Praizion

Alright, with that, let me share my PMP study tips. [continue reading…]

Passing PMP exam has been one of my dreams, not just a career goal. The sound framework it provides for project managers, it’s value in the industry, and above all – the confidence I can gain at my job by knowing that I am covering all the bases on the project – is something I always wanted to attain.

Thus began my PMP prep journey.

As anyone does, my first step was to google “PMP Study Plan”. 🙂

I must say, with tens of thousands of results, and hundreds of sites offering all kind of programs, I was beginning to feel a sense of overwhelm.

On investigating on ways to pass the PMP exam further, in a short space of time I came upon an article about an earlier PMP student that shared her 4-weeek plan, on Shiv’s PMESN.

As I dug more, I came across Dan and Shiv’s PMP fast-track program on how to pass the exam within weeks.

I watched the free webinar training. [continue reading…]

Why Should I Aim to Pass PMP^® Exam before March 26?

Years ago I prepared for my PMP^® exam on PMBOK^®-4 version. Then PMI announced PMBOK^®-5 exam, and I got into a dilemma.

Should I go with PMBOK^®-4 or PMBOK^®-5?

True to my profession of Project Management, I pulled out a paper and wrote down the pros and cons of each option.

You may be in the exact same situation right now as I was years ago.

Should you take the PMBOK^®-5 based exam now, or wait and take PMBOK^®-6 based exam?

Well, the pros/cons approach would sure help you, especially with reasons that are personal to you and unique to your circumstances at work.

Here are few facts that may help you make the choice.

OPTION 1: PMBOK^®-6 based exam

• New exam with more content. Over 350 pages of updated and newer content added to PMBOK^® including a whole new book ‘Agile Practice Guide’ created in partnership with Agile Alliance^®.
• If you have studied for PMBOK^®-5 to some extent already, make sure you don’t get tripped with updates to Knowledge areas, Processes and ITTOs. Here’s a post that shows differences between PMBOK^®-5 and PMBOK^®-6 content.
• New exam will have lower success rate initially, candidates go into the exam without knowing what to expect.
• There is no specific word from PMI about level of difficulty for the new exam. However, going by the approach of including 25 non-scoring ‘test’ questions on the exam, some amount of churning/refinement/adjustment to questions is expected at least for initial few months.
• If you take up PMBOK^®-6 based exam, you may find PMI-ACP exam easier to prepare. I know a long shot right now, but it’s a positive point.
• It will be few months after April till the dust settles down and we get to know what to expect, and thus how to prepare better for the new exam.
• Just don’t take any PMP^® prep material on the internet to prepare for your exam, unless they explicitly state having been updated for PMBOK^®-6. Else, you risk getting confused royally and tanking the exam. This has happened to too many people when exam turned from PMBOK^®-4 to PMBOK^®-5.
• Little higher cost of the exam (both direct and indirect costs, just like a project), for the reasons stated above.
• Few organizations may, just may, give preference to candidates with newer certification. (I wouldn’t though.)

OPTION 2: PMBOK^®-5 based exam

• Known devil is better than unknown angel. (I know you take only the intent of the proverb, not the words literally 🙂 ).
• Level of difficulty and prep efforts are pretty much known, based on the experience of thousands of successful candidates.
• Many proven study resources available to help pass the exam with ease (for instance here, here and here).
• Get the best of both worlds – pass on the easier PMBOK^®-5 version and study the newer PMBOK^®-6 content at your leisure.
• If you have an upcoming Appraisal meeting, or if you are looking for a job switch – arm yourself with PMP certificate now.
• People are known to take years to prepare and pass PMP^® exam (I took over 2yrs). You can use this March-26 deadline to your advantage and hit one of your professional goals now.

These might have helped you at least to get your train of thoughts going so you can make a choice now.

If you choose to go with option#1, that is wait for PMBOK^®-6 exam, the best thing to do right now is get yourself PMI membership, and grab your free copy of PMBOK^®-6 and Agile Practice Guide and start studying them.

By the way, getting PMI membership is a smart thing you can do – it reduces your overall cost of PMP exam and gives you access to tons of study material – which you can not just use to get your PMP certification, but also to earn your PDUs after you pass the exam!

And if you choose to go with option #2, which is to get your PMP^® credentials on PMBOK^®-5, well, it’s time to get to work.

Is it too late to attempt PMBOK^®-5 exam?

The average time I have seen my coaching students have taken for PMP exam is little over 4 weeks.

It can be bettered if you worked against a deadline with the obvious huge upside of getting your certification while you are swimming in the Known Unknowns. Sorry, couldn’t help throwing a PM phrase there.

The new exam would sure begin with Unknown Unknowns, for which you need to have Management Reserves, which increases your Project Budget! (there you go, I had to complete the analogy with some more PM phrases).

How can I move quick and easy?

Dan Ryan and I are conducting a series of webinars with free PMP^® training AND showing the exact plan to pass PMP^® before 3/26.

I invite you to register and watch the training today!

I promise you will learn couple of tricks on the training, which by end of the training, help you remember few PMP^® concepts for life!

That’s a tall promise. And it’s been possible because.. well, you’ll find out on the training webinar.

Click here, or on the image below, to register now.

And after you pass your PMP^® exam, don’t forget to write to me. I’ll have a surprise in store for you. 🙂

Have a great day, and go ace that exam,

I became PMP certified in January. Although PMP is a difficult exam and people tend to over complicate it, I kept things simple. KISS principle is a standard approach used in software field, and I decided to use it for my PMP study.

Couple of study resources, couple of mock test resources, and a lot of focused hard work.

I have worked in a Project Management Office in the Banking and Financial services IT domain for the last eight years. Although I’ve had inclination towards process improvements, business analysis and process design, it was Project Management that became my passion. It is an art as well as science, has lot of scope for experiments and is highly satisfactory.

I completed Prince 2 Practitioner certification sometime ago, and then becoming PMP certified became my next career goal.

Also Read: The story of 2-week PMP prep – by Suguna Rajoo

My PMP result sheet

The study resources I used

I started watching the videos on PMP Process Groups and Knowledge Areas from various sources in YouTube. Videos from Saket Bansal were helpful. They helped me understand the basics of project management for the exams.

I began my studies using Rita Mulcahy Eighth Edition. [continue reading…]

I am a Civil Engineer working primarily in MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), LRT (Light Rail Transit) and infrastructure bridges in Malaysia and Brunei. I have always been an PMP aspirant that fancied the credential from PMI.

Here’s my short, to-the-point PMP prep experience. Overall, the approach for me was to go with selected study books and mobile apps, and then take mock tests.

I depended heavily on my work experience. I decided to pursue the credentials after obtaining several years of experience in Construction industry, which actually made it easy to prepare for PMP exam.

Study books

The approach I found easier is to practice applying PMBOK processes and concepts to daily work. This gave me good insights into the workings of a PM withing PMI’s PM framework.

I studied Rita Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep together with the PMBOK as a reference. Rita’s Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep is a great book and easier to go through then the PMBOK itself. The techniques in the book is a must read for all PMP aspirants.

Mobile apps are a great way to use your free time productively. I also went through tons of mock exam questions from iOS apps like PMP Tutor and etc.

Also Read: My recommended PMP study resources.

[continue reading…]