.

I achieved my PMP objectives and passed the exam on my first attempt!

My score: 3 Above Target + 2 Target.

My background in project management

I have been doing project management for a long time. Since I concluded my Engineering graduation and initiated professional life in 1994.

I always worked for multinational companies from the Electronics to most recent in the Automotive business area.

All the Companies were Balanced Matrix organizations, where I could find good Enterprise environmental factors and very good Organizational processes assets.

This was an important factor for the continuous improvement of my behavior, skills and performance.

What made me choose PMP

I was introduced to the PMP certification program while I was attending a Project management training in Belgium way back in 2003.

Immediately, I was impressed by its relevance for a Project management professional.

I only brought the hard copy of PMBOK a couple of years ago, but after reading some pages I gave up…

Please note: nowadays I see this book amazing and very interesting! The issue is that it is difficult to start with it.

During my recent appraisal process, I targeted this certification as a personal motivator. I needed to learn more about project management. To put my knowledge and experience in confrontation with PMBOK.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I felt I was at the self-actualization level.

I agreed with my boss and HR manager to achieve this goal. They both supported me in this decision.

Of course, the Project management team also supported me a lot. It is very important that you have a group of people helping you with their availability, resources, motivation, etc.

I will never forget my family, specially my wife always pushing and never let me think about giving up.

Many thanks to all of them. Without their support I could never have archived such tremendous feat.

Once I really decided to obtain the PMP, I became PMI member.

This is important and beneficial. For example, you will have a free digital copy of PMBOK.

Beginning of August I started to study, followed by four months of hard study, while balancing time with work and family. Then I booked my exam at Prometric, but due to professional duties I rescheduled twice (at no cost).

In the end, I had the exam scheduled for two weeks in advance to my initial plan.

Also Read: See my recommended study resource list here.

[continue reading…]

The glory

I passed my exam with perfect PMP score of ‘Above Target‘ in all process groups on my very first attempt.

I was quite nervous during the 30-45 seconds while I waited with bated breath for the result to appear on the screen. Lot of thoughts were gushing in my mind and I felt like that I lived an entire life in those 30-45 seconds. Then the result popped up, and I felt that all my hard work had paid off.

My single most objective was to get my PMP before the new syllabus based exam started. I made many sacrifices to get the result I had dreamed of. Let me share my PMP journey experience with you.

Ankur Bansal PMP Results

The ground work

I thought of taking up PMP certification in March 2017 when I heard from lot of my office colleagues that it would enhance your Project management skills. The fact that it is one of the toughest exam to clear made my resolve to conquer it stronger.

I started looking for all the prerequisites, I found all the information related to PMP in my company intranet, and and by May I got my 35 contact hours’ certificate by enrolling into Lynda’s training course.

My study began with PMBOK guide and after a week I realized that it contained lot of theory and I would not be able to complete the studies in 2 months. I found myself in the same position as I was in month of May and figured I had to do something to increase the pace of my PMP study.

Next, I started looking for websites/blogs that can help me simplify PMP study effort. I came across PM-Exam-SmartNotes and readily subscribed to the 11-day free PMP Study Blueprint email course and PMP exam tips from other PMPs’ lessons learned articles.

From Shiv’s notes I felt that I can do PMP and its not much tough. My resolve to get PMP certificate before 3/26 kept me going even when I faced blockers. [continue reading…]

Shiv, happy to share that I passed my PMP exam with Above Target result in all 5 domains. Here is my study approach as you requested. I have project management background, particularly in Lean Six Sigma and Supply Chain management related projects in the Oil industry.

The PMP trigger

I am an Industrial Engineer with 15 years of experience in the Oil industry. I hold both a Bachelor and a Master degree in Industrial Engineer, graduating my Masters in Industrial Engineer in 2006 from the University of Houston in Texas. I work in Category Management in the Houston, Texas.

I wanted to earn PMP certification to enhance my career, open the door to new opportunities, and also formally document the experience in Project Management that I have gained so far.

This certification is also very well respected in the industry. An ideal professional certification to get for every project manager.

My study resources

I figured that having too many resources will only slow down the pace of my exam preparation. After some research and discussions with other PMPs, I decided on these 3 primary resources –

• PMBOK guide
• Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Success Series: Exam Study System, by Crosswind Learning.
• The PMP® Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, 5th Ed, by Velociteach.

I took PMI’s 35 hours course from the PMI Houston chapter, back in February of 2017.

Also Read: My detailed 4-point study plan to get Above-Target result in PMP exam – by Annu Gupta, PMP

This was a very good course that provided me also with the PMBOK 5th edition and Crosswind Learning System material. Due to work and family commitments, it was really difficult for me to take the exam shortly after taking the course. [continue reading…]

By the grace of God, I cleared my PMP on my first attempt and Whoa, it was one of its kind – not in terms of difficulty but in terms of staying focused for 4 hours straight.

In my opinion, the level of difficulty depends on how much time you put in, while grasping the concepts. What this exam does for sure is to test your ability on understanding the concepts and applying them for a given situation (that’s why using Simulators increases odds of PMP success).

I’m sure you realize that each PMP certified professional has a story to their achievement and here’s mine. I hope you’ll be able to take something out of this and apply in your own PMP preparation plan.

Objective: How did the thought of PMP come by?

In all honesty, I had no plans to do PMP but when I appeared for an interview at my current workplace.

I was told by my lead that they needed certified Project Managers and if I would be asked to do PMP after being hired, would I be comfortable doing it.

Ta da! That rang the bell and I decided to upgrade my knowledge.

After that, my direct reporting and mentor, being a PMP & PMI-ACP certified professional himself, proved at each instance how important this certification was, not just by his knowledge & wit but by his skills par excellence, to handle any and every problem easily. I learned a great deal from him and was truly inspired and determined to achieve this certification to enhance my knowledge and skills.

I’m going to share with you my strategies and tips to pass PMP exam using the same 5 Process Groups that we study for the exam. 🙂

Let’s get started!

Initiating: First Step towards achieving the PMP goal

I registered myself with a local institute (AUC Technologies) and attended sessions to earn my 35 PDUs and all other resources, which was the starting point.

Since most of us pursue PMP studies with a full-time job it is very difficult to strike a perfect balance between work and personal life, and I was no exception.

Being a mother of a 6-year old and a full-time working woman, it wasn’t easy to give time to studies and that too after being so far from university days.

I believe that the PMP preparation is all about momentum.

Once you lose that, it’s hard to get it back. Plus, by getting into a good study momentum you can cut down on overall study time and efforts to a large extent.

So, my first task was to tentatively decide on a deadline and then start preparing my study plan working backwards accordingly.

Thanks to PMESN blog, I came across many wonderful articles, with one emphasizing on limiting study resources to maximum two. And so I decided to stick to PMBOK 5 and RITA (one of the best study resources). [continue reading…]

‘What? a perfect score!’, I remember almost shouting in my head as I started at the monitor. Last few moments seemed like eternity, till my PMP exam result was flashed on the screen. I had got Above Target in all domains. Since that day I have helped few fellow students with my PMP exam tips, and in this article I share all that I have.

My PMP journey started in 2015 when I first enrolled myself for the classroom training. I did it from a reputed management institute in Mumbai which fetched me the mandatory 35 PDUs. But after completing the training, actual preparation for PMP somehow got procrastinated till 2017.

This was my first attempt at PMP and wanted to be sure that I get through without a hitch.

It took me around three months to complete the study with the resources and methodology mentioned below.

My study resources

Once decided to be serious about studies, I realized that I hardly could remember the content that was taught in the classroom training.

Here are the study resources I used –

• Online PMP prep course of iZenbridge Consultancy.
• PMBOK guide
• Rita Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep Book & Flash Cards.
• PMP Exam Prep Questions, Answers & Explanations by Christopher Scordo.

While I was searching for the study material, I came across Shiv’s PMExamSmartNotes and readily subscribed for his 11-day PMP Study Blueprint email course and regularly read his entire PMP study notes for free and PMP exam tips from other PMPs’ lessons learned articles.

These may seem like quite a lot of material, but believe me at the end it all helped me to pass the PMP exam in first attempt with ‘Above Target’ credentials in all five process groups.

My PMP study approach and plan

I followed a particular sequence for studying and utilizing the material mentioned above.

I decided to go for one chapter at a time across all my study resources.

To illustrate an example, say for Integration Management knowledge area, [continue reading…]