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Often the question that intrigues people that are planning for their PMP exam is: What does it take to get PMP certificate?

In the past few years, I have had the honor of helping over 1864+ PMP aspirants from around the world, with personal 1-1 coaching. More often than not I am surprised to learn the reasons that are holding them back.

..and strategies to use when you have no clue about the answer (use with caution!)

I myself have been guilty of believing in some of these. These are simply myths and understanding them will make your PMP journey clearer and smoother.

BONUS: Downloadable Infographic showing 7 project management myths busted by hard facts – towards end of this post! (and another surprise!)

By the way, this probably is going to be an important post you would read about the PMP exam, and this is a long one. So cut any distractions, get yourself a cuppa coffee, sit back, relax and let’s get started (and don’t miss the bonus section in the end).

Some PMP aspirants have taken just 2 weeks to begin the study and pass the exam, and some have taken years before finally appearing for their PMP exam. It took me about 2.5 yrs after ‘deciding’ to take the exam. With some smart planning, it is definitely possible to pass PMP within a 4-week timeframe.

Building blocks of PMP exam

If one has to understand the basic building blocks of PMP success, there are just two you need to get your PMP certificate –

1. Find your ’emotional’ reason to get PMP

PMP journey can be hard and a long one for many. Based on my interaction with several hundred PMPs I see the main reason for the delay is the lost study momentum. With so much to do on our plate at work, it is natural to drop the lesser priority tasks. And that is exactly what PMP turns out to be – a lesser priority – when we don’t have a strong reason to get it done.

Tying the need for PMP to an emotional reason is one of the ways to make sure that it gets higher priority. Here’s how to figure out the emotional reason –

Take a pen and paper (you can do this exercise with your spreadsheet program as well). [continue reading…]

I completed my PMP successfully in my first attempt, and here is my PMP study plan. I hope this could be of help to people preparing for their PMP exam. And no, it didn’t cost me a fortune in coaching or resources.

My PMP Study plan

1. I booked the exam date a month after to give me enough time to prepare.

I would suggest you decide on your exam date not too far in future, but not impossibly near. Take into account any exigencies at work or in personal life, important events and so on.

2. In the first week, I prepared all my resources – including the free pdfs from Shiv Shenoy’s emails, and free books that were offered during that time, and then collected mock questions to try out later.

3. In the second week, I began to prepare by spending 2 hours every day.

I studied the PMBOK completely once. It took me a one whole week to do that. I understand that it is a bit dry to read, and can take more time or lesser for you than me. I used to take notes while studying to help me revise at the end of every chapter.

Also Read: How Jeremy Thomas passed his PMP exam in just 4 short weeks!

4. Third and fourth week were crucial to me and so I spent slightly more than 2 hours daily, and during weekends, around 5 hours with sufficient breaks in-between. [continue reading…]

With 55 days of PMP test prep, I passed the exam. In this article, I’d like to explain my 5-step process to succeed in PMP quest. If you are preparing for your PMP exam, your approach may differ from mine, but my hope is that some of this will be useful for you as well.

The intention of writing this article is to share the lessons learned from my PMP journey along with the tips and tricks that could help you get over any inhibitions.

Why PMP?

Each one has a reason to pursue a relevant certification. For me personally, the Project Management Professional PMP is one of the most valuable and sought after certifications among the project managers. Yet, this can also be the most dreaded endeavor to pursue. An endeavor that often gets postponed and eventually abandoned or compromised with some other ‘equivalent’ certification.

The reasons are many. But most commonly, lost focus due to unexpected workload and demands of professional, family and personal needs.

Also Read: 2 P and 3 MP in 2.5 hours. PMP Prep Experience of Mostafa Adel, PMP

My PMP test prep approach

I got my 35 contact hours of PM education early in 2014, but it was not until quarter-1 of 2017 that I felt the burning need to put together an effort that would earn the three sought after alphabets next to my name. In the meanwhile, I had had few false-starts and had almost come to a decision to pursue another certification instead of PMP.

Now that I have got my certification, here’s how I look at it from a systematic process perspective. [continue reading…]

I recently passed my PMP exam with the highest ‘Proficient’ rating in all 5 domains. Here is my PMP preparation experience, along with few tips that you may find useful for your PMP exam.

PMP study materials I used

1. Rita Mulcahy’s PMP preparation book – I read this twice, along with chapter-end questions
2. PMBOK 5 – read this just once
3. Full mock exams (4 Nos. – all free resources) as suggested in many other posts in this group
4. Analysis of ITTOs from PMBOK guide
5. Video of Ricardo Vargas on PM Processes
6. Small mock exams (max. 50 questions – Total approx. 300 questions) from Christopher Scordo

Also Read: How to study in the last week before exam and increase the odds of acing it

Understanding concepts by making notes

I wanted to start with a simple PMP book and so took up Rita Mulcachy’s book to completely understand concepts in detail. I figured that going with each process group will be easier for me. I started with Planning process group and as I went over the chapters I took the chapter-end questions to test my understanding.

Then I memorized the sequence of processes in Planning process group.

This way I was able to get a firm understanding of concepts of all process groups.

[continue reading…]

Setting my PMP goal

My background is in computer science but I have been doing project management for over 6 years. Getting the project manager certification has been in the back of my mind for a while but with two kids who have very busy schedules, I knew it was going to take a lot of commitment to pull it off so I kept thinking, “maybe next year”.

However, since last year things have gotten shaky at my job and realized that I had to take this leap and take my project management career to the next level. So, in November of last year, I started working on my plan.

I had a goal of studying 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week (weekends were too busy for me to find any time). I fell off the wagon during the Christmas holidays, come mid-January I realized a needed a PMP crash course. So I did my research online for some tips on how to stay focused.

Below are the resources that helped me work through my PMP study journey.

Study Plan and material

1. PMP study blueprint (free email course) from PMExamSmartNotes.com – gave me a good starting point.

All the daily reads and the PMP Exam preparation tips– great resource! These really kept me motivated since I received one email every day for each knowledge area.

The ‘Last Mile’ prep books gave what I needed in the last week of my study. These are a must have!

2. Introduction to the Project Management Profession (PMP) certification exam preparation with Sandra Mitchell on Lynda.com – these are great videos that are based on the PMBOK and her PMP exam tips came in very handy! Also, an equivalent of 35 contact hours (a requirement for the PMP application) certification helped me fulfill exam needs. [continue reading…]