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Background

I wanted to take PMP exam some 10 years back but somehow could not do so. Then I finally decided to take the plunge journey last year. In 10 years, I had gathered good project management experience and had become passionate about project management. This helped me appreciate PMBOK.

Preparation

I enrolled in a boot camp training where the overview of the Knowledge areas & process groups were covered. My application, luckily, was not selected for an audit. 🙂

I then studied the PMBOK and Rita’s books, however, could not keep up a study plan continuously due to family & work pressures. Finally, I did complete my study and took few mock tests. I was scoring 80%, so decided to take the PMP exam.

My first attempt

I took PMP exam in Feb 2016 – just after the updated syllabus came into force. Unfortunately, at the end of the exam the Screen Showed “Failed”. I was very upset and was not sure where things had gone wrong. The positive aspect of that failure was that I became accustomed to the new format (Shiv made me aware of this – Thanks Shiv).

I decided not to give up and to try again. [continue reading…]

Hello Shiv, I Passed PMP and would like to thank you for your smart notes. Thanks for your good work and contribution to PM Community and here is my PMP Exam Strategy and Lesson Learned [trust me while writing it I am feeling very proud :-)]

I came to know about your blog PMExamSmartNotes.com just 3 weeks before my exam day but still found it very useful. Though I missed subscribing to PM PrepCast through your blog I recommended because it helps saving exam prep cost & additional exam material.

I planned PMP study in 2 Phases.

Phase 1: Prepare yourself and Apply to PMI (2-3 months)

Find out a mentor or Join PMP Forums like PMzilla/ PMHUB/LinkedIn forums and go through lessons learned to understand basics of PMP.

Subscribe to Study Blueprint for your daily study notes and guides. Also, use the offers to get video lessons of PM PrepCast & Exam Simulator bundle together as it is cost effective.

Register to PMI to get yourself a PDF copy of PMBOK & guidebook for EVM for free.

Complete pre-test and chapter end tests of PM PrepCast (must). [continue reading…]

Last week you read the PMP exam experience of Jackie Gibbs, who prepared herself without PMBOK (except for the glossary). This week Sunil shares how he used primarily PMBOK and supplemental books to pass his PMP exam, in this brief post.

Bottomline, there is no cookie-cutter approach when it comes to PMP prep. What works best is look at what works best for most people, study various successful PMP students’ experiences, find out the approaches that have worked for the most and fine-tune your prep plan. Make your own path and embrace glory.

Cheers,
Shiv

Hi Shiv, I cleared my PMP Exam last week with your support. Thank you, particularly for sharing the lessons learned and your books. I would like to briefly share few exam study pointers that I have learned, hoping these will help PMP students.

My study sources

My main sources besides PMBOK were: [continue reading…]

One grouse that majority of students of PMP certification have is that they need to study PMBOK guide. I too didn’t enjoy reading pages and pages of tedious text, nevertheless I stuck with PMBOK as it is the source of majority of questions on the exam. Even now I recommend PMP aspirants to keep PMBOK as one of their study resources.

It is not everyday that you find someone that did NOT use PMBOK and passed the exam. So far I have come across very few people (almost single digit) that have done this. Jackie is one of them.

Read through her exam prep strategy and tips to plan your own PMP prep, and decide for yourself whether you want to give PMBOK guide a miss. 🙂

Cheers,
-Shiv

In April 2016, I began earnestly studying for the PMP certification – with the goal of passing on the first attempt! On October 3, 2016, I earned this prestigious credential and here is how I did it!

My PMP Study Books

The two resources I used were the Head First Book, and the infamous Rita Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep – Fifth Edition. I read the Head First book first to gain a basic understanding of the PMP concepts and then I tackled Rita’s book. (Learn Rita’s process chart).

I did not read the PMBOK Guide – Fifth Edition, I only read the glossary. In my opinion, above two resources form the perfect knowledge base for preparing to pass the examination. After all, that is the goal, right?

After devouring these books, in July I began to focus on my study notes and learning to write the process grid as well as the EVM formulas. A great tip I discovered is that the best way to learn all the processes chart is left to right – up and down. That one tip proved to be invaluable as I began to learn to think the PMI way. I practiced writing my brain dump on a daily basis. [continue reading…]

Yay, finally I cleared my PMP! It was long and stressful journey. But during this I figured a better path and followed it to my PMP success. Let me share what I learned in this post.

I enrolled into PMP without even actually doing any homework.  My suggestion is to study to whatever extent you can to before taking up the after the 35 contact hours contact study course, which is a requirement by PMI to appear for the PMP exam.

PMP Success step 1: Must do’s

1. Create a PMP charter. Clearing PMP itself is a project. Ensure your charter has objectives, the purpose, milestones, risks, budget and stakeholders (For ex: in my case the stakeholders are my parents, wife, kid, relatives and friends.) & create study plan (planned v/s actual).
2. Join “I want to be a PMP” in LinkedIn group for nuances of PMP discussions. It is really motivating as every day there will be at least one person who would post their success story.
3. Visit pmstudycircle.com by Mr. Fahad Usmani. The concepts are in simple English and understanding is easy.
4. Enroll with Shiv Shenoy. He will email you easy notes after enrolling. He motivates and guides us well to crack the exam with ease. He disciplines your approach to PMP by asking you to make a study plan, arrange your study space, gather materials etc.
5. Now the video part. If you want PMP concepts at your fingertips, watch videos by Mr. Saket Bansal from Izenbridge. I enrolled with Izenbridge and obtained 35 contact hours. The videos are still in my heart and mind. I enjoyed reading PMBOK after watching his videos. PMP is simplified by Mr. Bansal. The white board and marker is just the best. Moreover, the amount of practice tests in the package will make you thorough with PMBOK. Every alternate week there is a discussion in their blog and you can post queries on their forum. After watching his videos, ITTOs became very easy and there was no need to memorize.  Just understand why and how it is used.
6. Mind map the concepts with your profession. PMBOK has concepts, terms and definitions that are used in most of the organizations but if you can relate them with your organization and your day-to-day work then it becomes easy to understand.
   

Also read: How to get your PMP certification for Free!

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