.

Shiv, I would like to share my PMP exam preparation plan and my lessons. Here’s the approach using the classic Process Groups way 🙂

Initiation

I heard first about PMP at my previous organization. All our management training were aligned with PMBOK. But I felt no need or urgency for PMP at that time. I realized the need of certification last year.

I took 35 Hours contact class and decided to take the exam within 2 months. It did not happen due to various professional/personal reasons though. But by the time I decided to take the exam (10 months later) I had forgotten all the important lessons from the contact class, and I had to start all over again.

Lessons learnt: It is always better to attempt the exam immediately following the contact classes before the information you gathered starts to fade away. A thorough PMP exam preparation plan is required though before you attempt the exam.

Planning

I divided my study-plan in two phases.

First phase: detailed study to understand PMP concepts

Second phase: exam preparation using revision and practice tests.

I prepared my PMP exam preparation study-plan in an excel sheet and strictly followed it.

[continue reading…]

So you want to be a PMP? So did I. After a failed PMP exam attempt earlier in the year I did pass the second time on December 1. Let me provide some perspective on how to survive this trek up the Mount Everest of certifications. 

Attitude

You absolutely can do this!  Never ever give up!  You OWN this!

There is no test taker worse than myself. I have a reading deficiency in that I am a s-l-o-w reader. I literally have to focus on every word or I will miss the point. I overanalyze the sentence while interpreting the question to align my experience. In an exam that you get roughly 1 minute and 24 seconds per question this was not to my advantage.

When you get that post exam screen that says “CONGRATULATIONS” you will then know I’m right. You sit back, relax, then think back to this sentence and say, he was right. Remember, you OWN this!

PMP Study Materials

Don’t waste time or money on losers

Shiv’s study materials are simply incredible. The emails offered materials, advice and encouragement that were always on time and on target. I do admit some of the folks seemed to possess superhuman abilities to get through the materials but you OWN this.

[continue reading…]

A Guide To Passing Your PMP Exam Before Jan 12, 2016

What is the significance of the date – Jan 12, 2016?

You are probably aware that PMI changed the syllabus of PMP exam earlier this year. They planned to switch over to new syllabus based exams in the month of November, but then decided to move the date to 12 Jan, 2016.

You can read the entire 3-part series of the whys and hows of this new syllabus change, here.

Note: You can download this guide from the bottom of this post.

Now that the inevitable is around the corner, let us see why does it make sense to get your PMP before the new exam.

It is not uncommon for PMI to change PMP syllabus. In fact PMI has been regularly doing this once every 4-5 years. This is done for a pretty good reason – they want the PMP exam to represent real-world trends and needs. This makes PMP credential more useful and relevant for project managers.

Which is a good thing.

But there is a twist in this change that PMI has brought about.

Each time a major change is introduced to PMP syllabus, there is a bump in PMBOK version – and the latest developments in project management field is updated with new processes and/or changes to existing ITTOs.

This time there is no change to PMBOK guide at all.

This means that understanding the changes to PMP syllabus is left to interpretation. [continue reading…]

Hi Shiv,

I would like to share some of my PMP study and exam experience.
I felt that the PMP exam was much easier than the hype, or what I expected it to be.

I think this was because of the following –

I booked my date for the exam mainly because my year was expiring. I had only about 2 months for PMP study from scratch, and I was really busy with work at this time. I therefore had to choose an approach and act quickly.

I read the PMBOK guide within 3 weeks whenever I had spare time, not spending too much time in trying to memorize anything, but rather to understand, even if not 100%. If I spent too much time on anything I felt it was a waste as you eventually forget. The trick is to go through the content as often as you can.

The next book that was very good was the Kim Heldman PMP Study Guide. I went through this book over the following 3 weeks. After going through the framework in the PMBOK Guide before, the Kim Heldman Study Guide just put everything in perspective, as it takes you through the process. The question in the Kid Heldman book are excellent to start to understand practical questions. [continue reading…]

Passing PMP in 20 days – or whichever time period you want to target – is definitely possible. I passed my PMP exam recently with about 100-120 hours of study effort, in just 20 days.

I have jotted down my experience of passing PMP exam in this detailed post. Hope this helps you, especially considering the fact that PMI is going to roll over to the new exam format.

My main PMP lesson learned

..is not to over-read but rather to have a plan in place to what to read, how to read and how many times to read (to understand the PMI’s way of project management). Also to figure out how to take mock tests and how much time to spend to assess test results.

Planning properly by considering the above points will definitely increase your confidence level as the exam approaches.

Difference between many other exams and PMP is that we can clear the exam ONLY when we understand the PMP concepts and achieve the ability to answer scenario based questions. Hence please don’t go through the books only for the sake of completing the book but try to understand the concepts and the ‘PMI way’ of project management.

I spent about close to 70 hours for studying and understanding the concepts and then went on to try 4hr mock tests, reviewing the correct & incorrect answers. I spent approximately 5 hours per test.

Also Read: How Sayeenand passed his PMP exam with a simple plan he devised himself. [continue reading…]