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Shiv, Just wanted to share with you I passed my exam today. Thank you for your materials and questions and moral support!

Here’re the PMP Study Resources I used

– (paid) HEAD FIRST – a nice relaxed and comprehensive option to walk one through the curriculum (includes chapter end questions & a mock exam)
– (paid) Grey Campus (via Udemy) as intro course – nice and crisp video sessions.
– (free with PMI Membership) PMBOK – dry, but helpful. Referred to it for clarifications during my studies.

Practice

– (free) PMZILLA forums – awesome for clarifying answers to tough questions (sometimes it is not enough to be told that the right answer is option a, but helps to understand the reasoning behind) [continue reading…]

Update Sept-2015: While there is no updates to PMBOK at all for new PMP exam changes, Cornelius has confirmed that there will be a FREE upgrade to PM PrepCast incorporating all the information required to be studied for the new exam!

Update Aug-2015: PMI has postponed the date of new exam from 2 November 2015 to 12 January 2016.

This means that there is still time to get your PMP under current scheme of things! So, Stay calm and get that PMP! 🙂

You saw why PMI had to change PMP syllabus mid-2015, and what are those exact changes in the previous two parts of this guide.

You probably have lot of questions right now. In this part we shall look at some of new PMP exam tips.
If your question is still unanswered please drop them in the comments section below and I will try to find the answers for you.

Hopefully you are planning to take the test before the new test rolls in on 12 January, 2016. If it is not possible, do not worry – if you have PM PrepCast you will get a free upgrade to study for the new exam format.

New PMP Exam Tips

Q: Are there any changes to application process and actual test procedure?

Absolutely not. PMI has categorically stated that they will remain the same. So just focus on the content changes, and of course the date it will come into effect from.

Click to listen to the interview with Simona Fallavollita – the Product Manager for PMP Exam at PMI.org – about the new exam and what to expect. This is as authentic as it can get!

Q: How about eligibility criteria?

No changes there as well. All eligibility criteria remains the same. Only the content changes as outlined in Examination Content Outline document published by PMI (look for June 2015 at the bottom of second page).

Q: How about exam format and report?

Exam format will remain the same in that you will still have 5 domains you will be tested under – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing.
Report will also remain the same – and you will get immediately after the exam (assuming you’re taking Computer Based Test – CBT).

[continue reading…]

Update Sept-2015: While there is no updates to PMBOK at all for new PMP exam changes, Cornelius has confirmed that there will be a FREE upgrade to PM PrepCast incorporating all the information required to be studied for the new exam!

Update Aug-2015: PMI has postponed the date of new exam from 2 November 2015 to 12 January 2016.

This means that there is still time to get your PMP under current scheme of things! So, Stay calm and get that PMP! 🙂

In the first part of this guide you understood why, when and how PMI makes changes to PMP exam.

In this part we shall see the exact change that are made to PMP Examination Content Outline – basically the syllabus for PMP exam.

What are the overall PMP exam changes?

In PMBOK-5 guide PMI introduced a new Knowledge Area to address Stakeholder management in its entirety (in PMBOK-4 these were spread in other KAs). So it was natural to expect RDS to simplify/add/refine some more around Stakeholder management.

Other changes are done to areas of procurement management, lessons learned and aligning business objectives to deliverables.

• 8 new tasks are added
• Initiating domain – THREE new tasks added – task 2, 7, & 8
• Planning domain – ONE new task added – task 13
• Executing domain – TWO new task added – task 6 & 7
• Monitoring & Controlling domain – TWO new tasks added – task 6 & 7
• Closing domain – NO new tasks added

[continue reading…]

Update Sept-2015: While PMP exam format specific change is not included in PMBOK guide, Cornelius has confirmed that there will be a FREE upgrade to PM PrepCast incorporating all the information required to be studied for the new exam.

Update Aug-2015: PMI has postponed the date of new exam from 2 November 2015 to 12 January 2016.

This means that there is still time to get your PMP under current scheme of things! So, Stay calm and get that PMP! 🙂

Yes, there are changes brought about by PMI in the PMP syllabus from June-2015. In this 3-part series we’ll look at everything you need to know about the new PMP exam.

If you are planning for PMP exam this is the best time to plan for it and get your PMP credential before the new exam format kicks in.

Why you should avoid new PMP exam format?

1. Existing study material becomes incomplete

All the PMP material you find on the internet are all catering to current version of PMBOK and current syllabus.

All the study materials, tutorials, courses, tips, cheatsheets – everything. When the new syllabus rolls in from 12 Jan 2016, all these will become incomplete immediately. Then it takes many months to get the updated data.

2. How does the new exam look like?

PMBOK-5 itself is not the syllabus, or the text book for entire PMP study. It is just one of the (probably most authentic) reference books for PMP. The syllabus is given by PMI in Examination content outline. PMI is changing this document now, not PMBOK. So even after the updated syllabus rolls in PMBOK remains the same (may be for more than an year or two).
[continue reading…]

Core lesson – treat exam preparation itself as a Project!

It is always helpful when you can relate your study topics with real life examples. It makes you understand the concepts easily and you can remember them for a long time. This was the key of my study plan. I wanted to pass PMP Examination and that was my Project.

I considered PMP Certification as a Project and I started reading PMBOK. I started relating all Knowledge Areas and Processes trying to identify them as related to this Project.

Here’re couple of examples of how I went ahead with this approach, so you get the idea.

[continue reading…]