My 3-Step PMP Success Formula: Sriram Manian, PMP

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!

PMP Success step 2: Reading part

1. Read: PMBOK, glossary, newly added tasks.
2. Rita Mulcahy for elaborate understanding and practice tests after each chapter. No problem if you make a mistake. But understand the mistake.
3. Read HeadFirst PMP to understand ITTO and practice questions after each and every chapter. And the bonus 200 questions.

Also Read: How Arun Sharma found a mantra after he failed the first time, and passed his PMP with ease.

PMP Success step 3: Practice part

1. Christopher Scordo chapter wise and 18 Lite exams (50 questions each). Understand the logic behind every question.
2. Practice questions from Izenbridge, pmstudy.com, examcentral.com

My examination questions were around managing Stakeholders, Business objectives and Closing knowledge area. I found very less problem-based questions from Time & Cost management knowledge area.

Thanks to Mr. Saket Bansal and his team from Izenbridge, the members in ‘I want to be a PMP’, the WhatsApp group ‘PMP House’ and many more thanks to my parents, my sister (continuously motivated me), my wife (who encouraged me through out and sacrificed her time too) and my sweet little 9 months old son (who spent less time with me).

Preparing for PMP is difficult but not impossible. It is just a certification and it shouldn’t affect your life. Good planning will make it manageable. Good luck!

– Sriram Manian, PMP

Also read: Kuldeep Kumar, PMP – 1 Goal, 2 Pages of notes, 3 Study aids, 4 Weeks plan

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