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How the PMP Impacts Fellow PMs: Follow this Project Manager on the Path to Certification, Part 9

April 22, 2002

In my last article, I asked for gantthead readers who had experience with PMP certification to get in touch with me. It was nice to hear from fellow Project Managers in the United States and Canada with a wide variety of experiences to share. To those of you who responded, thanks so much for the encouragement!

Of those who responded, eight of you who are studying for the exam along with me have exam dates coming up very quickly. (Use the humor and stress tips/links toward the end of the article to remember more of what you study.)

A few of you are studying to take the exam a second time...not because you enjoyed the experience so much the first time. Be encouraged. There are many PMPs out there who failed the exam on the first try, but there are no PMPs out there who never took the exam. (Even Albert Einstein failed an exam that would have allowed him to study for a diploma as an electrical engineer.)

I heard from five folks who have attained their PMP certification (I will share their tips), and I heard from four PMs who were also laid off recently...I am in good company.

One interesting note...everyone who shared a study aid with me shared the same one: Rita Mulcahy's material, available at her website. Select "Buy Products" to see the flash cards, books, and PM FASTrack CD she offers. The "Hot Topics" flash cards are by far the most affordable at around $35, and from readers' tips, it seems that they are extremely helpful. (You can also order your copy of the PMBOK there.)

Here are a few of the responses, paraphrased and provided anonymously:

"Greetings from a candidate who is seeking to take the PMP exam for the second time. I have and will continue to use you for inspiration. [Author's note: Thanks!] To give myself added motivation I have already submitted my application (which was accepted) and have scheduled my exam date."

"...the Rita Mulcahy materials are awesome and I believe at least 80 percent of the reason I passed [the] first time. Good luck!"

"One key thing--don't try to get an 'A'--just get over the 65 percent limit. They still call you a PMP."

"I filled out the application this week. One pleasant surprise--you don't need the resume part of the application anymore. I finished and submitted my application to take the exam on Monday, and I had an e-mail saying my application was approved on Tuesday!"

"In retrospective, it was the journey I made towards the PMP certification that was of greater value than merely passing the test. The PMP certification is a validation of years of experience and I was happy to pass the exam, but the personal improvements and other gains I have made are much more meaningful to me."

"I am an experienced PM and earlier in the year I took off a week from work to cram for PMP, using PMBOK and [the] Rita Mulcahy study guide...compared to a CPA or bar exam, it is not really that difficult."

"The part I have more difficulties with is the risk management, and I'm focusing on the Monte Carloanalysis and the decision tree analysis. So I found helpful articles such as: Keep your project on track, Planning for and mitigating risk, Risk-assessment strategies."

"I've received several phone calls and e-mails asking for study tips for the new PMP exam. I thought I'd write up my study tips and share them with my study group at work:

• I took off the two days before the exam to complete my final review.
• I found myself getting pretty stressed out and discouraged as the day approached, so I really dug into the results of the practice tests I'd taken to see what I was consistently missing.
• I began writing out the process groups (5), the knowledge areas (9), the core versus facilitating processes, and the project management processes (39), and the inputs, tools and techniques and outputs (over 400).
• I made sure I had the formulas down for Earned Value analysis and probability analysis.
• I drove to the test site the day before the exam, to make sure I could find it.
• I stopped all studying at 6 p.m. the day before, and went to dinner with my wife.

I discovered that if I went back and changed my original answer, I missed the question 7 out of 8 times. So for me, I made a rule to not go back and change an answer unless I remembered exact words from the PMBOK that I didn't remember the first time I saw the question."

One of you who was also laid off made me laugh by saying that "life after layoff is better than life before layoff." Someone else shared that letting prospective employers know you were preparing to take the exam seemed to help you land the position.

Thanks again to everyone who responded. For those who will soon be sitting in a chair, making those critical multiple-choice selections, here are the humor/stress tips I promised.

According to an Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet, humor increases learning and retention. "Laughing stimulates both sides of the brain. People get the message quicker and remember it longer."

According to Darby Training Programs, humor/laughter can:

• Increase the activity of your immune system (which stress can depress...get it active again!)
• Decrease stress hormones, like cortison and corticosteroids.
• Make things more interesting, which increases your attention span and improves retention
• Helps you be more flexible and creative
• Increase oxygenation, reduce blood pressure and exercise the diaphragm just as effectively as a rowing machine

Here are a few links to give you a few laughs (personally screened to be clean humor sites...and very funny.)

• Take a stress break at about.com for "Corporate Wisdom & Job-hunting Jokes, and Funny Business (nationally syndicated column)
• "There comes a time in each person's life when one must let everything go and just laugh themselves silly...this is your time." (from http://www.premiumhealth.com/laughlift/laugh.html)
• And last but not least, http://www.allcleanhumor.com.

I know these comments from our fellow PMs have encouraged you as they did me. More on the path to certification next time.

Donna Boyette is a freelance writer, and currently a freelance Project Manager, who is happy to be a new member of PMI as well as the local chapter, NCPMI.