Project Management

PMP Exam Tip: Exam Time Management and Question Styles

From the Certification Insider Blog
by
Cornelius Fichtner help you with your PMP Exam Prep (https://www.project-management-prepcast.com) as well as earn free PDUs (www.pm-podcast.com/pdu). Passing the PMP Exam is tough, but keeping your PMP Certification alive is just as challenging. Preparing for the exam requires an in-depth study of the PMBOK Guide and dedicated study discipline. And once you are PMP certified, then you are required to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) every 3 years to keep your certification alive. Let me help you make this journey easier with tips and tricks on how to prepare for and pass the exam as well as efficiently earning your PDUs once you are certified.

About this Blog

RSS

Recent Posts

Episode 549: How to Bring Clarity to Chaotic Projects

Episode 548: From Project Delivery to Value: How Project Managers Create Real Business Impact

Episode 546: The Real Reason Project Requirements Keep Changing

Episode 544: The Four Pillars of Project Success

Episode 543: Catch Project Trouble Early and Protect Your Delivery

Categories

AGILE, Agile, Agile, Agile Projects, Annual Plan and Portfolio, Artificial Intelligence, Audit, Best PMP Exam Simulators, Business Analysis, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Practitioner, Business Management, CAPM, Career Development, CCRS, Change Management, Communication Management, Communications Management, Earning PDUs, Education, Emotional Intelligence Tools, Entrepreneur, Free PDUs, Interpersonal Skills, Knowledge Areas, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Lessons Learned Management, Management, meeting management, Millennial Project Managers, Multiple Projects, NASA, Opportunity Cost, PDU, PDU Podcast, PDUs, PDUs: Business Acumen, PDUs: Not Applicable, PDUs: Power Skills, PDUs: Ways of Working, PgMP®, Planning, PM Exam Simulator, PM Formulas, PM Podcast, PM PrepCast, PMBOK, PMBOk 8, PMBOK Guide, PMBOK® Guide, PMI, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Exam, PMI Audit, PMI Educational Foundation, PMI Global Congress, PMI Talent Triangle, PMI Talent Triangle/PDUs: Not Acceptable, PMI-ACP, PMI-ACP Certified, PMI-ACP Eligibility, PMI-ACP Exam, PMI-ACP Exam Formulas, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, PMI-ACP®, PMO, PMO, PMO, PMP, pmp, PMP Audit, PMP Cerficiation, PMP Certification, PMP ebook, PMP Exam, PMP exam coach, PMP Exam Overview, PMP Exam Prep, PMP exam prep material, PMP Exam Prep Video, PMP exam sample question, PMP Exam Tip, PMP Lessons Learned, PMP Mock Exam Free, PMP Mock Exam Online, PMP Re-certification, PMP sample question, PMP Study Materials, PMP training, PMP®, podcast, Portfolio Management, Positive Leadership, Power Skills, Process Groups, Professional Development Units, project, Project Assumptions, Project Business, Project Business Management, Project Integration Management, Project Leadership, Project Management, Project Management Basics, Project Management Institute, Project Management Methodology, Project Management Podcast, Project Management Principles, Project management professional, Project Management Skills, Project Management Trends, project manager, Project Manager Skills, Project Manager Soft Skills, Project Managers, Project Metrics, Project Planning, Project Schedule, Project Sponsorship, Project Success, RAM, RBS, Resource Breakdown Structure, Responsibilities, Responsibility Assignment Matrix, Risk Management, Risky Projects, Roles, sample PMP exam, Situational Project Management, soft skills, Strategy implementation, study, Study Techniques, Study Tips, Teams, Technical Project Management, The Agile PrepCast, Virtual Communication, Work-Life Balance

Date

linkedin twitter facebook Request to reuse this  

Categories: PMP Exam Tip


How would you feel if you fail the PMP Exam by just one question? Avoid this by using your exam time wisely. Here is one such strategy:

Four hours is plenty of time for you to read and re-read all questions. You should be able to go through all questions in your first pass in about two to three hours. During this first pass you will probably not know all answers to all questions. That's OK because that's what the "mark" feature is for. Use it to mark the questions you are unsure and then use the remaining time to review all those questions in detail that have stumped you at first.

Another strategy is to concentrate on the easier questions first (those that you feel you'll find the right answers for quickly) and then come back for the harder questions in your second pass. In this way, if you are confronted with a particularly puzzling question, you will simply mark it and move on to the next. Many test takers report that sometimes, a succeeding questions provides a clue or gives you the "nudge" that you need to figure out the difficult ones you have skipped.

Remember also, that some questions will appear to have two right answers. In this case you have to answer the question by trying to think like the PMBOK Guide. So if you have studied and understood the concepts from your PMBOK Guide, then there is really not much to fear before going into the exam room. And don't be surprised to come across questions that are framed in an unusual way or use terms that are unfamiliar to you. In these cases the examiners want to know that you understand the processes rather than just memorized them.

Last but not least: Remember to check, check and check again that you have answered all the questions. Make sure not a single one of them is unanswered. There is no penalty for answering a question incorrectly. So go ahead and guess on those questions where you really have no idea. Who knows... that might just be the question that lets you see "Pass" instead of "Fail" on the screen.


Posted on: September 14, 2010 07:42 PM | Permalink

Comments (1)

Please login or join to subscribe to this item
avatar
Karthik Ramamurthy Author, Say YES to Project Success| Founder KeyResultz Chennai, Tamilnadu, Tamilnadu, India
@Cornelius: Excellent post!
Having coached PMP aspirants for over a decade now, I also urge them to track answering speed even while taking mock examps.
They are asked to write down speed using two methods for the first couple of times:
1. Cumulative time taken to answer every set of 25 questions
2. Cumulative questions answered every 30 minutes.
After two mock exams, they choose that personally works better, and continue using the selected method for the remaining mock exams. And of course, for the actual exam.
This way, they have excellent OPA on their answering speed, and can adjust while taking the REAL exam!

Please Login/Register to leave a comment.

ADVERTISEMENTS

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."

- Pablo Picasso

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors