Jonathan MannExecutive Director, Convener and Facilitator| Breakthru, LLCBedford, Ny, United States
Cornelius Fichtner's program and Dan Ryan as a coach were the combo I needed to get it done! Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
I took the PMP exam and passed the first time out. I tell everyone that you need to find the study method that works for you. Can you learn by listening, are you a visual learning, are you a memorizer? Some people like to do mind maps, some read the PMBOK multiple times, some try to memorize all of the processes.
Figure out your best method and use it.
My path was as follows:
- I found a study buddy. We went through Rita Mulcahy's book at the pace of a chapter a week. We would read, do the quiz and then discuss the concepts.
- I downloaded a few apps to do quizzes throughout the day.
- I scheduled a boot camp about a month before I took the exam.
- After the boot camp I did several full practice exams and lots more quizzes.
- The night before the exam I reviewed a few things and did not stay up late.
- I scheduled the exam for late morning, had a small breakfast.
- Right before going into the exam, I quickly reviewed the formulas.
- During the exam, I answered every question. If I was not sure about the answer, I marked it.
- After I finished all of the questions, I returned to the marked ones and reviewed.
And that was it. Saving Changes...
Sheri PhillipsProject Management Consultant| Sheri R Phillips Consulting, LLCMckinney, Tx, United States
I spent 7 days studying for the exam on my own and passed the first time. I spent a lot of time memorizing the process charts and formulas. I spent the first 15 minutes of the exam writing it down. It was not necessary. I used Skillsoft training which helped teach me the formal language of pm and help me learn some concepts I had not had an opportunity to do like estimating and earned value. What I experienced on the exam is you must know what goes in to a deliverable and what comes out and the order of the inputs and outputs. Questions were centered around the order a PM executes tasks and what a PM uses to create a deliverable and the output associated with it. For example what goes into the creation of Charter and what are the outputs of create charter process. What other deliverable have the charter as an input. Not one formula helped me on the test nor did the process chart; however I will say writing the information down and memorizing prior to the test probably helped me learn the concepts. Saving Changes...
Tamer Zeyad SadiqAssistant Cost Manager| Turner & TownsendRiyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
I passed before 10 months and my tips are reading PMP tips in PMI website especially exam outline carefully. Then, reading PMBOK cover to cover carefully in more one time and rita book for understanding only. After that, solve thousands questions on PMSTUDY, PMPRECAST & Udemy and ensure your score not less than 85%. PMSTUDY solve alll questions is very helpful!!! Saving Changes...
Kenya OwensDiplomatic Chief Technology Officer| U.S. Department of StateDulles, Va, United States
In addition to all of the reading and practice examinations, I concentrated on learning the matrix of PM Process Groups and Knowledge Areas. I could then relate almost all of the test question answers to that matrix, and determine the correct response. Saving Changes...
Steven BernheiselManager, Financial Systems| Ventas, Inc.Louisville, Ky, United States
Hi Heather,
I took the exam just two weeks ago and passed it on my first try. Here's what I did to prepare, in the order that I did it:
1. I took a weeklong (35 hour, thus meeting the formal education requirement) training course from New Horizons. This was actually the second time I've taken the same course with them as I've been trying to get the PMP for about five years... fortunately for me I could expense these courses as they are expensive! The course came with a copy of the PMBOK guide and a copy of a study course from Crosswinds (which has an online component to it as well). I took the course the second time in late February of this year.
2. I then joined the PMI and registered for ProjectManagement.com and immediately noticed PMchallenge. So right away I started quizzing myself with that and over time probably answered thousands of questions, earning all of the little badges you can get from doing those along the way.
3. I then started reading the PMBOK guide and read it all the way through one time.
4. In early September, I started watching the Sandy Mitchell PMP prep courses on Lynda.com. There are two of them: one with specific exam tips and one that is basically an online 'boot camp' similar to the New Horizons course I did.
4. Sometime in late October, I started going through the Crosswind course, taking the online mini-exams as I went. After I finished, I took the Oliver Lehmann online exam simulation and got a 65%.
5. I then did the entire Crosswind course over again, plus the exams and their full exam, which I didn't do the first time, and then re-took the Oliver Lehmann sim and got a 74%.
6. Meanwhile while I was doing the Crosswind course I was also trying to memorize a chart they provided with their book that's basically supposed to be the brain dump that everyone suggests you be prepared to do when you start taking the exam.
I wasn't very happy with that 74% result but at that point I was basically out of time so sat for the exam anyway, and passed it with a pretty good score. One thing is that I put a lot of effort into memorizing all of the math formulas but got virtually no questions where I needed to use them.
Hopefully all of that helps!
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Dec 19, 2018 11:10 AM
Rami Kaibni
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Thanks for sharing your experience Steven and congrats on passing the exam. I agree, memorizing won’t do you any good in the exam but deeply understanding things is the best strategy.
As for PM Challenge Questions, they are good for refreshing your memory but needs updating.
Saving Changes...
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Similar discussion is happening in another thread.
Hi Bala - Yes, that was the old posting regarding the same subject. Since it was over 3 years old it was closed and we started a new one! :)
Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
I sat in the exam 1997, having to answer 400 questions in 8 hours. Since then, I helped to create exam questions at PMI, and taught many in PMP Prep classes and at an university.
My rule of thumb is to plan for 160 (80-240) hours of effort to spend on learning. Most of my students take 3-4 months to learn, if focused.
I recommend to have the physical PMBok Guide at hand, and the PDF to search for, mock-up exams per knowledge area and a preparation book which covers the content in a pedagogic, understandable format. Do not use too much material, you do not have the time to read it all. Stick with English.
If you do not have 35 hours of (any) classroom experience, you may consider a bootcamp.
Also read the PMP handbook which details the process and the Exam Content Outline (ECO), which is the base for the exam. Both can be downloaded from www.pmi.org.
And yes, having a mentor for this project is a good idea.
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Dec 19, 2018 11:11 AM
Rami Kaibni
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Wow, Thomas, I did not k ow the exam was 400 Questions for 8 Hours ... for how many years was the exam this way ? And was it all multiple choice ?
Hi Bala - Yes, that was the old posting regarding the same subject. Since it was over 3 years old it was closed and we started a new one! :) Saving Changes...
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