Project Management

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What is the difficulty level of a PMP examination?

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Savrabh Mishra Senior Product Development Engineer| Oceaneering India
I have a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and a 5 year experience after that in Oil and Gas industry. I had 9.1 GPA in my graduation and a good understanding of six sigma tools. How difficult the examination is going to be for me?
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Keith Novak Tukwila, Wa, United States
I agree with the above as well. Despite my experience, I found it difficult to switch from my knowledge to how PMI organizes the material and their specific use of terms. I found it very helpful to locate some free online practice tests to identify where I needed to study. That often highlighted where my terminology was different than the PMBoK.

Test taking skills are also important. I went through the exam quickly to answer all the easy questions first, and flagged a large number to revisit, because as Tarik points out, sometimes 2 answers are very similar. Use your time wisely and limit your potential for wrong answers.
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1 reply by Savrabh Mishra
May 02, 2019 6:37 AM
Savrabh Mishra
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Thank you Keith
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Deepesh Rammoorthy ICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood Service Tarneit, Vic, Australia
The exam is very difficult and is practical and situation based and from personal experience I had to put in 6 months of study and using exam simulation tools - PM PrepCast. I even read PMBOK and Rita twice.
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1 reply by Savrabh Mishra
May 02, 2019 6:38 AM
Savrabh Mishra
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Thank you Dipesh
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Aditya Lal Program Director| Sita Corp Belle Mead, Nj, United States
When I started my journey for the PMP, I knew that its difficult to clear the exam is if I don't have substantial PM experience. Additionally, I must un-learn a few things to clear the exam. Its the right mix of experience and study will take you to the next level. Thanks and all the best.
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1 reply by Savrabh Mishra
May 02, 2019 6:38 AM
Savrabh Mishra
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Thank you Aditya
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Prithviraj Bhosale Director of Information Management| North Carolina State University Ellicott City, Md, United States
In my opinion, irrespective of your work experience, you still have to study the PMBOK guide and have good 3-4 months of dedicated study time to pass the exam. Here is my article on preparation for the PMP exam: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-prepare...p-mba-ongoing-/
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Tamer Zeyad Sadiq Assistant Cost Manager| Turner & Townsend Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
The level of PMP isn't easy, you should study and practice questions thousands!!!!!! you must study hard. For experience, it's not a big deal!!!
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1 reply by Savrabh Mishra
May 02, 2019 6:38 AM
Savrabh Mishra
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Thank you Tamer
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Savrabh Mishra Senior Product Development Engineer| Oceaneering India
May 01, 2019 9:53 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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The PMBOK is enough in my humble opinion. Lot of books contains interpretations of the PMBOK which is not good and do not help. All people in this world are performing project management from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. So, think about anything you do in your day and tried to map the PMBOK to it. If you still search for a book take a look to "Visualizing Project Management",
Thank you Sergio. You are a good man.
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Savrabh Mishra Senior Product Development Engineer| Oceaneering India
May 01, 2019 10:07 AM
Replying to Wade Harshman
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Savrabh, the PMP exam has a well-earned reputation for being difficult. Many of the questions are situational. And even though the questions are multiple choice, there are often two answers that could be correct. These are the most difficult questions, in my opinion, because you have to choose the "most correct" answer.

I was fortunate to pass on the first attempt. If I had to take the PMP exam again, I'm not sure I'd pass every time. I've known some very good project managers with years of experience who failed on their first (and even second) attempt.
Thank you Wade. Your input is going to benefit me a lot.
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Savrabh Mishra Senior Product Development Engineer| Oceaneering India
May 01, 2019 10:29 AM
Replying to Ramakant Beernally
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1st of all you have to understand the concept of each process (49 processes in PMBOK 6), It not help to remember the definition of each process instead you have to make sure how you can use each process in real projects in PMI way, practical experience may differ some time but you have to think as per PMI standards and ways to pass the exam. Need a lot of study on practice on mock questions, Exam Simulations. 95% of the questions are situational and two answers are very close, so make a group of two to three members for discussing the understanding of the concept. Also, most of the question will be asked indirect way so practice well to get succeed in the exam.
Thank you Ramakant. I will make my strategy based on your input.
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Savrabh Mishra Senior Product Development Engineer| Oceaneering India
May 01, 2019 10:24 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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Experienced people is the people that can fail the exam more easily. Why? Because usually they answer the questions based of their experience instead of asking the questions based on what PMI expect as an answer.
I agree Sergio.
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Savrabh Mishra Senior Product Development Engineer| Oceaneering India
May 01, 2019 10:51 AM
Replying to Tarik Chougua
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In my opinion, experience is not enough especially when your organisation dont use PMI standard.
I think the key is to understand the philosophy of each of the 49 processes and how they interrelate. On the exam, you need to find out which process is the question about, and only then you can answer. The most difficult questions are those that have two or more answers and you'll have to select the best one according to the standard philosophy. For that, training questions can be helpful.
Another point, you must be careful on choosing the training, some of them are outdated and their questions are so easy that they will only help you get the basics of project management, but in fact they have nothing to do with the actual exam difficulty.
Thank you Tarik. Your perspective benefited me a lot.
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