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Do you feel PMP difficult?

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Alex Poon Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Compare with other certificate you took before , do you think PMP is difficult?
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Partha Banerjee VP, Products, Technology & Government Services| Lynchval Systems Worldwide, Inc. Herndon, Va, United States
I do not think it is difficult if you understands the principles PMI is consistently preaching. While studying PMBOK sounds reasonable, they are difficult in application in many of the cases. If you are tuned with your own version of methodologies which is not what standard says, then it is definitely difficult. It is a practitioner's approach rather than memorizing something to pass the score.
In my opinion, read the scenario and think of your action in that case. Then read the answers to select yours one. At least I did that way to get my certification. My 2 cents.
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
The PMP was definitely the most difficult PMI exam I undertook. (I also got my PMI-SP and PMI-RMP.)

The ITIL foundation was definitely easier. My Oracle DBA certification was much more difficult. (Of course, it consisted of five exams!)
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Drew Craig Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard Philadelphia, Pa, United States
With numerous certifications across various areas, the PMP was the most difficult.
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James Shields IS Director - Portfolio Solutions| City and County of San Francisco, SFPD San Francisco, Ca, United States
The PMP exam is in line with other certifications that are considered/labelled as Professional or Master. These type of exams have questions that are situational and can be typically narrowed down to two possible answers where both seem correct (out of 4 or 5 multiple choice answers).

Basic or baseline type exams are more definition, concept or memorization-oriented. The correct answer from the multiple choice answers is clear most of the time -- assuming you have done your due diligence in locking down all those definitions and concepts.
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Alyne Padilla Lynch Sr Business Process Analyst| Communications and Finance Industry Sacramento, Ca, United States
Not everything in the PMBOK is application/scenario based learning. There are several details that need to be memorized in some manner. I'm studying for the CAPM cert and am finding the memorization aspect to be tricky. Luckily, there are many resources available and willing PMP professionals who share best practices and tips.
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Jochen Thomas Project Manager| SAS Sanford, Nc, United States
The PMP testing is not really more or less difficult than other certifications. Like most certifications is designed to teach you a organizational framework. Even the technical certs from Microsoft, Cisco, and other tech organizations do this.

The challenge in the real world is that most organizations only use a portion of any of these frameworks, meaning that we as users are only getting a portion of the full benefit of the structure the framework provides.

The real key is to know what parts of the framework are must use and what parts you can do without.
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Deborah Kiefiuk Program Manager| EPES Scottsdale, Az, United States
I agree with comment above about the test is not any difficult than others. I do not feel it is a difficult test since I prepared and studied to really learn the information inside-out. I think it can be difficult for those who may want to cut corners and take a boot camp, which is short-term memory. The goal should be to truly understand the best practices to apply them.
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Having earned many certifications over the years, I would say that the PMP Exam itself was moderately difficult, but not the most difficult. I've taken much more difficult exams.

On the other hand, the prep time for the PMP was probably the longest of all the certificates Ive taken (Probably because it was my first, after university).
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Raj Shekhar Bidika Maintenance Engineer| Reliance Industries Limited Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
I agree with Rami, PMP is my first international certification exam. PMP is not difficult but the exam is challenging & Tricky. If you are well versed with PMBOK methodologies and having practical experience, then attempting PMP wouldn't be that difficult.
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Eduard Hernandez
Community Champion
Product Operations Program Manager Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain
Let's say that it is not easy, it requires thorough preparation. The truth to be said, I took more difficult exams during university, but back then I was also younger and less experienced. As a side note, making PMP a difficult exam adds value to the certification.
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