Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
I passed the PMI-ACP this morning in the comfort of my basement. (It sure beats driving four hours to a test centre.)
For my fourth PMI certification, I decided it would be appropriate to try an agile approach to the exam preparation. Like test-driven development, I chose to work backward.
I purchased 500 ACP questions and worked my way through each one. When anything was unsure, I would research the question and its answer.
This allowed me to focus on areas where I was weaker and spend little to no time on the areas I was stronger.
The risk with this approach is the same as with TDD: I may not have sufficient coverage to cover all bases. (In TDD, a defect is only a missed test case.)
What do you think of such an approach to learning? Are there any other pitfalls? Saving Changes...
This is a good strategy so long as the ACP practice exam questions you purchased were representative of the level of difficulty and domain/task scope of the actual exam.
So the question is, was your pre-existing knowledge sufficient to make up for any areas not adequately covered by the practice exam questions you used?
Kiron Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
That is certainly a factor, Kiron. Besides some long ago, self-paced Scrum training and my own experience, I had already read the Agile practice guide.
I could see that this approach could be laborious if you don't have a good base. In such a case, you would wind up researching everything.
As is typical of mock exam questions, they tended to be more knowledge-based than the exam. The ACP exam, like the PMP exam, was very much based on situational questions. (Interestingly, the RMP and SP exams were much less situational.)
I would say that the previous experience I brought into my exam preparation played a much larger role than my previous knowledge. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Really like that approach, Stéphane and congrats for winning the price.
According to the project Economy principle of whatever works this was an unusual approach. Everybody has to find out what works best. Certainly a good mental model and structure us also important. And you had it.
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Feb 24, 2020 9:12 AM
Stéphane Parent
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Thank you, Thomas. I believe this learning approach works well when you are trying to supplement, rather than start from nothing. I'm already trying to see how I can incorporate this approach in my coaching and mentoring opportunities.
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Congratulations Stéphane!
Apparently it resulted
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Feb 24, 2020 9:14 AM
Stéphane Parent
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Thank you, Luis. It sure did. My results showed up on PMI this morning: I exceeded in all but one area.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Stephane
Congratulations for this great achievement, happy for you.
With regards to the approach, it’s a realistic one if the questions you had are reliable which I trust they were (Can you share which simulation exams did you practice ?)
I personally like to dig deep into the any certification as the journey matters for me more so I studied Mike’s book which to date I refer to it and then read the Agile Guide (Which didn’t really add much value, they need to work more on the guide) and the solved some simulation exams from PM PrepCast which were great and did the same like you did at that point inspected and adapted.
Cheers
RK
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Feb 24, 2020 9:18 AM
Stéphane Parent
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Thank you, Rami. I used Udemy since they were the only ones that offered just the questions. (Most others offer the course along with questions.) The questions were numerous enough to cover all the bases. (I had to turn off the grammar nazi in me.)
I agree that the Agile Practice Guide is too high level to be useful as part of the ACP exam preparation.
Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Feb 23, 2020 2:49 PM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
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Really like that approach, Stéphane and congrats for winning the price.
According to the project Economy principle of whatever works this was an unusual approach. Everybody has to find out what works best. Certainly a good mental model and structure us also important. And you had it.
Thank you, Thomas. I believe this learning approach works well when you are trying to supplement, rather than start from nothing. I'm already trying to see how I can incorporate this approach in my coaching and mentoring opportunities. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Feb 23, 2020 3:14 PM
Replying to Luis Branco
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Congratulations Stéphane!
Apparently it resulted
Thank you, Luis. It sure did. My results showed up on PMI this morning: I exceeded in all but one area. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Feb 23, 2020 4:23 PM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
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Stephane
Congratulations for this great achievement, happy for you.
With regards to the approach, it’s a realistic one if the questions you had are reliable which I trust they were (Can you share which simulation exams did you practice ?)
I personally like to dig deep into the any certification as the journey matters for me more so I studied Mike’s book which to date I refer to it and then read the Agile Guide (Which didn’t really add much value, they need to work more on the guide) and the solved some simulation exams from PM PrepCast which were great and did the same like you did at that point inspected and adapted.
Cheers
RK
Thank you, Rami. I used Udemy since they were the only ones that offered just the questions. (Most others offer the course along with questions.) The questions were numerous enough to cover all the bases. (I had to turn off the grammar nazi in me.)
I agree that the Agile Practice Guide is too high level to be useful as part of the ACP exam preparation.
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Feb 24, 2020 12:47 PM
Rami Kaibni
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Thank you Stephane. There are a few more solid resources like iZenbridge and PM PrepCast where you can buy the simulation exams separately. I used PM PrepCast.
On Udemy, who was the course provider for the simulation exams ? There are lots so trying to know which one so we can refer future candidates to it.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Feb 24, 2020 9:18 AM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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Thank you, Rami. I used Udemy since they were the only ones that offered just the questions. (Most others offer the course along with questions.) The questions were numerous enough to cover all the bases. (I had to turn off the grammar nazi in me.)
I agree that the Agile Practice Guide is too high level to be useful as part of the ACP exam preparation.
Thank you Stephane. There are a few more solid resources like iZenbridge and PM PrepCast where you can buy the simulation exams separately. I used PM PrepCast.
On Udemy, who was the course provider for the simulation exams ? There are lots so trying to know which one so we can refer future candidates to it.
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Feb 24, 2020 12:57 PM
Stéphane Parent
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It was provided by Ucertify, Rami. I would only recommend Ucertify and this approach to someone who already has a good base and can put up with idiosyncrasies and typos.
Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Feb 24, 2020 12:47 PM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
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Thank you Stephane. There are a few more solid resources like iZenbridge and PM PrepCast where you can buy the simulation exams separately. I used PM PrepCast.
On Udemy, who was the course provider for the simulation exams ? There are lots so trying to know which one so we can refer future candidates to it.
It was provided by Ucertify, Rami. I would only recommend Ucertify and this approach to someone who already has a good base and can put up with idiosyncrasies and typos.
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