Michael LoCiceroDirector of Software Development| Trillium LabsSecaucus, Nj, United States
Hi everyone,
I just finished a 29 hour course on Pluralsight for PMI-ACP certification preparation. Additionally, my PMI-ACP certification application has been approved, so I can schedule to sit for the exam within the next year.
Here's a quick background on myself, and my plan to pass the PMI-ACP exam. I've been a Software Development Manager for the past five years, implementing a hybrid Agile approach(I use portions of Kanban and Scrum, depending on the type of project we're working on). That said, this experienced combined with the Pluralsight course leaves me feeling confident in my general understanding of the Agile principals, and the various implementations of it. However, I still realize that there is work to be done to pass this exam, and here we arrive at the purpose of my post.
I would love if I could get some feedback on my plan to pass the PMI-ACP certification! Here it is below:
1) 2.5-3 months of studying 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. I'm not one of those people who can cram for an exam, I like a slow and steady approach; I'm a marathon runner, not a sprinter.
2) The study time will be spent primarily using the PMI-ACP Exam Prep book, second edition, by Mike Griffiths.
3) I'd like to schedule my exam 2.5-3 months from now, when I'm feeling confident, and pay for it then. I'm hoping once you pay for an exam you can sit for it shortly after the payment goes through.
Any comments or feedback on the plan above? Would love to hear any type of constructive feedback.
Manish MahantiAssociate Director| Cognizant Technology SolutionsBangalore, Karnataka, India
Hi. Your plan is yours to follow. However, I doubt if you can build deep study momentum in 30 mins to 1 hour of study per day. Perhaps go for 2 hours at least. Cheers. Saving Changes...
Do Bui HaiManager| NEC Vietnam Co., Ltd.Hanoi, Viet Nam
Hi Mike ! I'm also marathon runner . I tried to keep a sustainable pace of studying (1~1.5 hour per day) for studying. Mike Griffiths's book is my favourite book to pass the exam. And, please spend the last month before the real exam to practice sample exam questions and fill gaps. Saving Changes...
Michael, you should be very well prepared for it after that much work! I put under eight hours of studying into it by reading Andy Crowe's prep book and doing the practice questions and passed the exam within 45 minutes. The exam focuses a lot of understanding the application of the values & principles and from a method perspective, there are more Scrum-related questions than any other.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Darren PaladinoEngagement Director| SalesforceDenver, Co, United States
Thank you for this thread Michael and also to those with the book recommendations. Do you or anyone have any pointers on the best way to track and assert your experience for the application? I've been tracing the Agile Practice Guide and documenting use of the concept or tool as my project progresses. However, the application tracks in months and not hours as in the PMP process? Thank you to all. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
As long as you went through Mike’s book and the PMI Agile Guide, and understood them properly then you should be fine.
I suggest you solve many simulation exams from resources like PM PrepCast to boost your confidence and adapt to the exam questions style because most of the exam is situational.
Good Luck. Saving Changes...
Michael LoCiceroDirector of Software Development| Trillium LabsSecaucus, Nj, United States
Thanks so much, everyone. Appreciate it.
Question about scheduling the exam. How often do they host PMI-ACP certification exams? Could I pay for it 2.5 months from now, and expect to register to sit for the exam within 2 weeks of that(i.e. take my exam 3 months from now, but not pay/register until 2.5 months from now). Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
It depends on the availability of testing centres if you are doing it in a centre but if you are doing it online, then from what I heard, there is no issue with availability.
To be on the safe side and given the current pandemic, I would give 1 month instead of 2 weeks.
Good Luck ! Saving Changes...
Michael LoCiceroDirector of Software Development| Trillium LabsSecaucus, Nj, United States
I'll close the loop here, as I just passed my PMI-ACP certification :).
Looking at my original plan, I think I overestimated the amount of preparation I needed, but keep in mind I have a few years of experience overseeing development teams that use Agile methodologies. Also, I did the PMI-ACP preparation course on Pluralsight.
I read through PMI-ACP Exam Prep book, second edition, by Mike Griffiths and followed the "Plan B" he sets forth in the introductory chapter. Read through the book once, took all the review questions in one sitting and got 82% of them right. Went through the ones I got wrong and reviewed the material. Then, took his online quiz and scored a 95% so I felt I was ready to take the exam, and wanted to get it done before the holidays.
I spent ~1 hour per day, for a total of 7 hours per week, and it took me 3 weeks or so to get through the book twice and follow his "Plan B". That said, ~21 hours of preparation. Those numbers are for someone who works in an Agile environment daily, and has been reading consistently about Agile during my career, so it's most likely skewed a bit. I would think the preparation time will be significantly higher for someone without hands-on experience.
Hope this helps someone who is interesting in taking the exam! Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on my original plan. Now time to sit back and relax for a bit :).
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