Dear Community,
I prepared for my PMP exam by using the online courses and the PMP Exam Prep Simplified book of Andrew Ramdayal. After doing all the practice questions I bought the TIA mock simulator, which is heavily advertised in reddit groups and youtube.
According to Andrew everybody who achieves +80% is ready for the real exam.
I did 2 mock tests and achieved 75% - 85% in total, therefore I thought I´m ready for the exam.
During the PMP- exam I faced many issues and failed the exam with AT/NI/NI:
- the questions in the exam were much more difficult than the questions in the mock simulator (longer, more complex, etc.)
- many topics in the exam were unknown to me and not covered in the preparation book
- the time was not sufficient to answer all the questions. I had to skip ~20 questions just to stay on time.
- I wasn´t able to understand a couple of the very long and complex questions. English is my second language.
-- According to the exam analysis I have to focus heavily on "Process" and "Business Environment".
The last few weeks I've been thinking about how I can better prepare for the 2nd attempt and developed a study plan:
1. Practicing the basics and the technical language
- Study of PMBOK 6th Edition, reading the book twice
- Study of PMBOK 7th Edition, reading the book once
- Study of Agile Practice Guide, reading the book twice
- PMP Exam Cram Session of Joseph Phillips on Udemy
2. Practicing of the basics with many mock questions
- free 100 practice questions of Oliver Lehmann
- Rita´s Process Chart Game
- free PMP Exam Prep Practice Test of simplilearn
- 135 Exam questions of Joseph Phillips (included in the Cram Session)
- Performing the PMI® Authorized Online PMP® Practice Exam
Do you think the preparation will be sufficient to build a solid foundation for passing the exam? Please let me know your thoughts!
Please study the following resources deeply:
Rita's preparation book
PMBOK Saving Changes...
arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
Hello,
I agree with Abolfazi. In addition, I did the exam simulator of Rita Mulcahy and PMI’s PMP Practice Exam. Good luck. Saving Changes...
Rhonda Stone-LorenzSenior Manager, Technology Delivery| Ryder Supply Chain SolutionsNovi, Mi, United States
Hi Frank. I did an online prep course. Then I studied with this prep book along with the PMBOK: Head First PMP: A Learner's Companion to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam 4th Edition. It is designed to hit all your learning modalities -- you read, do exercises, visual diagrams, etc. and it isn't as dry as a lot of the prep books out there. It really clarified some concepts for me. There is also a full length practice test at the end of the book that helped me identify my weaker areas. Saving Changes...
A world of thanks to everyone for the reply. Then it is clear for on how to prepare for the exam: Rita´s 10th edition book + PMBOK 6 + 7+ AGILE Practice guide. I will have a look at the "Head First PMP: A Learner's Companion to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam 4th Edition" book also.
Frank
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2 replies by Keith Sellars and Linda Mullally
Jan 18, 2023 2:27 AM
Linda Mullally
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Hi Frank, I also failed the PMP on my first try, and have been studying the past couple months to try and prepare to actually get the certification this time around. I am trying to find some local chapter study groups to join, since I keep testing low and am confused or disagree with why I get certain questions wrong. Let me know if you're interested in being study buddies. I also have completed a couple different prep courses and have taken a plethora of searchable notes on google docs, happy to share those if helpful.
Nov 12, 2023 4:55 PM
Keith Sellars
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Frank, here is what I did. Maybe it was overkill but it worked and I scored AT in all areas on the first attempt. I took the 35-hour PMI® Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep course. I went through the entire course's contents probably 4 times. I completed the PMI® Authorized Online PMP® Practice Exam (over and over and over until I was hitting about 90-95% correct). I purchased the PMP Exam Prep Q&A by PMtraining.com (over 1100 questions). I went through them all, creating a spreadsheet after each section that I went through that would help let me know quickly what I missed on subsequent attempts. I also purchased the Agile Practice Guide and read it cover to cover many times. I, too, saw many situations and questions that I had never encountered during my studies and I did NOT see many things that I spend lots of hours studying. I was not sure when I got through if I had done well enough to pass or not. I knew that I was at least close, but was hoping and praying that I made it. Thankfully, I not only passed, but scored Above Target in all areas. I did all of my studying, courses, and repeated practice exams over a 3 month period. I was consumed by it during those 3 months, but am glad that I spent the time on it. Good luck to you. Keep at it if you haven't gotten the certification yet.
I recommend Rita Mulcahy's certification prep, it's a good option to acquire PM Knowledge at your own pace, and is updated to the latest exam. Visit this link:
https://rmcls.com/about/rita-mulcahy Saving Changes...
Rita´s certification prep book is definitely on my list, thanks a lot. It is available here in Germany on Amazon. Saving Changes...
Hector OjedaProject ManagerTampa Bay Area, FL, United States
Frank, what worked for me (I took the exam 2 years ago) was studying Rita's book. Taking the sample questions at the end of each chapter and going back to understand WHY I got something wrong. The PMP exam questions are very process driven. You need to be able to identify key words in a question that will tell you WHERE in the project you are and that should drive your actions. Another very helpful step I took to understand process was to print out this chart: https://www.docsity.com/pt/project-managem...vargas/5997634/ I printed it into 12 different pages to make it a big poster and taped it to a wall. Each night for a few weeks I would trace it with my eyes. Not trying to memorize anything just repeating the flow of it again and again until the flow of the process made sense. This helped me in the "you have done X, what is your next step" type of questions. Good luck. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Frank
In my opinion, the best resource for preparation, besides the PMBOK, is Rita Mulcahy exam prep book.
For simulation exams, I highly recommend you use PM PrepCast. Don't expect to see the same or similar question in the exam, no prep course will provide this.
When doing simulation exams now, concentrate on areas were you scored lowest.
Hi,
I studied basically with the PMI Study Hall app. The questions are very similar, some of them the same as in the exam. Whenever I got something wrong I went into the details to understand why, mostly in the PMBOK 6.
Sigrid
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1 reply by Christiana Etuk
Aug 01, 2022 9:14 AM
Christiana Etuk
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Hello Sigrid, please do you still have access to the study Hall? Can you help me with please cos my exam is in a month. I am unable to pay for it cos the dollar rate has become so high for us
Hi, sorry to hear. But I prepared the same way as yours using AR's videos & TIA mock. I completed all 6 mocks with initial 2 with around 75-80% but manage to make 85-90% for rest of the mock tests. I passed with 3 AT's. What helped me a lot is mindset section. All the best for your next attempt. I am sure you will crack it with AT's.
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1 reply by DeAnn Hubberd
Jun 24, 2023 11:26 PM
DeAnn Hubberd
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I will be taking the PMP exam in a few months. This thread gives a lot of great resources. Thank you! What are AR's videos?
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