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The PMP exam is a long and hard test which requires mental stamina alongside sharp thinking. Some of these steps may have been posted already, but this is the approach that allowed me to prepare and pass on the first attempt. If you treat your studying / prepping for the exam like a project with milestones, you will achieve success. Most importantly, sit with your family and set the expectations for the next few months so that they can support and cheer you until test day.
A strong shout out to my good friend Hernan Cabrera (provided me with a lot of guidance in regards to studying, testing and building a test sheet), my wife Yasmin and children Neidyn, Jhona and Gabi. I could not have achieved success without their involvement and support through out my journey.
This was my approach during the entire process performed over three months:
1. Read ''Head First PMP'' alongside the accompanying chapter in PMBOK guide for a good start on memory mapping the knowledge areas, processes and ITTOs. I strongly recommend reading both books with this approach and completing every exercise in the Head First PMP book. Break your reading bouts into thirty minutes to one hour, twice a day.
2. Get 6 hours of sleep every night, thus allowing your brain to digest the information into the long term memory.
3. I Strongly recommend taking a one week training course after getting through the first read of the books.
4. Look for opportunities to apply your learnings to your daily routines at work and home.
5. Schedule one hour blocks twice a week to test for one hour and review the test for the other hour. I separated the testing and reviewing into two days, allowing me to sleep on questions that challenged me during the test.
6. After finishing a first run of both books, schedule a series of 5-6 full exams for five consecutive weeks (preferably on weekends) to build up stamina for the test. Continue to split the testing and review sessions into two consecutive days. E.g. test on Saturday and review on Sunday.
7. Use the time during the week to review in PMBOK those areas where you got the wrong answer or need further clarification.
8. On the last full week prior to the test, focus your time to creating a brain dump sheet to use during the test, from memory twice a day - once in the morning and once before bed. For my approach, I developed a sheet that includes that complete mappings of knowledge areas and process group(PMBOK guide p. 61) for which you need to know the sequences across all knowledge areas, the common formulas, conflict resolution list and stakeholder categories. The goal here is to produce the sheet within fifteen minutes. This is the same time you will get for the tutorial section at the beginning of the test. Use this time to build your sheet. You will reference it through out the test and will help decrease the time you spend on some questions due to the quick lookup.
9. Avoid heavy testing on the last week.
10. I used a few mobile apps to cover about 5 - 10 questions a day through out the journey.
11. Get a good night''s rest and go into this test knowing that you are ready.
12. Take a break for a few minutes on the hour to look away and let your mind refocus.
Good luck and hope this helps you achieve your PMP certification. You can do it!
