Rebecca BraglioCommunity Engagement Specialist II| Project Management InstituteNewtown Square, Pa, United States
Have you taken the exam? Passed? Failed? Failed and then passed?
Help out a fellow project manager and post your tip on studying for and taking the exam. Here are some we''ve gathered from members so far:
J.l Laroche: Try not to try to absorb all the PMBOK content by heart, focus on the main stream of processes and knowledge, the tools and the results and you will be fine don''t worry. remember to get first through all questions, answering the evident ones and flagging the others and then get back to the flagged ones, and think of it, even if you''re unsure of the answer, always, always pick one, if you''re wrong you will not loose points and you have 1 on 4 chances to get it good...
M. Hartsough: When reviewing those questions you flagged, don''t start second-guessing yourself. IMO, in all probability your initial answer was correct. Don''t change your original answers unless you definitely found a better one. Remember to answer from the "PMI Perspective". The PMI Perspective isn''t necessarily how you or your organization manages projects.
F. McCaskell: take a break every 50 questions - no matter if you don''t think you need it. This will prevent you from being burned out at the end.
C.Tong: don''t think the exam is easy or you won''t prepare yourself well Saving Changes...
Since you have gone through Guide to PMBOK 5th edition and you still have time before exam shifts to 6th edition, I would say that you go through PMP exam prep book by Rita Mulcahy. For getting a feel of exam questions I found RMC fastrack to be the closest, which will give your mind a lot of practice to handle scenario based questions. PMP PrepCast is also a great source.
I appreciate your time and suggestions. Thank you so much! Saving Changes...
Janarthanan BalasubramanianSenior Business Analyst| Standard Chartered Global Business ServicesBangalore, Karnataka, India
Jan 29, 2018 8:54 PM
Replying to anonymous
...
Wish I would have passed my first try. Read/Studied the PMBOK5, PMP Simplified by Aileen Ellis, PMP Exam Simplified by Ramdayal, and even took a course and completed several practice exams by Prometric, which I successfully passed. However, the exam was presented in a much different format and style than ANY of the teachings/Exams. Any advise as to the materials needed to study for this exam from someone who has completed the exam within the last 6 months is appreciated.
Please go through all the tips in this thread and make a list of resources based on these suggestions. You have limited time. Exam is changing on March 26, 2018. You need to hurry up if you want to write the exam based on PMBOK 5th Ed.
Plan: Create a plan for the next 1 month. Spend at least 4 hrs per day. Then for the next 10 days attend mock tests everyday.
Prepare: Start preparing. Keep improvising the plan based on the learning that emerge. Understand the ITTO. Though there are not many direct questions on ITTO, good understanding of ITTO is very important to answer a lot of questions (what comes next type, situation based questions etc).
Practice. Attend at least 3000 - 5000 good sample test questions. (read through the tips in this thread to identify good sources of sample test questions) - that is 15 - 20 mock tests and the chapter end questions in the books. See how it applies to the real life situation.
There is no short cut to passing the PMP exam. All the best. Saving Changes...
Sandra MaughonProfessor| Piedmont CollegeCleveland, Ga, United States
As you go through your practice exams, note which kind of questions give you the most trouble. Build a one - page "brain dump" and practice writing it out quickly the week before your test. I could write mine in less than two minutes and I practised one last time just before I went into the test. Yes, it is true (from my experience) that you cannot write your brain dump until the test starts, and you may not need it at all, however knowing it is there can help take the edge off off worrying. Even just the act of writing your notes will set them in your mind. I included a few phrases and motivators along with my formulas, most importantly: READ! READ CAREFULLY! Seems obvious, but I needed to remind myself.
And take a deep breath. You can do it! Saving Changes...
I took the exam few months back and thankfully passed in the first try. The exam is not easy, so do study for it. 1. Read thoroughly the PMBOK guide. The word-to-word definition in the glossary section are often the best answer to many questions. 2. Learn the processes, knowledge areas, tools and techniques and different theories. Focus on the sequence of processes too. 3. I used Rita Mulachy's book - an excellent guide to help answer from the PMI perspective. 4. Practice as many sample questions as you can. Most answer options are correct but the trick is to find the best answer. With practice you slowly start looking for the keywords to help you choose the best answer. 5. Most of the questions are situation based - what would you do as the PM? 6. While taking the exam, even if you want to skip, choose one answer and mark it for review instead. You may not have enough time near the end of the exam to reread the question and all the options. 7. All the Best !!
Really useful for starters like me, Thanks
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1 reply by Diane Gloor
Feb 28, 2018 6:19 PM
Diane Gloor
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As mentioned already, this is great advice. so thank you. I take the exam on 3/21/18!
Utilize the first 15 minutes which is given to get familiarized with the system to write down all the important formulas/things which you can''t remember for a long time on the paper so that you can free up your mind and concentrate on the questions.
Nice, good piece of advise Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Hello, yesterday I failed the PMP exam in the third time :(
The first try I have done in 2016 directly after a training and accordingy study preparation. The second time I was going into the Exam was on December this year and yesterday was the third time. Well, in particular yesterday I was feeling very good prepared because I have red the PMBok guide, Rita Mulcahy PMP Prep. and an online study course by a German Training portal. Durin the exam I had the feeling the most of the question had answers where every answer can be correct or every answer is incorrect.
Generally I can say that logic and procedure and dependencies of processes with the ITTO I am aware and I have understand. So today I am totally confused where the porblem is/was. Maybe it is the relationship between my practice work as a project manager and the theory.......
Maybe somebody of have an idea or tip....should I try it the fourth time ?
Thank you very much :)
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1 reply by Pamela Nandi
Jan 30, 2018 11:27 AM
Pamela Nandi
...
I passed the exam on 24-Jan.
Would advise you to buy some good simulators and join discussion forum in linkedin - 'I want to be PMP'.
Keep an eye on this forum. The tips from this site helped me a lot.
2 best paid simulators i practised
Amol Singha's PMZest
Cornelius Fichtner's PMPrepCast
Put more focus on the explanation of the answers that goes wrong. This is VERY VERY IMPORTANT.
During practise, I have hardly scored 60 to 70%, but my focus was on the wrong answers (i mean why it went wrong). This will help to clear the concepts as the explanations are very well articulated.
Tips - Free simulators are okay just for practice, but i would recommend not to blindly rely on them for exam purpose, as they are not up-to-date and sometimes misguiding too. The explanations are not properly documented.
Best way to memorize is to write down what you read.
No need to mug up, as long as you understand the concept its fine for the exam.
Best way to speed up during the exam is to use the highlighter to mark the important words for the question and the scratch the wrong answers. This is very helpful. Please use this facility. Have not seen this too in any paid or non paid simulators.
I am a starter and it means that I am in no place to comment my views on this. But, what i understand is, I will have to take my chances Saving Changes...
1. Read Rita Mulcay's PMP Exam Prep and Head First PMP books
2. Go through PMBOK Guide
3. Try relating your studies to your day-to-day work
4. Set time and take as many mock exams as possible. I suggest 5+ full mock exams.
5. Try to answers all 200 questions in 4 hours.
6. Note down all your questions with wrong answers. Revisit those KA/topics in PMBOK guide thoroughly
7. Check your scores and confident level
8. Register and go for the PMP exam
9. Pass the exam
Hope is helps.
Good luck! Saving Changes...
Pamela NandiDelivery Project Manager| IBM India Pvt. Ltd.Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Jan 29, 2018 8:54 PM
Replying to anonymous
...
Wish I would have passed my first try. Read/Studied the PMBOK5, PMP Simplified by Aileen Ellis, PMP Exam Simplified by Ramdayal, and even took a course and completed several practice exams by Prometric, which I successfully passed. However, the exam was presented in a much different format and style than ANY of the teachings/Exams. Any advise as to the materials needed to study for this exam from someone who has completed the exam within the last 6 months is appreciated.
I cleared my PMP exam on 24-Jan. Let me tell you its not easy and there is no short-cut to pass this exam.
Skimmed through - PMBOK - 3 times, Rita - 3 times, (Practise all the exercises throughly until you are confident), HeadFirst - 2 times. Use highlighters that to make it more easy to remember the important terms/words.
Practised the 2 best PAID simmulators -
Amol Singha's PMZest
Cornelius Fichtner's PMPrepCast.
Put more focus on the explanation of the answers that goes wrong. This is VERY VERY IMPORTANT.
During practise, I have scored 60 to 70%, but my focus was on the wrong answers (i mean why it went wrong). This will help to clear the concepts as the explanations are very well articulated in paid simulators.
Tips - Free simulators are okay just for practice, but i would recommend not to blindly rely on them for exam purpose, as they are not up-to-date and sometimes misguiding too. The explanations are not properly documented.
Best way to memorize is to write down what you read, specially the challenging sections.
No need to mug up, as long as you understand the concept its fine for the exam.
Best way to speed up during the exam is to use the highlighter to mark the important words for the question and the scratch the wrong answers. This is very helpful. Please use this tool facility in exam. Have not seen this too in any paid or non paid simulators.
Finished 200 ques in 3hrs 30 mins without taking break. Last 30 mins revised 70 ques. Saving Changes...
Pamela NandiDelivery Project Manager| IBM India Pvt. Ltd.Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Jan 30, 2018 8:43 AM
Replying to anonymous
...
Hello, yesterday I failed the PMP exam in the third time :(
The first try I have done in 2016 directly after a training and accordingy study preparation. The second time I was going into the Exam was on December this year and yesterday was the third time. Well, in particular yesterday I was feeling very good prepared because I have red the PMBok guide, Rita Mulcahy PMP Prep. and an online study course by a German Training portal. Durin the exam I had the feeling the most of the question had answers where every answer can be correct or every answer is incorrect.
Generally I can say that logic and procedure and dependencies of processes with the ITTO I am aware and I have understand. So today I am totally confused where the porblem is/was. Maybe it is the relationship between my practice work as a project manager and the theory.......
Maybe somebody of have an idea or tip....should I try it the fourth time ?
Thank you very much :)
I passed the exam on 24-Jan.
Would advise you to buy some good simulators and join discussion forum in linkedin - 'I want to be PMP'.
Keep an eye on this forum. The tips from this site helped me a lot.
2 best paid simulators i practised
Amol Singha's PMZest
Cornelius Fichtner's PMPrepCast
Put more focus on the explanation of the answers that goes wrong. This is VERY VERY IMPORTANT.
During practise, I have hardly scored 60 to 70%, but my focus was on the wrong answers (i mean why it went wrong). This will help to clear the concepts as the explanations are very well articulated.
Tips - Free simulators are okay just for practice, but i would recommend not to blindly rely on them for exam purpose, as they are not up-to-date and sometimes misguiding too. The explanations are not properly documented.
Best way to memorize is to write down what you read.
No need to mug up, as long as you understand the concept its fine for the exam.
Best way to speed up during the exam is to use the highlighter to mark the important words for the question and the scratch the wrong answers. This is very helpful. Please use this facility. Have not seen this too in any paid or non paid simulators.
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1 reply by Christian Lillo
Jan 31, 2018 9:37 AM
Christian Lillo
...
Hello Pamela, thank you for your recommendation and tipps.
Well I have read the PMBok two times and Rita as well and I have work and answer on Rita´s question. I had the feeling that most of the questions and the according ansers were stupied meaning by reading the answers I thought every answer or no answer is correct.
Furthermore I was wondering about the sense....what is the question refereing to (do you know what I mean ?).
Well actually I am thinkning of if a fourth time makes sense.
Cheers
