SANJEET KUMAR PATRAAssociate Director| UBS USA LLCNashville, Tn, United States
I am glad to inform that I passed PMP exam.
Sources used for preparation:
PMBOK - Rita PMP Exam Prep, Aileen Ellis: PMP® Success, Very good supplement book to PMBOK with process group wise
Vijay K. Verma book on The Human Organizing Projects for Success & Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager (Part 1, 2, 3) Very good read for Knowledge & Skills of exam content outline
Also in I downloaded Safari Queue app & read lot of other resources on Project management books
Full Mocks:
PM FastTrack PMP v8 (Rita) - I scored 77 to 83 in 7 Tests
PM prep cast (8 mocks)-Average of 86% &ITTO 95%
Free Mocks –Simplilearn (79%) Pmzest(66%), Head first( 88%)
I took more than 1500 questions with different chapter end questions and question bank
Since the PMP doesn't tell you passing score I can share my score comparison with mock to real Exam (I was scoring 76 to 83 in 6 Tests PM FastTrack PMP v8 (Rita) and PMPREPCAST (Average of 86%)
Video: Joseph Phillips - PMP Exam Prep: Earn Your PMP Certification,
YouTube: Engineer4Free, iZenBridge (SAKET BANSAL) short videos are really helpful
Blogs: iZenBridge, Prep cast, Shiv shenoy (PMExamSmartNotes), pmzila, pmstudycircle
Forum: I want to be a PMP®, Aileen’s Facebook group
1. I started with PMBOK and was reading Rita side by side for each chapter to clear my basic concepts. I studied both of them number of times
2. Then started reading with Aileen Ellis book Process groups wise completed chapter end question’s
3. Also I glanced practice standards for Risk , WBS,EMV, portfolio mgmt., Business analysis ( Need assessment section is Very good read for Benefits realization
4. A Project Manager's Book of Forms: A Companion to the PMBOK Guide BY Cynthia Stackpole Snyder very helpful for Project template and elements of each of proj plan& docs
5. I printed Table 3-1(page 61 &53 in the PMBOK and all data flow diagrams understand process interaction. Every day I practiced 47 processes with their key ITTO. Trust me understanding the ITTO’s based on concepts will greatly help during the exam
6. The exam was VERY situation based
7. The test was lot of situational questions as people on this forum have said! Everybody was right when they advised to focus on understanding the ITTO's and how they interrelate instead of memorization,that helped me
8. Actual questions were framed as“ What will you PM do next…….” & “ What would have been done to prevent this situation….” ,“ What will you do Now, What process might the PM have skipped?" ….Remembering w47 processes will not help you , you have to understand what happens in each process , what tools used ,what is use of output will help you answering what next questions
9. Questions may sometimes look ambiguous of what it tries to convey but note for the keywords in the question which hints you what it is trying to find out from you. Don’t’ get carried away with long questions , all questions are written such way to confuse you with lot distractors
10. Focus on understanding the processes, not just memorizing
11. Focus on Interpretation of EVM what the calculations mean
12. Reviewed the ITTOs tables each day. Eventually, I started to know them by heart just by reading them each day I without memorizing. Modified ITTO spreadsheet available online created Pivot of tools/Input/output
13. I suggest all aspirants to give Full mock exams as many as you can before exam that would be helpful to evaluate your progress. I completed 15 full mock exam before my final exam from Rita PMpastTrack and prep cast , I advise don’t use simulator as study mode as you already know the answers
14. Mock exam questions are nowhere comparable to actual exam, My time to complete the simulations and real exam were also very similar, under 3 hour I completed and reviewed marked for reviewed questions
15. I found the test questions a little harder than a lot of practice exams questions. Not the questions themselves but the answers. Most of the practice exam questions you could easily strikeout 2 of the answer but in real PMI exam you couldn’t normally do that! Process of elimination is difficult.
16. Every exam is different so even if someone tells you they didn't have many formulas or network diagrams or ITTO's it doesn't mean that you won't have questions on these. I got couple of complex couple network diagram with Logical relationships; also the answers aren't as straight forward as in exam simulators. You really need to know how the processes interact to figure out the right answer.
17. Please go through each task & cross cutting skills mentioned in the exam content outline. It will help you few questions. PMP tests your application of project management skills not testing your PMBOK memory
18. I did not used any brain dump for my exam, and it’s your personal choice to create one-if you feel to make note of important points before you start answering( But you have to do it in your 4 hour time, it is not allowed during tutorial-15 mins before your exam.
19. Day before exam: I started feeling little nervous about the exam but I told myself that 'I SHOULD CONTROL THE EXAM, exam should not control me!!!!
That's my journey folks. I am now a PMP!
If you have any questions/doubt regarding PMP application, study plan, exam pattern or anything else please feel free to ping me. I would surely help you as much as I can.
I want to thank each and every one of you in this forum for providing excellent lessons learned, practice questions and quick tips and techniques. This forum really helped me understand what people go through before and while preparing and how they feel after passing PMP. Saving Changes...
Congratulations for achieving the success. Thanks for sharing lessons learned. Saving Changes...
Emanuel Cabezasconsulting project Business intelligence and data analytics| Business Intellince InnovateSalta, Salta, Argentina
Wow my friend !, congratulations and many thanks for your post.
The reference list and tips will help me a lot in my exam. Thank you Saving Changes...
Jess De OcampoLean Six Sigma Professional/Project Manager/Consultant/| .Manila, Ncr, Philippines
Congratulations and thank you for sharing your journey! Cheers! Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Congratulations. Thanks for the write-up. Saving Changes...
Mark EckmanSenior Project Manager, PMP| VeoliaEmporia, Va, United States
Congratulations on earning your PMP. Excellent recap of your exam prep. I am sure that your insights will be helpful to those in pursuit of their PMP. Saving Changes...
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