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PMBOK versus Rita?

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Patrick Dixon President| DPAS Lago Vista, Tx, United States
I am studying for PMP certification. I took a class that was based on the PMBOK guide, but the quiz questions were based on Rita Mulcahy's book. The instructor said that the PMP exam will be based on the content in Rita's book. My problem is that PMBOK and Rita differ significantly. For example, I was told to memorize the PMBOK Table 3-1 "Project Management Process Group and Knowledge Area Mapping" because it is critical to know this for the exam, but in Rita's book it has Rita's Process Chart which is similar but very different and does not reconcile with PMBOK. This is extremely confusing. What should I be studying?
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Markus Kopko AI Enabler for Project & Program Mgmt | Founder PMotion.ai / The PM AI Coach| PMotion.ai Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Mar 20, 2018 2:49 AM
Replying to Boon Siang Tay
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I am also preparing to sit for PMP exam. I'm using Kim Heldman's 9th edition study guide, in addition to a 35 PDU online course.

So the advice is I STILL have to read the PMBOK guide?
@Boon:

The PMBoK Guide is the foundation for the PMP Exam, and so it is essential to know and understand it.
The prep books should be used in companion to help students for better understanding of the PMBoK Guide; its processes and how to apply them in daily project work.

I do always recommend the following study habits I have used by myself; feel free to align it accordingly to your own preferences:

Step 1: Just read the chapter in PMBoK Guide
Step 2: Now STUDY the corresponding chapter in your prep book(s)
Step 3: NOW STUDY the same chapter in PMBoK Guide AND try to understand the content and how the processes work for instance.
Step 4: After all of that just do the provided sample questions in your prep book(s) to see if you have understood the stuff. If you have less than 70% right, do the steps 2 - 4 again or try to figure out where your weak areas are and do those chapters again.

This is how my strategy works in a rough, and it is good for me. Another people here rude for the strategy to read the PMBoK Guide at least three times straight through.
From my point of view, this doesn't work really well.
But everyone has to find his own strategy I guess ...

Regards,

Markus
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1 reply by Boon Siang Tay
Mar 20, 2018 4:46 AM
Boon Siang Tay
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Thank you Markus. I appreciate the advice.
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Boon Siang Tay Project Manager | PMP, PMI-ACP, PRINCE2 Agile, Project+, CSM, CSPO, PSM, PSPO| ST Engineering Urban Solutions Singapore, Singapore
Mar 20, 2018 3:51 AM
Replying to Markus Kopko
...
@Boon:

The PMBoK Guide is the foundation for the PMP Exam, and so it is essential to know and understand it.
The prep books should be used in companion to help students for better understanding of the PMBoK Guide; its processes and how to apply them in daily project work.

I do always recommend the following study habits I have used by myself; feel free to align it accordingly to your own preferences:

Step 1: Just read the chapter in PMBoK Guide
Step 2: Now STUDY the corresponding chapter in your prep book(s)
Step 3: NOW STUDY the same chapter in PMBoK Guide AND try to understand the content and how the processes work for instance.
Step 4: After all of that just do the provided sample questions in your prep book(s) to see if you have understood the stuff. If you have less than 70% right, do the steps 2 - 4 again or try to figure out where your weak areas are and do those chapters again.

This is how my strategy works in a rough, and it is good for me. Another people here rude for the strategy to read the PMBoK Guide at least three times straight through.
From my point of view, this doesn't work really well.
But everyone has to find his own strategy I guess ...

Regards,

Markus
Thank you Markus. I appreciate the advice.
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Latika Rani Project Manager| Magneti Marelli India PVT LTD Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Hello Patric,
Recently, I have cleared my PMP exam. I have referred both Rita and PMP. if we talk specifically about process chart, PMBOK gives overview but Rita explain in detail.
In planning process group , many additional things are mentioned in Rita that based on real project experience.I hope that information is helpful.
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Anthony McCloskey Manager - Operations Compliance| Comcast Jenkintown, Pa, United States
Are you certain that you have the right version of Ritas to match with the proper edition of the PMBOK Guide you are studying from?
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Diwakar Killamsetty Associate Director| Capgemini Engineering Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
PMBoK is core and a PM should implement before or after passing the exam as a Project Manager. All other materials are means to pass the exam - think like notes to a text book. One should device their own means to remember / reproduce the concepts framed in PMBoK.
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Diwakar Killamsetty Associate Director| Capgemini Engineering Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
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Nijel Abraham General Motors Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Rita's process chart does not reconcile with the information given in the same book itself. I spent some time playing the process chart game and the next 50 pages threw me off and confused it for me. I was searching the internet to see if I was the only person who had this problem. Thanks to all for answering. I'll use the PMBok process chart and move on.
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
As somebody that was part of the group of people that worked as SME in QA of certification exam questions not only for PMP from more than 10 years I have to say: it is not true at all that the certification exams are based on Rita´s book. The key to answer the questions is to read and understand basically the Content Outline Document as the first step obviously. With that said, the only "external to PMI" documentation you have to consider are the references to tools/techniques/models/methods named inside the PMBOK and other PMI´s books related to each certification.
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