My PMP Experience

Dear PMP Aspirants,

I passed the PMP exam last night and thought about sharing my experience with preparations and the actual exam while the memories are still fresh with me.

Background -

I am a Product Manager with a mid-sized company and managing 'Projects' for about 4 years now.

I decided to become a PMP in June-08, purchased PMI membership and started preparing without scheduling the exam. I found all the possible excuses not to complete even one round of reading of PMBOK till May-09. One day received an email from PMI for membership renewal and then realized the importance of scheduling the exam and then studying. On 25th May I scheduled my exam for 25th July (giving myself exact 2 months (60 days) for preparation).

Preparation -

First thing I did was to buy 'Head First PMP' online and read it from first to last page. Its a joy to read this book. I did not skip any exercise. I think most of my preparation was done in first 15 days with this book. I got Rita's book from library but found it little overwhelming and dry. Read through her PMI-isms and 'Tricks of the trade' for all the chapters.

For next 15 days I was reading PMBOK and this time it made much more sense. I could never memorize the ITTOs but tried to understand each of those in the context of real life scenario.

Could not study much for the next week (for some genuine reasons).

The next week, i started looking online for some information, mock exam, experiences etc. I came across http://deepfriedbrain.blogspot.com. The search for online resources ended with this blog. Harwinder has done a very good job and all the information needed for passing PMP exam is present here.

The first full length exam i took was from 'Head First'. I passed it and it boosted my confidence but then someone on a forum said, its an easy exam and the real exam is more difficult. Then i tried to take all the free exams referenced on Harwinder's blog. I was too lazy to read the explanations for all my wrong answers. Practicing more and more questions made me understand the tone of the question and then getting to the right answer was getting easier.

3 days before the exam, I took 'Head First' exam one more time and got 185 qustions right this time.

2 days before the exam, started memorizing the process chart and the formulaes and practiced writing in less than 15 minutes.

Day before exam, i went to the prometric center so that there are no surprises on the exam day.

Exam day -

On the exam day, read through the Definitions in PMBOK's Glossary section.

The exam was scheduled at 5:30 PM. Took a nap from 1:00 to 3:00 PM.

Reached the prometric center at 4:40, wanted to read through the formulaes one more time but they said i can take the exam early if i am ready. I was ready....

Exam -

The tutorial does not need 15 minutes. Browsed through the tuturial in 2 mins and used next 13 minutes to write down the process chart and the formulaes.

The exam interface is very simple and the fonts used are appropriate size.

The firxt question I got was easy and I knew the exact answer. That set the ball rolling....

The network diagrams and the EMV calculations were very simple.

I finished the exam in about 3 hours. Most of the questions are small and do not take a long time to answer. I marked about 30 questions for review as I realized that i will have plenty of time for review.

By the time i finished 200 questions, i had realized that i will be a PMP soon. But still scanned through the reviewed questions and changed 4-5 answers.

I could not sit for next 30 minutes and finished the exam. Took the survey and the saw the 'Congratulations !!!'.

In my personal opinion -

1. This is a simple exam (i am not a genius - believe me)
2. Two months of preparation is sufficient (schedule the exam before starting)
3. No need to buy any expensive exam simulators (the free stuff is enough)
4. Four hours of exam time is more than sufficient.

I hope this helps -

Best Wishes -

Anand D.

Note - This is my personal experience. It may not be applicable for all.