Well yeah guys don’t get me wrong.........but its the fact, yeah my wife, my kids, my parents, my relatives, suffered a lot during my PMP preparation.............

Being a travel freak, confining myself to a room during this preparation time was really not easy, I didnt have time to play with my kids, spend time with my wife, my parents, my relatives and all important people in my life........... I am sincerely sorry.......

So many holidays came, went by and all that I was doing was preparing for PMP........and today I can finally and proudly say.....I am a part of the gang who have achieved the PMP........ 

Well it started way back in 2006, when my company arranged the training to get the required PDU's.

I registered as a PMI Member in 2008, submitted the exam fees, neither I got the time to study nor I attended the exam,  the eligibility time expired, 

I got so much engrossed in managing projects for my company that I didn’t have the time to study for PMP and even I thought to myself, well am good in managing projects then why do I need a PMP, so just kept ignoring it until in march of 2012, I decided to go for it again.....the reason.....for a better career prospect.....I attended the Training program again in April 2012 and decided to attend the exam by July..... which never happened......then from September I started the preparation which ended today........

In between, I applied to renew my membership with PMI in October and finally after being forced by my wife to schedule the exam, on Jan 28th, scheduled it for today........3 months after paying the fees 

About the Preparation, what can I say about it, I went through a lot of notes....

I started with Head First, very nicely illustrated......

I studied PMP Book, I don’t remember how many times, but every time it feels that you are reading it for the first time.....

Rita Mulachy helped me a lot in building the concepts, but the bad part is, it is not aligned with the PMBOOK, especially for the Inputs and Outputs.....but after you write the exam you can easily make out why have they taken this approach, there is really very few questions on Inputs and Outputs in the exam and then u feel yeah Rita is right......

another source of Inspiration was DEEP FRIED BRAIN Project website, it’s so easy to understand the concepts from there....

I went through KIM Heldman as well after reviewing lessons learned from this forum, also the concepts are very nicely framed in this book...

I went through Procurement Management Chapter through PMRoadtrip, its very well written, I didn’t get hold of the whole book.

I went through Abhishek's Version of Rajesh Nair Notes, yeah its nicely written.

I studied Raga's 355 Points but I guess there are few mistakes in it, I can point it out later......

JIM Owens tip is also very nice....

In the end I feel that one book is not enough to make your concepts clear....there is something missing in Rita, something missing in KIM Heldman, even if you read PMPBOOK several times its a bit hard to remember everything, because its very vast...... You can Google, try You Tube Videos to understand the concepts.....there are lot of people who are ready to help for free on the web.....PMZILLA is also a place where you can get expert feedback.....

I didn’t make any notes and although I found it missing during the last preparation, I dont regret about it.....

Mock exams:

I have gone through the following test, well I don’t remember the exact scores

Cert Gear (1 - 10), the exam is for 2 hrs and 114 questions.

I scored in the 60's and 70's in the first 4 exam, then between 85 - 90 in the last  6

Rita Mulachy - I went through it Knowledge Group Wise and scored comfortably between 80 – 90……Though Few questions are repeated from the end of the chapter.

PM STUDY 1 and 3 - between 80 to 85

Oliver Lehman 175 - 74

Frank T Anbari - 86

Christopher Scordo - 

I scored between 80 - 90 in the 1st 12 exams, 66 in 13, between 75 - 84 in exams 14 -18

Farndales - 72

I went through chapter wise questions from KIM Heldman Book - scored between 70 -80

PMPFOR SURE - I guess i scored around 70.

I tried few questions from exam central and simpli learn as well.

Exam:

Well all I can say is guys, although I tried more than 4000 questions during my preparation, the questions you get in the exam is not even close to it......I don’t know how PMI comes up with these questions....

I was tired using the calculator which is embedded with the simulator, even the one sitting next to me, had requested the calculator from the Prometric and I could hear the tapping sounds clearly which meant even he got a lot of questions on calculation....

Some of the earned value questions are difficult, and first you have to figure out how to get the earned value  before making other calculations for the Variance, Performance, etc...... I just took a wild guess for one of the answer.....

Network diagrams were ok but haven’t encountered like those types in any one of the mock exam....

Situational questions were very tough.....sometimes you cant even figure out which process it belongs to & none of the mock test had such situational questions..... I was tired of answering it and keep asking myself when this will end.......when you are finish with Situations, then suddenly calculation pop ups... then situations, then.........., oh i was so tired,...........it was a test of my patience.,......

Verify Scope and Closing Process is so closely related in the exam, its so difficult to figure out whether you are in Verify Scope Process or Closing Process, although I studied a lot about their difference, in exam it was so difficult to figure out....make sure you understand Verify Scope and Closing Process well.....thats the reason people score not so well in the Closing Process.......

There were few direct questions on Inputs, T&T and Outputs and most of them were asking more about OPA

Some questions on conflict and risk response strategies and contingency reserves.

After the exam, I wondered where was Crossby, Juran, Deming, there were none of them in the exam….But I met Theory X, Theory Y, etc from the Human Resource Dept.

Time just runs when you are giving the exam, so be very careful about the time, I just took a 3 minute break after 3.25 hours to relieve myself, I had to hold on for atleast 2 hours because I was running out of time

I marked a lot of questions and when reviewing could only reach till the 100th question after which it displayed "You have run out of time"

I pressed the end button , took the survey....... it took me some seconds to see the word Congratulations.....and well.... boy I was so excited....... pressed next ..... and I got 3P's and 2 MP's (I&C).....I collected the paper from the Prometric Supervisor, he said none of the guys who left before me had passed.....

For  study approach, i will suggest you take the approach you feel best....... give yourself at least 6 hours of sleep before u write the exam.....i took only 5 and a half ......

Another approach in getting your PMP title  is by joining PMZILLA, there are lot of people here in this community ready to help you, dont hesitate to post your questions, interact with the members and having a brain storming session here..... 

Well I have a lot to do now......especially.......I have to make up for the time which I couldn’t spend with my family, my kids would love to play with me again.....

And Yeah......it will be party tonight........