I would like to share my lesson learnt for preparing for the exam on February 26, 2011 :

 

I started to register for eligibility in the middle of January and plan the do the exam at the end of February even though I have not yet register the exam date yet until I got one week holiday before the exam date.

 

W1 : I spent this week to search from the internet (forum, online bookstore, etc) to gather more information about the exam, this one including pmzilla. Since I am working during the day, I do this around 1-2 hours a day and 2-4 hours over the weekend.

 

W2 : I decided to buy Andy Crowe book from Amazon because it is included one week free to their online training (velociteach). This book is a very good book because it is very easy to read and understand but not give you the whole picture in one shot. During this week I just learn from the website and love the way it explain and random scanning without memorizing the Andy Crowe book just the get some understanding. Unfortunately, since the time is limited I just only spent little time. Take exam test from velocitech and good quality free exam test from PMStudy (score only 62%). A sign that I need to study harder ... :(   I spent approx 2-3 hours a day and 3-5 hours during weekend.

 

W3 : Busy for the project, I can say calm period.

 

W4 : Start to read the Andy Crowe second time with focus on getting more understanding and also memorizing some concept in three major process group (plan, execute, control). I focus more on Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, HR, Risk and Scan without memorize the PMBOK. I also use the notes from Chowdury to get the whole picture and emphasize some point, very good notes. Take free exam test from faq360tech and Simplilearn but I stop around 20 questions because I think the quality of question is not really good (not even close to the terminology the PMBOK use and distract some concentration on the correct terminology).  I spent around 2-3 hours a day and 3-5 during weekend.

 

W5 : This is where the real study come, I took around 6-9 hour a day to study without any distraction. Now, I read the Andy Crowe book again with the objective to memorize some concept and compare it with the one from PMBOK. I took the free test from exam central, what a great resources, you can get almost 1000 questions for free. I try the Q&A first and then later try the practice exam, first try I got 80%, second time I got 84%, wow….  I am really confident to go to the exam because of this result. One day before exam, I took a day off to enjoy my day by watching movie the whole day.. what a week..

 

EXAM DAY : I come one hour before the exam to relief the tension. Started the exam with little nervous because the questions is very difficult and answer directly by only 30% on the first 75 questions. I am not really sure the answer and funny thing is because I can exclude two options but not the other two, so I skipped it and write possible answer in the sheet.  This make I am a little bit less confident with myself but after break and try another 75 q, my confident is going up and can answer almost 50% without marking. Take another break and continue with 50 q and improve by answering almost 75% without marking. Take another break and continue with marked question and most of case do the final selection with my feeling .. :)  Finish in 3.30 minutes and press the end button, filling the survey form and wait… CONGRATULATION …!!!

 

I got the score :

1.      Initiating - Moderately Proficient

2.      Planning - Proficient

3.      Executing - Proficient

4.      Monitoring and Control - Proficient

5.      Closing- Moderately Proficient

6.      Professional and Social Responsibility - Moderately Proficient

 

SUMMARY :

 

Strategy :

Focus on Planning, Executing and Control process group and Knowledge area of Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, HR, Risk. For the exam, 1^st 75 q then take 10m break, 75 q then take 10m break, 50 q take 10m break and review the marked one.

 

Material Preparation :

-          Andy Crowe, 2 times (1^st just scanning, 2^nd memorize)

-          PMBOK, 2 times (1^st just scanning, 2^nd memorize)

-          Chowdurry notes, 2 times (1^st just scanning, 2^nd memorize)

Exam Preparation :

-          Andy Crowe Velocitech (www.velocitech.com)

-          Free PMStudy (www.pmstudy.com)

-          Free ExamCentral (www.examcentral.net) => This is the best free fully function, without limitation exam resource I ever found.

 

Do not take many books, in my case Andy and PMBOK is good enough but good quality exam is also important. Last but not least is two thumb up for notes from chowdury…

 

Thanks…  and good luck