Hello All,

I am very relieved and pleased to inform you all that I passed the PMP certification exam yesterday (6/27/2014) with 4 proficient and 1 mostly proficient score. Here is a detailed account of my journey to the certification. But before we get to the details, I would like to thank God, my family and all the contributors of PMZilla website for the support, help, guidance that you have given me!

My journey started way back in early 2013. I started filling out the application form and was close to getting done when PMI released the revised PMBOK guide with a new knowledge area for stakeholder management. I had started reading the PMBOK and reading a newer version proved to be harder. I found the PMBOK to be an excellent reference but extremely dry and hard to read. So, with all the changes at PMBOK and my work and personal life (yes, I went through quite a rollercoaster there as well), the PMP cert appeared to be farther away than usual. But, I did have a bit of friendly advice from a colleague who took pity on me and told me to read Rita Mulcahy PMP book which was more readable than the PMBOK.
2013 passed away and in early 2014, I became a PMI member. My workplace was going through really turbulent times with 12 hour days and routine layoffs. At this time, I completed my PMP application. The application form itself took me 1 month to complete and thankfully I did not get audited. Getting hold of former bosses, some of whom had moved continents away and switched their careers was very hard. But, I managed to complete that step. So the clock started ticking.

Now came the preparation part. I depended heavily on the Rita book. I rather enjoyed her tough/no nonsense style and for over 6 months read the book from cover to cover. This was NOT the most efficient way to do things and I would NOT recommend this approach of prolonging the agony. Preparation for PMP is best when it is focused and stuck to the timeline. So, my #1 tip for all aspirants is that select a date in the future for the exam and then start preparing for it. Otherwise, you will down in the ocean of material and will not have a focus.
I first thought of taking the exam in May 2014. But by now, work had gotten to be unbearable with 18 hour days and family life ensured that my prep was laughable. Not good! So I took a deep breath and then decided to sign up for the exam in the end of June 2014.

I finished a feeble first pass of the Rita book in mid May. I was definitely not ready. I started a second pass and started making notes of the highlights of each chapter during my second pass. I solved the end of the chapter tests and found that I was scoring between 80%-90% in those. I felt confident. Boy, was I wrong! I started taking tests. I took the PMPforsure test and failed with a 60%!!!! That was a wake up call for me Analyzing the results, I learnt something important. Ignoring the bland 4 processes in Intitating and closing can absolutely give you a FAIL on the real test. Tip #2 - Ensure that you are thorough with the Develop project charter, Identify stakeholders, Close proj/phase and Close procurements processes. Otherwise you WILL fail the PMP regardless of your hard work.

In early June, I stumbled across the PMzilla forums. Reading through the forums, I realized how pathetic my prep was so far. I had read the Rita book twice and was referring to it constantly. However, I had NOT done even a single pass of the PMBOK. That is very important. Tip#3 - Dont ignore the PMBOK. It does have a fantastic structure to it. In the end, the process chart in the PMBOK beats the socks out of ANY book out there. While I learnt Rita's process chart thoroughly, I chose to dump the PMBOK one for the exam. More on that later. So I got out the ITTO spreadsheet that you can find on any forum/PMP prep site and then read that along with PMBOK and the Rita book for reference. This really helped me put the processes together.

Then came the exams. here is what I took:
- Rita PMP FastTrack exam 1 - 75%
- Rita PMP FastTrack exam 2 - 80%
I was on top of the world at this time.
Daily at work, during lunchtime, I would take 1 51 question test from the SKORDO book that you can get for free on the PMI website, e-reads section if you are a member.
I was getting 82-95% in those exams up until exam 13.
Then, I decided to take the Oliver Lehman free 75 question exam. I made a 65% on it. My confidence was getting eroded slowly at this time.
Then came the worst of it. I took the Rita Super PMP exam. I had multiple distractions during this exam but when I hit the submit button, I was shocked to see a 60%. It seemed that I was now all ready to fail the PMP....I even posted on this forum asking folk for guidance. Thank you so much for responding...each and every one of you helped me.

Then, I decided to tone down and take some free/paid exams from PMstudy. Those helped me build my confidence as I was getting anywhere from 82-88% on those tests. The advice on this forum was excellent. Of all the questions, the PMstudy questions were the closest to the actual PMP! Tip#4 - If you must take free/purchased tests, use PMStudy!! They are not paying me anything for this endorsement but I am stating things as they are!

Then came the last day before the exam. I was in tears. I felt that I had done no prep at all! I had no confidence. I was researching bootcamps to take for the PMP should I fail! My family, coworkers, boss (I had joined a new job and spent 1 month there!) etc supported me and told me that I would be fine.
On the last day, I went over the Risk, procurement, Initiating, closing, Quality parts of the material along with the ITTOs. I ended up with a headache and then stopped studying by 8PM...I was done....

Day of the exam:
- Arrived at the prometric test center 1/2 hr before the test. They were very kind to me and helped understand the rules and everything.
- I brought snacks and water but found that I did not have any time for those. You wont need them most likely.
- I used a locker for my personal belongings, took the scratch paper and pencils provided, took the physical calculator that I requested and got and then got to the assigned seat for the exam.
- The tutorial was easy and I finished it in 2 mins. Did NOT hit the END/submit button as that would have started the test right away.
- used the 12 mins for braindump. I wrote down the PMBOK processes (sorry Rita!) and all the formulae. I had prepared for the 7 tools of quality, risk strategies, Diff motivational theories and other such stuff but did not find the time. Tip#5 - DO a braindump. It helps set the mode for the exam. you will truly be ready for the test!The time ended and the test began.
- I started reading the questions carefully and answering them well...Unlike a lot of scare theorists out there, the questions were very straightforward with NO tricks at all! Reading Rita, one would believe that the PMP exam is all about the negative words such as 'except', 'not' etc. I did not encounter a single instance of such a thing. In most cases, the answers could be narrowed down to 2.
- The math was all very easy. Easier than Rita but you needed to know the formulae to answer them.
- I found that one really needed to understand Quality, Risk, calculations and of course the initiating and closing process groups well. Then you will very well ace the test. I found myself cursing a couple of times that I had not paid more attention to the ITTOs as that would have helped me get 5Ps instead of 4....Oh well...
- I used 3.5 hours to get through first pass with the questions. I used the last 1/2 hour to review my questions that I had marked. I found that there was little to change there for most part as I had spent time carefully reading them the first time round and so needed minimal changes.
- I just got done 1 min before the time ended.
- Then, I got the survey which I took.
- Finally, I punched the submit button and prayed like I never did before.
- My gut feeling when I had taken the first 50 questions was that the PMP exam was way easier than I expected. No tricky questions. Mostly logic. But you needed to fully understand the processes in order to ace it.

finally, 1 min later, I saw congratulations on the screen and I could hardly breathe!!! I was thrilled....Then when I hit the next button for full results, I saw that I not only passed the exam but did fairly well...I got 4 Proficient and 1 Moderately proficient score. I would have made 5 Ps. Oh well....

Looking back, my advice for all is dont get disheartened. The exam is easier than you think it is. It is logical. Most cases, you can narrow the answers down to 2.But at the same time, dont relax too much. Looking back, I found that I gave up all my hobbies, movies, music, book reading etc just so that I could grab some extra time for prep. Even Ipads, phones etc are a distraction. As folks often say, 'If you fail to prepare, then you must prepare to fail'
Dont memorize the ITTOs. But at the same time, if you do memorize and understand them, then you are all set as majority of the questions will be somehow tied to the ITTOs.
Learn the quantitative parts of the material as they will help you. These are questions that you MUST ace!

Above all, be thankful for all the faith, best wishes and support that your near and dear give you. In my case, I was supported by a tribe of people and despite all kinds of challenges, they pulled me through. Hope...Pray....you WILL succeed.

Thank you so much,

Anne_Boleyn