Hi, I passed my PMP exam on 13th Jan (apologies for this late post) in the first attempt.

4MP and 1P.

 

This is my story -

 

I gathered all the sparse and little experience I had and applied for the exam. 

In Sept 2013 I attended a 5 day PMP prep crash course. This course gave me an idea of what was coming my way.

There after I studied an hour everyday for 2 months. 

4 weeks of Christmas and New years I intensified my studies. 

 

Read thru Rita Mulcahy v7 (but printed out Stakeholder mgmt and Comms mgmt chapters)

Read thru PMBOK 5 and parallel referenced it with Rita.

That's it!

 

A week for the exam I starting taking the practice tests:

PM Study (200) 64%

PMPForSure (100) 63%

Oliver Lehmann (75) 63.43%

Oliver Lehmann (175) 69.71%

Exam Central (200) 72%

Ritas Prep Exam * 3 - 70%

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I did not have extensive PM experience under my belt so I thought this would be difficult one to crack. 

My company was paying for this exam so I really didn't want to ask them to pay for a re attempt. 

The mock test scores were in the range of 60 - 70% and that worried me too.

 

I found the exam simpler than I thought. Either I was too lucky or well prepared. But the practice test helped me a lot. 

In the first 15 minutes I did the brain dump and wrote down the process tables and the calculations.

I also made sure I took a 3 minute break after every 50 questions regardless of I needed one or not. This helps you remain fresh and concentrate.

Also I made sure I got enough sleep the night before. 

 

I had about 25 mathematical questions including EV, CPI, SPI, PERT, comms channels, etc. These are very easy to get right as the choices don't confuse you. You are either right or wrong. If you cannot work it out quickly, mark it for later.

I would have got about 7 questions right to remember the mantra - that no change can just be made. It has to be evaluated for schedule, time, scope and risk before making one regardless of how minor it may seem.

About 3 questions on Tuckman's ladder.

No questions on ethics. 

 

The exam tries to trick you and it is very important that the question is read and re-read. 

example - You are a PM and you have a team of 3. -> Here you have to remember there are 4 people on your team. 

example - Supplier A is your only supplier and he is going on a holiday ... What Risk response technique would you use -> Avoid usually is the best technique but not in this case as he is your only supplier. 

example - There is a conflict within your team and you find out the reason and ask person A to do it one way -> This cannot be a forcing technique and should be a collaborating.

 

The non obvious choices are sometimes the correct answers. Do not discount them. Although the rest of the choice are prominent PMP buzz words.

Sometimes the longest choice is the correct one as it is picked up from straight from the book.

 

I was able to understand the inputs to every process but had to use mnemonics for the TT. There were about 5 questions on the ITTO which I luckily knew about. I had used this material to learn a few TT -

 

When I reached my 150th question I had to skip my break as I was running low on time. 

 

Mark only the question you think you can answer better later. I would not have marked more than 20 questions. 

 

I had only 2mins to spare. I decided not to review any more answers and just saw the clock ticking down. Later I filled in the survey and then kept my head down. When I lifted it I saw the "Congratulations" on the screen :-) 

 

Although my practice scores were not the best I cleared my exam with reasonably good scores. This is to provide encouragement to others who may be in the same situation.

 

Finally my family had me back! Good luck to you!