Hi,

This is for all you PMP aspirants out there, let me give you a brief about my journey and Lessons Learned to becoming a PMP. Firstly I would like to thank all people who posted their LL’s on PM Zilla. They were quite useful in re-planning/ refining my study process. Since we all are working professionals one of the biggest challenges we all are face with is time constraint. Therefore managing time is very critical in order to achieve success. Just to give you a background I am married, have a 2 year old son, am currently doing my part time MBA (classes are 4 times a week including weekends for 3 hours + 1 hour of travelling time) and have a 9 to 5 job. Even after this tight schedule I have been able to clear. I presume that not many people doing PMP have this sort of a packed schedule. So please take your preparation seriously use all time you have available if you want to add a PMP to your name.

The Journey

1.      

 April 22 2011 - Enrolled with PM Study for classroom training.

2.         

May 05 2011 - Took Membership with Project Management Institute (pmi.org)

3.        

May 15 2011 - Completed the Class Room Program and got my PDU’s.

4.      

 May 17 2011 – Applied for the Exam

5.      

May 22 2011 – Got an email from PMI for making the payment of the fees for the exam. On payment of the fees you are informed through email if your application has been sent for audit or if you can take the exam.

6.      

August 24 2011 – Passed the exam @ first attempt

The Inputs

1.      

After enrolling for the Class Room started Reading PMBOK. It took till min June to complete the first round i.e. 45 days to complete one round. The main reason is that there is log of concepts to digest and it takes time. Warning all material needed is not covered and you must read another book.

2.      

After completing PMBOK (first round) I started reading Andy Crowe. It’s a very good book to clear your concepts and also includes the matter missed in the PMBOK. Completed in 2 weeks.

3.      

Did Time, Cost and Procurement from Rita Mulcay. These topics are very well covered there.

Tools

1.      

Did Questions from

a.      

PMFasttrack (All Knowledge Areas) they would help you in understanding the root cause and how to address the same.

b.     

Exam Central (Simulated exams)

c.      

25 tough questions from PMZilla.

Tips

1.      

Do not get stressed during or before the exam. Hold your nerves

2.      

Attempt the logical questions first and they go for the mathematical questions.

3.      

Time your simulated practice tests.

4.      

There would be very few direct questions from the study material. Therefore absorb the concepts and don’t mug.

5.      

No need to memorise all the ITTO’s understand and remember as many.

6.      

Get to the exam early

7.      

Take sufficient brakes during exam as generally concentration levels would drop after 70-100 questions.

8.      

Make sure you fuel up (eat and drink water good quantities of water, do not over eat as it would make you sleepy) before the exam as 4 hours is a long time and would be really taxing on your brain.

9.      

While attempting logical questions identify the root cause and select the answer that address it directly.

10.  

Get a good night’s sleep before the exam.

And Best of luck to you all.