Passed PMP on 2nd attempt 9/4/12

Submitted by mev123 on Wed, 04/11/2012 - 09:20


 



Hi,,


Till date, I was a silent member of this forum, and was reading through all the tips/tricks that were shared here. I am glad that it has helped me tremendously while preparing for the exam.


I passed my PMP on the 2nd attempt with below scores:


Initiating - MP


Planning - MP


Executing - MP


Monitoring - MP


Closing - BP


Below were the reasons as to why I failed the exam in my 1st attempt:




Firstly, I didn’t read the PMBOK properly. As you all know, its monotonous and pretty cumbersome to read & grasp what it is trying to convey us. I just read it from a high level view and didn’t understand the concept/terms.


Secondly, didn’t read the Rita nor attempted the questions seriously. I found Rita extremely tuff, even though the topics were well explained as compare to PMBOK, I found everything new.


Didn’t get a chance to read heads first end to end.


Didn’t attempt too many mock tests. Just did few of them, scored around 60-65%. I thought, it would be enough and I can crack the exam, but that failed.


Lastly, didn’t followed this forum regularly. Yes, now I think that this is really helpful.



Below are the reasons, which I think, has helped me pass this time.




First I made up my mind, that either by hook or by crook, I have to pass this time. This built a confidence within me. Took this decision in Jan 2012 and targeted for April 2012 so that I can have enough time to prepare.


Read the entire Heads First PMP book, solved all the puzzles, crosswords etc, took down notes.


Next was the PMBOK. Read all the terms, and surprisingly found it much easier as the terms werent new. Had a plan to read atleast 1 chapter daily. Wrote down the ITTOs, formulaes etc. Memorised some of the definitions mentioned in the glossary.


Downloaded the Rajesh Nair's notes, and I must tell you the contents are very much useful, to the point, very specific to the exam point of view.


As I found Rita too difficult to grasp, didn’t dared to touch it.


Started practising the various free mock exams available on the internet, 3 weeks prior to the exam. The scores werent pretty encouraging though, but atleast better than last time. Had a feeling as to how exam questions might come. Also developed a tactic as to how to eliminate the wrong options, narrowing down the focus to the right one.


Started reading forums on pmzilla as well as other sites such as deepfriedbrain etc. where in some good topics were covered.


So, In Summary, do take the exam seriously, prepare well, plan your study, practise exams, memorise formulaes, some key inputs/outputs for important processes like Quality, Scope..etc, don’t read too much before the exam day, take atleast 1 break during actual exam.


Hope this should help. Happy to answer queries, if any


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PMP Exam Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learnt.
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krantikumar50

Wed, 04/11/2012 - 09:39

Sir, I have few questions and hope you answer them all. First, heartiest congratulations. Your feasibility study is terrific. 1. What was the gap between your 1st and 2nd attempt, 2. Did you receive direct questions on ITTOs? 3. Did you receive questions on formulas? 4. Roughly speaking, how many hours of serious studies did you put in? 5. Which mock tests dod you think resembled the most with the actual exam? Thanks, KK :)

mev123

Wed, 04/11/2012 - 09:56

Hi KK,


1. My first exam was on Aug 2011 and 2nd was in April 2012. I didnt study till Dec (didnt had hopes), but started from Jan.


2. There were very less direct questions on ITTOs, hardly 1 or 2. All were of situational types.


3. Majority of formula questions were on PERT, CPM, EAC etc, again they were not simple though.


4. From Jan to Feb daily 2 hrs, From March 3hrs, but didnt do much on weekdays, had to rely on weekends.


5. Heads first is easy, simplilearn is too hard, pmstudy seems to be like actual exam. but during actual exam, every single question was different, and never saw before.


 


 

krantikumar50

Wed, 04/11/2012 - 11:48

Thanks for your answers. Thank you so very much. Was your eligibility period still on or you had to it again? What is your total PM work ex which you had filled in your form? Of course, it must be more than the requisite 4500 hours, but how many hours exactly. And I promise, no more questions since I want you to enjoy the moment of success :) Thanks, KK...

mev123

Thu, 04/12/2012 - 06:07

KK,


 


You can ask as many questions as you want, after all the objective of forum is to share as much information as possible.


My eligibility was going to expire in June, so wanted to target before that. Total PM exp was 4 yrs and somewhere near to 4800 hrs.


When are you targeting to give the exam or already done?

krantikumar50

Thu, 04/12/2012 - 06:22

I appeared once and failed with 3 BPs and 2MPs. I plan to give the exam again in July 2012. I am concentrating on PMBOK and Rita. Brainbok for ITTOs. PMPforsure and PMZilla tough questions.


 


My eligibility expies in March 2013. If I reduce the number of PM hours, will it be okay?


 


Thanks, KK...

projmanpro

Wed, 04/11/2012 - 12:00

VEry little would be the chance that the actual PMP exam will be the same as the samples, either in wordings.But for sure, in context and styles would be.

For example: Did you not see in the actual pmp exam questions like:

"All are inputs to blah blah blah except..."  

As i was posting on this forum, any paid or free sample exams would never be the same as the actual pmp exam such that the aspirant will memorize the question and answer. Thus, those whosoever claim that their simulator is like PMP actual exam and that passing is sure -- is only a hype. :-) Resemblance however is possible in terms of question context.

For the truth is - passing the exam greatly depend on how the aspirant understands the process, the knowledge areas, the ITTOs, the profesional ethics, the calculations and sort of algebra, plus skills in english reading comprehension, as the questions are somtimes written to be tricky and wordy.

 

mev123

Thu, 04/12/2012 - 06:10

 


Yes Projmanpro,


the chances would be very little. By the time you give the actual exam, you already would have come across


so many questions, that you will not realise that you have already come across the question, unless it is very uniqur.