Dear Friends,

Cleared PMP in the first attempt (After postponing the exam 3 times, 4th time also I wanted to postpone, But I thought enough is enough and I went for it)

My lessons learned (General Learning - Hope it helps PMP Aspirants)

- Do not mug up ITTO's, But understand it, Find the connection between Input - Tools - Output and again Input to other areas.  BrainBok website really helped me. PMP exam is not a memory test.

- During the initial phase of my reading PMBOK Guide in a true sense is a guide (Like Editorials of Newspapers), You won't understand anything in the first time. I stopped reading it after 2 or 3 chapters. Was discouraged, The language used is very difficult to understand (Others might disagree- I am only referring my views) . But don't get discouraged. There are other books which can ease your prep. For me “Headfirst" really helped. Buy and Read books which you FEEL COMFORTABLE, Buy books after doing a thorough research.

THEN READ PMBOK- SLOWLY, TRY TO UNDERSTAND IT, YOU NEED TO HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF ITTOS BEFORE READING PMBOK(BRAINBOK helped me here).  WHEN YOU READ IT FOR THE FIRST TIME YOU WILL GET ATLEAST 25% OF WHAT PMBOK IS SAYING, AGAIN READ- READ- READ  TILL YOU GET A GOOD FEEL OF PMBOK.I HAVE TO ADMIT,PMBOK IS ALSO A BEST GUIDE TO GIVE YOU A CLEAR AND A BETTER PERSPECTIVE FROM PMI'S POINT OF VIEW. DO NOT GO THE EXAM WITHOUT HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF PMBOK. 

- Don't prepare a brain dumps in the very last moment , You need to revise your Brain dump(Everyday)- Once you get into the test centre there high chance that your thought process gets clouded due to nervousness and new surroundings,  the probability of going wrong in dumping is very high, Hence it is a good practice to READ THE DUMPS DAILY  (There is also chance that nothing from the Brain dump is asked for the exam - Anyways a dumping of 42 process groups will help)

- While starting the exam you might feel clouded, the first 10 - 20 questions will be either tough or you will be in doubt- You will feel thought like this – Did I study correctly  ?, I should have postponed the exam ? etc etc , Our brain is wired to have lots of pessimistic  thoughts. But my friends don’t worry that is where the “mark for review” works. My advise -Read the question, Try to understand the question in the first reading itself (Will save time ), Read the answers from Bottom to top,- If in doubt  DON'T LEAVE the question, Mark the answer which you feel is right, then mark for review and go to the next question. There are chances that you might not save time to review the marked answers.

-  Don’t take tough mocks just before the PMP exam - WILL DISCOURAGE YOU.

- I am a person who didn’t  believed taking sufficient rest before the exam, also I over study till the exam started - which had always added on to my exam nervousness, But this time I thought I will take a different strategy. I was nervous but still i thought I will stick to my new strategy, I stopped studying by evening 9.00 pm. Also in the morning, I just revised the brain dumps, That's all, I went for the exam. I was comfortable compared to my normal test taking mindset- Guys this helps- Sufficient rest is needed before the exam ( Just my views!!!)

-PMP test is a very subjective test, There is no formula for success, You might have 15 + years of PM experience yet you fail OR you hardly have 5 yrs and you pass in the first attempt - From my understanding from various reading and forum and from my interaction, I found out the folloinwg

- Many aspirants who are planning to write this exam will be working - They have to find time to sit and study- And I must say that the first task or may be an achievement, The ability to find “TIME” - If you can find time- You have cleared your first constraint.

- Getting to a study mode is a difficult task after passing out of college 4-5 years back. This will be your second constraints.

- How your though process runs through during the exam day might play a good impact on the exam results- If you are 10 + years experience and you apply the same lessons learned on the exam – You might fail - What I feel is , you need to think how PMI thinks!!!. Bringing that kind of mind set during the exam time is very difficult, if you are nervous. 

- Most of the mocks taken will be taken from home, From your comfortable surroundings, May be you might score 80+%,  but during the actual scenario you are not in a comfortable scenario with limited time, So while taking the mock test try mimic a scenario like that- Putting a timer for mocks will help you. For PMP exam per question you have 1.2 mins, Try answer questions in 1 min.

Mock test- More the better- But go for the standard ones – This might develop your question probing skills , Quick scanning of questions for answer clues,  also will help you to get identify the best answers - What I call it a "PMP Test taker mind set " - Please try to develop a mindset like that.

All the best my friends, Do well; don’t get discouraged even if you lose.

Also I was a regular visitor PMZILLA, The inputs from PMZILLA threads had a great impact on my preparation. The success stories had really motivated me to keep on focusing the exam after repeated discouragement during my prep.