Ever since I joined this forum last March, I made it my personal goal to pass the PMP exam and be able to share my own LL to other aspirants one day.  And guess what, that day is today.  My road to PMP goes like this:

After I completed the required contact hours, I immediately pushed through my PMI application.  The thought of being audited did not really bother me one bit because I knew I got the required experience and documentations prepared should PMI ask for it.  I was not audited (Good! It’s a time-saver) and so I proceeded to set my exam date.  Setting my exam date early on helped me focus my attention on the works to be done and the tools I need under such time constraint.  I made a schedule of activities for 3 months and progressively elaborate it.  I must admit, this forum became one of my OPAs and EEFs (thanks to all the successful stories and stories that are still reaching for happy endings).  The effort of those who pass their exam on first attempt served as my benchmark.  I devoted at least 2 hours of study time or at least one chapter reading whenever possible.  I have a full time job and so I learned how to manage competing constraints.  Any slippage to my original study plan I made it up through a contingent plan of longer study hours during weekends. The first two months I was able to cover Headfirst 1time, Rita’s 2times and PMBOK 3times.  I built a good foundation through Headfirst and acquired superb explanations of processes through Rita’s. PMBOK is a MUST.  It’s kind of dry and dull at first but eventually I realized how to squeeze out all the goodness it contained.  Decoding PMBOK was much easier (and fun) the next time around.

Believed to have a good grip of all the processes and knowledge areas, I committed the third month by doing mock exams.  I started off with Christopher Scordo (84% ave).  It’s a good start and so I started scheduling full mock exams:

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TechFaq360 (200)      -               85%

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Lehman (175)            -               81%

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Exam Central (200)  -               86%

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HeadFirst (200)         -               94%

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Simplilearn (175)      -               76% (!?!?....hmmmm)

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PMStudy (200)        -               78% (!?!?... hmmmm)

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CertChamp (200)     -               89%

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Rita’s PMP             -               87%

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Rita’s Super PMP    -               83%

I made it a point not to repeat any mock exams. I did however review my mistakes and referred back to PMBOK for further studies.  During that time I realized my top 4 sources of weaknesses: Integration, HR, Risk and Cost and I was having difficulty keeping up the results from Executing and M/C Process Group with the rest.  I knew then what to do and where to focus.  After completing Rita’s mock exams a week before the real exam, I quit taking any simulated exams.  The results were already a confidence booster and so I wanted to keep it that way.  I spent the last few days revisiting the ITTOs and PMBOK glossary.

On the exam day, July 7th, I was surprisingly calm most of the time.  I did draw the process table only during the demo but I just glanced on it a couple of times. There were long questions, short ones, tricky questions, tabulated questions and many with misleading contents.  One must read the situations carefully and understand what is really being asked.  My exam pretty much used up all the formulas and diagramming that I know, few of them were tricky – so be alert.  I did mark quite a number of these questions for review later.  I completed the 200 questions in 3 hours and spent the remaining time revisiting my marked answers and reviewing the rest randomly.  I built up my stamina to last 4 hours in my preparations and so I did not take any breaks during the actual exam.  My positive outlook and confidence that I carry on pretty much assured me that I am going to pass it an hour before I clicked the score button.  And my assumptions were made true when the Congratulation popped up before my eyes.  Though the result was a bit off against my proficiency benchmark, I am very happy, relieved, and proud to have 4Ps and 1MP (I guess the Closing questions were tougher than I thought :P) in my first attempt.  More than anything, I am a PMP – that’s all that matter now. It’s my newest milestone.

In addition, I did not memorize the ITTOs. Memorizing it was never part of my study scope. Alternative identification, prompted me to do an extra effort to understand how the ITTOs work and it surely reduce the need to memorize a bunch of seemingly arbitrary facts.  Also, the exam, being a multiple-choice type hinted me not to do so.  I used the exam type to my advantage and use elimination process.  As I see it, memorization is a good foundation but it will only get you so far.  But then again, it’s up to the aspirant’s preferential technique.  There is no sure fire way of passing this exam, there were only best practices available. It’s really up to every aspirant on how they will tailor it.

My road to PMP does not end here.  There’s still lot of deliverables to be done. But I hope this LL help future PMPs in forging their own path. 

Thanks to all and best of luck.

Tobi