Dear Folks,

With tonnes of blessings (as I see it) OR tonnes of luck (as probably a rational mind would think), I passed my PMP exam on the dreaded Friday the 13th, this month.

First thing first : PMBOK is the book. Hold on to every word in this book : what it means, directly, indirectly, nuanced, far-fetched, contrived, every possible combination.

I studied continuously for 10-12 days, putting in over 10 hours every day. I would have read PMBOK in depth at least 3-4 times during this period. I tried some tests - those short ones with 15 questions, 50 questions etc. Some were easy and it boosted my confidence. Some were tough and it shattered my confidence. I decided not to take up any of these short tests. Forget about full length tests !!!

But I invested my whole time in PMBOK. The only thing that I memorized is the information on page 43. I made some feeble attempts to memorize ITTO and just couple of days before the exam, I almost bought a tool that promised easy mnemonics. My rational/emotional/scientific mind would not accept a defeat like that and I stopped short of buying that tool, reminding myself that understanding the flow is more important than memorizing. Such moments of weakness to succumb to cheap techniques would bare its ugly teeth every day for about an hour or so and it was indeed a struggle to escape the urge to fall victim to such detractors. Again and again I invested my time in PMBOK holding on to direct, indirect, contrived and converse meanings of every statement and every word.

When I started with PMBOK, I kept feeling/thinking this is a collective product of constipated minds. But as my exam date drew closer, I could not stop marvelling at the beauty of the paragraphs, beautifully structured, nicely developed ideas. They have been built on one simple idea after another, resulting in a book that truly reflected the name the book has been given - BODY OF KNOWLEDGE. Now that I have become wiser after the success of my intense effort, I do have some ideas to improve the PMBOK. See what a PMP certification does to a weak minded person like me. Folks, go and get your certification !!!

I fell prey to the divisions in the book. Any book need chapters and PMBOK is not an exception. The short tests that I took where I fared miserably, showed me my flaws in the study of PMBOK. I started studying chapters in a jumble manner and tried to see how different KAs are related to each other, not just in the sequential manner as it appears in PMBOK, but also in the complicated manner the KAs are felt in any projects. Actually this is the idea that PMBOK says very silently in the first four chapters. I cannot over emphasize the importance of the first four chapters. Infact if only there is complete understanding of the first four chapters, I am sure one could get 50 percent of the questions in the PMP exam answered, correctly.

Í first went gaga over Ritas book, but after a while, it was very difficult to follow what is going on. It is voluminous, verbose, and there is lot of rant !!! But dont throw away this book yet. You will still need it, if you have been exposed to some of the practice tests. I say, these practice tests have the ability to corrupt your mind to look for other sources of preparation. But if there is some one out there who has not started his/her preparation with any books, I would like to strongly recommend starting with PMBOK. Read through this marvel of a book in depth few times, before touching any other source of information. It is intimidating indeed. But the fruits of those difficult labor will indeed be sweet.

Later toward the close of my examination date, I flipped through Rita's book and it was such a breeze !!! I could understand it better and no more felt it verbose as I was able to go through the book much faster that I would have, without reading the PMBOK first. Rita's book has it place. No doubt. But the prime book is : PMBOK !!!

But nothing really prepared me for Friday the 13th. I was already feeling feverish. My food intake had already come down and I started having more fruits as the date drew closer. I am a rice man !!! And I knew, I will just doze off to sleep, if I have rice. So I switched to fruits and when I hit the bed everyday, I was indeed a little bit hungry.

Monday to Thursday, I did not even bathe !!!! I was stuck to PMBOK and was going through each chapter, as if I was reading it for the first time. This is the way I studied every chapter every day during the last 10 days, before the exam. It was indeed a high risk and highly intense endeavor. That I was going to appear for this exam became already known in my circles and I would think of how I will handle the situation if I did not make it through ! What all, a PM has to go through !!! I was practicing risk management !!!

I reached the exam center an hour early and as the hour drew close, surprisingly, I grew calmer and calmer. I did not expect this. But once after I was ushered in to the lobby where my ID was checked, I think, I was feverish once again. The center person, walked in with me and placed me near my allotted desk. I wrote down the formulas (from Rita's) and page # 43 from the PMBOK in the sheet provided. Little did I know that they will be of no use to me in about 15 minutes.

And then the exam started. But on the 13th, 14th minute, I was already uttering/muttering my prayers. I told Thirupathi Balaji that it is HIS responsibility from now on !!! from now on ? It has been HIS all the time. Let us not digress now in to a philosophical/religious conversation. Suffice to say that I firmly believed and demanded, mentally, that Balaji and Ganesha should help me !

At the end of 60 minutes : Around 40 questions completed with about 30 questions marked for review ! I was aghast ! I was shattered. Each question took more than 2-3 minutes to even read, let alone understand. I try the eliminating trick. I am able to eliminate just one and the rest of the three answers look the same. I look at the braindump sheet and it is completely useless to me. I started preparing mentally, how I will handle my friends today. How I will handle my wife right after the exam is over. I was already thinking, how I will prepare again for the exam. It has to be methodical, less intense, but long drawn out for 3-4 months and more practice tests. This was my line of thinking at the end of 60 minutes.

Let me tell you something now. I may be saying this because, I had not practiced even one full length test. With that as the fact : I think nothing can prepare you enough for the exam. Yes, experience count. It does hep and it did help. But this an exam based on a book. And it is an intense book in itself. If you go there expecting that impeccable memory of ITTO will help - forget it. In my case there was not one question that I can remember that tested my memory. Every question would be a combination of ideas developed in the first four chapters + 3-4 different KAs. So if I tried eliminating, at best, I could only do only one. Rest of the choices could reflect the first four chapters and the KAs that the question would represent !

The second 60 minutes, I gathered myself and started attacking each question vigorously. "I will not mark any for review later" - I thought to myself. I simply did not have any time !!! I take one question at a time and give my complete attention to it and answer it. Forget it now and go to the next. But the demons are lurking in the background and are not far away from me. The defeatist mentality crept in and was raging in the first half of the third hour of the exam. During the second half of the third hour, I gathered myself once again, muttered a prayer and focussed on each question and attacked the answer choices.

Last 60 minutes, I had around 75-80 to take care of. I finished all the questions with 10 minutes to spare. I think, my focus on each question during the last 60 minutes was furiously intense. I dreaded the thought of reading the PMBOK again and this doubled my focus on each question. I was actually feeling confident for 30-40 minutes during this time i.e last 60 minutes.

Almost every question demanded that I gather all my ideas from all the little corners of the PMBOK.

Last 10 minutes, I tried reviewing the questions that I marked for review, only to give up. I realized that I had really focussed very intently in the first 60 minutes to answer about 40 questions. I felt that the time I invested in each of those questions - how can I review them now at the fag end.

I got back to my prayer mode in the last couple of minutes and let the exam end by itself. Well I am not sure I remember this correctly. Did I let the exam end by itself OR did I click END exam. I am not sure.

There is a short survey. I felt that if I am nice and polite and agree to take this optional short survey, I will pass the exam.  Well, then I waited.

Starring at the white screen with nothing in it. Not even the hour glass.

The moment of truth was beginning to appear now. Few micro seconds after it started, I gained a glimpse of a word starting with the alphabet C. And it went on to appear as CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!

The world around me got suspended in disbelief !!! I had a roller coaster four hours and the majority of the time, I was in a feverish state oscillating between intense focus and utter disbelief at my inability to eliminate answer choices.

Now, this is complete disbelief as well. Only that it is pleasant, beautiful, sweet and utterly calm. I think there were a few tear drops to add to this drama. Balaji and Ganesha, you have ofcourse taken care of your frenzied kid. Thanks a ton.

Thanks a lot folks for listening to me. I am a wise man now. If I were to advice any one on this path : It would be - PMBOK man !! PMBOK rocks !!! Use other resources judiciously. Let them not corrupt your mind. Unadulterated ideas and concepts are available in PMBOK !!!