I passed the PMP a couple of weeks ago, but I should start by saying I was certain I failed! It was quite difficult – much more so than I expected. I wanted to post my lessons learned because I feel like reading everyone else’s was a huge help to me!

PRACTICE TESTS / STUDYING

I studied for about 8 weeks, but really picked it up for the last 2 weeks – spending every extra moment outside of my full-time job studying.

I was consistently scoring 65-70 on practice tests, which was frustrating. It seemed no matter how much I studied or prepared, I couldn’t get past the 70s on a full-length test. Knowing the passing score was somewhere between 61 -70, this made me nervous.

In order, these are the tests I took/number of questions/difficulty/score:

• Head First 200 qs – easy (76%)
• Oliver Lehmann 75qs – medium difficulty (69%)
• PMStudy #1 200 qs – difficult (65%)
• Simplilearn 200 qs – medium difficulty, (70%)
• Mobile PMP Exam Prep – medium difficulty, (70%)
• PMStudy #2 200 qs – difficult (70%)
• Rita’s PMFastrack 100 qs- medium difficulty, (71%)

Thoughts on PMStudy:

I think the PMStudy was the most like the PM Exam with a few exceptions. When going through my incorrect answers, I found a lot of the questions were verbatim statements in the PMBOK. I didn’t find this on the test – the questions were much more situational. The reason I found this to be most like the real thing is because of the length and the complexity of the questions. I have fairly poor reading comprehension, so I have to re-read things in order to grasp what the question is “really” asking – a key component to taking the PMP. When I was taking the PMStudy tests, I thought to myself “I know the questions on the real exam won’t be this long”. But they were. On both the PMStudy practice tests, I took the full 4 hours to finish, and as it turned out I took the full 4 hours on the exam too.  In fact, I didn’t finish – at 2 minutes to go, I had 5 more questions to answer. I ended up having to guess on 4 of them, and left one blank. Hence a big reason I thought I failed when it was over.

Thoughts on Rita’s Fastrack:

I did NOT want to spend the $300 on the software but I’m glad I did for a few reasons. First, it helped me understand what types of questions fell into which process groups and knowledge areas because the software allows you to pick questions from each of these areas, or you can do a normal test that is more randomized. By focusing on specific areas, I learned to identify what the question was asking, and what types of answers I should look for. Second, I was able to focus on specific questions from specific process groups. If you’ve read anything about the PMP exam, you know the Planning & Executing process groups carry the most weight. I spent a lot of time taking small chunks of questions (20-50 at a time) in those 2 process groups.

TESTING EXPERIENCE

My experience at the facility was not good, but it was for personal reasons. Specifically, I tend to drink a lot of water and coffee in the morning and I took the test in the morning – not a good combo on a timed test. I managed to only take 1 bathroom break, but as it turned out I could have used that time. I also am cold-natured, and the room was FREEZING. I needed to wear about 3 more layers than I had. Lastly, I must have a big head because the noise cancelling headphones were extremely tight, but I needed them because a) there were distractions - like other test takers in the same room who were typing and b) I was freezing, and the headphones kept my head warm. Nevertheless, when I was wearing the headphones my head would start throbbing around my ears and was just not comfortable.

At the testing facility, I got 2 pencils, and a stapled packet with about 4 sheets of blue paper. The calculator was built into the exam on the computer.

Once my test ended, I dropped my head, and I felt a huge sense of disappointment. The wait clock went for about 30 seconds as I waited for the results. I was nervous during that time, but not too much so because I fully expected it to say FAIL. When that finished, instead of getting my results I got a facility survey I had to complete. Once I did that I saw “PASS”, and I was shocked. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough – at that point I was shaking from the nerves, and possibly the cold. I spent the rest of the day trying to relieve the residual stress. 

ADVICE

Practice more if you have poor reading comprehension like I do.  It makes it much more difficult and time-consuming. I feel like this is critical. There was another PMP taker there who started after me and finished about an hour before. Everything I heard / read said it won’t take you 4 hours, but I probably could have used another 30 minutes to an hour. And trust me, when time is running out and you are facing long questions – the stress makes it exponentially more difficult to focus. There were not many questions that were one-liners. Practice, practice, practice. And if you’re doing fine on the time on the PMStudy tests, time probably won't be an issue for you.

I also found the terminology you learn in the PMBOK could be different on the test. For example, I had several questions where the word “requirements” was used instead of “scope”.

I DID NOT memorize ITTOs, and I personally don’t think it would have helped aside from about 5 questions – not worth it. 

I DID memorize the formulas, thank god. There were a lot of those questions – maybe 15-20? Now here’s the kicker, I felt really good about being able to answer these types of questions because I’m good at math. The problem is when I started to get short on time, those are the ones I skipped because they took longer to answer.  When I got to the end, I ended up having to guess – hence my score in the Monitoring & Controlling group. Another thing I found was that some of the EV questions seemed to present the actual and planned % complete as the same. For example, it would say “you are 6 months into a 12 month project” and “your planned % complete is 50%”.  I’m sure there’s an easy answer, but I could not figure out how to answer those Earned Value questions.

I DID memorize all the knowledge areas, what process groups they were in, the order of the Planning group, and a few unique ITTOs for each.

SCORES

Initiating – Moderately Proficient

Planning – Moderately Proficient

Executing - Proficient

Monitoring & Controlling – Below Proficient

Closing – Moderately Proficient

I’m glad it’s over, and still can’t believe I passed. Good luck to everyone planning to take it! Don’t let yourself get too stressed, it’s not worth it. Just try to stay calm and focused, wear layers, and have a small head. :)