Admin/ Mr Patil/Mr Raymond/.....anyone passed PMP recently

Dear all,


I have completed my (prerequisite) 35 hours PMP preparation training last week. Classes were provided on every weekend. I scheduled my exam on 25 July because PMP exam is going to change on 31 July. After my job, I am having  only 4 hours of study daily and being fully depend on Rita Mulcahy exam prep( Book+audio CD+PMP FASTrack). After studying this material, I am planning to take some mock test online. Please advise:


1-       Will that be enough to pass the exam(in limited time of 4hours/day for less than 2 months.)


2- I read on forum that some people got tough/wordy questions in their first half of exam and some in other half. My question is that, can I take the exam questions in two pass. I mean in first pass, I would like to answer easy/less wordy questions and in second pass I would like to attempt wordy/tricky question and then click on "end the exam/score". I am a SLOW READER and doubt if I can finish the 200 question in time.  


Thanks and regards.


Mona.indian

You atleast have to solve about 5K question to develop

confidence.

Thanks for reply. Any advise on my second question?


Admin you please also give your opinion on my second question. i mean, is it possible to attempt short question in first pass and then in second pass attempt all wordy and tricky questions.whoever has recently passed the PMP,please reply.


regards.


Mona

first or second, try to attempt each qn. in 1 min.

Thanks Mr Manoj for prompt reply.


Any advise from Mr C N Patil and Mr anandp19 on my questions.


I know i should try to give answer in about 1 minute time per as i said earlier that i am a slow reader. In my training mock up exam  also i felt the same thing. Although i did well but i could not read all the questions even though i knew them. So AGAIN  MY QUESTION IS CAN I ATTEMPT ALL SHORT QUESTION IN FIRST PASS AND WORDY QUESTION IN SECOND PASS. OR is it advisable to attempt all 200 question from start to end.

cnppmp's picture

I'm like you slow reader. not good at comprehensive reading. I was expecting that I would finish my 200th question on 240th minute and the same thing happened for me in the real PMP exam. I had marked at least 25 questions for review but couldn;t do that. But my strategy was NOT to hurry up in the beginning. I had planned I would spend necessary amout of time at first instance itself and mark answer first time never giving the chance for coming back for reviewing. Anyway you have enough questions that would take hardly 20 secs so you shouldn't be panicked for spending lot of time on sitautional questions


Secondly, to pick up quick reading you need to take at least 5 to 6 mock tests before main exam and you should score between 75 to 80% consistently and my advise would be for taking mock tests should be planned once you  read through your reference books PMBOK and what ever you refer thoroughly at least 2 times, then attempt for mock tests. Make your notes and understand the concepts. Do not refer too many books for preparation, stick to PMBOK and some other books like RITA or Headfirst labs (this book is good for beginners)


You need to have at least 2 months of thorough study and try to fix the exam date and work towards it else you woudln;t have that seriousness.


Please note after July 31st, you need to refer to the 5th edition of PMBOK so try to get your exams before 31st July, you still have lot of time to get there..


Finally, be an active member on PMZILLA and participate in PMZILLA by attempting to resolve the questions posed by PMZILLA friends. This will really help you and give confidence in taking up exams.


Good Luck


CN Patil


 

Thanks Mr. Patil for your valuable tips and sharing your experience. I am studying Rita guide 2nd time


and PMBOK first time and doing Rita’s book chapter wise questions and Knowledge area vise questions


on PM Fastrack. I planned to finish all this on or before 15 July and scheduled my exam on 25 July. That


mean I will have only 10 days for full mock up exams. Prior to test I am planning to take off from work


for one week to have some time for revision and mock test. Hope it works for me!!


What do you think about my above preparation plan? Any suggestion about mock test, which one I


should take up in that limited period of 10 days/one week time.


Thanks in advance for helping me and guiding me.


Regards.


 

cnppmp's picture

I think you have a good plan already outlined which would definitely would work for you. Regarding the referring the books. You choose your books and on whcih you feel comfortable and easy to understand the concepts. The reason for referring RITA was to, she provides lot of imporatnt tips like Tricks of the Trade, which one to memorize and the important aspects of the chapter well structured into tabulation at the end of the chapter. These things you need to definitely read at least 2 or 3 times to understand the concept especially the Risk management & Produrement management has been covered very vastly in her book because these are the main two chapters has lot of questions.


On mock tests you start with small number of questions, for instance you can take PMZILLA 30 questions and try. Then you can work on the Hedafirst Labs questions , they are pretty easy. RITA chapter end questions, these are definitely at PMP Exam standard...then there are websites on PMZILLA website it self


Look, everyone has his own way of style and method to study and books to refer, if you have already started with PMBOK and RITA just focus on it as long as you feel comfortable.


 


http://pmzilla.com/free-pmp-exam-important-links-best


 


Regards


CN Patil

Thanks Mr. Patil for validating my study plan. I am going to stick on  with it as I have no other choice because of limited time.


Thanks to Mr. Raymond also for guidance provided to me. I can only skim through PMBOK guide as time is limited but I am being very through to my class notes(preparatory training class) and Rita guide and listening her flash cards.


I regret to join this forum very late otherwise I would have started my training class and preparation  much earlier.


I still have my doubt that WHICH APPROACH WOULD BE GOOD, NAMELY GOING THROUGH FROM QUESTIONS START TO END OR ATTEMPTING THE QUESTIONS IN TWO PASS( FIRST EASY ONE AND THEN WORDY QUESTIONS). I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER THE EXAM SETUP ALLOWS THIS KIND OF FORWARD PATH AND BACKWORD PATH(TO COME BACK ON WORDY QUESTIONS SECOND TIME) .


Mr. Patil/Mr. Raymond/Admin/…..Is it possible to attempt easy one first and then filter the un-attempted/wordy questions in second pass, using some function of test system.


 


I am sorry to ask you too many things but I also know that you people are really A friend in need is a friend indeed."


Best Regards


MONA

i'm definately a slow reader as well & to top it up , i was extremely nervous before going into the examination room. I tried to composed myself by talking to others & calm things down.


Reading Rita alone is definately NOT enough , i made the mistake to just rely on Rita as there are alot of stuff not fully covered in Rita. However , i find EVM , procurement explaination to be the best in Rita's books. PMBok is definately a must , but i was running short of study time ( i had only 3 solid weeks to study before my exam) , hence just skimmed PMbok. Suggestion is you spent more solid time on PMBok & skim thru rita instead if you have the time.


Try to do alot of mock test , to me mock tests helps to pluck knowledge gaps ( after every mock test , i'll revised all the right & wrong answers , pay extra attention to why i answer the questions wrongly) , also helps to time yourself how fast & how well you take questions when there is a time pressure.


Like others , my sets of questions are really tough the 1st 100 & easier the subsequent 100s. I wasted alot of time to re-read situational questions over and over again as they are so twisted , but learn to pick up key words & learn to read the answer 1st for questions like this to understand what really the question is asking. Often, the lengthy ones are just there to confuse you or the last liner is the actual question of the whole story. Focus on EVM calculation & CPM , try to time yourself during mock test to complete them no more then 1 minute , to me these are the ones that will take up a lot of time.


Don't linger to long on each question , if it is really tough , take your best pick of the answer, mark & move on (DO NOT leave answer blank as you may never know if you still got time to come back later). It may be difficult to time yourself by the minute during exam , try to do a checkpoint i.e. by the 1st hour , you should be completing 60 questions , 2nd hour 120 questions.... this way you can ensure you still have time to run thru your answers again.


All the best my friend !..


Raymond


 


 


 


Thanks Mr. Patil for validating my study plan. I am going to stick on  with it as I have no other choice because of limited time.


Thanks to Mr. Raymond also for guidance provided to me. I can only skim through PMBOK guide as time is limited but I am being very through to my class notes(preparatory training class) and Rita guide and listening her flash cards.


I regret to join this forum very late otherwise I would have started my training class and preparation  much earlier.


I still have my doubt that WHICH APPROACH WOULD BE GOOD, NAMELY GOING THROUGH FROM QUESTIONS START TO END OR ATTEMPTING THE QUESTIONS IN TWO PASS( FIRST EASY ONE AND THEN WORDY QUESTIONS). I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER THE EXAM SETUP ALLOWS THIS KIND OF FORWARD PATH AND BACKWORD PATH(TO COME BACK ON WORDY QUESTIONS SECOND TIME) .


Mr. Patil/Mr. Raymond/Admin/…..Is it possible to attempt easy one first and then filter the un-attempted/wordy questions in second pass, using some function of test system.


 


I am sorry to ask you too many things but I also know that you people are really A friend in need is a friend indeed."


Best Regards


MONA

cnppmp's picture

provide me your e-mail ID ..I can send the soft copy of the Hedafirst Labs soft copy which has 200 questions at the end. Also I can forward you Rajesh Nair's notes..for quick reference.


Do not forget to read through the Raga 355 which is available on the PMZILLA website under 'PMP Material' tab. above.


Regards


CN Patil

Thank you so much for all your help and time given to me. My e-mail Id is: mona.indian@rediffmail.com.


Please send me whatever you think appropriate to read in such a limited time(4 hours/day for 2 months) as i alreday scheduled my exam on 25 july.


Regards.


 


Mona

cnppmp's picture

sent to your e-mail id


Regards


CN Patil

Can you also please send me the copy of HeadFirst? Also PMStudy website, is this the website address http://www.pmstudy.com/ where I can buy some real test. Would you recommend it? Thanks

If you need to becomes familiar with how CBT exam & if you can move , skip , forward , go back to the previous question , i suggest you go thru this demo below before your exam . I gone thru this tutorial early before my exam to understand how & what to expect for CBT exams so that i can skip the tutorial to focus on brain dumping my formulae


https://www.prometric.com/demos/mcat/index.htm

 Dear Raymond,

I used this strategy.

First pass- All one liner/ 2 liner questions+ simple maths questions just to find EV CPI SPI etc. Here I never attempted any wordy questions/ Any maths questions. I finished almost 130 questions in 2 Hours. 

Second pass- All wordy questions+ All math problems which I know- around 50-60  questions- 90 minutes.

third pass- 10-20 tough questions including wordy/ creating critical path etc. till the end. I had just 2 minutes till the result

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reply. I think i will adopt the same strategy to attempt the question in two pass. Is there any icon/function in exam system by which i can filter the un-answered/wordy questions and attempt them one by one in second pass OR i shall have to go back one by one to all un-answered question of ist pass.


please advise.


Regards.


 


Mona

 When we mark for review, the color of review button turns red.  At the same time there will be a summary review sheet which shows the details of the review qns/ completed questions.

 I did not follow thru any strategy , just answer the questions 1 by 1 , just timing myself to complete # of question within a hr as a checkpoint . 

 I passed the exam yesterday with 1P and 4MP. I advise you to read the PMBOK  or at least familiarize-NOT MEMORIZE- your self with the definitons in the glossary. once you've done that you may test your knowledge with pmzilla 30 questions and oliverlehmann's 75qs though they are more difficult than the real one but they will help you to spot the gaps.

To check your timing just do oliver lehmann's 175qs (also tougher than the real one) ans PMSTUDY mock exam#1 (little bit easier but it's the closest to the real one).

I am slow reader as well and I used to finish Fastrack exams in 160 mins with an average of 83%, I was able to finish only 189 qs in the super one and obtained 63%, 19/30 in PMzilla's, 62% in oliver's 75qs and 125/175 in oliver's 175qs. I finished the real exam in 225 mins, I took 5 mins break after the first 100qs. I was under stress, I didn't brain-dumb anything and I started the exam 3 mins after the interface orientaion.

Best wishes 

 

 Is there one place to find one sheet with all ittos?

 

post here your e-mail id. i will send you a chart(one page) having all ITTO.


Regards.


 


Mona


 

Hi,

Can you also please send me Headfirst and Chat having ITTO. My email is: prasadbvm at gmail dot com.

Thanks in advance.

ITTO sent to you on your e-mail. Please check.


Regards.


Mona