A great moment in my life when I cleared my PMP exam on 1^st try on 21^st June.

My background: Basically from engineering background,  moved to IT functions in government sector about 15 years back. Working in core software industry since 3 years. Came to know about PMP just 3 years back. Decided to crack it about 1 year back.

Journey towards PMP:

1.      

Became a PMZilla member 1 year back, the best forum I have ever seen. Used to just browse the LLs daily till Jan this year

2.      

Attended KnowledgeWoods classroom training in month of January 2013 in Hyderabad

3.      

Applied for the exam. Application went for audit. Got approval on February 14^th

4.      

Started my preparation from then on in a very unplanned manner, not adhering to any one study material consistently

5.      

My real preparation started in April, I would say, with some clarity and determination. The major source of inspiration was LLs posted in this forum

6.      

Spent 2 hours daily and 4/ 6 hours on weekends during these 3 months. In the last week I spent around 10 hours daily. I took off from office for 3 days

7.      

Postponed, preponed , postponed, preponed for 4 times with dates like May 15^th, May 30^th, June 17^th, June 27^th and then finally sat for the exam on June 21^st

8.      

Cleared the exam with 2 Ps and 3 MPs. Ps in Initiation and Planning. MPs in Executing, M&C and Closing

Mistakes which I made (and which I do not want others to make)

1.      

Have a clear study plan

2.      

Do not get carried away with the opinions given by others regarding the study materials (PMBoK, RITA, Andy Crowe, Head First etc.,). It’s you who should know which book is making you sit down and study for hours together without losing interest

3.      

Do not jump to mock exams without completing your study i.e., atleast 1 reading of any book of your liking (PMBoK or RITA)

4.      

Do not buy too many mock tests at one time. Ultimately you may not know where to start and where to end

5.      

Become thorough in a knowledge area, then move towards process group and then a mock exam (this is what I did in RITA FastTrack and PMStudy and it worked)

6.      

Do not take any mock tests the day before the exam

7.      

Take only standard mock tests (as suggested by Pawar sir and Admin). Do not purchase simulated exams left and right

8.      

Use the 4 hours of the exam. Do not come out of the exam after 3hours just because you finished (like I did). Who knows? I would have got one more P.

Study material used by me

1.      

Head First PMP (good book to start off with)  1time – solved all the questions at the end of chapters

2.      

Andy Crowe Book

3.      

RITA Mulcahy book 1 time --solved all the questions at the end of chapters

4.      

PMBok 1 time

5.      

PMP Mathematics by Vidya Subramanian – solved all the problems

6.      

Scordo tests in PMI website (all the chapter wise tests and 18 mock tests)

7.      

Kim Heldman review exercises in PMI website (all the chapters)

8.      

Kerzner review exercises in PMI website

9.      

PMPForSure (Bought the full package which consists of study guide, formulae, well structured ITTOs ). It’s the most economical material I felt and worth buying

10.  

Simplilearn

11.  

PMPerfect (did not solve fully due to lack of time)

12.  

101 Scribd Mathematics Problems (One need to attempt all these questions to get confidence)

13.  

PMZilla Tough30 Questions

14.  

PMZilla 200 Tough Questions (really tough and very good questions)

15.  

TechFaq 360 (did not solve fully due to lack of time)

16.  

PMStudy (answered all the knowledge area wise questions and took mock tests . Study guide is very good which is structured knowledge wise area)

17.  

Rajesh Nair - Thallamani’s notes (I revised it the day before the exam for 3 hours. It is equivalent to revising your PMBoK. Excellent notes)

About the exam

1.      

I reached the examination center at 7-15AM in Hyderabad. Sat at my place at 7-23 AM

2.      

Went through the demo for 5 minutes. Reproduced  Pg no. 43 , formulae of time management and started off the exam before the 15 mins was over

3.      

When I completed the first 100 questions, 2 hours 36 mins were remaining. When I completed my next 100 questions 59 mins were remaining

4.      

Marked 20 to 25 questions for review but reviewed only 5 / 6 , changed 3 questions, then I thought what if I mark a wrong answer in my review, hence decided to end the exam

5.      

When 40 more minutes were left I clicked on “End Exam”.

6.      

Prayed God. The 1 / 2 mins were most dreaded moments of my life. Saw the CONGRATULATIONS message. Didn’t know what to do next. Then saw 2 Ps and 3 MPS. Sat in the seat sunk, to absorb the situation . Then looked at inviligator who was waving his hand informing that it’s time for me to come out

7.      

I got 20 to 25 mathematical questions (all on Time and Cost). No questions on EMV or Procurements. Problems on Time were tough (I felt like that, may be because of my not so thorough preparation). All COST questions were on calculating EAC, SV, VAC (I could solve all of them)

8.      

5 questions were on direct ITTOs. About 10 questions were on What Next Process (Direct Questions)

9.      

Rest all were situational questions i.e., amounting to 80% questions.

10.  

HR, Risk and Procurements were most questions on , followed by Quality and Scope

PMZilla is a great forum. I have made good friends like Vishwanath. I need to thank Pawar Sir, Geethika, Sanskrit, CN Patil, Jai (for his thoughts that knowledge is to be shared and advised all of us not to be passive contributors but active contributors to PMZilla), Manoj for their valuable inputs which have cleared some of my basic concepts. Last but not the least for the prayers (I didn’t know that there were so many people praying for me and waiting for the call at 12PM on 21/06/13) of my well wishers (my mom, my husband, my children and true good friends of mine)

For those who cannot make it first time, do not get discouraged. It’s not that we (who passed the exam in the 1^st attempt) are more capable. No. All of us are on the same page. The day should be your’s. The right paper , containing easy questions or on  your strong areas should pop up from the computer screen on that day and at that time

It’s a long long LL. But I am so excited that I wanted to share with all of my friends on PMZilla ( a great forum I have ever seen)

Thank You so much

 

Regards

Vijaya