I cleared my PMP exam on July 23, 2013 with 5P’s.

I have been a mute spectator of the forum and I owe some of my success to PMZilla so I decided to share my LL’s

Background

SAP project manager with over 5 years exp.

 

Preparation

I started preparing in Mid-May. Started with 1 hour a day which increased to 2 hrs in june and 3 hrs in july with 5 hrs a day in last 2 weeks.

Did 35 hrs thru my employer. We used to have 2 hrs a day sessions twice a week, which took 10 weeks to finish. I must say they were not much helpful. Was just a way to get the 35pdu's  certificate.

I read following books

 

1.       PMBOK – 5 Times end to end. 2 Times skimmed

2.       Rita (cover-to-cover) – Twice

3.     Read  three chapters from Headfirst – Found it very easy  to read so left it. ( I think by this time I was in PMBOK language mode)

4.    Tried reading all the notes from pmzilla by various members but just didn’t have patience to go through such a big list ( notes are good though). I just concentrated on pmbok

 Mock Up Scores

Scordo Mocks #1 to #12 Easy ( In June)	74%
Scordo Mocks #13 to #18 Moderate ( In July)	72%
Head First PMP – 200Q (Easy) ( Gave in June)	80%
PM Study test 1 – 200Q (Never Gave – Could never access free version due to 50 first users accessing before me)
Oliver Lehmann 175Q ( July)	69%
Oliver Lehman 75Q ( July)	75%
Anbari ( Only Give if you want to revise PMBOK)	94%
Exam Central (200Q) ( Easy)	80%
Edwel ( Moderate)	70%
Simplilearn	70%

 

1 Week before exam

Read a lot of LL’s and analyzed and combined all. I came to a conclusion that anything and everything if it is in PMBOK it should be in my brain. All Situational questions are from PMBOK concepts nothing is outside from it ( eg I have never heard of PTA questions from anyone as I don’t think they come and they are not in pmbok)

Exam Day

In a LL I read three days back that if you need to do a brain dump of pg 43 on paper then u are not prepared. Plus mostly people wrote that you will never use any of what you wrote initially

So I didn’t write anything.

From Q1 onwards every question looked as if it had two answers so I didn’t bother that time ( as start of the test is the most nervous time ). I chose the answer and marked to come back later. So I didn’t spend more than 40 seconds average on any question and I finished in 2 hrs 25 mins  with 200 qs. No breaks

I marked a good 60-65 Q’s and then I did all marked ones which took me around 40mins. Easy math questions gave me confidence later.

In the last 50-55 mins I reviewed all 200 questions quickly with more attention to numerical qs which I didn’t want to loose marks on. I completed this pass with 20 secs to spare and I submitted my test.

Even after submitting also I had a doubt on 30 odd qs that they can be wrong as they had more than 1 correct answer.

One thing which I have seen very few ppl mention in their LL’s is what kind of qs they got. I think this will really help everyone who are planning to give the pmp going frwd.

Here are the type of Questions I got

·        

No questions on ethics. I could not recall any indirect or embedded qs also

·        

Make sure u know types of contract. Try choosing contracts as per situations. 6-7 qs on types of contracts

·        

Norming to storming – 1 question. Situation of a team with additional members joining …how will team stages change

·        

Conflicts – 5-6 questions ,, Situations given.. what type conflict resolution used.. all situations were tricky

·        

PERT 2 qs- Pess, Most lik, Opt given.. calculate duration Simple Questions

·        

Very simple questions and calculation for EV, PV, AC. One does not need calculator at all. Calculate, SPI, CV, CPI, EAC ( with  BAC/CPI formula), VAC.

·        

Make sure you know what it means to have CV, SV (negative or positive) or CPI, SPI (negative or positive). 6-7 Questions on this only to calculate –ve or +ve CV, SV, SPI, CPI and answer if its Over run or under run or under budget or over budget or cost spent less than EV or behind schedule or ahead schedule..

·        

1 big and complex netwrk diagram Q to calculate float of critical path. I didn’t bother to even draw it as answer was ZERO. ( This Q I had read in someone’s LL and he said he wasted 3 mins doing calculations of float whereas answer of critical path float is 0.

·        

5-6 ITTO questions

·        

Inputs for qualitative risk (is it scope baseline or scope statement )… scope baseline is in identify risk

·        

Integrated Change control outputs, Inputs for conduct procurement, TT’s for define scope

·        

Some Questions had a situation given and answer which technique used to be used.( Roughly 20 qs)  Resource leveling, Crashing – 2 questions, brainstorming, nominal grp technique, expert judgement ( TT in Charter), benchmarking, control chart, pareto chart, histogram, critical chain, monte carlo. Make sure u understand all techniques

·        

3-4 qs on project charter, Develop team (TT’s) , types of pull communications,

·        

Reward given in which process in Comm KA

·        

If a PM talks to a team member in cafeteria then what is it – interpersonal skills or observation and communication

·        

2 qs on types of reports – forecast report , variance report ( is it called proj variance report or variance analysis report)

·        

2 qs on bidder conference – like if a seller asks clarification wt wud u do ( make sure u tell others also on those clarifications also)

·        

Q on Stakeholder register and matrix ( like wt do u prepare to check interest level of stakeholders – keep informed, manage closely …blah blah )

·        

When u prepare risk matrix in initiation phase wht type is ( likelihood impact or likelihood severity)

·        

Whts unique to closing ( Disbanding team)

·        

If project is cancelled wt to do ( Close It properly )

·        

If a project mgr gives u new assignment after proj closure then wt to do ( do a staffing plan or change req)

·        

If a requirement was missed which u discovered later and to avoid this situation wt should have been done.. u missed wt (Proper register)

·        

10 year building contract ( wht type of contract)

·        

Scope creep question – if scope creep happens then wt to do

·        

Diagram of control chart showing 6 points above mean. Q asking how will this process go out of control, one more q asking directly if 7 pts out of mean then wt will u do

Hope it helps everyone