Passed PMP on 25th November with 3 P and 2 MPs

Submitted by satyabp on Fri, 11/29/2013 - 12:25

Hi,

I passed PMP on the 25th of November in my first attempt with the following scores:

Initiating- MP
Planning- P
Executing- P
Monitoring and Controlling- P
Closing- MP

I was planning to write the exam in March but then had to delay because of work pressure. After delaying it 4 times (once just 10 days before the exam), I finally wrote the exam on the 25th of November.

I used the flowing books:
PMBOK 5
Head First PMP
PMP Mathematics (McGraw Hill)

My preparation started mid August and I had good three months in hand. Because I had been reading PMBOK on and off since January, I had built my basics already. I got myself a hard copy of PMBOK and read it thoroughly this time. I immediately followed that up with HeadFirst. After completing every lesson, I took the lesson tests. I also bought the Kim Heldman book only for the tests.

For the second time around, I read PMBOK in sequence of the Phases (starting with Initiating). This built my understanding of different processes ground-up. I also took the questions from examcentral.net after completing each phase (strongly recommend examcentral.net).

In the last week I completed the math test from PMP Mathematics (McGraw Hill). This book will make your Math concepts clear and also help you revise some of the important PM concepts. However, sometimes their terminologies were not really PMBOK conformant.

I had taken oliverlehman 75 a week before my exam and scored 43. I was pretty upset and that pushed me to step up my preparation for the last week. However, I did not take any of the mocks before the exam as I did not want to get unnecessarily upset again.

The Exam Day:

The exam will not only test your PM knowledge but also your patience, and your ability to think straight while being extremely hungry. Make sure you have eaten well before you enter the exam room.

The first few questions were easy and kind of gave me the confidence that I was going to pull it off. I read each question, re-read it and then decided the answer. Some of the questions were less of PM test and more of English grammar. Keep your eyes open for and, or, but, etc.

I started losing patience at the end of three hours and I was hungry and unwell. This cost me the P for Initiating and Closing. I could not take a break as I was going pretty slow and finished the 200th question seconds before the timer was to go off. At the end of the exam, I saw the congratulations message as I was expecting.

I can say a million things about the exam but then let me not bore you guys. If you have any specific questions, please let know.

Thanks,
Satya

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PMP Exam Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learnt.
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dpar

Fri, 11/29/2013 - 21:35

satyabp,

Thanks for the write up. I definitely plan to have a snack with my things. Hopefully I will have time to eat it.

Did you have to calculate:
Future Value
Point of Total Assumption

Were management styles covered that are not listed in PMBOK?

thank you.

satyabp

Sat, 11/30/2013 - 08:22

Hi dpar,

Even I was a little apprehensive about PTA. However, there were no questions on PTA in the exam. No specific questions on leadership styles either. However, there were questions on the different motivational theories (these are not elaborated in PMBOK either).

Thanks,
Satya

Stakeholder

Sat, 11/30/2013 - 22:15

I really liked your LL, esp. the part where you mentioned not to be frustrated by taking exams. I agree that there are so many types and sites providing mock exams. And I have noticed just today two different sources providing two differennt answers for the same quesion. It was quite shocking and a morale killer. But the problem is one cannot live without these mock tests. So I am trying them all (the free ones) and the results are in the range of 68 - 76 so far. Anyway, from your experience which site appeared to be the closest to the actual exam, I noted you mentioned exam central,  but I have noted it being medium on the hardship scale. Also what was the level of calculation questions on the exam. Were those as hard as they are on the mock test?. I 'll appreciate your input.

Congratulations again.

satyabp

Sun, 12/01/2013 - 20:14

Dear Stakeholder,

I totally understand the fact that you really need the Mock tests. My only suggestion is to not push it till the last phase of your preparation. If you do not have enough time to correct your mistakes, it will only frustrate you.

I think some of the questions in Oliver Lehmann were pretty close to the real exam. However, the test as a whole was way beyond the real PMP exam's standard. My question set for the exam tested me on the PM principles in a straight forward way. There was no "tricking" or unnecessarily "complicating" involved, unlike most of the mock tests. I would say if you have taken most of the free tests and are scoring around 65, you are all set.

Thanks,
Satya

Stakeholder

Mon, 12/02/2013 - 07:43