My Journey to acquire the 3 letters "PMP", First attempt on 3.7.2011


Dear All

 

I would like to share my PMP journey from its early beginning till I acquired the three letters "PMP", I read a lot of knowledge sharing from newly PMPs on the internet which was very helpful and now its my turn to share mine.

 

1.      I started by attending a PMP instructor lead training on November 2009 but I didn’t start studying due to some personal commitments.

2.      I started again on the 1st of March 2011 by attending an online PMP course arranged by Skillsoft, it took me 40 days to finish it.

3.      I read the PMBOK, it took me a month.

4.      I read Rita's Book, it took me another month. After reading each chapter from Rita, I was solving the Rita's fastrack questions on this chapter, it contains about 150 questions on every knowledge area, so after finishing reading Rita, I already solved 1550 questions, and it is important to read the comments for both the correct and incorrect questions.

5.      I applied for the exam, the application was accepted after 9 days.

6.      I was selected for audit, and the audit was cleared after 20 days (due to Aramex delivery and bank holidays).

7.      I spent three days in revising and memorizing the ITTO (Inputs, Tools, Techniques and Outputs), cause I need to integrate all the Process groups together.

8.      I started solving Exams as per the below table, I only paid for the PMStudy exams and all the rest are free on the Internet.

 

 

Source

Questions

My Score

Link

1

PMStudy 1

(200 Q)

75.4%

www.pmstudy.com

2

PMStudy 2 (25$)

(200 Q)

78.3%

www.pmstudy.com

3

PMStudy 3 (25$)

(200 Q)

80.6%

www.pmstudy.com

4

PMStudy 4 (25$)

(200 Q)

78.9%

www.pmstudy.com

5

techfaq360

(200 Q)

77.0%

www.techfaq360.com

6

techfaq360

(20 Q)

85.0%

www.techfaq360.com

7

CertGear

(6 Q)

66.7%

www.certgear.com

8

Certification.about.com

(20 Q)

70.0%

certification.about.com

9

Head First Labs

(200 Q)

84.0%

www.headfirstlabs.com

10

MeasureUp

(7 Q)

71.4%

www.measureup.com

11

My PMP

(100 Q)

77.0%

www.mypmp.ie

12

Oliver F. Lehmann

(175 Q)

73.7%

www.oliverlehmann.com

13

Oliver F. Lehmann

(75 Q)

73.3%

www.oliverlehmann.com

14

PMConnection

(10 Q)

90.0%

www.pmconnection.com

15

PMExam.com

(8 Q)

62.5%

www.pmexam.com

16

PMP Question Bank

(280 Q)

71.8%

pmpbank.googlepages.com

17

PMTI

(15 Q)

60.0%

www.4pmti.com

18

PreparePM

(98 Q)

92.9%

www.preparepm.com

19

ProXalt

(10 Q)

80.0%

www.proxalt.com

20

Test Prep Review

(15 Q)

100.0%

www.testprepreview.com

21

PM perfect

(10 Q)

70.0%

 

22

EdWel Programs

(10 Q)

70.0%

www.edwel.com

23

PMzilla's free 25 tough

(25 Q)

60.0%

www.pmzilla.com

24

Threon

(13 Q)

92.3%

www.threon.com

25

OSP International LLC

(15 Q)

93.3%

www.free-pm-exam-questions.com

26

PM Prepare

(11 Q)

81.8%

www.pm-prepare.com/sbmple/showQuestion.asp?QSeq=28039&donelist=0&iLang=0...

27

Go Certify

(20 Q)

90.0%

http://www.gocertify.com/quizzes/projectmanagement/PMP_01.shtml

28

PMP Formula

(101 Q)

81.2%

from www.4shared.com (101 Questions for the PMP Formula Study Guide)

29

OSP International LLC

(90 Q)

70.0%

free.pm-exam-simulator.com

30

Ajith Namboothiri

(200 Q)

 

www.ajithn.com

31

CertChamp

(200 Q)

 

www.certchamp.com

32

Tutorials Point

(200 Q)

 

www.tutorialspoint.com

33

Voight Project Solutions

(500 Q)

 

www.voightps.com

34

PMRoadtrip

(220 Q)

 

 

35

ExamCentral

(200 Q)

 

http://www.examcentral.net/pmp/practice-exam

36

Simple Learn

(200 Q)

 

www.simplilearn.com/simplilearn/?a_aid=PMPChamp

37

Kim Heldman

 

 

 

38

Andy Crowes final test

 

 

 

39

CertGear trial

 

 

 

40

Effective PMC

 

 

www.effectivepmc.com

41

PM Champ

 

 

www.pmchamp.com/best-resources-for-pmp-exam-free-paid/

 

9.      I read Rajesh Nair Notes, It’s a very helpful summary in an excel sheet and you can download it from www.Pmzilla.com, it is simply a piece of art.

10.  I read the PMBOK one more time, it took me 4 days only to read it from cover to cover, it was very beneficial as I can read the words between the lines and link them with the wrong questions.

 




 

During the Exam:

 

 

·        I used the first 15 mins to write down all the formulas and Page 43 in the PMBOK.

·        The first five questions were hard and I thought I will fail so I was depressed.

·        I finished 54 questions on the first hour, I was planning to finish 75 questions per hour so I decided to move faster.

·        I took my first break after question number 160, the break was for 5 mins,went to the toilet to wash my face.

·        I finished the 200 questions on 2 hours and 50 mins, leaving 44 marked questions.

·        I review the marked questions on 20 mins.

·        I start revising the questions on a descending order, start from question 200 till I reached question number 87, there was only 2 mins left so I press “END EXAM”

·        I was hearing my heart beating, there was a survey but I skip it.

·        A white screen appeared for about 2 mins and then “Congratulations” :D:D:D

·        I scored 4 Profession and 2 moderate Profession

 




 

Exam Tips:

 

·        A lot of questions on the Risk and Quality.

·        The exam is not easy and not impossible.

·        A lot of questions has two right answers

·        The formula questions are very easy and direct.

·        Half of the exam is situations, but about 3 lines long, only 5 questions are in the paragraph size.

·        The English was not bad, only one question I cant understand its vocabulary.

·        All the questions are from the PMBOK, only one question that was out of the scope of the PMBOK.

·        The calculate is very BAD, it looks like the windows standard calculator, and doesn’t have the scientific option, also it is not responding to double clicks so for example, if you want to write 111, you have to click 1 and wait 0.5 sec and click 1 and wait 0.5 sec and click 1.

 




 

 

General Tips:

 

·        You MUST read the glossary at the end of the PMBOK, they are very important.

·        I memorized all the ITTO (Inputs, Tools, Techniques and Outputs), It helped me during the exam, to make it easy memorize them, you have to sort them by Knowledge are so the first one is “Develop Project charter”, “Identify Stakeholders”, “Develop PM plan”, “Collect Requirements”, “Define scope”, “create WBS”, “Define Activities”, . . . “Close Project” and finally “Close Procurement”.

·        You must simulate a 4 hour exam before the real one.

·        Rita’s Game is very helpful.

·        Don’t panic while solving online exams when u see any new or strange questions or formula, just put them in a notepad and read them before the real exam.

·        There is no time when you are going to feel that your are ready for the exam, as per the forums, scoring above 80% is a good indication to enter the exam.

·       Connect to forums frequently to read the lessons of people who just pass or fail the exam, the best forums are PMZilla.com and PMHub Google group.

·        Last but not least, You can do it, believe in that you can pass the exam, it will give you a positive energy.

 

 

Nagy SAAD, PMP, ITIL V3

Voice Customer Technical Support Specialist - VOC CTS2,
BT & ET Focus / AVAYA IPT
Tel. +202 2292 2655 / 2722
nagy.saad@orange-ftgroup.com
Equant City Stars Tower 2 Floor 10,
Omar Ebn El Khatab Street Heliopolis Cairo Egypt
www.orange-business.com

 

your journey to get PMP was great.


Again congratulations

Heartiest Congratulations on your PMP.

Such a Detailed LL is surely going to help aspiring PMPs for their preparations.

 

admin's picture

A memorable writeup on PMZilla!!! . Congratulations Nady on your PMP and thanks for sharing.


Can you please mention from your experience which are the 3-4 sources of tests that you would recommend. Personally I dont think going through so many practice tests is required, can we propose an optimum plan for people here. ?


 


 

Hi Nagy,

You had given very important feedback about your preparations for PMP. This will be very useful for all PMP aspirants like me.

Well I am also preparing for the PMP. I had completed my 35 contact hours/PDU's in July-2009(on PMBOK version-4). I just want a feedback/information from you basically on the validity period of 35 pdu's earned through direct training of 4 days on PMP. 

Can I now apply and appear for these 35 pdu's earned in July-2009. Please provide your expert advice.

Thanks.

Regards,

Hemant Virkar

Dear Hemant

 

It worked for me, you can call or mail PMI customer care to double check

they are very helpful

 

Nagy Saad, PMP

Nagy Saad:
Congratulations and thanks for sharing your detailed study plan.


I did somthing similar but much less, however I  felt prepared ( well you can never be sure).


Therefore scoring an average of 80% can be a good indicator.


After that it is a case of diminishing returns.


I passed on 8th July 2011 on my first try and it is a great relief.


Best of luck in your career.


Mohan Kinra

manbreddy's picture

hi ,


 


first of all congratulations on your PMP, Your LL is gr8, You have taken lot of mock tests, How far were they helpful. is it required to take so many. Due to time constraints, i would like to know which are very important ?and similar to real exam..

Congrats and nice writeup!  I also just cleared my test and I'm glad you mentioned the glossary -- I forgot to mention that in my recap. Very important to read that!  

I'm also glad someone else mentioned the horrible on-screen calculator!  I found it so tedious that I did the math in my head or on the scratch paper.  The math is very easy. They want to see that you can perform and interpret basic EVM and EMV, not that you can perform calculations.

Also, for folks looking for pointers on what to study, please remember that the tests are highly randomized and one's impression of what is stressed may be a reflection of that individual's strengths and weaknesses in certain areas.  For example, I didn't find Risk was heavily focused, but that's a strong area for me. My weakness was Procurement and I thought there were a lot of Procurement questions. See what I mean?

Same thing with the formulas. I was disappointed there weren't more!  Give me a math problem any day over a subjectively worded mind-game question. And speaking about the random nature of the test -- you know all those non-EV, non-EMV formulas that you see in all the prep books?  Not a single one appeared in my exam!

Hi,

 I passed PMP this morning. I would like to thank you for the guideness u provided. It helped me throughtout my journey to PMP :):)

Regards

Imran khan