PMP Failed First Attempt - Help Needed

Submitted by Bharat Kalani on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 21:04

Failed PMP first time on 12/31/2011 and need guidance on the approach on reappearing 2nd time.
 
Here is the overall plan that I had followed and spent almost 4 months on the preparation.
 
Aug'11 - Read Rita 6th edition
Sep'11 - Read PMBOK 4th edition
Oct'11 - Read Rita 6th edition 2nd time - Skimmed through
Nov'11 - Read PMBOK 2nd time - Skimmed through
Dec'11 - Read Rita 3hd time - Concentrated on key Knowledge areas and Process Groups
Solved almost 2,000 questions from various sites and paid close attention to the questions that went wrong.
 
Below are the exams that I had taken:
 
PM Connection - 51%
Tutorial point - 58%
Oliver - 60%
Head first - 67%
PM Study - 66%
Techfaq360 - 76%
Certified Champ - 76%
PM Road Trip - 78%
 
I was clam and patient on the day of the exam, and knew if I spent 4hr with concentration then would be able to understand questions and answer them correctly.
 
Finished 200 question and took approx 3hr45mins and had 15 mins to review the ones that were marked. I was positive with the answers selected, and was anxious and excited to view the results.
The screen went blank for few mins and my heart was palpating. The results weren't excited and FAILED the exam.
 
Below were my scores.
 
Initiation - Below Proficient
Planning - Proficient
Executing - Below Proficient
Monitoring and Controlling - Below Proficient
Closing - Moderately Proficient
 
I am not sure where I went wrong; I read PMBOK twice and Rita 6th edition 3 times and had scored average in the practice exams.
 
Basically I am from a technical background with 11 years of experience and not sure if lack of real Project Manager Experience was the cause of failure.
 
I am planning to attempt for 2nd time and wanted to get some guidance on the approach that I should follow considering my project management exposure.
 
Your help in this regards will be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks,

Forums: 
PMP Exam Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learnt.
  • Log in to post comments
  • 3231 reads

sadityas

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 02:52

Bharat..Sorry to hear this. After reading your post I inferred that you studied a lot but you were not well prepared.

Your statement "not sure if lack of real Project Manager Experience was the cause of failure" is spot on. Rita's book suggests that one should not leave PM mindset while taking exam. I do not think you need a PM title in your job to pass your exam but you definitely need a PM mindset and that can also be achieved by job shadowing or inspections (Both PMP Tools and Techniques lol!!). 

Having said that I do not want to discourage you for your next attempt but reading books multiple times will not increase odds of success. If you read Rita book one time and understand framework/flow and make physical / mental notes of theories/T&T/Formulae etc., you should be able to crack the exam.   As you have already seen most of the questions will be situation based, only clear understanding of concepts can help to get you best answer. Bottom line is we have to choose best out of multiple correct ones!!! 

In your situation, I would read Rita one time, do all exercises and review wrong answers carefully. In my preparation, I used to make a doc file with all question which I gave wrong answers and review them regularly. Keep PMBOK for reference, glance it every time you get an explanation for your incorrect response in mock tests or to refer terms not clear to you.  Few online video courses can also help you greatly such as PMChamp or PM Prepcast. They are very reasonably priced too. 

Take tests from quality sources. I have seen many junk exams in which many questions will only confuse you. PMI emphasis is to check your knowledge not the data stored in your brain. Some good resources for exams are PMStudy and PMPerfect. Both have good question bank that give you real measure of your preparation. When you get your score consistently above 72%, In my opinion you are ready for real one. I saw your scores above and except three tests you are below 70%. As I had taken HeadFirst few days back, In my opinion your score is low considering complexity of HeadFirst exam. I scored 82% in that. 

Hope this will help.

 

Best of luck.

Happy new year, may 2012 get the PMP certification to you :). 

 

-Shuk 

 


 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 


 

Wizmatic

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 03:05

Bharat Kalani, we are in the same situation. I did the paper based one and got below proficient in 3 areas also. I acutally appealed to Pmi, because I felt that I did the exam pretty well and the others who took the class with me, I was always scoring higher than them and they passed in the real exam except me. However, I am reading the Rita 6ed again and pmbok. Hope all goes well with your studying. Sorry that you failed.

krantikumar50

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 06:17

I am extremely sorry to hear that you could not clear. Your study materials are very good. I also failed in my 1st attempt. I got 3BPs, 1P and 1 MP.


 


This time I have slated my exam in May, 2012 and have planned to read PMBOK 5 times, thrice Rita and will also learn (read-rote) complete I/TT/O.


 


I dont know where did I go wrong because till the last moment I was thinking, I AM DONE but then PMI thought otherwise.


 


All the best to WE!!!


 


Thanks,


KK