Passed PMP on 2nd attempt

 



Hi All,


Just passed my PMP exam today and I'm absolutely delighted! 



It was my 2nd attempt and was quite nerve racking when I hit the 'Grade Exam'. For that 10 seconds in the end it felt like my heart pounding was the loudest thing in the room.



Main resources used
1. Rita's Exam Prep 6th edition
2. Company sponsored course material
3. Free Mock exams
       Exam Central
       PMStudy
       PMPTrend

4. PMZilla Forum - for inspiration, motivation and experiences

I briefly went through other websites but I didnt have the time to check out their mock/practice exams. I referred PMBOK's input/outputs usually when I got a question wrong because the format was easier to read but apart from that I didnt read it.

I cant recommend Rita's book highly enough. It was the difference between my first attempt and second attempt. When I failed in my 1st attempt(early Feb2012) , a friend lent his Rita's book. Initially I was very reluctant to sit the exam again and had this bad feeling about it. Once I got over that, I found myself flicking through it and before I knew I had gone through the first 3 chapters in one sitting and that set the pace and motivation to resit the exam. I read every single page of it and had a fair go at most of the excercises/practice exams. I then spent doing the free mock exams on the above sites. Together they really helped me get used to the type of questions that typically shows up in the exam. I spent approx 4 weeks preparing for this exam. The day before the exam, all I did was do the Rita's practice exams again. My practice scores had improved from mid60s to 80s. Exam itself was of medium difficulty. There were some where the answer would pick itself and others almost impossible to pick. There were questions on all the processes and knowledge areas, nothing unexpected or unusual.


Now, in hindsight there were few things I didnt do right in my first attempt. First of all, I went through just the course material and one mock exam. Preparation was barely one week. Although couple of my colleagues passed with the same effort, I didnt and I was shocked when the result showed up Fail on my screen as I thought I had blitzed through the exam. Looking back I think there were couple of reasons why I failed
1. I had a fair grasp of the content but was not used to the way questions are framed, so fell into all the traps set. I didnt even bother reviewing although I finished in under 2.5 hours. Big mistake. So I set about doing as many questions and mock exams possible to get used to the wording and avoiding all the traps (eg: long wordy questions, unrelated info, subtle hints etc). On my second attempt, I read the questions slowly and read it many times, thought what the answer should be and then checked the 4 options. I managed to finish with 10mins to spare and took 3 breaks in between.
2. Afternoon exam - Been reading all morning and went in on near empty stomach..I had no fight left in me by the time I had completed 50questions. Just did not have the mental energy to think & work through problem after problem. So I booked the morning exam this time around. Had breakfast and got to the centre. I knew I had it in me to last 200 questions and do it again if things didnt go as planned. 

 

If you failed before and thinking of giving it another go, I hope this will help you pass it this time and write your own success story.

Thank you all for your sharing experience and helping me pass PMP (2P and 3MP).

All the very best

K


 

admin's picture

Congratulations on your PMP

Your learning and mistakes will surely help others.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.