Dear Friends,

Extremely happy to share that I passed PMP on my first try on Oct 28th. I have been a silent member into this forum for last couple of weeks & going thru LL shared by others since last 3-4 weeks sincerely. Before I share mine, I would like to thank PMZILLA for it’s great contribution to help professionals like us where we can learn from each other & share our knowledge with others. My LL is as below.

1)The preparation started in the beginning of Aug’12. I read PMBOK & RITA once, it took 3 weeks to complete. Then I decided to fill in the forms online & selected for audit.; cleared within 3-4
2)I have managed many projects as a project lead for last couple of years. Thought this will help; however, I felt there are still many things to learn & apply. So I took my preparation as a learning experience than just passing exam. In this way I was not influenced by my real time PM experience while appearing exam.
3)By the end of Aug, I got a fair idea on all 42 processes & prepared a master excel with combination of PMBOK & RITA & never tried to remember ITTOs. Tried a simple formula..thinking about these processes & asking questions to myself why it’s like that. Then decided to remember Tools only; created my own mnemonics for example Plan procurement – MBA Contract Expert[Make-Buy-Analysis, Contract type, Exp JJ]. This is much better than remembering MCE. Output for each process are logical ;so only one left behind is Inputs. Which was easier after having confidence in other two. Then I liked PMBOK so much, I was enjoying this book better than RITA
4)The first test I appear was Oliver 75 qs on mid Sep & scored around 65%; was bit upset with the score. Then went thru PMBOK again & appeared Simplearn/Exam central. Questions here are much easier than the real exam & most of them are copy of PMBOK sentences. However, it’s easy to boost confidence & it’s free. I read many people suggesting PMStudy, so purchased all 4 exams in mid Oct. My score there was 75% average.
5)Exam day >> here comes the most important part. The center is 10 mins away from my home & exam was scheduled at 1:30 pm. I reached at 1:00 they allowed me to appear exam before time. Didn’t allow me take cookies or any other item. My strategy was to try math & timing diagram questions at last hr. So I marked them all & started answering all other questions. I found 70% questions are scenario based & very close to Rita chapter end qs. Some questions were too lengthy & options were very close. At the same time, some direct questions on ITTOs & EVM formula. Marked many questions for review. Exam was tough in the first one hr then I was comfortable latter & very tough for me to manage last 1 hr as I was stressed on remaining time to go over math questions. I was just able to manage all questions & could not review many questions. I think it’s better to appear all questions as it comes than leaving to end. I consumed each second of 4 hrs & didn’t take any break. It was the shortest 4Hr I ever had in my life. I was not enjoying lengthy questions from Rita chapter end & thought actual exam will be different. After pressing the submit button, that 10-15 sec was the longest time with mixed feeling but anxious to know the result as well. Finally I saw passed with 4MPs. Was so happy. As I mentioned I never planned to score all Ps & it was more like a learning expr for me & I am happy that I made it in 2-3 months of preparation.
6)My suggestions: Appear varieties of test. Try to understand PMBOK, that’s the official book from PMI & that’s enough to pass exam. RITA concept is very different & it’s good to go once. I would also recommend to avoid some topics from RITA which does not cover in PMBOK & go against PMBOK concept. But donot miss RITA chapter end qs. The preparation needs to structure pattern of combination of study & practice tests. No practice test is close to the real exams. The direct qs are easy to answer. That is possible even without appearing any practice tests. The most difficult part is scenario based questions which needs understanding on all processes.

Last but not the least, thanks to my wife & 4 yrs old daughter to help me concentrate on PMP for last 1 month after my working hour & over the weekend with no party, movies & family get together. Prepare well, appear the exam with a good strategy & you can make it. I am feeling great that I completed PMP & now it gives me entirely a new way of facing problems & managing upcoming projects. Thanks to PMZILLA once again.

DONOT forget to share your LL after you accomplish your goal. It helps others in the same way it helped us.

Thks
S. Chandra