It all started about 3 months ago when I wandered onto the PMI web site and read the PMP requirements. Out of these, I saw three milestones:

1. Attain 35 PM training contact hours: I found a coupon for the PMP Prep Cast and signed up. Three weeks and many Podcasts later I passed the PrepCast test and received credit for the course.

2. Get a PMP application approved: A week or so after the last PrepCast, I spent a quiet Sunday filling out the PMP online application, which I submitted that same night. About five days passed before I received approval.

3. Pass the PMP test: I read the HeadFirst book and the PMBok Guide (which I could not read cover to cover; instead, I skipped from one chapter to another, in any old order). I memorized the process groups/knowledge matrix on page 43, writing it down on paper for 3 or so weeks, each day leading up to the exam. And I committed fourteen formulas to memory, scribbling these on the back of the page I used to record the forty-something processes. I didn’t memorize the ITTOs to a point where I could write them all down on a piece of paper, but I paid attention to them and could recognize most all of them when I saw them.

I worked through various practice test questions. And then a few more practice test questions. And then a few more still. Performance report follows.

For many questions, especially those I answered incorrectly, I would refer back to the PMBok or HeadFirst or even do a Google search to brush-up on the topic.

For the last three weeks leading up to the exam day, I studied each morning, before work, for 1 to 2 hours. Work is busy; work is generally stressful; I could not study at the end of the workday. But I did study weekends; and I took three full days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) to study before the day of the exam.

Exam day: Arriving on time, I signed in and put my valuables in a locker. The proctor asked me to show empty pant pockets, then he waved a wand in front of my breadbasket, and then he escorted me to a cubicle where I wrote down processes and formulas while ignoring a tutorial. Then the test started. It’s all a bit of a blur. In an hour I was through a hundred questions and took about a seven-minute break. I went back to the exam room and worked through the next one hundred questions; this took about an hour and fifteen minutes…and then I took another break. About 10 minutes or so.

Back in the exam room, I had marked 55 questions for review. I reviewed each of them, changing several. Then I started to work back through all the questions…and then I just stopped… I saw no point in going back through each question, second-guessing myself. I crossed the Rubicon, clicking the end exam button with about 30 minutes remaining. Up came  a survey. I ended the survey early (I had to get to work that afternoon) and, next thing (did I mention it’s all a bit of a blur?), a screen said something like “Passed” and then I saw the scores for each process group: MP for initiation, P for all others.

Happy to be done with this. Primary lesson learned is one that is often repeated: find and drill yourself on a lot of practice questions from many different sources. Thanks to this site and it’s participants for good information and general support…