I finally received my PMP cert on 8/26/11. It was a very long road as I prepared studies for 6 months, every day and on weekends. Most days M-F I studied about 6 hours and on weekends between 2 - 4 hours, very busy considering my full time work schedule. When I first began I didn’t honestly realize how complex the test really was. After all I had already received my BA in Project Management and been performing project management activities for 7 years, thought I had it all under locks.

I had a very rude awakening. I read the PMBOK one full time and took notes as I progressed. Something said to me, this isn’t enough. For some strange reason I started browsing the web for tips on studying for the PMP exam. I was paying for this out of my own pocket and pursuing it for myself, not for my company so I didn’t have the funds to keep paying for retakes of the exam and expensive practice software’s. I stumbled across the PMPREP Cast and have to say it was the best thing I could have purchased. If you’re like me and have to re-read material several times before you understand it then the PREPCAST is definitely for you! Cornelius explains everything in detail for all processes and gives you all the pointers on taking the exam and suggestions on how to study. He recommended the Achieve Project Management Success book so I bought it and read thru it also. This is a great book if you only need something to reference or review. It does include over 1000 practice exam questions which are very helpful. After 3 months I was scoring in the mid to high 60’s on practice exams and thought I wasn’t progressing enough. I then read Head First and Rita. These two books in combination with the PMBOK is the perfect match. Head First is excellent in explaining the processes in an elementary format while Rita is all business from page one.

With two weeks until test day I finally started to improve my exam scores to 70% and then 82%. I felt good but was extremely stresses as I know and understand that I’m a terrible test taker no matter how much I study. I have to say the exam was not as difficult as I thought or conversely I studied enough to where my understanding made it seem that way. The Headfirst exam seemed the closes to the real exam in my experience.  It’s very true what they say; scheduling your exam before you start your study is the very most “IMPORTANT” thing you can do for your studies. It really does force you to make a study plan and follow it. My final suggestions are as follows:

Schedule your exam

Read PMBOK at least 2 times

Purchase PrepCast videos

Read Headfirst at least 1 time all the way thru

Read Rita at least 1 time all the way thru

Take at least 4 practice exams and review the questions you missed

Good luck and best wishes to those pursuing PMP