I passed the PMP exam yesterday on the first attempt and I’m so grateful to God that I did!

I’d been reading on and off for the last year but never taking it seriously until 3 weeks ago when I learnt that the exam would change.

Preparation
I had been taking an online training course provided by my office off and on but decided to read Andy Crowe’s  - The PMP Exam, How to Pass On Your First Try. I didn’t get to read the entire PMBOK or even very much of it as I found it so, so boring. One interesting thing though, after reading Andy Crowe and taking a few mock tests, the concepts in the PMBOK began to make more sense and I started to use it as a reference more often. I also took a look at the section in Rita’s book about “Why you might fail the test”.

Mock Tests

• The mock test at the end of the Andy Crowe Book. 84%
• The mock test at the Velociteach website. I got access to this because I purchased the Andy Crowe book. 83%
• Pmstudy test 3. The free test was not available for some reason so I had to pay for it. I think it was $25 well spent. 78%
• Christopher Scordo Mock Lites. I did only 2 of these, but they were helpful. You need to be a member of PMI to access these. 80%
• Head First Mock Test. 78%
• Oliver Lehmann 75 and 175 practice questions. 70% amd 73%
• PMzilla 30 hard questions. 60%

Exam Day
Arrived an hour early at the Prometric Center and got started right away. During practice tests I always took a break after the first 100 questions and again after the next 50, but during the real exam I was hard pressed for time. I dumped the 42 processes and the math formulas and that was really helpful.
I ended the test 3 minutes before the 4 hours was up and only had time to fill in answers for one or two questions I had left blank. In all, the test was tough, but practicing with the mock tests and studying helped. The short wait while the screen went white while I was waiting to see if I had passed seemed like an eternity but thankfully I did and I’m a PMP now!

A Few Words of Advice

• Read some other book like Andy Crowe or Rita first and then read the PMBOK. That helps a lot.
• Do memorize and dump the 42 processes and the formulas. I had a lot of math questions and having the formulas at my fingertips helped.
• Take as many quality mock tests as you can. The tests helped me understand how to apply the principles that I had been studying and introduced concepts that were not in the PMBOK or Andy Crowe’s book. Also, practice taking full length tests so you know what it’s like to sit for 4 hours straight.
• I was still getting to know the ITTOs and wish I’d had more time as understanding them is really helpful and there are always questions related to them.

I know the exam is changing tomorrow so not sure if any of this will help.
I only found PMzilla a couple weeks ago still, thanks to the PMzilla folk for all the tips and links to great resources.

Now I can get my first proper sleep in 3 weeks!