I passed my PMP exam on the first try on Monday, June 17, 2013!!!  The forums on PM Zilla really helped a lot over the past few days, so I wanted to post my lessons learnt while it was still fresh in my mind.

I didn’t got to the testing site the day before, so I gave myself an extra 30 minutes to get there. It helped because I actually missed my turn getting off of the interstate.  People are right about dressing in layers, the exam room is cold – think doctor’s office!  You are allowed to bring headphones as long as they don’t have wires. Noise cancelling headphones were already available at the test station. However, they were not 100%. I could hear the guy sitting across from me tapping his pencil every few minutes.   If you write big like me, be careful. If you use the scratch paper that they initially give you, you have to turn in that pamphlet in order to get a new pamphlet (i.e. that means give your brain dump sheet away!!)

I finished the exam with about 10 minutes to spare. I found myself marking A LOT of questions for follow up. I think I marked somewhere between 20-25 questions. It felt like every single question was situational. It also felt like a lot of “best answer” questions so I couldn’t do a quick scan. There were several times where I lost focus and had to re-read the question multiple times.  

Study Prep:

I took the PMI Tampa Bay local chapter boot camp a few years ago. It was worth the money and cheaper than some of the other boot camps that are advertised online. The lesson learnt is that I should have immediately taken the PMP exam fresh out of the boot camp.  At the end of the day, the boot camp was worth it. The boot camp included the Crosswinds PM study guide, flash cards, simulation pmp mock exam etc.  Overall, I actually used my Crosswinds Guide more than my PMBOK. I am not sure if Crosswinds is better than Rita. I just stuck with Crosswinds because I already had all of the material.

Someone in this forum recommended -  www.brainbok.com. It was worth the $49.00!!!!  The ITTO tool and online flashcards were extremely helpful.  That being said, do not waste your time memorizing the ITTO and where they go. Focus on what the ITTOs actually mean!

Spend as much time as possible on your brain dump sheet. My brain dump took me the entire 15 minutes so I didn’t even get a chance to do the tutorial. Nerves will kick in during the brain dump. I actually forgot a formula. However, a question during the exam triggered my memory!   On my brain dump sheet page one was 43 of the PMBOK.  In addition, based on some of the tips from this forum, I added little memory aids by some of the processes (i.e. Define Scope TT = APEF;  All Execution, Mon/Control and Close processes use the Project Mgt Plan) on my page 43 brain dump.  

On page 2 of my brain dump was all of the formulas, Conflict types, Risk responses and Contracts (Buy/Sell).   Ensure that you know the formulas in your sleep. Someone out here had all of the Earned Value formulas broken down to any possible variations. I remember thinking at the time, I don’t feel like capturing those on my brain dump. Lesson Learn = DO IT!! The time flies by so fast. I really could have used that during the exam today.

Based on taking the exam today, if I had to do it all over again, I would spend more time on the actual definitions verses ITTO. In addition, I would focus on “how to apply the formulas” as well as the actual formulas.