Speed on the PMP exam

Hi Everyone,

I just finished up a PMP boot camp but it seems my speed for taking the exam is still too slow.   After 3 1/2 hours I still ran into issues finishing up all of the questions.

Any tips on how to speed up the question answering beyond the typical question skim and answer elimination processes?

Thanks,

Scott

admin's picture

Practice. That is the only way to speed up. Do more mock tests.

rkraneis's picture

Long before I took the test (and passed), I knew I had 1.2 minutes per question.  (240 minutes divided by 200 questions)  In simple English and simple math, one minute per question.

(Thanks to PMZilla for providing this site.)

Read PMBOK and one complementary book thoroughly, type notes with Microsoft Word or some other software.

Then begin practice taking ten question groups until you can do them in 10 minutes.  When your timing is right, move on to perhaps 20 questions in 20 minutes.  Then move on to taking perhaps 50 questions for a process group in 50 minutes.

After a while you begin to learn that you must focus entirely on one question for 60 - 72 seconds only and you build an internal clock in your head.  Answer each question, even if it's an educated guess.  If it's an educated guess mark it in Prometric software as a question to review later.

Some math questions may be so complex for you that you may decide you cannot "afford" to spend 3-4 minutes on that question.  Take an educated guess, mark it for review, and move onward.  Just know that in practice tests, if you are skipping too many formula questions, you really are weak in that area and need to do more work.

I hope that helps.

Perhaps you'll visit my website at RichardKraneis where I offer more advice, some of my YouTube videos, and my PMP learning products.

Best Wishes on Passing the PMP,

Richard Kraneis, PMP
Chicago, IL  USA

Practice, Practice, Practice :) that's the key. Give atleast 4 full lenght mock tests and see if you are improving with each test.