Cleared exam on 14th February

 


I am happy to inform you I cleared PMP exam yesterday (14th February 2011).

 

Study Materials:


  • PM BOK4 – 1 Time and PM BOK3 - 1 time (which I studied 2 years back)

  • “PMP® Exam Prep – Sixth Edition” by Rita Mulcahy - 2 Times

 Tests Did


  • All the Chapter end questions from “PMP® Exam Prep” book

  • Most of 1400+ questions from PM Fast track software (by Rita Mulcahy )

  • 1 Online free test from pmstudy.com

 Exam Pattern:


  • The exam is not so easy and not very tough. Not wordy also.

  • Most of exam questions were situational queries. There were less than 15% theoretical questions in the exam

  • Calculation related queries are less than 10 and involved simple math. Most of these questions are from Cost Management. Couple questions from Risk and Schedule

  • There were around 5 questions on Risk strategy

  • There were around 5 questions on Conflict Management techniques

  • There were around 4 questions on Team forming stages

 Exam Experience:


  • Over all test experience is good. The only distraction in the exam I have was the keyboard noise from fellow exam takers. All the participants in that room (Except me) were taking GRE exam.

  • I was able to answer the exam in 2 Hours 10 minutes. Next 30 minuets I reviewed most of the questions. I submitted my test in 2 Hours 40 minutes. I was delighted to see the end result. Following are the my scores

A.     Initiation – Proficient

B.    Planning – Proficient

C.    Execution – Proficient

D.    Monitoring & Control – Proficient

E.     Closing – Proficient

F.     Professional Responsibility - Below Proficient

 

Lessons Learned


  • Better to remember “Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge areas Mapping” (Table 3.1) from PMBOk-4. In fact I reproduced the chart at the start of exam on rough sheet so that I can refer it during exam

  • Apart from reading PMBOK read limited no of reference books. I would say one extra reference book only. (My recommendation is “PMP® Exam Prep – Sixth Edition” by Rita Mulcahy)

  • Answer questions in PMBOK perspective. Better not to use your experience as some of the process in your organization might not be same as mentioned in PMBOK.

  • The project manager takes an active approach by not waiting until a risk materializes and becomes an issue

  • Remember that as a Project Manager it is your prime responsibility to resolve in any issue related to project. For any issue you need to implement the following steps

A.     Analyze the problem

B.    Identify multiple solutions so that it will not impact the project schedule, scope, time, quality etc.

C.    Select best among those and implement

D.    Escalation of any issue to sponsor or Customer is the last resort


  • Revise ITTOs 1 day before exam

  • PMI does not approve adding extra functionality other than mentioned in scope.

  • Most of the free tests available on Net are not wrothwhile. pmstudy free test has more theoretical questions 

Accolades


  • First of all Thanks to my wife Usha. Without her support it wouldn’t have possible to pass the exam.

  • Special thanks to Rita Mulcahy. Her book is very good and the questions given in PM Fast track software are above exam standard

  • Thanks to My friends Naveen and Aravind for providing valuable tips

  • Thanks to all authors who wrote their Lessons Learnt (LL) in pmzilla forum

 


 


 


--------Suresh Vuppala, PMP, CSM

admin's picture

Congratulations Suresh and excellent compilation for your LL. Thanks for sharing

 

Good tips for new Exam takers. One question when you say "theoretical questions" what do you mean. I understand that most of the questions are  situational queries. Were there questions right out of PMBOK meaning like some questions in PMstudy exams or Oliver exams the exact Lines stated in PMBOK.