My experience with getting PMP
Most recently, I became the proud owner of a PMP certificate - Project Management Professional . And in this article I want to share my experience with all those who have to pass this exam, who are still only thinking of taking or not taking, well, and with those who are just interested in this topic.
I just want to note that I passed the exam on the first try and it seemed to me not so difficult as I expected, judging by the stories of those who took it. In my experience, a large number of people are inclined to think that the exam is very difficult both mentally, physically and psychologically. As for the last two, I agree, but as for the first, I think that not everything is so simple.
I think everyone has heard that the exam is positioned as testing not only the knowledge obtained from books (from the same PMBoK standard), but also testing the skills and experience of practical application of this knowledge in the working environment. That is why one of the conditions for admission to the exam is 4,500 hours of work in the field of project management. I concluded that the exam can also be taken by someone who does not have a wide experience and maybe even someone who has never independently led projects. The main thing to understand and grasp, imbued with the basic principles / postulates (PMI-isms), a complete and understandable list of which is given by Rita Mulcahy in her book PMP Exam Prep. And of course, this does not exempt from the study of the standard itself and additional literature, as well as from training on tests.
So, my training consisted of five stages:
')
I took courses from a company where I worked at that time, in a fairly well-known specialized training center. The main motivation for attending professional courses was to obtain the necessary PDUs. In fact, at the time of attending the courses I was already in the “subject” for a long time, so I can’t say that I learned and discovered a lot of new things. In general, courses are useful to those who are just starting to learn project management.
The first thing I did was read the PMBoK standard in my native Russian. On the day I tried to study one chapter (that is, one area of ​​knowledge). It happened that two and three days were spent on the chapter, since not all areas of knowledge were equally difficult for me. For example, “Procurement Management” I studied for three days. By the way, it was from this area, as it seemed to me, that I had the most questions on the exam.
Then I began to study the book “PMP Exam Prep” by Rita Mulcahy and at the same time read PMBoK in English. The study was built on the following principle: I read a chapter on a specific area of ​​knowledge in PMP Exam Prep, and then I read the corresponding chapter in PMBoK. This allows you to quickly and better understand and memorize the material.
Another excellent online resource is the Deep Fried Brain project . There you can find many useful articles for a more detailed study of many aspects that you will not find in Rita and in the standard itself. There are also many examples of calculations using formulas.
You can find a lot of videos on project management and exam preparation on Youtube. However, in my opinion, not all of them are equally useful and many take valuable time. I have allocated a resource for myself iZenBridge Consultancy Pvt Ltd. Firstly, there is a high-quality presentation of information, and secondly, a rather good English speech, which is nice to listen to. In other videos (maybe equally useful) I was very stressed and had to constantly listen, additionally overloading the brain (despite the fact that I speak English quite well and have been practicing it for a long time in my work).
There is also another very useful video - CBTNuggets . Its only drawback is that it is paid (I got it for free thanks to the courses I wrote about above). This video is ideal for “grinding” and organizing knowledge learned in PMBoK and PMP Exam Prep. I remember that after studying these two books I had a feeling of being overloaded with knowledge. It seemed to me that I did not remember anything from the studied. There was even a feeling of some helplessness and frustration in oneself, since time and, most importantly, the effort to study was enough by that moment. Looking through the clips gave me confidence in my knowledge, helped me to sort out and “systematize” all the material once again. Therefore, you need to treat this video as one that provides the necessary, but insufficient knowledge to pass the exam.
I took up the test solution two days before passing the exam. It is better to start earlier. Despite the fact that I passed the exam, I still recommend doing more test questions than I had time to begin at least 5 days in advance.
Most similar to the exam and quality questions, I find in the following tests:
Also on the site Deep Fried Brain project there are many other links to tests. Of course, some of them are no longer workers, but if someone needs more tests for training, then you can search and find something worthwhile.
Applications on a smartphone / tablet is a very useful thing. You can always spend time on the road with benefit. A lot of applications have been developed, but two seemed to be the most useful, convenient and high-quality: PMP exam prep and PMP Exam Mentor .
In PMP exam prep good tests for training, and in PMP Exam Mentor there are two particularly useful sections - these are Formula and Glossary. Formula contains all the necessary formulas, Glossary has a list of over 500 definitions. It is very useful to read, look through and repeat before bedtime.
I will summarize the process of my preparation:
1. We read PMBoK in Russian
This item can be excluded. I believe that it was possible to immediately read in English (if knowledge of the language allows). If reading the English language does not quite understand the meaning of what is read, then you can always look at the version in your native language - this is very convenient. That is, the first item can be completely skipped.
2. We read PMBoK in English and in parallel we read “PMP Exam Prep” by Rita
In the book “PMP Exam Prep”, it is worthwhile to do all the tasks qualitatively and be sure to do the tests at the end of each chapter, examining the answers to all the questions, including those that were answered correctly. This is necessary in order to understand whether you reasoned when choosing an answer, whether you understood and interpreted the material correctly. In my preparation there were cases when I answered correctly, but at the same time the reasoning itself was not entirely correct and this could not work in my favor on the exam. So do not be lazy and read explanations to all questions.
3. We look at a series of videos from CBT Naggets, we remember and we "knead" the knowledge gained in the second paragraph.
Life hacking: since there is not much time to speed up the process of viewing, I highly recommend using the function of speeding up video viewing - less time is spent, the result is the same.
4. We read Rita's “PMP Exam Prep” a second time and write everything down into the outline.
Reading the second time showed that part of the knowledge was missed and not stored in memory. You can write a summary and on the first reading. I also “banished” all the tests in the book for the second time. Synopsis is perfect for repeating the material before the exam.
5. Solve tests.
At least one test I recommend to do at a time, it will give you the opportunity to navigate how the exam is better to dispose of the allotted time. In total, before the exam, I decided about 1000 questions based on tests in the book “PMP Exam Prep” by Rita.
By the way, I did not learn IO (Inputs and Outputs) processes. More precisely, I tried to learn, but it didn’t work out for me that way. Questions on the topic of inputs and outputs are simple and quite logical. It was easier for me to understand the logic and meaning, which is quite realistic to do by studying the material according to the scheme described above.
Thus, the preparation took me about 3 months.
As for the financial side of the question, I paid only for the exam and membership in PMI, since the courses were paid by the company. In general, it turned out $ 544 = ($ 405 + $ 139).
I will also add a few words about the exam itself.
There is enough time for the exam, do not rush. I went back to back in time and immediately answered all questions thoughtfully and did not chase to meet the estimated allotted time (4 * 60/200 = 1.2 minutes) for a question. For me, this was the best strategy that I realized while training. Therefore, let me remind you once again that a training test for 200 questions and for a while is a very important part of preparation. Somewhere since question 50 (1/4 of the test) I began to feel that my head was a little tired. But I took a break for 7 minutes only after 140 questions, because by that time the attention began to dissipate and focus on the questions was already quite difficult. The last questions seemed easier to me, there was a feeling that all the complex situational questions on the half page ended in the first part. Of the formulas were the most simple - on the amount of communication and from EVA (Earned Value Analysis). I also strongly advise you to take the Russian translation, it is especially useful when the attention begins to slowly fade away and the brain begins to "boil" from prolonged mental work.
That's all. I hope I have not tired you and my experience will be useful to you.
Dare and do not be afraid, you will succeed!
I just want to note that I passed the exam on the first try and it seemed to me not so difficult as I expected, judging by the stories of those who took it. In my experience, a large number of people are inclined to think that the exam is very difficult both mentally, physically and psychologically. As for the last two, I agree, but as for the first, I think that not everything is so simple.
I think everyone has heard that the exam is positioned as testing not only the knowledge obtained from books (from the same PMBoK standard), but also testing the skills and experience of practical application of this knowledge in the working environment. That is why one of the conditions for admission to the exam is 4,500 hours of work in the field of project management. I concluded that the exam can also be taken by someone who does not have a wide experience and maybe even someone who has never independently led projects. The main thing to understand and grasp, imbued with the basic principles / postulates (PMI-isms), a complete and understandable list of which is given by Rita Mulcahy in her book PMP Exam Prep. And of course, this does not exempt from the study of the standard itself and additional literature, as well as from training on tests.
So, my training consisted of five stages:
')
1. Project management training courses
I took courses from a company where I worked at that time, in a fairly well-known specialized training center. The main motivation for attending professional courses was to obtain the necessary PDUs. In fact, at the time of attending the courses I was already in the “subject” for a long time, so I can’t say that I learned and discovered a lot of new things. In general, courses are useful to those who are just starting to learn project management.
2. Independent study of PMBoK standard and additional literature
The first thing I did was read the PMBoK standard in my native Russian. On the day I tried to study one chapter (that is, one area of ​​knowledge). It happened that two and three days were spent on the chapter, since not all areas of knowledge were equally difficult for me. For example, “Procurement Management” I studied for three days. By the way, it was from this area, as it seemed to me, that I had the most questions on the exam.
Then I began to study the book “PMP Exam Prep” by Rita Mulcahy and at the same time read PMBoK in English. The study was built on the following principle: I read a chapter on a specific area of ​​knowledge in PMP Exam Prep, and then I read the corresponding chapter in PMBoK. This allows you to quickly and better understand and memorize the material.
Another excellent online resource is the Deep Fried Brain project . There you can find many useful articles for a more detailed study of many aspects that you will not find in Rita and in the standard itself. There are also many examples of calculations using formulas.
3. View video
You can find a lot of videos on project management and exam preparation on Youtube. However, in my opinion, not all of them are equally useful and many take valuable time. I have allocated a resource for myself iZenBridge Consultancy Pvt Ltd. Firstly, there is a high-quality presentation of information, and secondly, a rather good English speech, which is nice to listen to. In other videos (maybe equally useful) I was very stressed and had to constantly listen, additionally overloading the brain (despite the fact that I speak English quite well and have been practicing it for a long time in my work).
There is also another very useful video - CBTNuggets . Its only drawback is that it is paid (I got it for free thanks to the courses I wrote about above). This video is ideal for “grinding” and organizing knowledge learned in PMBoK and PMP Exam Prep. I remember that after studying these two books I had a feeling of being overloaded with knowledge. It seemed to me that I did not remember anything from the studied. There was even a feeling of some helplessness and frustration in oneself, since time and, most importantly, the effort to study was enough by that moment. Looking through the clips gave me confidence in my knowledge, helped me to sort out and “systematize” all the material once again. Therefore, you need to treat this video as one that provides the necessary, but insufficient knowledge to pass the exam.
4. Test solution
I took up the test solution two days before passing the exam. It is better to start earlier. Despite the fact that I passed the exam, I still recommend doing more test questions than I had time to begin at least 5 days in advance.
Most similar to the exam and quality questions, I find in the following tests:
- FastTrack by Rita McLaugh - in my opinion more difficult than the real exam (I did 58%);
- Edwel 1 and Edwel 2 - 50 and 100 questions. Questions of average complexity, but also help to once again recall and repeat the studied;
- Oliver Lehmann test 1 and Oliver Lehmann test 2 ;
- Kaplan Selftest - registration is required. Test for CAPM, but no less useful for that.
Also on the site Deep Fried Brain project there are many other links to tests. Of course, some of them are no longer workers, but if someone needs more tests for training, then you can search and find something worthwhile.
5. Work with applications for the smartphone
Applications on a smartphone / tablet is a very useful thing. You can always spend time on the road with benefit. A lot of applications have been developed, but two seemed to be the most useful, convenient and high-quality: PMP exam prep and PMP Exam Mentor .
In PMP exam prep good tests for training, and in PMP Exam Mentor there are two particularly useful sections - these are Formula and Glossary. Formula contains all the necessary formulas, Glossary has a list of over 500 definitions. It is very useful to read, look through and repeat before bedtime.
I will summarize the process of my preparation:
1. We read PMBoK in Russian
This item can be excluded. I believe that it was possible to immediately read in English (if knowledge of the language allows). If reading the English language does not quite understand the meaning of what is read, then you can always look at the version in your native language - this is very convenient. That is, the first item can be completely skipped.
2. We read PMBoK in English and in parallel we read “PMP Exam Prep” by Rita
In the book “PMP Exam Prep”, it is worthwhile to do all the tasks qualitatively and be sure to do the tests at the end of each chapter, examining the answers to all the questions, including those that were answered correctly. This is necessary in order to understand whether you reasoned when choosing an answer, whether you understood and interpreted the material correctly. In my preparation there were cases when I answered correctly, but at the same time the reasoning itself was not entirely correct and this could not work in my favor on the exam. So do not be lazy and read explanations to all questions.
3. We look at a series of videos from CBT Naggets, we remember and we "knead" the knowledge gained in the second paragraph.
Life hacking: since there is not much time to speed up the process of viewing, I highly recommend using the function of speeding up video viewing - less time is spent, the result is the same.
4. We read Rita's “PMP Exam Prep” a second time and write everything down into the outline.
Reading the second time showed that part of the knowledge was missed and not stored in memory. You can write a summary and on the first reading. I also “banished” all the tests in the book for the second time. Synopsis is perfect for repeating the material before the exam.
5. Solve tests.
At least one test I recommend to do at a time, it will give you the opportunity to navigate how the exam is better to dispose of the allotted time. In total, before the exam, I decided about 1000 questions based on tests in the book “PMP Exam Prep” by Rita.
By the way, I did not learn IO (Inputs and Outputs) processes. More precisely, I tried to learn, but it didn’t work out for me that way. Questions on the topic of inputs and outputs are simple and quite logical. It was easier for me to understand the logic and meaning, which is quite realistic to do by studying the material according to the scheme described above.
Thus, the preparation took me about 3 months.
As for the financial side of the question, I paid only for the exam and membership in PMI, since the courses were paid by the company. In general, it turned out $ 544 = ($ 405 + $ 139).
I will also add a few words about the exam itself.
There is enough time for the exam, do not rush. I went back to back in time and immediately answered all questions thoughtfully and did not chase to meet the estimated allotted time (4 * 60/200 = 1.2 minutes) for a question. For me, this was the best strategy that I realized while training. Therefore, let me remind you once again that a training test for 200 questions and for a while is a very important part of preparation. Somewhere since question 50 (1/4 of the test) I began to feel that my head was a little tired. But I took a break for 7 minutes only after 140 questions, because by that time the attention began to dissipate and focus on the questions was already quite difficult. The last questions seemed easier to me, there was a feeling that all the complex situational questions on the half page ended in the first part. Of the formulas were the most simple - on the amount of communication and from EVA (Earned Value Analysis). I also strongly advise you to take the Russian translation, it is especially useful when the attention begins to slowly fade away and the brain begins to "boil" from prolonged mental work.
That's all. I hope I have not tired you and my experience will be useful to you.
Dare and do not be afraid, you will succeed!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/314232/
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