PMP Certification: Commuter Style Exam Preparation

This is my second PMP certification publication. It is dedicated to preparing for the exam “according to a unique methodology” in public transport on the way to work. By the way, the first publication was about how not to fill out an application so as not to fail the audit .

Preparation took about three months. Most of this time I worked 2 hours a day on weekdays and did not study on weekends. The last two weeks before the exam, I took about 4 hours every day.

In addition to the cost of PMI membership, an exam and sending documents for an application audit, I spent about 7,000 rubles.

Initial data

By the time I started the training, I had been working for about 12 years in projects for the deployment of the telecommunications infrastructure of cellular operators on both sides of the barricades in different roles. Twice attempted to prepare for the delivery of PMP, but did not bring them to the end. I also had a sufficient number of contact hours and formally I needed training.
The initial tactic was as follows: read PMBoK once thoughtfully, read PMBoK twice diagonally, solve training tests until blue in the face, take an exam. On the day of preparation, I could allocate about two hours. This is a journey time from home to office and back. From past attempts at preparation, there remained a persistent dislike for Rita MulKahi’s book . Nothing “written in this book” to me was “not sticky,” even dry PMBoK, with sufficient concentration, better fit in my head. I do not claim that the book of Rita is bad. She just did not suit me.
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Audit failed

I applied for the exam and broke off: the application was selected for an audit. The audit was completed at the second attempt. Details about it . Do not be lazy to read the PMP handbook before applying. After that, read the PMP handbook again and then submit. In case your application gets under audit, it will save your time, nerves and money (for sending documents).

PMBoK does not drive

Immediately after the audit, I paid $ 139 for an annual PMI membership. This gives a discount of $ 150 on the cost of the exam and provides access to PMBoK in PDF format. Then I broke off the second time: on the 6-inch reader I had and the 7-inch tablet it was impossible to read the document. In addition, every time entering a password when opening a “personal version” of a document is something else a pleasure.

One friend took pity on me and shared a version of the document in the EPUB format, which is much more mobile-friendly (Attention: The PMI Code of Ethics negatively relates to any copyright infringement). By the way, here is a link to PMBoK in a friendly format on Google Play .

I finished reading PMBoK before the Project Cost Management section and realized that this time it comes in very badly. I had a positive experience of using training with Coursera, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything there to prepare for PMP. But I could on Udemy . There are a lot of training on this topic, but I strongly recommend you training from Joseph Phillips (Joseph Phillips) . Price - $ 10. By the way, he (or rather his company) is an accredited training provider (REP), and you can officially declare 35 contact hours for training.

It took me about three weeks to master the training in 2 hours a day on the way to the office. I did not pass two full-fledged tests on 200 questions, but left them for final polishing. The Udemy application does not work perfectly, but allows you to download lectures to view them from a mobile device where there is no stable Internet.

At Udemy, I came across another training (free and short). Its author, by the way, our compatriot, talks about the logistics of the exam, about typical mistakes in preparation and adjusts to the correct wave. One of the tips he gives is not to schedule an exam date until you have resolved at least 1000 training questions.

Cut the path of retreat

I knew that loading at work and family can suddenly offer many opportunities for spending leftover time and energy. I began to act proactively: I hooked up the magic toad and paid for the examination slot ($ 405) in order not to give myself the back. I did not appoint the exam date, because 1000 question not yet resolved.

Practice

The second point of my program was the decision of the training tests. Considering the peculiarity of my method of preparation (in public transport on the way to the office), I had to narrow down the list of available options to mobile apps. I rummaged through countless forums, reviews, reviews and stopped at the paid versions of the two applications.

PMP Pocket Prep

The first one is Pocket Prep PMP ( Android , Apple ). The application has a very user-friendly interface, statistics are kept, it is possible to mark particularly difficult questions and create samples by topic. Questions compiled correctly, quite in the spirit of the questions of the live exam. In questions there is a distracting redundant information inherent in the live exam. Each question is explained, but it is rather dry, because This is just a quote from PMBoK.

Unfortunately, the publisher does not specialize in PMI tests. He specializes in tests generally, because the application has a number of minuses, in my opinion, insignificant. There are questions on the point of knowledge that you most likely will not meet in the live exam. There are few such questions. Also, a small number of questions are taken out of context (PMBoK context), and it is extremely difficult to answer them correctly.

The application is free, includes 30 questions. For $ 40, access is available in addition to 650 questions. Despite the presence of minuses (for me insignificant), this application has become the most useful tool for preparation. I solved questions in blocks of 20 pieces. At the very beginning I answered correctly to 60-70% of questions from the block. By the time when 650 questions ended, I knocked out 80-100%.

PMP Exam 500+ Oliver Lehmann

The second application was PMP Exam 500+ Oliver Lehmann ( Android , Apple ). It has a much less sophisticated interface and does not allow for the selection of questions. The author of questions has a reputation as a very cool PMP coach. The questions are correct, the form for submitting questions is somewhat simpler and not as confusing as in the live exam. There is an explanation for each question, but it cannot be called expanded. This application was “played” in order not to get used to the question submission form from the application described above. The free version includes 30 questions, paid (about 150 rubles, Android) - 500.

Cracking does not work

When solving training tests, there are questions in the answers to which you are not completely sure, and to solve them, common sense and playing in your head a situation from real life (a real project) are used. Despite the fact that this way of solving questions in most cases gave the right answer, I wanted to have more confidence in myself. Much of these issues are solved very easily if you know the inputs, outputs, tools & techniques of PMBoK processes (ITTOs).

No question, I thought. Learn ITTOs - and you are the king. Search the Internet on one sheet, ready for printing ITTOs results. In the end, he drew the map himself. Printed on several pages A3, glued and hung in the kitchen.


Withered in the evenings for about 2 weeks. It seemed to go very well. It was worth a couple of days to stop cramming - most of the information flew out of my head. A googling on “how to memorize ITTO” showed that the overwhelming majority of those who tried to cram got experience similar to mine. However, the table came in handy later.

Polishing

Many of those who share on the Internet the experience of preparing for the certification of PMP, it is advised to necessarily conduct a simulation of the full exam. It was comfortable for me to “stumble” the answers in the application on the phone on the way to work, but it was difficult for me to sit out the full 4 hours and make 200 questions. After the working day, strong mental fatigue is felt, and at night you just want to sleep.

I used blocks of 200 questions from the training of Comrade Phillips , but I passed them in portions of 50 pieces each. There are also other PMP trainings on Udemy that contain blocks of 200 questions, and even individual trainings in which there are only blocks of 200 questions, but I did not like them, and I will not recommend them.

Grouping the questions into blocks of 50 pieces helped to control the time on the exam well. A table with ITTOs, hanging in a prominent place, helped with during training.

Test Drive

I was very impressed with the training of Pavel Bryukhanov at Udemy . The training covers the logistics of the exam, the right mood and the right approach to preparation (the correct one, of course, in the opinion of the author of the training). I wrote off Paul water from the social. networks, to express his respect, and he advised to go for a test drive from Prometric .

For $ 30, you can pass the “dummy” exam at any Prometric center. Test drive includes all the same procedures as the combat exam: check-in, instruction, personal search, tutorial test environment, test. The test includes questions from the line of “who was the first president of the United States,” i.e. unrelated to PMI, test lasts 15 minutes.

Battle exam lasts 4 hours. I reasoned that at such a time interval it is easy to screw up due to worries about the unusualness of the test environment, resentment about the braking computer or the impoliteness of the staff, in general, everything that can interfere with the focus on the exam. Fortunately, in the center where I passed (Moscow, Oktyabrskaya metro station) everything turned out to be at the highest level. If you do not need to go to another region to pass the exam, I strongly recommend that you take a test drive. It is better to pay $ 30 for a test drive than to test a battle ride for $ 405

X day

On the eve of the exam, I left work early and went to bed early. To adjust the sleep mode, if necessary, I use Melaxen and the Krasnogorsk Fito-sedan. With Fito-sedan, like other sedatives, it is better to test the body's response in advance. Some people can slow down the whole next day from one cup, drunk the day before.

The road to the testing center, check-in, filling out documents and other formalities were easy and calm (thanks to the test drive). On the first pass of 200 questions, it took me about three hours, taking into account a five-minute break after every 50 questions. I noted about 40 questions for the re-pass, it took about 40 minutes.

I do not advise you to drink plenty of fluids before and during the exam - each exit to the toilet is a check-in and personal inspection.

At the end of the exam, I was completely confident in the answers to about a quarter of the questions and was mentally prepared for the attempt to be overwhelmed. I was extremely happy when I saw the message from the system that the exam was passed successfully. When I was given a printed exam report, I was very surprised, because for all the process groups I knocked out “above target”.

I really hope that this post will benefit those who are preparing or are about to start preparing for the PMP exam.