Passing the PMP certification test "Lessons Learned"

Hello Everybody,

I hope you are doing great...because actually I am J

Just wanted to tell you that I have passed my PMP certification exam on the 5^th of July 2011 and would like to share with you some points taken from my personal experience: "Lessons Learned"

A.    Ramona Boulos, PMP trainer: Simply great…

1.     The notes were superb especially the tips & tricks.

2.     The guidelines were excellent.

3.     The issues discussed during the course were just popping in the exam

4.     The duration of studying requested: Believe her you need 2 months with the average of 4 hours daily and in the weekend you need 8 hours J

5.     Driving the trainees to memorize the processes figure & formulas was invaluable.

B.     Studying for the exam: Hectic but really useful in all aspects…

1.     PMBOK guide 4th edition including all appendixes: twice…one time the hard copy and another time the pdf version being selective in searching important points.

2.     Rita Mulcahy: Well, I didn’t read the whole book, just some tips in the beginning.

3.     Sample questions: Very important, but don’t expect any of them in the exam. They are useful to put you in a state of mind on what to expect and how to respond.

4.     Google a lot: There are a lot of other PMPs who discuss sample questions and analyze the reason behind their answer.

5.     I really did a lot of research and found material that I don’t recall seeing them in the course like:

6.     Variance of triangular distribution: [(OP-PM)2 + (ML-PM)X(ML-OP)]/18

7.     Process Capability Index: PCI=(Upper Limit-Lower Limit)/6XSigma

8.     Standard Error= Sigma/Sqr Root of Number.

9.     Other info, however they didn’t show on the exam.

In case you are not able to have a study group, then you need someone to train / teach or test your knowledge with. My Fiancée here played a fantastic role; I guess she has reached a point where she is able to register for the exam J

C.     The Exam: Exquisite Experience, here are some tips...

1.     Take the morning exam if you can, you will be more concentrated; it worked for me. However you might have some hard time sleeping the night before J

2.     The 4 hours are not enough to finish the 200 questions more than once J

3.     If you are planning to do a full review; well, think twice before spending more than 5 minutes on a single question.

4.     Mark questions for review in case you don’t get the answer the first time. Believe me when you see it a second time, you will have a better perspective.

5.     Don’t do my mistake and start the exam before writing the famous processes figureJ in front of you.

6.     There were 15 minutes for review and preparation; by mistake, I pressed start and the exam time started counting. So I had to do the figure & formulas while the time was running and I lost 10 minutes.

7.     Read the questions well, watch out for LEAST, NOT, MOST, etc…

8.     Imagine yourself the project manager on the field and answer. Experience here plays an important role in choosing the best answer.

9.     The questions were too situational and needed analysis more than memorizing.

10.  About risk, well there were more than 10 questions on risk types: mitigation, avoidance, and acceptance, enhance, exploit and share.

11.  Earned value management: CPI, SPI, EAC, etc…

12.  Team development: forming, storming, norming, performing.

13.  PMI code of ethics and professional conduct: There were direct questions about respect & honesty.

14.  The processes figure is really helpful when answering questions because you can use it to link the whole project together.

15.  Don’t panic if you see the clock running quickly J; it means you have few questions left.

16.  If you finish all the 200 questions before the time is over, don’t hesitate to start a review from the beginning. You might answer questions the correct way.

17.  If time is over and you are still reviewing, cool down because you still need to do the survey and when you are finished…the result just pops in front of you. “ CONGRATULATIONS on passing the PMP examination” “Examination Result: PASS”

18.  In case you are over whelmed, don’t forget to return the locker key to the exam administrator. In my case, it was still in my pocket J

I hope I was able to give you the whole picture about my exam experience without omitting important details. Moreover, you have my contact details in case you have any queries.

Good luck to ALL.

Best Regards,

Joseph Abou Nader, PMP J