Thread tracking my PMP study plan

A little history, some of you already know.I took the exam the 1st time in November I believe and failed. Not by a whole lot it seems, but failed nonetheless. So I have revised my study plan.I originally just read Rita's PMP Exam Prep. That helped out a ton, but wasn't enough. Now my strategy has changedSo currently under my belt I have the video from CBT nuggets [PMP] and one run through of Rita's book now.I am currently reading the PMBOK guide fourth edition. I am finding that linking the knowledge groups with the processes and Inputs Outputs and Tools and Techniques is making more sense. Over the last month I have be slow to get through the PMBOK, but hopefully with this outlet I can track my progress and maybe uncover some new strategies to studying along the way. Tonight I read chapter 5 and made it through the Scope Management Process. [Gather requirements, define scope, create WBS, verify scope, control scope].Tomorrow I am hoping to get through chapter 6 Time Management. I should be able to get through all of the Time Management processes. There are 6 [Define activites, sequence activites, estimate activity resources, estimate activity duration, control schedule]

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Hi N2IT,
Your hardworking attitude is infectious. I cant help but login and follow your progress everyday. Keep it up, you are inspiring.
How many hrs do put towards study a day or every week. I'm trying to find a balance with my schedule too, I'm single, but it seems
I'm not pushing myself harder than I use to. Thanks again for the blog.

joneno wrote: »

Hi N2IT,
Your hardworking attitude is infectious. I cant help but login and follow your progress everyday. Keep it up, you are inspiring.
How many hrs do put towards study a day or every week. I'm trying to find a balance with my schedule too, I'm single, but it seems
I'm not pushing myself harder than I use to. Thanks again for the blog.

Not a problem

Glad you find value in this thread. To your question, it really depends on the day. Like today I have spent a total of 40 minutes, but that will change when the kiddies go to bed. Usually I try to get in 1-2 hours a day. Sometime I am really feeling it and can get into a zone and knock out 4 hours. Right now I have put all studying on hold and started creating an excel study sheet. Typing the information and reviewing it is another method of training I am attempting.

What I am doing is creating worksheets in Excel and naming the knowledge set. Then within the knowledge set or area, I am creating the process vertically and then stretching out the Inputs, tools & techs, outputs horizontally. I am color coding the column headings to keep it easy to read. Once I complete writing out all the process within the knowledge areas I plan on generating notes in the same sheet explaining which each process compenent does. Once that is completed I plan on going into a different sheet and writing out formulas and tips. I have visio at work so I have been creating some network diagrams and will import them into excel into another worksheet to study. I am taking a more hands on approach at this point.

I have been considering creating my own project plan because the ones at work were very incomplete compared to what is described in the PMP/PMI handbook. Quantative analysis was never done for instances. And a risk register was nothing more than a bulleted document with some high level risk, most of which were never accounted for anyway.

I will still continue to read ~20 pages a night, I read fairly slow so that can take an while. I also have some videos/crash course CBT's. They provide a mid level overview of the PMI PMBOK material. The CBT from Nuggets was ok, but the one from velocitystudy has been a lot more indepth. I thought I would like the videos more, but I am more of a reader. I find it more relaxing reading at my own pace than listening to someone who is speaking at a pace that I am unable to keep up with. This of course is contingent on the material.

Thanks for the quick response. I plan to take some classes in project management when I start graduate school next year.
I'm concentrating on MCITP EA right now. I don't blog a lot, but I read almost every important thing on techexams, especially the
ones that could improve my knowledge or skill set. Thanks again.

Today at work I went through the Cost Management CBT / Crash Course and that took sometime. I went over my lunch and then some, so tomorrow I need to hit the breaks a little. I don't want to get overly crazy. I used both breaks as well so it wasn't that bad, but I probably went over 15-20 mins on companies time. Not a practice I like to utilize if I can help it.

Either way I made some ground on Cost Management. Learned all the processes and earn value management techniques and forecasting. I really enjoy financials so this was a good knowledge area for me to cover. It really is true, if you enjoy something you learn it so much easier.

Well, the misses is off work for 4 days in a row so that will give me some more opportunties to reinforce the information from today.

On a side note I only have 100 pages left, less the 9 quizzes and 200 question mock exam. So I might try to knock out some of those pages. I also can work on my Excel sheet, however I might of jumped ahead a little to much by starting on that now. I might pump the breaks on the sheet and finish up the book and cbt crash course.

****Just like project management I am consistently analyzing and adjusting my plans

Finished reading the Risk Management knowledge area in the head first PMP book. Took the practice exam at the end missed two questions. Again both I had it down to two questions. I'm continuing to gain traction at this point. I have two more chapters in the book. Procurement Management and Ethics. Then I have two mock exams. One is a 200 question simulation and the other is a quiz format with 20 questions for each knowledge area which will end up being another 200 questions.

So that's two practice exams and then on the CBT crash course I have several quizzes I've been hitting 90's on except for the first one when I hit a 70%. That has a 200 hundred question exam at the end as well. That will be 3 full blown practice exams and then I might purchase one more for the heck of it. Something with 3000+ questions that randomize from test to test.

Of course I am going to still build out my workbook in excel to capture the high-level processes initation through closing which will be on the first sheet of the workbook then create a seperate worksheet for each knowledge area including ethics. On those sheets I will capture some specific items from head first, cbt's, and ritas book. Then I want to create a WBS page and that covers network diagrams and float/slack and forward and backward pass. Then hit some of the financials on another work sheet to capture all the formulas for EV, EVM, PV, basically all the indexs to forecast and measure against and the variances against the EV. There are some other formulas listed in quality management and risk management that I will need to take into account. EVM in risk and communication channels in communications. Time has some too.

Well tomorrows another day. 31st in the exam and tomorrow will be the 2nd.

So things are going well. I still have a ways to go but I feel like after the videos and the book I'll have all the knowledge and it will be up to me to structure it in a way that makes sense and is easily retrievable in the test room.

Yesterday woke up with an Corneal abrasion so I did 0 studying yesterday. I ended up drinking some 9% beer instead

Today my daugther had a friend over so I have been focusing on them, besides I'm still a little tired from going through the stress yesterday.

Tonight I am planning on finishing up the Head First Book (procurement management and ethics). I actually already read ethics, but it's a relatively short chapter so I will read it again. Then I have 2 practice exams 200 questions each. I will have to set aside 3 hours a piece for those. I want to shorten the duration to help me improve my speed that way I have PLENTY of time for the real exam.

Woke up at 6 am and went through the CBT crash course for quality management. Scored a 70 on this exam. This for some reason is my worse knowledge area. I need to focus on this one a little bit more and turn it into a strength. That's okay I am getting more knowledgeable and should be good to go when it comes time for the test. I plan on finishing Head First book today, which will leave me just with the CBT and then pure studying.

My updated plan:

Finish reading procurement management and ethics today/tonight.

Finish watching my CBT's at work and at home this week.

Write out all the knowledge areas on their own seperate tab in Excel. Then capture the WBS and formulas on a seperate worksheet.

Sometime this week I plan on taking 2-3 practice test. I plan on doing this at night since my work begins way to early to engage in 4 hour mock exam.

The book I have Head First has sample test broken down into 20 questions so I can take those when there isn't a lot of time.

I will utilize audio a little bit more. When doing hosue cleanup or walking. It doesn't help out a lot but it's better than nothing.

Just returned from the twin cities and started reviewing some procurement formulas and contract terminology. Just about 30 mins of review. I'm going to meet a friend for an hour or so and then get back on the horse.

Finished Procurement Management in the Head Start book. I have only ethics and then the practice exams. I took the practice exam at the end of the lesson of procurement management and scored a 73.33 11/15.

A lot of distractions going on and I wasn't focused, but I look at that as a good thing. I was able to muster up a passing grade in a loud noisey environment. One more chapter and this book is dead. Over 700 pages

Anyway I plan on covering the rest of the book and tonight will be the practice exams. It will be a long night but well worth it. I will probably finish reading the book at work during lunch instead of doing the CBT's today. I really want to put the book to rest.

Great thread. I will be following it closely. I've been tool to acquire my PMP by several staffing firms. I think I will have it slated mid of next year.

odysseyelite wrote: »

Great thread. I will be following it closely. I've been tool to acquire my PMP by several staffing firms. I think I will have it slated mid of next year.

Hey thanks glad the thread has value add.

The book has been completely read!

Back to my progress. I finished up the code of ethics and professional responsibility. Scored a 100 on the exam

I went out to PMI's website and reviewed the code again. It's a good idea to review that before applying IMO.

***I also went through the process tree for the knowledge areas, integration through procurement. I was able to fill in intergration, cost, procurement, quality, and communications. So scope, time, risk will need to be reviewed several times. When I started documenting this all in excel it should really start to stick. That's the type of learner I am.

Next up:

Practice exams in the head start book (tonight)
Finish up the CBT crash course. I have ~5 chapters left and a practice exam (200x2 questions)
Document all my questions and notes into an Excel spreadsheet. This is the part I am excited about. Really getting the processes completely mapped out and linking them together.

Took a practice exam tonight 36 questions scored 23 correct. 63.33333333

No worries this was one of the harder exams, it had very hard questions some harder than on the PMP. Very tricky on purpose. It's good that a get whacked like that. Keeps me moving forward. The questions have so many variables it's amazing.

Figuring out TCPI is a process within itself. I've got it down, I just have to get this information in the excel sheet. I have a 200 question exam in the head first book and a few pages to review ~10 and I am done with that book. I really need to capture everything in my Excel sheet so the sooner I am through with this book and the cbt the better. Still have several weeks so not to worry. Well maybe a little

Found another free exam on line from PMEA. 33 questions I ended up scoring a 70% on it. Passed according to the test, still way to low for what I want to get.

Ordered flash cards from amazon. Hoping to flip through these in quick hitter situations like at work. Hopefully help me memorize the questions and answers along with process etc.

Took a practice exam tonight. Wasn't one of the hardest ones, but still challenging and used lots of terminology that will be on the PMP exam. Scored a 86% on the exam which makes me happy. I read that if you are "averaging" 80-85% on the practices exams you should pass the PMP exam. No false confidence here, but it's a feather in my cap and a step in the right direction.

I've reevaluated my situation and decided to **** the Excel sheet idea and instead purchased some PMP flash cards and decided to go through Rita's book again and take notes.

She has a more complete set of formulas for communication, cost, time, risk, and quality.

I also need to get the processes down. And make sure I understand the planning process and everything else

Not to self don't take practice exam while talking on the phone and having people around your yelling loudly.

Took last night off. I was tired and really needed to spend sometime with the family. My flash cards came in last night I read through a few, I think these might be helpful. Tonight no studying, but I will be engaging in my 200 question mock exam.

Starting to burnout a bit.

Went through the Human Resource Planning knowledge area and did okay on the exam.

N2IT wrote: »

Starting to burnout a bit.

Went through the Human Resource Planning knowledge area and did okay on the exam.

Hang in there! You're too close to stop now. Take it easy and possibly utilize one of your alternative study methods (flash cards, CBTs, etc.).

This weekend my wife is taking the kids out all weekend so I can lab for the RHCSA. Naturally, I don't want to miss the park or any quality as I feel like I already miss a lot getting home at 7-7:30 each night. Still, the goal and it's prospects are well worth the time commitment. I just have to bare that in mind every time I want to divert my attention.

You can do this!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the replies

Got up at 2:30 am going to get breakfast and take a 200 question practice exam.

God I hope I don't fail this thing lol

I was only able to complete 103 questions in about 1:30 hours. My son woke up early, I ended up getting a 75% on the exam. I am not an early morning learner. Anyway I think I might of gotten a few more right later in the day, but still not better than 80%. Some people I have read were scoring 95% on this test and failed Ut oh.

Knock 'em dead, Patrick. And when the time comes, you'll knock out the PMP as well.

onesaint wrote: »

Knock 'em dead, Patrick. And when the time comes, you'll knock out the PMP as well.

Saint you have been a saint. Thanks for the support. I actually start my MBA program in April and I decided to settle for the CAPM. I've been getting super stressed and it's been effective my neck. Besides I feel like a poser later after speaking with some PMPs at work. Most of them have been managing large projects for 10 years. This is before they sat the PMP. So I decided to bang out the CAPM 3/30 and then roll right into my MBA-Business Strategy program

It's just the same you do for many on TE.

The CAPM coupled with the MBA will put you in a great spot to gain the PM experience your looking for. Good though, that you got an eye opener. I still think you could have taken it on with all the effort you put in, but stress manifesting as physical aliment isn't cool, so good call.

Sounds like you might be too practice-exam focused lately. Maybe it's just all your posting about, but it seems like you've just been taking exams lately. Take your exam results, break them down into topics and sub-topics, and map out your progress. Then target your weak spots, rinse and repeat. That's my advice base don what I see on this page, anyway. Good luck!

Sorry I haven't posting a lot lately.

I have bad TMJ/TMD and I have been taking muscle relaxers which haven't done a whole lot. It's been hard to do anything other than sleep. Today I feel a little better. All the bills have been paid and now I'm cleaning. After that I plan on finishing up my WGU Orientation and I plan on going through the PMBOK guide. Since going through all the material I have gone through the PMBOK is a fairly easy read.

Thanks again for the support. It's been a rough couple of weeks.

N2IT wrote: »

Sorry I haven't posting a lot lately.

...

Thanks again for the support. It's been a rough couple of weeks.

Just wondering how you are doing and how's the PMP study track? I have my exam scheduled for 3/30. There is a lot to study, yes, but once you read several resources the concepts come together and don't appear too intimidating. We shall see, though. I've been getting >80% on practice exams so we shall see if that translates to exam success.

It's been hard, but I have been going through some of the material. Mainly through PMBOK flash cards and the PMBOK 4th itself. The wife has been working a lot of overtime and I have really bad TMJ/TMD which effects my neck. I was doped up the past two weekends and finally today I feel a lot better.

I will give it my best that's for sure. I downgraded FYI to the CAPM for the moment.

There is a reason for this, all the project coordinator and analyst positions where I work at recognize the CAPM, which is great. On top of that I recently passed their quality exam which falls somewhere in between the Six Sigma yellow belt and green. More than just a 2 day meeting like yellow, but not as challenging as the green. (Assumption)

Working for a health care industry I most likely will channel my focus back into Six Sigma. This is the project management/quality methodology they utilize. The focus is heavily into Six Sigma and with my wife planning on attending the CRNA school here, I am trying to synch up my studies towards the environment in which I work.

I also start an MBA program here shortly so that will take a lot of my time as well.

BTW good luck on the 30th!

Tomorrow is the day.

I've done some light review but nothing intense. I am taking a more relaxed approach and see how I fare. I plan on reading for 30 minutes over some key concepts and hit the flash cards periodically tonight and then take the test tomorrow. 150 questions and 3 hours. Shouldn't be to bad (hopefully).

I plan on going to see Rise of the Titans tomorrow solo after my exam. Pass or Fail

Good luck, I think you'll nail it!

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