PMPing aint' easy

WilliamK99

As the title says, I am having problems studying for the PMP exam. I have been tasked to become an official PMP instructor for the Army meaning that for PMI to recognize the students who come out of my course as completing the 40 hours of instruction, I have to have the certification. Does anyone have any study hints on how to tackle this monster? As someone who has passed the CISSP, is the PMP similiar in style? Harder or easier? The tools I am using to study are

PMBOK
CBT Nuggets
Transcender
Head First PMP book

Are there any other helpful resources I should be studying? Thanks...I have until May to get certified, as someone who has done projects in the military for 15 years I have the experience, now I just need to put definitions on what I did and memorize it.

jlhct

One of the things that helped me using a process map. Basically, a drawing of all of the PM processes and their related inputs and outputs. You should be able to find one online, or just make one yourself.

N2IT

No it's not - I failed it before. Never ended up taking it again, my new role is more data driven (powershell, vb, sql, excel, access, etc)

timone_g

Hi WilliamK99

I cleared my PMP exam on my 2nd attempt

In my First attempt:
- I read PMBOK twice
- Read Rita's book once
- Used PM Fastrack (Rita) and averaged around 70% in these

I did not pass, one valuable lesson learned was that I realized that I had not understood the concept and the ITTO's

In my Second Attempt
I started researching online and found that there were a lot of people who had the same experience as me. I was referred to purchased the Book by Andy Crowe.
This time
- I read Rita;s Book twice
- Read Andy Crowe's book 3 times

Just 2 weeks before the exam I used the Free evaluation key for InSite from Andy's book and went through the Videos (you get a weeks free evaluation with this book and I will highly recommend it as it helped me refresh the concepts and explain most of process and terms with examples.
One week before the exams I started taking 50 question in one go on Rita's PM Fastrack. In one day I gave at least 5 such attempts and averaging 85%. I wrote the Earned Value 13 Formulas everyday (This is after I understood what is the calculation all about)
I did not memorize the ITTO's like a parrot, but i started understanding what is the process and what will be the output. For e.g.
1) One Very Important point i realized this time that M&C process will have Change Request or Change Request Update that is because PM and Team Checks what is the output is it as per plan if not then we need to change it and we need to have a Change Request

2) Develop Project Charter, Develop Project Management Plan, Report Performance all this process areas have simple output like Charter, Project Management Plan and Performance Report. i saved a little energy by doing this

3) Lot of the process have inputs "Enterprise Environmental Factor" & "Organization Process asset" (i found a quiz on Andy's Site Velocitech insite that helped me remember which are those

4) Lot of Process have outputs "Project management Plan Update" , "Project Document and Update" (the same Quiz from above helped me)

If you can get 80% or 85% in the Mock exams I think you can pass the exams. I did all the question from Andy and Rita (end of chapter) before exams. This helped me pass the exam.

I have been working as a Project Manager in a Fortune 50 company for the last 4 years.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Thanks all and best of luck!

rsutton

Best title ever

universalfrost

read some of my posts...


i helped a few others here pass the exam on their 2nd try.. after they used their methods then they followed my recommendations...


anyway, rita is good for basic understanding of the PMI and starting to drink the kool-aid then read andy crowe and you will be golden if you understand his book! the rita exams are really close in style and wording to what you will experience on the exam.... headfirst is worthless for the exam, but good for understanding of PM basics... but if you need the basics than you are inflating your credentials to be approved to take the exam...

cissp and pmp are about equivalent for level of difficulty (i took my cissp after i got back from the stan this january)... each shows a level of maturity in the respective field... personally i found the cissp more logical in the reasoning department and the pmp was the opposite...

Routerronin

Anything goes when it comes to macros...

Aman Mehta

Yeah William, PMP is not easy but if you follow following 6 steps then you can easily crack PMP Exam :-
1.Throughly read the PMBOK 5th edition, once good to read before and after attending any classroom.
2. Prepare your own notes and always carry it with you till the exam date.
3. Go through 1 more book containing real world scenarios; this will help you to co- relate what you have read with the practical world.
4. Take as many mock tests as possible.
5. Get on to some good discussion groups and forums and figure out the Do's and Dont's and choose your approach accordingly.
6. Do not study too much a day before the exam take your exam with a relaxed mind