PMP^® Exam Preparation – Tools and Tips from a recent PMP^® from IIPM

Input and Materials

• IIPM Course

• Set of books recommended by IIPM

• Joseph Philips

• Kim Heldman

• Claudia Baca and Patti Jansen- PMP^® workbook

• IIPM material

• PMBOK^® Guide

• part from the above I have referred to Verma, Herald Kerzner on very few chapters (HR, communication, procurement) from eReads (PMI^® / membersarea / eReads)

Simulated/Online Tests

• IIPM CD (score: 60%-70%)

• Joseph Philips CD (score: 80%-88%)

• Kim Heldman CD (score: 70%-75%)

• BrainBench (score: 80%, this is an online and real test)

• Some online sources of simulation tests (score: 60%-75%)
  http://vl-p.net/pmp-online-self-test/75-free-questions.htm
  http://www.pmstudy.com/practicetestsindex.asp
  http://cybertechsoln.s5.com/SimulatedPMPTestSample100QsandAns.zip
  http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=350915&rl=1

Study Groups

• IIPM_PMP®June042005

• PMPCert

• PMP® Study

Preparation

1. Got familiarized with the Abbreviations - PMBOK^® Guide

2. Got familiarized with the Definitions from the Glossory - PMBOK^® Guide

3. Got familiarized with the EVM formulas and memorized

4. Studied all the books one by one (except PMBOK^® Guide), took the review questions in each book

5. Read PMBOK^® Guide (1)

6. Started taking simulated tests, PRACTISED ELIMINATION

7. NOTED DOWN THE WEAK AREAS, UNKNOWN TERMS, CONCEPTS

8. REFERRED BACK TO THE BOOKS AND PMBOK^® Guide, CLARIFIED THE DOUBTS, UNDERSTOOD THE MISTAKES, WEAK AREAS

9. Read PMBOK^® Guide (2)

10. Continued simulated tests, started scoring from 65-70, repeated #5, #6, #7

11. Took Brain Bench online test and scored 80

12. Some more simulation tests, scores ranging around 70-80 in the other CDs,

13. Revised IIPM Notes, RITA - this helps to recollect quickly certain terms, concepts

14. Revised the I / TT / O from PMBOK^® Guide (3)

15. Risk Management knowledge was the area which took me too long time to cover

16. All this took about 40-45 days, daily minimum 3 hours maximum 4 hours, Sunday extra time, Saturday off
     

About the Exam

• Generally it is not so tough, provided if you understand PMBOK^® Guide, PMI^® way of PM

• Some Calculations were somewhat tough, and taking too much time (for me)

• Professional Responsibility questions were easy to score

• ARI's TIP #1 is of great help, READ THE QUESTION TWICE

• ARI's TIP #2 ELIMINATION technique helped a lot, after eliminating first two, when I am not able to eliminate one from the next two, LOOKED FOR HINT by READING THE QUESTION THE THIRD TIME it helped

• I used ANY ROAD IS OK only for FEW QUESTIONS

• I kept a close watch for NOT, EXCEPT, FIRST, BEST, NEXT, LEAST, MOST (a lot of T!)

• I was careful of some purposeful questions describing a mistake/wrong project management scenarios, on some distracting answers, this too helped

• I was keeping an eye on the TIMER which shows the remaining time and Question # or Number of Questions answered, this helped too to manage the time

• I didn't take a break

• Finished within 3.30 hours, used 27 minutes for review of marked questions it helped
  I just can't express the feeling while waiting to see "CONGRATULATIONS" after ending the exam

Understanding from the EXAM

• PMBOK^® Guide is THE BOOK

• PMI^®sm is THE PM's WAY OF LIFE (for the exam and your career)

• Problem Solving is THE MOST POWERFUL CONFLICT RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES

• Project Quality is SO IMPORTANT; Quality is planned in NOT inspected in

• WBS is THE DRIVING FORCE for the PROJECT

• You can't manage a project without RISK MANAGEMENT

• STAKEHOLDER's are your Bosses

• LEADERSHIP and GENERAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS are GREAT SKILLS

• You are supposed to adhere to the PMP^® CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

• MEMORIZATION of formulas is OK, WILL HELP

• APPLICATION of the KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and EXPERIENCE is GREAT, WILL HELP A LOT

• Plan, Prepare, Assess, Clarify, Re-Asses, Revise, Attend the Exam, Pass the Exam

Testing Centre

• Please take your Eligibility Letter, Pro metric Confirmation email, Passport, Driving License or Office ID with Photo/signature.

• Arrive at the testing centre just before 30 minutes as you will not be allowed inside the centre before that

• They provide the lockers, you can keep your edibles, files, books, and reasonable space is there to keep these

• You are not allowed to take your pen, purse, mobile, except for the Passport and/or ID

• They will give a simple calculator, pencils, scratch papers, erasers, ear plugs

• You can take a break in-between if you want. Each time when you come out for a break and again go inside you have to sign in and sign out. The atmosphere is good and when I took the exam there were no much of distractions, except for some people sound usage of the keyboards other wise its ok

• 15 minutes introduction time, its a quite useful to note down all the formulas and the mnemonics such as ATMA etc. I used for noting down all the formulas etc.

Acknowledgement

• I have to thank my 2 years old daughter SHRUTI, she tried to help (and not disturbed) as much as possible. She used to say to her mom, "mummy don't disturb daddy, as he is preparing for exam" in her own language "daddy PUAAJEKT MAYANGMNNTT!!!! padikkarrar"(meaning: Daddy is studying PROJECT MANAGEMENT)
  
  Yesterday night she asked me (after passing PMP^®)

  • daddy which book you want today?

  • why you are not studying today?

  • why you are not sitting at the computer today?

• My wife, supported well in asking me questions from the book and getting the answer, and gave some a GREAT TIPS, if you are not able to solve mathematical calculation related questions and if at all it is taking too much time please mark it and move on to the next. Also be careful in reading the question (what a coincidence with ARI's TIP#1)

•  Encouraging and inspiring contributions from the group: ARI, ANAND, RANI, PRASANTH, PM SWAMINATHAN, DIPANKAR, ILANGO, VARAGAN

Another Inspiration

Recently I was watching in the TV, a speech by Mr. VAIKO a political leader on the occasion of ILAYARAJA's THIRUVASAKAM function. SUPERSTAR RAJINI, KAMAL, HINDU N. RAM were among the celebrities.

They were amazed, surprised, astonished by the speech, particularly ILAYARAJA and RAJINIKANTH.

The speech was about 20 minutes; the extent the coverage of the information/topics (like PMBOK^® Guide) may be for somebody else it would take about 20-30 days of preparation for this speech.
The speech was about Tamil literature on SIVAPURANAM, SILAPATHIGARAM, THIRUVASAKAM, etc, including quotes, the same lines of the literature, names, events, places etc and MANY historic events and so on and no single word of politics.

Bottom Line:

If Mr. VAIKO is able to prepare so much for just a 20 minutes speech, which is not in his core area of politics

FOR US, since we have the objective of obtaining PMP®, and have the input, tools, materials such as

• plan

• time

• preparation course

• study groups

• books

• preparation

• simulation tests

I am sure it is POSSIBLE for us to get certified. ALL THE BEST.