PMP Preparation advices & exam tips

Last updated 15-Mar-2019


I have passed PMP 4th exam on Dec-2012 and would like to share the experience with everyone. The following is the recommended steps from my prospective to prepare and pass the exam:

1- Download PMP handbook pdf
This is a free download from PMI, the link might change for the book; anyway you should find it in PMP certification main page. This book is a MUST read. Always check for newer version as this document changes frequently.

2- Attend PMP course
When you read PMP Handbook, it is a must to have “35 contact hours of formal education”, there are mainly two ways for this:
    a- Attend formal course for PMP in your area, but usually it costs you too much, unless it is included within your company training schedule.
    b- Distance learning by purchasing an online course, and at the end you get your certificate by passing an exam.

I have searched the Internet for quite some time and found the cheapest and really good deal The PMP Exam Simulator. It is around 100 USD (Currently, 139 USD as of Mar-2019), and has great value; lots of people will recommend it to you, other courses I found online was above 250 USD. You can easily watch the video on your computer or other portable devices.


3- Purchase good preparation PMP
Reading a preparation book is very important to clearly understand the idea of PMP and its related tasks, PMBOK is considered tenser and towards exam objectives, I find myself try to understand or seeking more declaration about a subject in preparation book if I can’t understand from PMBOK.

You will find most PMP holders refer to two books for certification:
1.    Head First PMP 2nd edition.
2.    PMP Exam Prep, 6th Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam.

You will find lots of comparison between two books, I prefer that your read those comparisons before purchasing, but most of them mention that Rita is more directed to exam and teaches you as classic text book, while Head first uses its great way for teaching, but it sometimes miss some minor information.
At the end I picked Head first, and I purchased e-book copy for 50% discount from Oreilly using a coupon, so, I suggest before purchasing from whatever website always try to get a coupon from Internet.

4- Becoming PMI.org member
When you read PMP Handbook, fees section, you will find fees differ if you are PMI member or not. All people will tell you better become a member as you will receive discounts on exams, re-examination and renewals plus some more extra stuff. Please create a new account in PMI before applying for individual membership that will cost you 129 USD.

5- Download PMBOK Guide 4th edition
As per your PMI subscription you are eligible to download free electronic water marked copy of PMBOK guide 4th edition (A guide to the project management body of knowledge), it is found in this link. There are other good documents in the same link, but not mandatory for PMP exam.

6- Stick to a study schedule
One of the biggest mistakes that you will do is that you get the certification in relax mode, this may take months or even years. My advice will be making a schedule for the preparation till the day of the exam including solving exams. I have prepared a study schedule using Microsoft Project 2010 shared here (For Microsoft Project 2007 shared here). It has specific study calendar “PMP Study Calendar” of 4hrs/day, 5 days/week. I encourage using it and modifying the project calendar to suite your availability. This link provides a detailed explanation of how to change the calendar in Microsoft Project 2010. You will find that most PMP holder mention that you can have the certification in 3-4 months which matches the project schedule mentioned before.

7- Solving exam questions
You need to solve lots of exam questions before showing for the exam. Following is list of available free:
•    PMP Exam Self-Assessment Test (75 questions).
•    About.com Tech certification (20 questions).
•    BestSampleQuestions.com PMP Sample (160 questions).
•    Test prep review (15 questions).
The above are just samples, you can search and find lots more.

8- Real Exam advices

a- Language aid: If English is not your mother tongue language, apply for free language aid in the exam, this sometimes help in some types of questions.

b- Exam time is limited, you need to be fast: You have 4 hours to answer 200 questions, i.e. you have only 72 secs per question (1st hr --> you should have reached 50 questions, 2nd hr --> 100 questions, 3rd hr --> 150 questions) you should check these milestone in the exam in-order to keep moving as fast as you can.

c- Exam duration is 15 mins tutorial, 4 hours exam, 15 mins survey. The first 15 mins you will have complete tutorial on how to mark and review exam, and use of calculator before you finish this tutorial (As exam will start after this) take the remaining time for writing down all equations you know in a clear paper the testing center have provided you. This is really helpful as you might get distracted from long time in exam and will consume time trying to remember them.

d- Method of elimination is best used for exam, for tough questions, pick any answer from what you think are probably correct before marking the question for review; i.e. never leave a question without an answer.

c- Sometimes for long questions, it is better to start reading the last part sentence to know what it require, before reading a whole paragraph as it is giving stoo much unneeded information.

d- When a question is asking what you will use for a process, it is asking you to pick up input, tool, technique that’s part of the process.

e- Take your time answering “Which is not” question. I think the best way to eliminate confusion is to remove the word “NOT” in the phrase and write down your answers then convert it x --> √ & vise versa. This worked for me very well.

I hope this will help someone there.

31 comments:

  1. Excellent advice for PMP exam preparation.

    M. Ibrahim

    ReplyDelete
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  3. thank you v much
    where can i get the exam on Cairo?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't pass exam in Cairo, but you can get it easily, when your application is accepted in PMI.org there will be a link to schedule exam that will transfer you to prometric website where you will select country & exam so you will get a full list of testing centers.

      Delete
    2. thank you very much, my application accepted in PMI and i try to find location on cairo for emam but i didnt find ( i think it is my fualt ) i will try again.
      thank you for your interrest

      Delete
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  5. السلام عليكم كنت عايز اسال اسه فرص العمل للحاصلين على الشهادة ولكن بدون خبرة عملية يعنى انا لسه متخرج وبفكر اخد الشهادة هل هقدر اشتغل بيها على طوول واللا لا لا؟؟
    انا software developer وكنت عايز اشتغل
    system analyst
    وعرفت ان الشهادة دى مهمة ياريت اى تفاصيل

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mohamed,
      Just read the PMP handbook mentioned in blog as #1 it is located http://www.pmi.org/en/Certification/~/media/PDF/Certifications/pdc_pmphandbook.ashx Page 8, it mention that you need 4500 hrs of project management related tasks to be able to apply for the certification. i.e. work as PM for more than 2 years, so answer to first question it is not possible.

      If you want to work as software developer, PMP is not related to software development, it will only help when you are senior developer or team leader and responsible of teams and projects.

      Delete
  6. thanx mr Ashraf , that's was clear

    ReplyDelete
  7. From 2 weeks I failed at exam,Since that time I wonder and ask my self why?
    Although, I practice many times before entering the exam using FastTrack (Rita's SW), but the questions I seen at exam I feel it was very different.

    Can some one advice, What I have to do MORE?

    Thanks
    Amr Gamal
    amrgamal.it@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can understand the disappointment as two of my friends didn't make it last week in the exam, and I really feel sorry for them.

      The main reason from their point of view and also will be mine if you studied PMBOK well is that you didn't practice enough. You are mentioning that you already practiced Rita's SW and I think it should be good as her book is the best on market. You need to ask yourself what was your score in her exam? and other set of questions mentioned in above links and many on the Internet.

      Rule of thumb, schedule for retake exam when you constantly get above 75% on such questions, otherwise keep practicing and correct your mistakes.

      Another tip, please check your exam report, it will mention areas that require improvement, I really prefer if you can have another look at such processes before solving exams again.

      I hope this helps, feel free to contact whenever u need help.

      Delete
  8. I can find very useful tips for the exam. I can see that the most important tip is no 6: Stick to a study schedule.

    Thanks & Best Regards,

    Azzam Othman

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you very much Mr ASHRAF for your great advices it really helps me very much on passing my PMP exam
    Thank you very muach

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for your advice but just ask which best way to study horizontal 9 KW A
    or Vertical 5 process .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All PMP books I have seen are organized as 9 KW and this is following PMBOK, and it was logical while studying.

      Delete
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  12. Excellent post. I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing this great post. Keep up your work.
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    1. Appreciate your encouragement to continue posting :)

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    1. u r more than welcome, I have just renewed my PMP this week, happy to hear my post after nearly 3 years is answering some people questions :)

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