How to pass APMP Foundation in 2 weeks?

If you like to view the video version of this Blog, you can click on the video.

I have passed APMP Foundation in 25-Nov-2020. In this blog, I'm sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification in 2 weeks.

Exam information

Current code: APMP (2015) Foundation
Current release date: 12-Feb-2016 (Exam option: 2015), updated every 5 years.
Number of questions: 75
Open book: Yes (Unrestricted material)
Exam duration: 1 hr – ESL (1 hr, 15 mins)
Passing score: 42/75 (56%)
Time / question: 48 secs – ESL (1 min)
Cost: 400$ Exam + 160$ Membership + Course fees
Validity duration / Expiry: 2 years (20 Educational Units CEU to renew, blogging, publishing articles, presenting).
Exam availability: 24/7
Exam location: Home / Authorized Training organization.

Training courses

On Oct-2020, I have checked all approved Training Organizations. I have made a quick comparison based on available information on these companies website:

Course / Link	Cost	Duration	Notes
baachuscribble	161 USD	12 hours / 1 - 2 weeks	Lifetime access. Includes 200+ sample practice questions. Opportunity for money back with WOW2K program. Found some youtube videos about APMP Very responsive in email's reply.
Bidcraft	360 USD
thebidtoolkit	307 USD	4 hours / on demand
sixfold	602 - 712 USD	1 full day training	Includes exam fee. Seems they are confident to sit for the exam in the same day after you finish the training. Includes Study guide. Includes glossary. Include quick reference guide.

I have selected baachuscribble from the above list based on the notes mentioned above and reasonable course price.

Study plan

I will recommend you start by answering the free sample exam, and select "APMP Foundation" before studying to understand how the exam looks like.

I'm sharing with my MS project study plan to achieve both certifications in less than 2 weeks of study (Study time 20 hours / week ). If you don't have MS project, here is a link for Excel sheet having the same information. You can use it as a base for your study schedule.

Exam registration

1. Register on the apmp website. Offer 15 months for 12 months price 160$ (PayPal).

2. Register in course from WOW2K link.

3. Register in course from Baachuscribble link. Price 153$ (VISA, MasterCard, American Express). Your will find two courses:

APMP Foundation Level Certification.
APMP Foundation Practice and Revision.

4. Booking the exam on website

Language: English.
APMP Foundation (2015).
Enter last name, and APMP membership id so exam fee is 400$ (Without membership 600$).
If you didn’t register, you will need to register in this site. Fill your data.
Is exam in a second language? Yes (This will add an extra checkmark in same page that you won’t be able able to book your exam until APMG confirm your request by contacting you).
Click “Pay by card”.
Enter information and card details.
Gives you a booking reference with a validity of 1 year & sent by email (Login information will be sent within 24 hours unless further information is required as ESL).

5. Within 1 day, I received an email to register on the exam website after filling:

Personal information
Employer
Industry
Communication preference
Name appearance on certificate First, Middle, Last.
Data protection.
Confirm declaration about entered data is correct.
After this step, you are ready for an online exam at any time.
I received a receipt for purchase after 4 days.

Exam tips

The exam can be scheduled anytime, I prefer to have it during vacation or before work.
Pick a quiet time to test.
Disable notification from your PC (Windows Focus Assist).
Silent Smartphone, no vibration, screen facing down.
Avoid conducting the test from your work network and use your home network.
Fully charged laptop not PC & connected to an electrical outlet.
Test your internet connection & have a backup connection up & running for an easy switch (Mobile Hotspot and set as a metered connection on your laptop).
Use Chrome browser.
Have Study guide, APMP Glossary website for quick reference, but use it as last resort as no time will be available in the exam.
Have google translate opened or its plugin installed to your browser.
Have the APMP tracking sheet printed per exam attempt.

References

APMP Certification Program

Frequently Asked Questions for the APMP Accreditation Program

APMP Certification for IT Professionals

This post list references I have used to prepare the video and presentation for APMP.


Youtube video	Presentation shared in slideshare

References

APMP Body of Knowledge

APMP Certification Program

How to pass PSM I & PSPO I in one day?

If you like to view the video version of this Blog, you can click on the video.

I have passed PSM I (Professional Scrum Master I) with score 96.3%, and PSPO I (Professional Scrum Product Owner I) with a score 93.8% on the same day (27-Aug-2020). In this blog, I'm sharing my experience on how you can achieve both certifications.

Training courses

The following is a list of courses that I used for preparing for the exams:

Course / Link	Certification	PROS	Note
Agile Scrum Mastery: Full Project Simulation + Certification	PSM I	Uses several tools for demonstration including free & paid. Practical demos was very important for people new to Scrum.	Finished all course.
Scrum Master Certification Preparation & 240+ Prep Questions	PSM I	Geared more towards the exam providing detailed coverage of various topics. Also, conduct webinars for students to answer their questions as well.	Only solved extra exams in the course.
Scrum Product Owner Certification Prep & 160+ Prep Questions	PSPO I	Geared towards the exam providing detailed coverage of various topics. Also, conduct webinars for students to answer their questions as well.	Finished all course.

* For PMP holders: I reported PDUs for the above 2 completed courses in PMI.org and they got approved.

Study material

The following are list of materials that I used for preparing for the exams:

Material	PSM I	PSPO I	Note
Agile manifesto & principles	Mandatory	Mandatory	It is always good to know some history that lays the foundation.
The scrum guide	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official recommendation (Read minimum three times) - most of exam is from this reference.
Scrum Glossary	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official recommendation
The Scrum Framework Poster	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official downloadable poster, you might take some notes on it.
Scrum Values Poster	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official downloadable poster, you might get a question or two for the values.
Burn down chart	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam have chart questions
Burn up chart	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam have chart questions
What is the Cumulative Flow Diagram and How can I make use of it in my Backlog?	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam have chart questions
Cone of Uncertainty	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam may have question about it and not included in Scrum guide
Technical Debt	Mandatory	Mandatory	Included in Scrum Glossary, and you may have question about it
Evidence-Based Management Guide	Not required	Mandatory	Exam usually contains questions for Key Value Areas. read once and repear the section for KVA, KVMs as very important.
15 things a Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) actually does	Optional	Mandatory	Good to have a list of the summarized PO role.
The Professional Scrum Competencies	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
Suggested Reading for Professional Scrum Master™	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
Scrum Master Learning Path	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
What is Scrum?	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
Nexus Guide	Nice to read	Nice to read	The exam has many questions about scaling Scrum or multiple teams working on the same product. You will learn from practice as Nexus is not covered in any of the exams, but it is good to know how in such cases the product is handled.
Scrum - A Pocket Guide - 2nd edition	Nice to have	Nice to have	For book lovers, this was recommended in several posts.
Maximizing Scrum	Nice to read	Nice to read	Very good read
A 7-Step Agenda for Effective Retrospectives	Nice to read	Nice to read	Practical retrospective meeting
Scrum et al.	Not required	Not required	Session by Ken Schwaber back to year 2007 still good to listen from the founders. Recommended if you need to get convinced by Scrum.
Agile and the Seven Deadly Sins of Project Management \| Mike Cohn \| Better Software West	Not required	Not required	Session by Mike Cohn back to year 2011 still good to listen for project managers. Recommended if you need to get convinced by Scrum.

Practice Exam questions

Practice makes perfect: The courses have around 3 exams each, you must solve them (You will learn a lot from the explanations) and also below are free online exams.

Exam / Link	Notes
Scrum Open	Official Scrum Master open assessment. You can repeat as many as you want. Simpler than real exam so recommended to score near 100% before attempting the exam.
Product Owner open	Official Product Owner open assessment. You can repeat as many as you want. Simpler than real exam so recommended to score near 100% before attempting the exam.
Mikhail Lapshin - Scrum Quizzes	Similar to the real exam. Contains exams for both SM and PO. Also, you should not miss his blog link for scrum questions, they are well explained and most probably you will find similar questions in the real assessment.

Study Plan

I'm sharing with my MS project study plan to achieve both certifications after 3 weeks of study (Study time 20 hours / week ). If you don't have MS project, here is a link for Excel sheet having the same information. You can use it as a base for your study schedule.

Exam Registration

Free register to scrum.org
I found a discount coupon reported by another candidate when they took paid courses, but I could not find a free coupon, and I needed to pay full amount.
Navigate to certification -> Professional Scrum Master -> PSM I Assessment -> Buy (150$)
Navigate to certification -> Professional Scrum Product Owner -> PSPO I Assessment -> Buy (200$).
Enter billing info (Payment accepted using: Paybal, VISA, MC, AMEX).
Assessment password emailed to you within 1 business day (I got it instantly).

Exam Tips

Exam can be scheduled anytime, I prefer to have during vacation or before work.
Pick a quiet time to test.
Disable notification from your PC (Windows Focus Assist).
Silent Smartphone, no vibration, screen facing down.
Avoid conducting the test from your work network as advised by Scrum and use your home network.
Fully charged laptop not PC & connected to an electrical outlet.
Test your internet connection & have a backup connection up & running for an easy switch (Mobile Hotspot and set as a metered connection on your laptop).
Use same browser you used in open assessment (I used Firefox for both open assessment and actual assessment).
Have Scrum guide, Scrum glossary, Sprint framework poster, Scrum values opened for quick reference, but use it as last resort as no time will be available in the exam.
Have google translate opened.
Have the PSMI & PSPOI tracking sheet printed per exam attempt.
Take care of keywords & word tricks in the exam:

A phrase with “Not” -> Read carefully, in rare cases you might need to solve the question and invert the solution.
A question asking about false i.e. “Which is false?” -> Read carefully.
A phrase with “The best”.
A phrase with “Only”.
A phrase with “Authority”.
A choice of “All of the above”.
Recommended vs required.
Responsible / Accountable vs influence.
Must / should vs could.
Attend vs participate.
Can, may.
A phrase with “Allowed”

References

Hope this helps someone out there.

How to efficiently plan and study your next IT certification & nail it

I have published a Udemy course for "How to efficiently plan and study your next IT certification". It is vital for IT professionals to have a handful list of certifications to assist their knowledge in any job interview and also increase their in-depth knowledge of an IT domain.

Click the above image to claim your instant discount

Have you tried before and you faced challenges in time management? If the answer is yes, then this course is for you. This course is designed for busy IT professionals who want to achieve more.

It is providing a detailed step by step guide during any IT certification journey. Whether you are a programmer, an administrator, or an architect this course will help.

By the end of the course, you will be able to confidently plan & achieve your target IT certification as we will be applying techniques used in project management & psychology.

What you’ll learn?

Define study strategy that match your personality & your need from certification.
Build your study plan & effective time schedule for any IT Certification.
Avoid distractions during your certification preparation.
Monitor your study progress to avoid procrastination.
Motivate yourself during your learning journey.
Advices on exam day.
Post-certification TODO list.

Are there any course requirements or prerequisites?

Eager to study for IT certification.
Access to any of these planning tools: Trello (Free), Project Libre (Free), Microsoft Project (Paid)

Who is this course for?

IT professionals seeking to plan their IT career by acquiring IT certifications.
IT Students, recent graduates, & job seekers willing to stand out from the crowd by acquiring IT certifications.
IT professionals having challenges in acquiring IT certifications.

References (English)

References (Arabic)

Why & Which IT Certification?

Please find below the links to video & slides download.


Youtube video in English	Youtube video in Arabic

Slides shared on SlideShare

Career path by the company:

Top-rated IT Certification & average salary:

Glassdoor: 8 Certifications That Actually Impress Recruiters.
Robert half: The 29 Most Valuable IT Certifications.
Global Knowledge: 15 Top-Paying IT Certifications for 2020.
iCert Global: Top 10 High Paying Certifications to Target in 2020.
PrepAway: Top 10 Highest Paying IT Certifications to Choose in 2019.

Certification by career:

Business News Daily: Best IT Certifications for 2019.
PayScale: Salaries in Information Technology Certifications.

Artificial Intelligence career path:

I hope the above articles help you in selecting your next IT certification.

How I make educational videos on Youtube

The following is what I'm using to film videos on my Youtube channel "Techie Architect".

This page contains affiliate links to products I use that don't cost you more charges but give me a commission when you purchase through the below links. Thanks for your support.

Equipment	Amazon link	Usage
BOYA BY-M1 microphone		A microphone connected to a laptop to record voice.
Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam		Used for recording myself in Full HD 1080p 30FPS
Glide Gear TMP100		Teleprompter used with iPad so I can read scripts prepared before I shoot the video. I'm still evaluating this purchase as I believe I'm still not used to deal with a teleprompter.
Velbon EX-888 Tripod		Tripod used in holding key light.
Ultra Compact Tripod		Sturdy tabletop tripod with low hight capable of holding the teleprompter (Quite heavy) and Logitech camera.
GorillaPod		Small tripod for holding fill light.
Neewer Dimmable 176 LED		Used as the key light. The advantage of this led that it accepts both battery and direct DC adapter suitable for long shooting sessions.
Neewer CN-DC2 DC 7.5V 2A Switching Power Adapter	Amazon link	Power adapter for Neewer Dimmable LED
Yongnuo YN160 III Pro LED Video Light		Used as the fill light. The advantage of this led that it accepts both battery and direct DC adapter suitable for long shooting sessions.
YONGNUO 12V 2A Standard Power Adapter		Power adapter for Youngnuo LED Video light
Collapsible Chroma Key Blue Green		Collapsible Foldable chroma key green screen used to remove background, and then adjust the background by software with a free scene.
Lenovo IdeaPad L340 laptop		Lenovo IdeaPad L340 laptop used in video shooting and editing

Software	Usage
MS PowerPoint 2016 (Paid)	Presentation software for preparing the slides.
OBS Studio v24 (Free)	Used to record the screen of computer or PowerPoint, as well as myself during presenting.
DaVinci Resolve v16 (Free)	Used to edit the recorded clips, and render to the final ready video that is uploaded to the Youtube channel.
AHD Subtitles Maker (Free)	Used to edit closed captions, having a ready script makes this step a bit easy. I have made a video (How I am using AHD Subtitles Maker) showing how this software can be used.
Teleprompter premium (Paid)	Software for displaying the transcript on the teleprompter so I can read it & not recorded by the camera. It works on the iPad (There is a new version working on Android as well released 25-Jun-2020) & works with teleprompter mentioned in equipment.

VLOG & Courses Creation youtube playlist of important videos I used to learn how to shoot, script, edit videos.

I hope this help someone out there.