Here I am writing my first blog ever!! And I hope I provide some meaningful information to all those determined people who want to embark on a journey to successfully complete the PMP examination.
My journey to PMP started way back in 2013 when PMBOK version was 4. There was a no pressing need for me to complete the PMP training or the certification professionally, and just like that one fine day I thought I should do Project Management training and but wasn't too keen on the certification. I was based out of Guangzhou in China at that time and believe me it was so difficult to find a good training institute who could provide PMP training in English. After some research, I came across an institute named "SimpliLearn" and when contacted they mentioned that the nearest place this training was being offered was in HongKong but it would be only on weekends. Now came the difficult part of giving up my precious weekends :P, but finally I decided to take up the training. I must say, the training was alright and concepts were clear as most of the stuff was something we all do being in the management roles. I went back satisfied and was now seriously thinking of pursuing the certification. The first thing I did was registering on PMI website and created an account. Please note this was not a PMI membership, just access to the PMI site which gives you some basic information about PMI related examinations, etc. I was slowly getting to know more about the PMP examination and was going to take up the free online exams provided by Simplilearn as part of the training. Due to some very unfortunate situations in my personal life with my mom falling seriously ill and passing away within the next 5 months that year and during the same time our relocation back to India on my promotion, PMP took a backseat.
After almost 8 months, life was cruising along, there was this feeling that I have left something unfinished and I restarted my journey to PMP! It was 2014, I lost my access to the mock exams from Simplilearn and also there was PMBOK 5 by this time. My knowledge was outdated and also there are additional knowledge areas in PMBOK 5. I have then decided that I should take up the training once again. This time I was in Hyderabad, India and had plenty of options to choose a good training institute.Many had a money back guarantee if you do no clear the examination. Please do not go to these institutes just for those offers, I do not think anyone would attend a training and attempt an exam just to fail so that they can claim that lost money!! My friends & colleagues who successfully cleared the PMP examination in the recent months gave good reviews about a training institute named "Knowledgewoods" in Hyderabad. Call it a blind faith, but I went ahead and enrolled for the training which was once again on two weekends :-(((....
Knowledgewoods Training - I have attended a boot camp training which was for 4 full days (9:00 AM - 6:00 PM) on 2 successive weekends. The cost of the training included training material, access to 10 mock tests which can be taken twice, that is they give you a total of 20 mock tests valid for 45 days, lunch, and hi-tea during the training days. They also provide the 35 hours Project Management Education certificate which is a must for the PMP exam.
Three of us from our company attended this training and an overall 50+ participants from various IT companies in Hyderabad, some of them even traveled from Gulf, UK, and other cities from India just to attend this training. The people who traveled from abroad were indeed Indians who were visiting their families on vacation or holidays. Our trainer Rajeev Kumar was an experienced Project management practitioner with over 30 years of experience. His teaching was great with some good real time examples. This laid a strong foundation which I was looking forward to and I was glad I spent my weekends in a very productive way :-). During the training there was an opportunity for networking and all of us were eager to appear for the examination within the next month or two after the training. We ensured we have created an email distribution list so that we can stay in touch and help each during the preparation post the training.
Post training preparation - Coming to the most important point, the Knowledgewoods training is good, but please note this point carefully, just completing the training will not be sufficient to appear for the final examination! If attending training is Step 1, then there are further steps before you can appear for an exam!
After the training, I immediately registered for the PMI membership so that I can have access to the PMBOK guide and so many other resources which I got to know about very late. Knowledgewoods provided their training material was very basic. However, I am now very pleased that they provided HeadFirst PMP book also as part of the training. Trust me, this played a key role for my preparation, I will come to that later. After registering, and downloading the PMBOK guide, my next target was to study the PMBOK guide completely. Every time I opened that PDF file, for some reason, I couldn't go beyond a few pages, I felt it was boring and honestly was slowly starting to put me off on this whole PMP examination aspect. I then started reading some blogs where people have provided terrific information (I hope some day people think the same about mine :P). Everyone suggested to read additional books apart from the training you attend. The big debate was on choosing between Rita Mulcahy vs PMP Headfirst. I am sure you will find loads of pages when you Google with that topic. I have seen that people who liked HeadFirst did not like Rita Mulcahy books at all, the main criticism was Rita's approach sounded negative to some folks as she was continuously speaking about how one would fail the examination if they do not read some concepts thoroughly and obviously once I read a comment like that, I did not dare to go with that book. Please note that I am in no way related to the Headfirst guys or am I against Rita's books, I think Rita is a great author and she has contributed immensely to the Project Management world. It is just that everyone has a different opinion and perception. Another reason why I did not go for Rita's book was due to the fact that I already had a Headfirst book provided by Knowledgewoods.
Headfirst PMP - Now, where do I begin about this great book!!! This was a life savior for me. As I mentioned earlier, the training you would attend whether it is a boot camp or root camp, or whatever, you will not be able to cover everything during those 3-4 days. Project management is a vast topic and please note that PMBOK is also only a reference document for the examination. Similarly, Headfirst book is also a reference. This book was written with so much of care and attention so that every individual irrespective of their background can understand the concepts very easily. As they say, our Brain's right side helps us to comprehend visual imagery and make sense of what we see! The authors of this book has made it a point that they explain the Project Management knowledge areas and process groups in a way that will make an impact on your Right Side of your brain!!
Now, coming back to the preparation, I suggest everyone who is embarking on the journey to PMP to appear for a training as it will give you the 35 hours mandatory project management training certificate, then immediately start studying the Headfirst PMP book, you will realize that there are some new topics that wasn't covered in your training. One important point to remember while reading the Headfirst book is to make sure that every single exercise is attempted, please do not feel dejected if you score less on those tests, it only means where you need to concentrate more. I personally liked the HeadLibs exercises which was very thought provoking and I could understand the concepts much easily. Please also keep a highlighter in hand so that you can highlight some important topics. These will be the topics in addition to the "Bullet points for the exam" that you can see after every chapter.
Mock Tests - After you have studied the Headfirst book thoroughly, attempt the exam paper that you have at the back of the book. If you score 80-90 % then I would suggest you to move onto the next step which is to register for the Mock tests that your training institute has provided. If your training institute does not provide you access to mock tests then please check online there are some websites like SimpliLearn, etc where you can purchase full question papers. Alternatively there are so many other websites which offer mock tests (May not be a complete 200 questions). I mentioned earlier about the Additional resources on the PMI website, now is the time to highlight about that, it appears you can find sample question papers and some free books online under (http://pmi.books24x7.com/bookshelf.asp?view=new), this a PMI Member benefit only!
If you have or will attend the Knowledgewoods training and have access to the 10 mock tests just like me, my suggestion would be to enable the mock tests exactly before 30 - 45 days before the final exam date. And please make sure you are in a position where you can start taking the mock tests as soon as you enable it. I have wasted good amount of time after enabling the access. That is because I was half way through the Headfirst book and didn't realize that I should have enabled it only on completion of the book. In my case, I had to make a special request to extend for 20 more days and thankfully they did it. Anyway, coming back to the topic of mock exams, please ensure you spend considerable amount of time answering the questions, there is a reason why you have 4 hours to take this exam. Please make it a habit to read a question twice, there were instances, I blindly answered some questions only to realize that I misread the question. After every attempt, please make sure you review all the 200 questions even though if you have answered them correctly. There is a always a chance that you have answered that question correctly by fluke.
You will come across some vague questions which you haven't seen it in the Headfirst or your training materials, please make a note of those questions and try to search in the PMBOK. These would typically be the mathematical questions, most of the books give you a standard way of calculation, but some of the scenarios are unique and for those, the formula varies significantly. For example, Estimate at completion standard formula is [Budget at Completion (BAC) / Cost Performance Index (CPI)] but this is applicable if the CPI is expected to be the same for the remainder of the project and this varies significantly if future work is accomplished at the planned rate, the formula becomes, [Actual Cost (AC) + Budget at completion (BAC) - Earned Value (EV)]. Sometimes the mock tests have questions which are not even present in a PMBOK guide, those are the general management questions, you are expected to know some of the general management related topics.
Many people have suggested to me that you need to by heart the Input, Output, Tools & Techniques for every process groups. To be honest I am not at all good at it as I go with the logic, and if you read the Headfirst book thoroughly, I am sure you will be able to remember the logic easily. But, if you are a by heart kind of a person, then by all means please by heart them, there will be quite a few of them in the mock tests and the final exam. I suggest you read the Quality & HR related tools & techniques very thoroughly.
Make sure you remember the Earned Value (EV, PV, CPI, SPI, EAC, ETC, all of them), PERT /Triangular distribution, Beta distribution, calculating Sigma value, Procurement related formula especially point of total assumption, total cost of procurement, etc. Attempt as many sample questions which are based upon the calculations. The reason being, if you are good at maths, then these are sure shot success answers, there cannot be any ambiguity in them.
Try to find out if any of your friends or colleagues are also on a similar journey as you to crack the PMP exam. In my case, I had one of my colleague who was also pursuing for the PMP exam, we used to discuss a knowledge area and tell each other the importance of it, highlight key points, take some sample tests online together, understand why each of us had different answers or same answers, etc. Group studies always help! Once you take PMI membership, if you pay an additional 10 USD, you can enroll into the nearest PMI chapter in your town. There you may be able to find some candidates who are also looking for some company to do the combined studies.
If you consistently score over 70+ in those mock tests, then you are almost ready, but if you consistently score 80+ then you are very much ready!!! Please note some of my batch mates from the training scored only 65+ on these Knowledgewoods mock tests yet they successfully cleared the final examination. But I would suggest you to be more prepared and confident before you appear for the final examination. You and only you can decide when you are ready to take the exam.
Application & Booking a slot for the final exam - Application is a straightforward process, you need to fill in your project details carefully, do not fake any details, as PMI takes these things very seriously!! Please remember once you fill in the application and pay the fees, your application may be selected for an audit. My application was selected for an audit, and I had to go through the process of taking signatures from my previous and current line managers on all of projects I have mentioned on the application and send a courier to PMI Headquarters in the USA. The approval process took less than a day once they have received it but may vary for each application. Once you get a clearance from the Audit, you get an eligibility ID with which you can book a slot for the the exam. Getting a slot is not easy, you may need to be book at least a month in advance. So, please do not be in the assumption that you can book a slot today for the next week. All of this needs proper planning and preparation.
PMP Exam details - http://www.pmi.org/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP.aspx
Cheers,
Hari
My journey to PMP started way back in 2013 when PMBOK version was 4. There was a no pressing need for me to complete the PMP training or the certification professionally, and just like that one fine day I thought I should do Project Management training and but wasn't too keen on the certification. I was based out of Guangzhou in China at that time and believe me it was so difficult to find a good training institute who could provide PMP training in English. After some research, I came across an institute named "SimpliLearn" and when contacted they mentioned that the nearest place this training was being offered was in HongKong but it would be only on weekends. Now came the difficult part of giving up my precious weekends :P, but finally I decided to take up the training. I must say, the training was alright and concepts were clear as most of the stuff was something we all do being in the management roles. I went back satisfied and was now seriously thinking of pursuing the certification. The first thing I did was registering on PMI website and created an account. Please note this was not a PMI membership, just access to the PMI site which gives you some basic information about PMI related examinations, etc. I was slowly getting to know more about the PMP examination and was going to take up the free online exams provided by Simplilearn as part of the training. Due to some very unfortunate situations in my personal life with my mom falling seriously ill and passing away within the next 5 months that year and during the same time our relocation back to India on my promotion, PMP took a backseat.
After almost 8 months, life was cruising along, there was this feeling that I have left something unfinished and I restarted my journey to PMP! It was 2014, I lost my access to the mock exams from Simplilearn and also there was PMBOK 5 by this time. My knowledge was outdated and also there are additional knowledge areas in PMBOK 5. I have then decided that I should take up the training once again. This time I was in Hyderabad, India and had plenty of options to choose a good training institute.Many had a money back guarantee if you do no clear the examination. Please do not go to these institutes just for those offers, I do not think anyone would attend a training and attempt an exam just to fail so that they can claim that lost money!! My friends & colleagues who successfully cleared the PMP examination in the recent months gave good reviews about a training institute named "Knowledgewoods" in Hyderabad. Call it a blind faith, but I went ahead and enrolled for the training which was once again on two weekends :-(((....
Knowledgewoods Training - I have attended a boot camp training which was for 4 full days (9:00 AM - 6:00 PM) on 2 successive weekends. The cost of the training included training material, access to 10 mock tests which can be taken twice, that is they give you a total of 20 mock tests valid for 45 days, lunch, and hi-tea during the training days. They also provide the 35 hours Project Management Education certificate which is a must for the PMP exam.
Three of us from our company attended this training and an overall 50+ participants from various IT companies in Hyderabad, some of them even traveled from Gulf, UK, and other cities from India just to attend this training. The people who traveled from abroad were indeed Indians who were visiting their families on vacation or holidays. Our trainer Rajeev Kumar was an experienced Project management practitioner with over 30 years of experience. His teaching was great with some good real time examples. This laid a strong foundation which I was looking forward to and I was glad I spent my weekends in a very productive way :-). During the training there was an opportunity for networking and all of us were eager to appear for the examination within the next month or two after the training. We ensured we have created an email distribution list so that we can stay in touch and help each during the preparation post the training.
Post training preparation - Coming to the most important point, the Knowledgewoods training is good, but please note this point carefully, just completing the training will not be sufficient to appear for the final examination! If attending training is Step 1, then there are further steps before you can appear for an exam!
After the training, I immediately registered for the PMI membership so that I can have access to the PMBOK guide and so many other resources which I got to know about very late. Knowledgewoods provided their training material was very basic. However, I am now very pleased that they provided HeadFirst PMP book also as part of the training. Trust me, this played a key role for my preparation, I will come to that later. After registering, and downloading the PMBOK guide, my next target was to study the PMBOK guide completely. Every time I opened that PDF file, for some reason, I couldn't go beyond a few pages, I felt it was boring and honestly was slowly starting to put me off on this whole PMP examination aspect. I then started reading some blogs where people have provided terrific information (I hope some day people think the same about mine :P). Everyone suggested to read additional books apart from the training you attend. The big debate was on choosing between Rita Mulcahy vs PMP Headfirst. I am sure you will find loads of pages when you Google with that topic. I have seen that people who liked HeadFirst did not like Rita Mulcahy books at all, the main criticism was Rita's approach sounded negative to some folks as she was continuously speaking about how one would fail the examination if they do not read some concepts thoroughly and obviously once I read a comment like that, I did not dare to go with that book. Please note that I am in no way related to the Headfirst guys or am I against Rita's books, I think Rita is a great author and she has contributed immensely to the Project Management world. It is just that everyone has a different opinion and perception. Another reason why I did not go for Rita's book was due to the fact that I already had a Headfirst book provided by Knowledgewoods.
Headfirst PMP - Now, where do I begin about this great book!!! This was a life savior for me. As I mentioned earlier, the training you would attend whether it is a boot camp or root camp, or whatever, you will not be able to cover everything during those 3-4 days. Project management is a vast topic and please note that PMBOK is also only a reference document for the examination. Similarly, Headfirst book is also a reference. This book was written with so much of care and attention so that every individual irrespective of their background can understand the concepts very easily. As they say, our Brain's right side helps us to comprehend visual imagery and make sense of what we see! The authors of this book has made it a point that they explain the Project Management knowledge areas and process groups in a way that will make an impact on your Right Side of your brain!!
Now, coming back to the preparation, I suggest everyone who is embarking on the journey to PMP to appear for a training as it will give you the 35 hours mandatory project management training certificate, then immediately start studying the Headfirst PMP book, you will realize that there are some new topics that wasn't covered in your training. One important point to remember while reading the Headfirst book is to make sure that every single exercise is attempted, please do not feel dejected if you score less on those tests, it only means where you need to concentrate more. I personally liked the HeadLibs exercises which was very thought provoking and I could understand the concepts much easily. Please also keep a highlighter in hand so that you can highlight some important topics. These will be the topics in addition to the "Bullet points for the exam" that you can see after every chapter.
Mock Tests - After you have studied the Headfirst book thoroughly, attempt the exam paper that you have at the back of the book. If you score 80-90 % then I would suggest you to move onto the next step which is to register for the Mock tests that your training institute has provided. If your training institute does not provide you access to mock tests then please check online there are some websites like SimpliLearn, etc where you can purchase full question papers. Alternatively there are so many other websites which offer mock tests (May not be a complete 200 questions). I mentioned earlier about the Additional resources on the PMI website, now is the time to highlight about that, it appears you can find sample question papers and some free books online under (http://pmi.books24x7.com/bookshelf.asp?view=new), this a PMI Member benefit only!
If you have or will attend the Knowledgewoods training and have access to the 10 mock tests just like me, my suggestion would be to enable the mock tests exactly before 30 - 45 days before the final exam date. And please make sure you are in a position where you can start taking the mock tests as soon as you enable it. I have wasted good amount of time after enabling the access. That is because I was half way through the Headfirst book and didn't realize that I should have enabled it only on completion of the book. In my case, I had to make a special request to extend for 20 more days and thankfully they did it. Anyway, coming back to the topic of mock exams, please ensure you spend considerable amount of time answering the questions, there is a reason why you have 4 hours to take this exam. Please make it a habit to read a question twice, there were instances, I blindly answered some questions only to realize that I misread the question. After every attempt, please make sure you review all the 200 questions even though if you have answered them correctly. There is a always a chance that you have answered that question correctly by fluke.
You will come across some vague questions which you haven't seen it in the Headfirst or your training materials, please make a note of those questions and try to search in the PMBOK. These would typically be the mathematical questions, most of the books give you a standard way of calculation, but some of the scenarios are unique and for those, the formula varies significantly. For example, Estimate at completion standard formula is [Budget at Completion (BAC) / Cost Performance Index (CPI)] but this is applicable if the CPI is expected to be the same for the remainder of the project and this varies significantly if future work is accomplished at the planned rate, the formula becomes, [Actual Cost (AC) + Budget at completion (BAC) - Earned Value (EV)]. Sometimes the mock tests have questions which are not even present in a PMBOK guide, those are the general management questions, you are expected to know some of the general management related topics.
Many people have suggested to me that you need to by heart the Input, Output, Tools & Techniques for every process groups. To be honest I am not at all good at it as I go with the logic, and if you read the Headfirst book thoroughly, I am sure you will be able to remember the logic easily. But, if you are a by heart kind of a person, then by all means please by heart them, there will be quite a few of them in the mock tests and the final exam. I suggest you read the Quality & HR related tools & techniques very thoroughly.
Make sure you remember the Earned Value (EV, PV, CPI, SPI, EAC, ETC, all of them), PERT /Triangular distribution, Beta distribution, calculating Sigma value, Procurement related formula especially point of total assumption, total cost of procurement, etc. Attempt as many sample questions which are based upon the calculations. The reason being, if you are good at maths, then these are sure shot success answers, there cannot be any ambiguity in them.
Try to find out if any of your friends or colleagues are also on a similar journey as you to crack the PMP exam. In my case, I had one of my colleague who was also pursuing for the PMP exam, we used to discuss a knowledge area and tell each other the importance of it, highlight key points, take some sample tests online together, understand why each of us had different answers or same answers, etc. Group studies always help! Once you take PMI membership, if you pay an additional 10 USD, you can enroll into the nearest PMI chapter in your town. There you may be able to find some candidates who are also looking for some company to do the combined studies.
If you consistently score over 70+ in those mock tests, then you are almost ready, but if you consistently score 80+ then you are very much ready!!! Please note some of my batch mates from the training scored only 65+ on these Knowledgewoods mock tests yet they successfully cleared the final examination. But I would suggest you to be more prepared and confident before you appear for the final examination. You and only you can decide when you are ready to take the exam.
Application & Booking a slot for the final exam - Application is a straightforward process, you need to fill in your project details carefully, do not fake any details, as PMI takes these things very seriously!! Please remember once you fill in the application and pay the fees, your application may be selected for an audit. My application was selected for an audit, and I had to go through the process of taking signatures from my previous and current line managers on all of projects I have mentioned on the application and send a courier to PMI Headquarters in the USA. The approval process took less than a day once they have received it but may vary for each application. Once you get a clearance from the Audit, you get an eligibility ID with which you can book a slot for the the exam. Getting a slot is not easy, you may need to be book at least a month in advance. So, please do not be in the assumption that you can book a slot today for the next week. All of this needs proper planning and preparation.
Finally, I successfully cleared my exam on 9th September 2014... I cannot say the journey ended here, this has given me an opportunity to open my eyes and realise that with sheer determination anything can be achieved. I would like to thank my wife Harini for her relentless support and encouragement.
I hope I have provided useful information to the aspirants, if you have any questions related to the PMP examination, please feel free to reach out to me. Good luck and best wishes!!
PMP Exam details - http://www.pmi.org/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP.aspx
Cheers,
Hari
