How I passed PMP in first attempt

Posted on 21 January, 2023 in Simpler Life

I became PMP certified in October 2022 and that became by far the best achievement of that year. While this certification is one of the most prestigious for folks into the Project Management world the assessment is one of the brain-teasing ones.

Exam Pattern:
The PMP exam will be a 4 hour exam with total of 200 questions. These 200 questions fall under different categories defined by PMI. All are multiple-choice questions. You can visit PMI website for more details. You will find a detailed Handbook on the website with all the updates and about the course.

If I have to break down my entire journey of becoming PMP certified I would divide it into two phases – Learning and Practice.

Learning

I started prepping for this esteemed exam in December 2021 but I put myself into it with whole seriousness from April 2022. Since I already had a job I had my limited time of day (night actually) and the weekends with me. But daily learning will lead you there.

The Course I took:
I took a course on Udemy by Joseph Phillips which also gives you 35 Professional Development Units (PDUs) required for the application of this exam. I did go through the reviews before buying this course for some INR 500. I started watching the lectures every day and made notes in Microsoft Word as typed notes are easy to edit, add or remove the content when you are revisiting these notes. I found this Udemy course very well organized and it covered all the topics in the proper sequence as of PMBOK. PMI is the apex body/institute which releases Project management Book of Knowledg (PMBOK) at an interval of few years and each version will have changes here and there in the topics and concepts. I found this Udemy course well-updated with the recent changes in PMBOK. This is a big question among the aspirants whether the course they are looking for will fulfill the latest patterns, but trust me these are the top-ranked courses and they keep updating the course to be in sync with the changing patterns of the exam. I know there are other courses and platforms available costing 10K INR or even more but this exam, I felt, is more of self-practice and having a guide or point of contact to solve your queries will suffice. But it’s up to you to decide based on what suits you best.

Focus on Agile Methodology while you are learning:
Agile Practices have been emphasized a lot in the new PMBOK and a lot of exam questions are skewed a lot towards Agile in project management hence you will not find many questions on traditional/waterfall methods of project management and this needs to be kept in mind while you are preparing for it. Close to 80% of the questions that I faced were on the Agile Project Management so if you want to excel in this certification, Agile is the new way out! I did not had any proper practical experience of Agile style of project management hence I found it entirely new concept and took some time to learn and brush up those topics. Now after preparing for the exam I have a very good understanding of how Agile framework works. So even if you are new to Agile or have never practiced it still you can learn and excel in this exam. Once you have gone through all the lectures it’s time to jump into the battlefield of Mock tests or let’s say PRACTICE.

Practice

The Mock Tests I took:
After completing the course I purchased two Mocks on Udemy Mock Test 1 , Mock Test 2. Once you start giving mock tests your life should be:
Mocks after mocks you will realize that your understanding has improved a lot and how the topics you have studied are applied in the actual life when you are working on the projects. Few Things to keep in mind when you start giving Mock Tests:

1. Do not be overwhelmed by the number of questions. The Mocks that I listed above will give you a good idea of the actual exam and will build your stamina to sit for 4-hour long assessment.
2. You will find the options given very close and there you will have to use your deep learnings to find the difference between the options to choose the right one. It’s common to feel that all options are correct, but of course, they are not.
3. It is fine if you are not passing the Mock tests It is fine if you are not passing the Mock tests as per the threshold defined. As a matter of fact I could not pass any of the mock tests in the first attempt. But you will learn a lot in this process.
4. Do re-attempt the tests after some time to know how much you have learned and revise the concepts.
5. You can note down or take and save snapshots for some of the trickiest questions to revise them as a refresher.
6. If possible discuss the questions and options with your peers or someone else preparing for the exam to retain that in your mind for long
7. Maintain notes and keep revising.

I also took help from some of the Youtube channels, though you will not find many channels talking about this exam. I watched and practiced from these channels:

• PMPwithRay
• davidmclachlanproject
• ArashAcademy

Bonus Tips:

1. What you will learn while going through the course is one aspect and what’s asked in the exam is another aspect in terms of application of the knowledge. Hence Mocks are critical to show your readiness.
2. While answering the questions always wear the PMI hat, what it means is that you need to think the way PMI describes the situation not the way you see it happening or you think it should happen. Many times, you will find that reality is different from the right answer.

That’s about it. Perseverance is the key for this exam. For me it took some 8 months to learn and give an attempt for others it can be less depends how much you already know, how much time you can devote, etc. Once you are fully prepped go for the exam without any gap and you will come out with shining colors.

Thanks for the read.

Keep smiling .