[HappyWheels]

Guys,

Got my PMP certification done today morning, and was it fun!!!

Had done the class room training last October and had pushed the exam till now. With the news of change in version coming up, decided to keep 31st July as the deadline.

Fortunately, slot availability is not an issue here, so registered at PMP on first week of July, got confirmation to make payment 4 days later. Made the payment and was able to get a slot for today.

Preparation:
Took a week off for final preparation. 8 to 10 hours a day.

Had gone through Rita's book completely once (including writting down the main points; this took the most time to complete). This was done early this week but had started a long time back (!).

Then it was PMBOK. You will find that PMBOK is more superficial, so use that only for a one time read. Fortunately, it does get easy to read (aka, you will not sleep) once you have understood the concepts and layout after going through Rita. Took me two days, of 8 hours each, to give an idea of how much effort was used.

During this time, was able to memorize:
- the PMBOK process group / knowledge area mapping table. IMO, this is not required; suggest reviewing the mapping in Rita, which gives more specific info based on questions asked.
- Formulae - required.

Post completing PMBOK, revised with Rita a second time, which was a high level read through on ITTO.

Read Raga355 and Rajesh Nair notes from Pmzilla. Rajesh Nair notes are good for reviewing.

Then did Fastrack once, reviewed wrong answers and understood what the mistakes were in the assumptions made.

Did Fastrack a second time, ended up with a score not much different from the first. End of Fastrack.

Had a print out of the mapping and formulae sheets from PMBOK & Rita. Used only that for a final review.

Stopped all reviews and reading yesterday evening - completely.

Woke up today morning, ate and went for the test. Done.

At the exam center:
- all personal effects stored - ALL

Start of exam:
- skimmed through the online instruction
- used rest of time to write the chart and formulae

Exam timing:
- completed the exam with 30 minutes to spare.
- the first 100 questions took close to 2 hours, which kind of made me worried if I will run out of time.
- the second 100 took only 1 hour and 10 minutes.
- 20 minutes to review all marked ones and finally click on the 'End' button.
- 30 second of the most stressful period in life!!! (Which smart alec thought of putting the 'feedback' questions here!!!)

Questions:
- the questions on the Fastrack were easier compared to what was there on the actual test!!!
- no questions on manager leadership style, only two questions that I recollect from HR.
- many, around 15 questions that required mathematical questions.
- recollect one question which gave a RACI listing (tasks against resource) and the question was which assignment was correct. Stumped!
- had 3 questions where you are given certain values from which you had to calculate data required to be used in the formula to arrive at the answer (this is where writting down the formulae came in handy).
- had couple of question on BAC and EAC.

The questions are all situation based, except for few direct questions on term definitions. So, as all are aware, there is nothing to memorize (well, maybe the formulae), except to understand the concept and how to apply them.

I would say go ahead and take the exam even if you are not through of the books but feel confident of making the right decisions. Real life project management experience contributes heavily here.

Do not read too many book nor go through all those zillion PMP tests. It is your thought process that has to be fine tuned - the first test will give you that info. And do not try and make the mistake to plan your study using the exam pattern distribution.

All the best to those taking up the test.

[udaydesai]

Guys,

Is there any good classes for pmp in thana area in Mumbai.
Uday

[udaydesai]

Hello,

Can anyone share Rajesh nair's notes on PMP, I am preparing myself for PMP exam.
Uday

[Samurai]

Managers... Will something like this fly in India?

http://ryancarson.com/post/615627612...s-at-treehouse

[babhishek]

@ Samurai, simple answer - no!

[alter.e.go]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Managers... Will something like this fly in India?

http://ryancarson.com/post/615627612...s-at-treehouse

Its a great concept, new companies especially abroad are structuring themselves in some interesting ways. But this will never work in India!!!

[condor]

Originally Posted by udaydesai

Can anyone share Rajesh nair's notes on PMP, I am preparing myself for PMP exam.

Is available on
http://pmzilla.com/comprehensive-pmp-notes

[shomshree]

Does any one knows Mr. Kanjilal in Bangalore Chapter. Earliyer he was working with IBM & posted at Bangalore. He was a very old member of PMI India. Need some help, I lost his all contacts.

[condor]

did you contact the BLR chapter ?

[shomshree]

Once I tried on the mentioned mobile no. But they were not ready to reveal any kind of personal information of members.

[ThePunter]

Phew ..! Cracked it today successfully in first attempt! Today!
It was a good 3 month ordeal. Did my 32 hr contact class by Oct 5 and then the prep started. Somehow managed 1hr per day (average taken per week or 2) and for the last 2 -3 weeks it was like 3hrs per day. Rita and Pmbok along with the training institute's online test material- these were it!
Took about 3.5 hrs and then went back to marked questions, but actually went and read only a fourth of them or less. Got impatient and waited it till it submits. Voila after the feedback form the longest minute or so. Came out with 3Ps and 2 MPs. There were hell a lot of 'what do you do NEXT?' type questions, which I now guess would have went right all the way!
Happy! Well, RELIEVED!! Now, Just back from thriller of a movie at Mayajaal...
Good night!

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by ThePunter

Phew ..! Cracked it today successfully in first attempt! Today!...

Congrats, ThePunter!

[dre@ms]

I have decided to finally take a plunge into PMP. I have sourced all the materials. But should i attend some classes or self learning would suffice? If classroom, any recommendations in Hyderabad, Kukatpally area?

[Reisender]

Hello....
Got my PMP certification today in Chennai. With all MP's.
Big sigh of relief you know. puffff

Thanks
R

[coolbareilly]

Friends, I am planning to go for PMP. Can anyone of you please suggest good training (preferably self attended) institute in Delhi. I am looking for weekend batch (cant go for continuous 4 day batch).
Any guidance is welcomed, as in what to read/study before training get started.