pmp lesson learned

8/13/2019 PMP Lesson Learned

1/16

After 3 hours and 36 minutes of sitting before a computer answering 200 PMP Exam questions, I

am fina! a certified PMP" #he whoe preparation $ourne! is both a $o!fu and fruitfu experience

for me and m! professiona ife"

%eow, I tr! to document m! essons earned in the famous &or infamous' format of I##(s

adopted b! PMI for the )* processes described in the PM%(+ uide -ersion . with a itte bitbac/ground first"

Background

M! name is Edward hung and I am a fu1stac/ web de-eoperdesignerpro$ect manager

wor/ing in the education sector in ong +ong" I hande web de-eopment pro$ects arge and

sma, incuding ma$or re-amp exercises, one1page anding pages, onine appications and

s!stems" I ha-e awa!s wanted some sort of testimonia to m! pro$ect management s/is and

PMP is the definite choice"

Inputs

1. PMBOK Guide Version 5

#his guide can be downoaded free from the PMI website once !ou ha-e appied and

paid to become a member"

2" The Project Management PrecastExam Prep 4ideo 5or/shop b! orneius ichtner

#his -ideo wor/shop aows me to fufi the PMI7s requirement of 3. contact hours for

pro$ect management education without causing disruptions to m! norma ife" I can ta/e

the essons whene-er I am aone without the need to dedicating a fixed period of time for

the ectures" More on this in the toos and techniques section beow &89decomposition'"

3" The PMP Exam o! to Pass On "our #irst Tr$ %5th Edition& b! And! rowe

A great boo/ that7s eas! to read and stud!, the author has disgested the PM%(+ uide4. #ree on'ine PMP Exam (amp'e )uestions*Test Bank

Too's and Techni+ues

1. ,ocument -e.ie!

#he document I am ta/ing about is of course the PMBOK Guide" I read through it twice

during m! preparation" #his is of utmost importance as an! reference boo/s do not

contain :00; of the contents from this boo/"

2. ,ecomposition

PMI does not require the contact hours to be attainted through forma face1to1faceectures" #hat gi-es the possibiit! of gaining the required 3. contact hours remote!

through a podcast essons < The Project Management Precastwhich can be

downoaded to an! portabe media pa!er &coincidenta! abbre-iated aso as PMP' and I

can own the fies for good" 5ith such fexibiit!, the required contact hours can be

decomposedat m! own wi" I ma! stud! for 30 minutes on the M#=, :. minutes whie

wa/ing, 30 minutes at unch and ). minutes before bed" #hat woud add up to a tota

stud! time of around 2 hours each da!"&>ou ma! read more on this from this post'
http://edward-designer.com/web/pm-prepcast-review/http://edward-designer.com/web/pm-prepcast-review/http://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Pass-First-Fifth/dp/098276085X/http://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Pass-First-Fifth/dp/098276085X/http://nanacast.com/vp/112694/490529/http://edward-designer.com/web/decompose-pmp-35-contact-hours/http://edward-designer.com/web/decompose-pmp-35-contact-hours/http://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Pass-First-Fifth/dp/098276085X/http://nanacast.com/vp/112694/490529/http://edward-designer.com/web/decompose-pmp-35-contact-hours/http://edward-designer.com/web/pm-prepcast-review/


2/16

3. Progressi.e E'a/oration

E-er!one agrees that the PM%(+ uide is a dr! read" I do" I read it twice during m!

preparation without faing aseep" ow? @uring the 0irst time, I read it as 0astas I coud

without tr!ing to memorie an! singe bit of information from the guide &somewhat i/e

s/imming the contents'" I wanted to get an o-er-iew of the exam s!abus" #hen I

switched to the reference boo/ and the podcast esson, ma/ing m! notes in the

information s!stem as I studied" #hen I came to the PM%(+ uide the secondtime, this

time I tried to read the guide in more detais, $otting do!na the information not incuded

in m! pre-ious notes" #he PM%(+ uide is now ma/ing much sense to me during the

second reading"

4. Per0ormance -e.ie!

(rigina!, I panned to prepare for the PMP exam for 3 months" %ut when I noticed that I

reached miestones much faster than I anticipated, I fixed the date of PMP exam a month

earier" In tota, it too/ me 2 months to cear the PMP exam"

5. In0ormation ($stem

I used E-ernoteto $ot down m! notes throughout m! reading of the PM%(+ uide,

reference textboo/ and whene-er I got wrong answers to the exam sampe questions"

#he ad-antage of E-ernote is that I can ma/e changes on m! MA and the updates are

automatica! s!nced with m! mobie app, -ice -ersa" #his too is a must for m! stud!"

6. Benchmarking

5hie doing the free onine PMP exam sampe questionstest ban/s, I woud search

through essons earned from other successfu PMPs oo/ing for their resuts on the same

sets of questions and their proficienc! e-e in the rea PMP exam" #hese are to be used

as a benchmar/ to assess m! readiness for the PMP exam" 5hen I can consistent!

score around B0;1C0; in a the prep exams, I am confident that I shoud be abe to pass

the PMP exam with se-era DProficient7 domains" &>ou ma! read more on the benchmar/s

I gathered here'

Outputs

1. PMP (uccess

PMP is one of m! ambition in ife" ow, I ha-e achie-ed itF

2. #ina' Product*(er.ice*-esu't Transition

etting the PMP is not the fina destination, the new /nowedge gained wi be appied in

m! dai! wor/ to perfect m! pro$ect management s/is and dei-er more success"

#han/s m! fami!, than/s odF

Thanks for all the contributors in this section. It took me 3

months and 3 hours of average a day study.

My seat # at centre was also 3. With 200 uestion in ! hours

this is going to be a tough test es"ecially a night before you

could barely slee" 3 hours.
http://www.evernote.com/http://edward-designer.com/web/list-of-free-pmp-exam-questions/http://edward-designer.com/web/list-of-free-pmp-exam-questions/http://www.evernote.com/http://edward-designer.com/web/list-of-free-pmp-exam-questions/http://edward-designer.com/web/list-of-free-pmp-exam-questions/


3/16

so "lease wind u" 3 days before test day and then ust rela$. my

e$am was at % am and i reached at &'!(. )tili*ed +( minutes of

introduction videos time in brain dum".

,ommunication channels formula- a cou"le of uestions. T/-

none. 1M- yes there were a""ro$ +0+( uestions.

23 evm uestions i couldn4t gras" com"letely and rather than

wasting time5 ust moved on.s"ending more than 3 minutes on auestion is certainly not a good idea.

Marked 3 uestions and at end of test in last two minutes

reviewed and answered. The best simulation test is M6tudy.com

and best bok 7ita"mbok.

I scored 8%9 in "mstudy

Test and 809 in 7ita4s second attem"t. :ont ask about rita4s

first attem"t it was "athetic.

/ny how good luck and ha""y new year.

;i everyone5

>/ forums5 without the

>essons >earn section I wouldn4t "assed. 7eading everyone4s study

"lans and e$"erience really hel" me to "ass the e$am.

Today I want to share my e$"erience with you. I "assed the e$am

on ?ov 28th 20+3 with + in $ecuting5 3M in Initiating5

lanning5 ,losing and +@ in ,ontrol A Monitor. /nd I am so "roud

and ha""yBBB /fter so much sacrifice at the end is worth and I am

sure everyone who wants to "ass it will "ass it5 you ust need to

have the right material5 right direction and lot of dedication.

My background' I am an industrial engineer and have been working

as a "roect manager on software com"anies for a while. /lso a

>ean 6i$ 6igma @lack @elt. @orn and raised in uerto 7ico5 and &

months from now living in 6/5 Te$as.

+st /ttem"t' The first time I took the M e$am thought it was

going to be easy because I already had the "roect manager

"osition on my work. I was wrongBB I ust took a course in uerto

7ico and +0 months later decided to take the e$am and as a resultgot all @ on the e$am. My "re"aration was horrible ust a month

without much dedication.

I used a book MI4s Cuide to the roect Management @ody of

Dnowledge and will not recommend it.


4/16

2nd /ttem"t' )sed ust the M@ED (th edition5 you M)6T have the

book to "ass the e$am. The "roblem is the book ust concentrates

on the "rocesses and definitions Fwill not e$"lain you the

conce"tsG. 6o using the M@ED alone I will not recommend it.

Meanwhile I start searching on the internet for websites and

forums to took advice and im"rove my "re"aration5 looking fortestimonies5 study "lans and what M as"irants do. It was the

day I found "m*illa and became a member. 6tarted reading "eo"le

study "lans and advices. /nd I reali*ed that if wanted to "ass

the e$am was not going to be that easy. 6o started dedicating a

lot of time in /ugust 20+3 and scheduled my e$am for Ectober.

$am "re"aration scores for 2nd /ttem"t'

,hristo"her 6ordo >ittle Mocks FTest +G 8&9

+0+ 6cribd ractice


5/16

conce"ts while M@ED will hel" you with the definitions and

"rocesses. 6o I read both books in "arallel.

6"ent around + month reading 7ita and then started "racticing the

uestions. Took me + and half weeks to "ractice different

uestions. Then came back to skim 7ita and M@ED while continue

"racticing on simulation e$ams. My last "racticed e$am was on a6aturday FM6tudy Test !G and scored a 8!9. Then I took the

6unday free. /nd on Monday I schedule my e$am for Wednesday.

Monday and Tuesday didn4t "ractice any e$ams ust skim through

the books and my notes. /nd on Wednesday /66: the e$amB

$am "re"aration scores for 3rd /ttem"t'

7ita M $am re" 8%9

+0+ 6cribd ractice ittle Mocks FTest +!G %!9

,hristo"her 6cordo >ittle Mocks FTest +&G 8%9

Mfor6ure FTest (G &!9

$am,entral %39

M6tudy FTest +G %&9

M6tudy FTest !G 8!9

6ummary'

Total re"aration Time' ! months

Time dedicated "er day' 2 3 hours daily

@ooks' 7ita Mulcahy4s M $am re" %th dition and M@ED (th

dition

Enline 7eferences' :ee"friedbrain"roect.com and "m*illa.comM $am :ifficulty' Medium

$ams 6imulations'

J7ita4s @ook !00 uestions difficulty' easy but e$cellent to

start and clear conce"ts

J+0+ 6cribd


6/16

JMfor6ure difficulty' hard5 always had mi$ed feelings about

the uality of uestions but need to try it. ven if the

uestions are more confusing than the real e$am but yes they are

somewhat close to the real one.

J$am,entral difficulty' easy5 ust try it once.

JM6tudy difficulty' medium5 I think they have the best uality

uestions out there.

;i /ll5

I have cleared M e$am on 30th :ecember in first attem"t.

>5 ho"e they will be useful to you all.....

/bout $am booking and center

I have started "re"aring in MidEctober5 and booked my $am in

?ov5 that time i received confirmation mail for e$am in borivali.

/nd before + day of e$am i received an email that e$am is at

Coregaon. 6o it was shock for me because i was almost ready totravel from une to @orivali 5 it was 6aturday so all "rometric

centers were closed but later i came to know5 they have online

su""ort on weekends between s"ecific time which is really useful5

i confirmed with them and gave my e$am at goregaon center.

TI lease confirm your e$am center and if you have any

ueries Fand it is weekend when "rometric centers are closedG you

can contact them via online chat. htt"s'www."rometric.comen

uscontactus"agesdefault.as"$

Coregaon e$am center is awesome5 very coo"erative staff5 good

systems5 technically u"dated center.

Make sure carry 2 identity cards for safer side because I have

seen some cases in which "hotos were not clear so they have to

"resent another identity card.F must be rare casesG

Where to 6tayK


7/16

JWeekends L /""ro$imately ! ;ours Fweekends were busy with

"ersonal worksG

$am re"aration F@ooks


8/16

screen you have calculator as wellG L I know very small things

but I ho"e these ti"s will be useful.

J/lmost 202( mathRs uestions with multi"le calculations F,15

615 @/,5 ,INetc.G Ti" make sure you understand formulas and be

"re"ared for multi"le calculations.

J;ardly uestions on critical "ath

Jot of 6co"e change and integrated change control uestions.

J>ot of uestions about closing F;ere I felt I am lacking so

"lease guys make sure you read whatever you get about closingG

J>/

for creating such useful forumN>essons learned of "assed as well

as rea""earing candidates e$"erience hel"ed me a lot5 basic from

"re"aring till clearing e$amN.and ha""y to be "art of it in

contributing my >> with future candidates.

Incase of any doubt feel free to contact me.

Thanks to M=illa for hel"ing in my success.

/m an /verage guy5 my e$"erience with e$am is as follows

(0&09 direct uestions from M@ED

+0+(9 Math FM15 ,ontract5 communication channelsG


9/16

202(9 6ituational uestions Frisk ,,5 ;7Integ5 ,losureG.

Many websites hel" on how to answer first 2 sets. 3rd set is the

difficult one to face Ffor meG. Cain more e$"erience in answering

the situational uestions SI? TIMS.

It de"ends on how much fast your mind relates situation toa""ro"riate "rocess. :irect Math uestions define your

"assfail. Where as situational uestions define your "roficiency

score.

ou can use M6tudy freetest as benchmark for your "re"aration

/ll the @est.


10/16

(0&09 direct uestions from M@ED

+0+(9 Math FM15 ,ontract5 communication channelsG

202(9 6ituational uestions Frisk ,,5 ;7Integ5 ,losureG.

Many websites hel" on how to answer first 2 sets. 3rd set is the

difficult one to face Ffor meG. Cain more e$"erience in answering

the situational uestions SI? TIMS.

It de"ends on how much fast your mind relates situation to

a""ro"riate "rocess. :irect Math uestions define your

"assfail. Where as situational uestions define your "roficiency

score.

ou can use M6tudy freetest as benchmark for your "re"aration

/ll the @est.


11/16

6e"tember 20+3 when colleague of mine has a""lied for M

certification. My maor constrain was to suee*e a time for study

from my long commute time F2'30 hours twoway everydayG and

working hours F% hours a dayG with two year old kid who seek my

attention after hours and weekends. Ence I received confirmation

from MI to take the e$am I "urchased 7itaRs e$am "re" and audio

,: and some free "odcasts which I used in my long commute as myaudio com"anion. In 6e"tember5 I started to listen audio cha"ters

with weekend 2 hours 7itaRs book .It took me whole 6e"tember to

finish all cha"ters and audios simultaneously however I couldnRt

read the book genuinely. In Ectober5 I have started to read /ndy

,rowRs @ook old version with 7ita again as revision but left /,Rs

book due to similarities as I felt it was too straightforward and

easy. I have "racticed e$ams every time I read books ?oted the

ga"s in the knowledge and cleared the conce"ts5 also "osted my

scores on M=illa to seek the e$"erts o"inions5 their advices

were e$cellent until I "assed the e$am. In ?ovember almost bogged

into work and read nothing at all. To be honest I was feeling

that I was losing the gri" on "oints where we need to rely onmemory. In second week of :ecember my friend "assed e$am without

any hassles des"ite of very little "re"aration and lot of M

e$"erience. That gave me a boost and motivation. Meanwhile family

flew overseas on 2O :ecember which gave me a room of dedicated

8days but I did nothing Frela$edG on three days before e$am as I

was e$cited for my tri" to India for my holidaysK. 7ead every

single success story on M=illa. Watched ,omedy ?ights with DN.

6N..;ad ?ew ear lunch with my e$manager /te takeaway the night

on the day before the e$am. $am :ayWent an hour early and

started early without any nervousness as I believe nothing you

can do other than staying calm and focussed. I had always "roblem

with time so finished in 3'(0 and reviewed few marked uestions.

/TIE?6 L/66.

>essons >earnt' J @elieve in Cod to whoever you believe. @elieve

in yourself and always kee" your mind o"en to new ideas and

advices. J


12/16

a""ly whatever you learn from book to "ractice as that will give

you real time e$am"les to understand the scenarios in the e$am. J

I did 6u"erM 2 tests toughest uestions I found in all of

themdid &+9 and 809 only but learnt a lot. J 7ead M@ED if you

find interesting. I did not used because I was able to understand

fundamentals from other interesting books. J ou dont have to

read many times as long as you understand conce"ts.It doesntreally matter how many time you read.It matters obly how much you

understood and retained from the reading. Thanks to you all again

who have hel"ed me and guided me. I am not a UnotemanV as read

whole books from cover to cover so sorry I donRt have any notes

but see my attached s"readsheet which may hel" you to "re"are

schedule and stay on it. lease let me know I can hel" you with

anything. Cood >uck to M as"irants..

6o here4s my story.

assed M with 34s and 2 M4s in about 3 hours and then took

about 30 minutes reviewing. /bout 3'30 total.

I took a boot cam" in 6e"tember. I received the M@ED a week

before the boot cam" and memori*ed the "rocess chart but didn4t

know much else. The @oot cam" hel"ed a lot and I studied everyday

while in the course.

/fter the course I s"ent a cou"le weeks with the M@ED and /ndy

,rowe4s !th dition. ,rowe4s book was based off M@ED ! but I

found it a great resource to read side by side with the M@ED and

with 6cordo4s book available on MMI4s @ooks2!$8. I would read

the M@ED cha"ter5 then the 6cordo cha"ter5 then the ,rowe

cha"ter one after the other and then take the ,ha"ter test in

,rowe. I found this very effective.

Ence I made it through the book I began taking tests from the

$am uestion book also available on MI @ooks 2!$8. I was

scoring in the %04s and felt good. I then went back and looked u"

every uestion I missed and thought about the uestion and why I

missed it. Most times5 it was because I had highlighted only

"arts a "aragra"h in the M@ED and then only reviewed the

highlighted areas of each "aragra"h. This was a mistake. The

whole M@ED is im"ortant to read and study carefully.

Ence I made it through the M@ED a cou"le times I started having

a dee"er understanding of the "rocess and "hiloso"hy and startedasking dee"er uestions5 such as SWhy is ,ontrol Huality after

1alidate 6co"e if an out"ut of ,ontrol Huality is an in"ut to

1alidate 6co"eSK I won4t give you the answer here but you should

clearly understand what I am talking about if you really gras"

the "rocess.

/fter I thought I was ready for the test I still had about a week

and a half to go to test day so I found a co"y of 7ita4s @ook. I


13/16


14/16


15/16

rea""y )e"t # was a"ready %ro)i$ient enough to test. Maybe i) #'d got a $o%y ear"ier #'d "ike it

more.

8andom 9otes!

: 4:5 uestions about +u$kman very minor nuan$ed di))eren$es in the stage you are in. #t

is not enough to memori*e the 5 stages. ;ook )or the di))eren$es es%e$ia""y between

;ehman 1/5 : 2>S$ordo 1:12 0:0>

S$ordo 13:1 6:0>

,rowe. #n the ?0's4. Study in di))erent ways.

:# read the PM&( with other books at the same time

:# $reated


16/16

Con't ask me )or any study notes. My notes wi"" not he"% you. Dour notes wi"" he"% you.

Dou have to strugg"e with the materia" the same way # did take your own notes and

uestion and have $onversation with the materia" to rea""y get a gras% on the materia" in away that wi"" a""ow you to answer the situation based uestions.

Eood "u$k.

pmp lesson learned

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