PMP Guidance

I have recently cleared my PMP Certification test and here is what I shared with some of the study groups. A general caveat, I have expressed my opinion based on my experience and one needs to customize the requirements of study pattern, books reading, preparation hours etc. to suit one's style.

My Study Approach
Reading Material
Before I appeared for exam, I thoroughly read PMBOK and Rita Mulcahy's book once. I also largely read Kim Heldman's book. Kim's book (Deluxe edition) came along with a CD that contains soft copy of the book, lot of test papers, flashcards and audio files. This is priced around Rs. 600 in Bangalore, India I used Kim's book extensively for reference and to improve my weak areas. I don't think it's must for everyone to read Rita as well as Kim's book. (In my case too, this was not planned...just happened incidentally). PMBOK and any good material like Rita or Kim's book can be fine as long as one understands them thoroughly and improves weaker areas. I also realized that it's difficult to grasp contents in the first reading. To understand the framework and end to end flow, in PMI's way, one would need to take a good look at entire contents at least 2-3 times, in my opinion.

Q&A Practice
From various sources like Rita & Kim's book, Internet, Boot Camp materials, I thoroughly answered totally 2000 + Questions and closely analyzed my performance. Still the exam did surprise me with a good number of questions (Say 60 to 80) that I was not familiar with & the only way to answer them was to have understood the concepts. Included in the above 2000 questions are 5 tests of 200 questions each, in a simulated test environment. Out of these, 4 tests were on-line and one was thru hard copy. Every single question that I missed, I made a note of the concept behind it and ended up with 7 pages of crisp notes that I then went thru every day.

Boot Camp
I attended PMI Bangalore (India) Chapter's 4 days Boot Camp in Dec 07.

Memorizing

I memorized the Page 70 of PMBOK that maps 44 processes to Knowledge Areas and Process Groups. I found it very hard to memorize the ITTO but as I progressed thru my tests, I realized I was loosing few marks every time. I finally ended up memorizing only the Tools and Techniques for each and every process. I memorized each and every formula that I came across.
I spent around 200 dedicated hours in complete studies including Boot camp and tests. I passed the exam with around 79%.

What Would I Do Different If I Did This Again?

1. I would spend more time on reviewing and refreshing concepts and cut down the Question / Answer exercise by 30-40%.
2. I would focus on PMBOK and either Rita or Kim's material. Both books are extremely well written and they have their own style. They seem to be having good knowledge of accelerated learning theories and thru-out their material, you will observe them repeating important concepts and testing your knowledge in some or other way. This helps. Besides Rita & Kim, it seems there are other authors too whose books are popular amongst PMP students. Since I have not come across any of these, I am unable to recommend.
3. I would attend Boot Camp to accelerate my preparations. This is not mandatory if you already have formal PM education as required by PMI and if you are comfortable managing your own or thru study groups. Remember that not every one who attends Boot Camp will necessarily clear the test and at the same time, not everyone who successfully passes the test, has done so after attending a Boot Camp. Boot camp can be just one of the enablers.
4. While there are many choices of REPs in Bangalore, I liked PMI Bangalore Chapters Boot Camp as I found the Presenters to be very experienced and also found their fees to be very reasonable compared to other alternatives. This is my opinion only. Please make your independent assessment.
5. I would completely read PMBOK before attending the Boot Camp. I largely did this, but could have done it completely and benefitted more.
6. I would purchase material with a soft copy of book. Usually these come as a secure PDF. Access to authorized soft copy helps to quickly research weaker areas. (I think adobe reader search is not possible on scanned version of copied books).

Please Keep in mind the Timelines involved
I suggest that PMP aspirants carefully understand the timelines involved in membership registration, certification application, getting PMI Confirmation on eligibility to give exam and then scheduling the exam. One needs to carefully plan these things in advance as there are many variables. Here is a list:

1. Becoming PMI member is the starting point and generally very quick.
   Check your eligibility on Formal PM Education and decide if you need Boot Camp / preparatory classes. These may not be immediately available as some of the known REP Classes generally get full very fast, at least in Bangalore, India.
2. After one is eligible & has decided to give the test, the next step is to apply for Certification on-line.
3. This requires providing very comprehensive details about one's formal PM education & PM experience
4. PMI takes 5 working days to answer on Certification application (On-line mode)
5. In some cases, the application might be selected for audit and PMI will then require further details. This can take couple of weeks depending upon the location involved.
6. Post the receipt of confirmation from PMI, one can pay the fees & then schedule the exam thru Prometric website for the available time slot. Depending upon the location, this could be available in next few days or could be few weeks.

It is helpful to give exam immediately in next few weeks, post attending Boot Camp, or else the knowledge gained might start getting dropped. If you have any questions on Eligibility, validity etc. I suggest you check PMI website as an authentic source for any related information. If there is any thing that I can help with, please feel free to write to me.

Happy Studying.