My Ludicrous PMP Story

mwevans1234

I will preface this by saying that until roughly two weeks ago, I had no desire to attain PMP certification. It is generally not required in my field (Organizational Development Consulting), and most projects I manage are transactional/short term efforts for clients.

However, this changed two weeks ago when my company decided to pursue a large opportunity that would double the size of our company, and the prospective client, as part of the RFP, required that the project manager possess a PMP. The proposal was due this morning (Wednesday) at 9am; The PMP exam was yesterday (Tuesday) at 730am. So in the midst of leading a complex proposal effort, I had to apply for, study for, and ultimately pass the PMP with roughly 8 days of preparation time (Monday to Monday) while working more than full time.

If I didn't pass, my company would be unable to submit a huge proposal that a ton of colleagues/teaming partners worked on, and I would be fully responsible.

So no pressure.

My past course work included one project management class in business school 8 years ago and one task management seminar at a former company four years ago (neither of these classes had anything to do with PMP).

My studying included (in specific order):

1. The 75 question Oliver Lehmann test as a diagnostic (scored a 62) (Monday afternoon)
2. Quick skimming of the PMBOK (M-T).
3. 1 relatively thorough reading of the Rita Mulcahy book, along with taking each test at the end of her chapters (typically would score between 72 and 82 on these). This was done during the evenings (W-F).
4. 11 of the 50 question exams from the practice book in the reference section on the PMI site. I took 3 easy ones (1-6), 3 medium ones (7-12), and 5 hard ones (13-18). I scored around 80-84 on the easy ones, 74-78 on the medium ones, and 72-76 on the hard ones. This was done over the weekend (Sa-Sun).
5. 1 full length online test (the free one from PMstudy) (scored a 77) (Monday night).
6. 1 brief skimming of the PMBOK glossary in the car ride to test site and in the parking lot (Tuesday, 6-7am)
7. 1 five hour energy bottle

And yesterday (Tuesday), I somehow managed to fool the testing machine into scoring me "Proficient" in each of the 5 areas.

I don't think my method of extreme stress and terrifying fear of failure is best, but for whatever reason, it worked for me. And after roughly 120 hours of work and study in the past week, I'm not doing a single productive thing the rest of the week.

Harwinder

@mwevans1234 - either you are a genius or plain lucky, but congratulations either way.

I have come across several hundred PMP success stories in the last 5 years, but nothing like this before. It's truly incredible for me. You are the Michael Phelps of PMP certification

SumitK

Congrats and great to hear the shortest study period.
Giving me lil bit confidence
I hope i will prove myself as intelligent you are or lucky

mwevans1234

Thanks Harwinder and SumitK! I was very fortunate in a lot of ways to have questions that suited me, and had some helpful contributing experiences in the past that aided me:

1. My exam had what seemed like a lot of questions dealing with cost and schedule calculations - I'm an MBA with a finance background who has done a lot of process analysis work, so even the difficult versions of these question types are easier for me than the more definitional ones.

2. My LSAT prep from 10 years ago back when I thought I wanted to go to law school helped; the critical thinking required on that test translates well to the PMP test.

3. And like I said before, despite it not being one of Herzberg's motivators, there is no greater short-term motivator than terror!

Harwinder

Your story reminds me of the movie, Slumdog Millionaire

pamv828

Terror is always a source of motivation for me. . . so.. . I should do extremely well!

SumitK

where are these located, if these are free and does not violate copyright?
11 of the 50 question exams from the practice book in the reference section on the PMI site.??

mwevans1234

They are from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Exam-Prep-Questions-Answers-Explanations/dp/0982576803

This is free on the PMI site if you're a member in the eReads section.

SumitK

Thanks Got it -PMP Lite Mock Exam 8
PMP Exam Prep: Questions, Answers, & Explanations

venkat2012

Hi,
Congratulations!
It would be helpful to know how did you manage with the 35 contact hours, the whole pmp application process with in these 8 days.

hwatkins

Congrats! What about the 35 hrs(already asked)?

mwevans1234

Sorry for the late response - I have an MBA, which included 30 hours of formal PM instruction, and a day of project management training sponsored by my employer.

I did the application in a day, and it took only 3 days to get my application accepted (no audit, thankfully, or the timing wouldn't have worked!)

hwatkins

Congrats Again! That is an amazing feat in 8 days. It might be a world record.