How to Pass the PMP!!

pstreet0704

I have worked on projects for many years but have never been a "true" Project Manager in the PMI sense. The first mistake I made was to take a boot camp that relied only on the PMBOK V4. I took a 2 day class with Rita Mucahy's company and followed her stringent guidelines and IT WORKED. This is how I would prepare:

1. Read a chapter in Rita's PMP Exam Prep (V7) and then go back and "type" the terminology words/process at the beginning of the chapter. This will force you to go back through the chapter almost reading it for a 2nd time.

2. Follow process #1 for every chapter in the book. I would give myself 2 weeks (about 4 hours per day) to get this done

3. Answer 30-40 questions at most in PM FasTrack for each chapter, noting any areas you are having concerns with -- call this a GAP in your knowledge so that you can revisit it later

4. Know Rita's process chart -- it is really not an overkill: JUST DO IT!!

5. Practice writing out the cost formulas although only a few were on my exam

6. Be aware: I did have a question on NPV and every point counts so know this formula as well

7. Study the ITTO's for each chapter (give yourself a week with this but do not memorize) If you understand the chapter, you can usually figure out the answer for an input, tool and technique, and output question

8. I spent my final 2 weeks before the exam, re-reading Rita's exam prep book one more time

9. Although I thought the exam was impossible and didn't think for a minute that I had passes, I DID PASS and I feel that Rita's process helped me pull everything together in my mind.

10. I read the PMBOK 5 months before I took the exam and didn't crack it again --- Use Rita's stuff!! It really works!!

Harwinder

@pstreet0704 - Welcome to PM Hangout.

Congratulations on passing the exam!

No marks for guessing that you are one big Rita fan. Well I'm one too. Thanks for sharing your lessons learned. There are some really useful pointers there. I hope you'll be a regular here and continue to contribute to the community.

Cheers.

P.S. I'm going to reformat your post just so the points appear on separate lines.

pstreet0704

Thanks for formatting this for me!!