Passing the PMP

Initially I was not going to write this. Passing the PMP was a grueling task and I wanted to take a much needed break. But after I shared that I passed, a few people were asking what /how I did it. So in the spirit of continuous improvement and having lessons learned I finally decided to write this. It might not be what you expected -  But it is what it is.

I will break this done into a few sections to help those looking for relevant info

1. 1. My Journey
2. 2. My Journey Part 2
3. 3. My preparations
4. 4. The Exam
5. 5. How did I Prepare
6. 6. My Advice to Future Exam Takers
7. 7. My Advice to Employers

My Journey

My journey for attaining PMP believe it or not started in 2010, with my bosses wanting Professionally certifying their staff in Project Management. 6 of us were broken into 2 groups of 3, and were sent for 2 training courses each in December 2010. Our first training was Management By Project and our second was PMP Bootcamp - at the time it was PMBOK 4, with 6 exam domains – Ethics as the 6^th one, if I remember this correctly. The Exam format was to change in August 2011 where ethics would be combined under the 5 domains.

The course was boring and dry. We struggled to stay awake for the PMP Bootcamp (Managing by project was quite interesting though). We completed the course, and I registered for the exam. My Exam request was approved, the fee was paid, and I pretty much forgot about everything regarding the exam after that. It wasn’t until August that I was reminded about the format change, so I quickly scheduled for the exam. I thought that since I already manage projects , I could get thru the exam.  I did some light reading 2 weeks before the Exam. The test was ok, I didn’t feel it overpowering. I thought I did good. But my results said something very different. I failed in all areas .

The failing of PMP changed my manner of thinking a lot in the months and years ahead. I felt a very strong resentment to the exam, but also a sense of respect for those who passed. But not only that I began to hate some of the people I was doing projects with as well. I knew for a fact the poject team of the client had multiple PMP holders on the project team, but I felt like despite every effort, it was the bosses needs and wants that drove the projects direction, schedule, need for change. The same went for other projects we endeavored as well. There were specific requirments for PMP holders in the tender requirements, but as soon as the project started all hell broke lose. Everyone was interested in the qualifications of the holder, but no one was interested in the values it up holds. My resentment continued for 6 years. I was in a state of mind that PMP was a certification that no boss intended to allow their staff to uphold.

My Journey Part 2

Fast forward to 2017, the economy is bad, and I have been searching for a new job for months. My experience in Project Management and Product Development almost always required a professional cert for a new position. I started to relook at my views and thought maybe it was time to try this again but do things better. I started small – ITIL Foundation . I went for a course and passed the exam . Then I started studying for my Professional Scrum Master 1. I passed that as well. I felt more confident so I began to weigh my options – Prince2 or PMP.

I selected a course for Prince2 after a while of debating, and was about to submit it to request for management approval, when I discovered a HRDF sponsored course for PMP. Sponsored = less money spent and higher chance for approval. So I went with that. I registered for the course with the training provider – who was coincidentally my original training provider in 2011. Concurrently, I registered for my PMP exam again and started my preparation. 3 months later I passed the exam.

Its interesting to note that this particular course i took was on PMBOK 6, which will be the new standard come March 2018. I might be one of the few that could say i took 2 PMP courses , One in PMBOK4 and another in PMBOK 6, while doing self study and finally taking the exam in PMBOK5.

A small note i would like to make is that i feel that PMBOK 5 is easier to understand, but process wise PMBOK6 makes more sense. An example of the most notable difference is the inputs and outputs. Your individual plans are no longer mentioned as such in PMBOK6. Everything is in the Project Management Plan. No individual Risk Management or Cost Management plans. This actually makes a lot of sense considering all those plans ARE part of the Project Management Plan. But at the same time, it does make thing less apparent to those learning/preparing for the exam. It will be interesting to see how that works out. All of this was made based on my observation during class So i could be wrong.

My preparations

Being someone who already took the exam and failed was a huge difference in how I took my preparations. Specifically , in the sense after registering (even before approved) I immediately got myself a new PMBOK (5^th Edition) and started reading it . I set a personal goal to read it 3 times before the course began. I succeeded one day before the course started. That was my first milestone. Throughout the duration of the course I began doing sample test question sets. I still saw a huge gap in my knowledge.

I was beginning to understand that PMBOK was not enough. Not even by a long shot. I needed better material so I got myself Rita’s Book , and I started another 3 read process. The first time I just read it. The second time I started reading and doing the exercises. And on the third time I Read it, did the exercises and I did the end topic tests.

 Using each pass through as a milestone, I did a sample exam after every pass. My scores weren’t excellent. Averaging 73-74% each time (but noting that every time I made screw-ups with the “EXCEPT” or “NOT”  questions) .

 I scheduled my exam after, putting a mental note to be extra careful with these trick wordings

The exam

The exam day was quite interesting. It was my son’s first day to kindergarten so I scheduled my exam for the afternoon. Sent him in the morning, picked him up then I went for the exam. I only had a light breakfast, and no lunch.

While registering at the center someone called my name. I turned around and to my surprise a good friend of mine had apparently been studying in secret as well, and scheduled the exam on the same day (though in the morning). As I was checking in, she was checking out – With a pass paper in her hand. That put a little pressure on me. Not only did she now know I was taking the exam,she Passed and would be expecting an update in the next 4 hours .  She, left and I was there with about 5-6 more people ready to take the afternoon exam. We all got checked in and started our exam shortly after.

I didn’t take any breaks except to perform my prayers at 2pm. There were times I almost fell asleep– believe it or not. I marked 30++ questions for review. And after 3hours and 20 minutes I was done. I reviewed NONE of the marked questions. I decided not to second guess my self. I submitted my exam, and after a survey that seemed like it took forever, I was finally able to see the all famous Congratulations screen.

I checked out of the exam room, with another guy at the same time. He failed, and told me the exam was nothing like what he saw in the PMBOK. I gave him a few pointers, left the exam center as happy as I could be.

How did I prepare?

1. 1. 3x cover to cover reads of the PMBOK
2. 2. 3x Cover to cover reads of Rita’s PMP exam prep
3. 3. Did Over 2000 Questions

I basically brute forced the whole thing. But that’s just my style. If you are the memorization type, then your methods would be different. No people are the same so equally no study plan will be the same. 1 week per pass that of the books with about 100 pages read per day. That is pure 6 weeks of reading 3-4 hours a day. I’m sorry if my methods seems crude or simple. I’m a simple guy, I try not to use over complicated training techniques and schedules. My only schedule was 1 week per book pass.

My advice to future exam takers 

1. 1. Set your goals – If there is a single reason I failed my first attempt at the exam, it was because I had no goals/ reason to pass it other then “my boss wanted me to”.  The exam is tough and studying for it is not what I would call interesting. You need to soul search for a reason to take this exam. If you can’t find one or if you are taking it “just because your boss told you to” then it adds the mental weight of “why am I doing this” to the preparation process. And believe me, even when you do have goals that question still comes up from time to time.  There were many times when I was reading while thinking “What the hell am I doing”. But being able to answer to yourself – “Hey.. I need to get thru this because of this and this and this” goes a significant way in helping you thru the preparation process.
2. 2.  Coming from a country where the primary education is not in English, you need to be able to think in the language of the exam you are taking. It would be quite strange to give this as advice for someone in a country were English is the primary language. Keep in mind, you can take PMP in other languages too. The exam questions can be very tricky, with MANY answers very similar or questions that can change meaning with just a single change of word. Trying to read the questions, then translating them in your head then thinking what the correct answer is. It’s a complicated process that I do not recommend. Brush up on your language skills before anything else
3. 3. Read the PMBOK before taking your 5 day course. I recommend doing so at least 3 times. PMP contents is very dry, and can be very boring to sit thru. Having that knowledge before hand makes the classes significantly more bearable. At least you know what they are talking about. By reading the PMBOK 3 times before the course, you spend more of your time on the course identifying gaps in your knowledge and improving your knowledge. Not trying to understand things
4. 4.  Read other material. Head First or Rita. After the course you should be able to see what is and is not covered by PMBOK, the format of the questions and other things. Then do your passes on those books and string everything together
5. 5. Keep your family informed and involved. Let them know your schedule for preparing
6. 6. Reduce your leisure times – BUT DON’T ABOLISH THEM. You need time to unwind and relax. During preparing for the exam you might need to allocate some of your leisure time to studying, but always take time to do the things you want. It’s the best way to reduce the stress of preparing for the exam.
7.  7. Memorizing the ITTO's would greatly help you during the exam. There were quite a few "Dry" questions with plain "whats an input to this" or "whats a tool to this" . Logic can help you answer some. but not all. I had a lot of trouble on these exam type questions. But having said that, I still passed, so logic helped a little i guess and you probably could guess all of them and hope for the best. But if you can DO TRY to memorize them to do better then me

My advice for Employers

1. 1.  Beware the Halo Effect . Don’t just send your staff to go for training because they are good in their field so you want to make them a PM. Discuss with them and let them be part of the decision making process. If he/she doesn't want this, then there is a good chance he/she might fail the exam and in the end everyone’s unhappy.
2. 2. Once you and your staff agree to do this, monitor the process. Many training providers include first exam fees within their package. If you take such package and in the end the staff never take the exam, then these fees become profit to the training company. I know for a fact the other 5 people from my group that went for the training back in 2010 did not attempt to the exam. This means approximately 2500USD of the training cost was a waste. That’s a lot of money!
3. 3.  Accommodate your staff. Help them with a schedule then accommodate their preparation time into their working schedule. Give your staff 2 hours a day to just read/ prepare for the exam. By doing so , your staff has less time they need to study at home and do the things they want. The PMP is supposed to help the company, don’t make the mistake of helping the company by destroying your employee to get there. He/she already has 8 hours to work + 2 hours travel time. The 2-4 hours he has at night at home now has to be used to study? If you want your staff to be PMI certified, it doesn’t hurt for you to help them as well if the goal is to benefit the company.