Report from a PMP exam-writer

Hello to all our PMP and CAPM exam-writers, especially those newly added to the distribution list. I try to send a message each month. Here is a message from one of our recent exam-writers, who took our short 3-day PMP Preparation taught by Janice Petley. In that particular course, we hand out Rita Mulcahy’s famous PMP Preparation book.

Hi All, I wrote my exam last Monday and passed! It was tough, as it is difficult to gauge progress as you are going through the questions. I had no issues with time, and even submitted the test early to stop from second-guessing myself and my answers.

Many of the questions were very situational, and often I just used what I would do at work as the answer. Aside from that, the material covered in class helped immensely. I wish I could have read more of Rita’s book; A LOT of her material is covered on the test.

There were terms that you “may” want to look into, such as Expected Present Value (sic) and what NPV exactly is and differences between these 2 terms. There were some questions that were totally different, but maybe they were the “testing” questions. EV calculations were straightforward. May be worthwhile practising Point of Total Assumption questions with calculations.

The area that I struggled most with was project selection; this came up more than once and used more IRR calculations, opportunity cost values and other financial terms. Some I knew from other courses/experiences and others were hard.

All in all it is not tough to pass, but tough to know every question, unless you really study from a variety of sources. There were quite a few questions on conflict resolution, but the terminology was more broad than what is covered in the course or in PMBOK, so may be worth knowing different phrases on that topic.

Thanks Janice for the great class, keep in touch, K.

PMP Intelligence (Aug 2007)

For your interest, I am now forwarding a message from an exam-writer who was not one of ours. He has listed some preparation sources. I have NOT viewed all of these sources. Good luck and let us know which ones work best for you!

"Hi all. I cleared the PMP exam. Special thanks to my instructor, and all those who helped me directly or indirectly.

"I consulted following sources for preparation:
1 - PMBOK
2 - Rita Mulcahy's book 5th edition
3 - The Project Management Knowledge Areas Questions and Answers Q & As for the PMBOK® Guide, [practice PMP questions available in PMI online library.]

"PMP Groups that were very helpful
4 - PMHUB @ yahoogroups
5 - PMP_study@yahoogroups
6 - pmpbest@yahoogroups

"URLs for exam and other resources

www.pmpbest.com

http://www.pmstudy.com/practicetestsindex.asp
http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm

http://www.voightps.de/Free_PMP_Exam.asp

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/list/287102

http://www.headfirstlabs.com/PMP/free_exam/

http://www.pmconnection.com/modules.php?"

Comments from recent exam-writers (Oct 2007)

Hello to all our PMP and CAPM exam-writers. I try to send a message each month. Here are comments from one of our recent successful PMP candidate. I have removed comments on specific question content, as we should not reveal that information.

Hi Keith, I was a student in your Project Risk and Filling in the Gaps courses in Vancouver this May. I'm just writing to say thanks for the courses and that I found both the Gaps binder and Keith's PMP Preparation Guide very useful in helping to prepare for taking the PMP test (which I took and passed today). In my opinion the guide and the practice quizzes in the binder were more useful, challenging and consistent than the PMP test - I learnt much more reviewing the questions I had missed in taking your material than I did in taking the actual PMP test.

I found the certification test rather wonky - many of the questions were not necessarily difficult, but they were frequently poorly worded and sometimes used terminology that was very similar the terminology used in the PMBOK Guide, but was not the same, so I was often uncertain whether the term had been put in to be deliberately misleading or not. When I first started the test, I assumed that if the terms were not exactly the same as the PMBOK, they were deliberate errors that had been introduced to catch candidates. However, I came to a question that had terms that were analogous to but not the same as the PMBOK process group titles (e.g. "termination" instead of "closing") in all four choices for the answer so I started choosing answers that seemed logical, even if the terms used were not precisely what I expected - I don't know if that strategy helped or hurt me.

Generally the PMP test was more difficult than the test that completed the certificate in project management course, but less difficult than the questions in Keith's guide. I did very well on questions regarding Professional and Social Responsibility and Closing the Project, pretty well on questions regarding Monitoring and Controlling the Project, Executing the Project and Planning the Project and absolutely pathetically on questions regarding Initiating the Project (which I found surprising as tend to review material from beginning to end, so I've reviewed more material about initiation than any other process). There was also more non-PMBOK related material than I had expected.

Be sure to view the new 2007 editions of the PMP (and CAPM and PgMP) credential handbooks at http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Obtaining-Credential.aspx

Change to PMI's score communication method (Nov 2007)

Hello to all our PMP and CAPM exam-writers. I try to post the latest updates each month.

As a Registered Education Provider, we get information before it is available more widely. I don’t think the following is at all important, but we try to send you information as we get it!

To sum up the communication below, PMI has been providing exam-writers their % mark on each performance domain (Initiating, Planning, Executing, etc), and exam-writers could apply the proportions and calculate an overall score. Now it will just indicate “Proficient, Moderately Proficient, and Below Proficient”.

The passing score is still 61%.

Facelift for PMP® and CAPM® Score Reports

With the launch of the PgMPSM credential on 1 October 2007, PMI instituted a new look for its score reports. This new look will also appear on the PMP® and CAPM® score reports by the end of the year.

Q: What information is provided on the new score report?
A: Just as before, there are two levels of information provided. One is the overall examination results, which will tell you whether you passed or failed. The other is a more diagnostic representation of your proficiency level per domain for PMP® and PgMPSM and by chapter for CAPM®. Each domain or chapter is accompanied by one of three possible proficiency levels—Proficient, Moderately Proficient, and Below Proficient.

Q: Why did PMI change the score report?
A: PMI improved how the diagnostic results are presented. Instead of percentages by domain/chapter, PMI is instituting global best practices in examination administration by using proficiency levels.

Q: How can the proficiency levels guide my professional development?
A: The proficiency levels serve as an aid in measuring your knowledge in specific areas of study and practice. For example, if your result is Below Proficient in one of the domains/chapters, you then know what you need to study to improve.

Q: What else has changed in PMI’s examination practices?
A: Nothing. The credential examinations remain the same.

Q: Does the change in the score report indicate a different score or standard to pass the examination?
A: No. People who take the examination will experience the same score standard as before. This means that people who receive the new score report are evaluated the same as those who received the old score report.

Q: Do I have to be proficient in every domain in order to pass the examination?
A: No. There are not a minimum or maximum number of domains in which you need to demonstrate proficiency in order to pass the exam. Your pass/fail rate is determined based on your overall performance, not on how many questions you answered right or wrong in a particular domain.