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The Secret to Clearing the PMP Exam

The mantra for clearing the PMP certification exam is practice and even more practice. The more you reinforce your learning by attempting mock tests, the better prepared you will be for the exam. Various researchers have emphasized on the importance of reflective learning. Learning is an ongoing process and reflecting on whatever has been learnt by means of practice is one of the best ways of perfecting the learning. After you have completed an in-depth study of a particular process group or a knowledge area of the PMBOK, attempt as many practice questions as you can. The practice will not only highlight your strengths and weaknesses, but it will also go a long way in boosting your morale for the exam. Set every score you attain as a benchmark and try to improvise on it the next time. Practicing reinforces your learning.

Resources for Preparing for the PMP Exam

While preparing for the PMP exam, make sure that you have a complete understanding of the PMBOK – all the knowledge areas, process groups, tools and techniques, inputs and outputs. Even if you consult other books for your preparation, the PMBOK Guide should still be your first reference material. Some highly recommended resources that you could refer to for your preparation (and which I myself used as part of my preparation for the PMP exam) are:

PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita’s Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam

The PMP Prepcast by Cornelius Fichtner, PMP

Tips for Clearing the PMP exam

No doubt all your preparation and hard work will come in handy while preparing for the exam, but here is a list of do’s and don’ts that you should adhere to:

• Become a PMI member. By enrolling for the PMI membership, you can save on the examination cost (USD 405 for PMI members as against USD555 for non-members). Moreover, you are also provided access to a huge knowledge bank of books, CDs, whitepapers, journals etc on project management.
• Make a systematic plan for your preparation and set targets for completing specific areas. Once the plan is in place, stick to it and try to beat your deadlines. With each passing day, you will feel even more confident about taking the exam.
• Treat the PMBOK as your bible. For clarifying any doubts, it should serve as your first point of reference. Make sure that you go through it at least two to three times before your exam.
• If you know of people who are planning to take the PMP certification exam, try and form a group and make it a point to get together and share key learning points and valuable insights. Being a part of a group encourages a healthy competition and it can serve as a big motivator. Another key advantage of forming a group is that you can share books and practice tests, without each person having to buy the reference/test material.
• Make mind maps and cheat sheets for all the formulae, knowledge areas, and process groups detailed in the PMBOK. Keep these handy – you might want to stick them on a display board or save them on your desktop to serve as a ready reckoner. Go through these on a daily basis – this will help reinforce your learning and go a long way in boosting your confidence for the exam.
• The last and the most important advice for getting PMP-certified is practice, practice, and practice. There is no better way of preparing yourself for the examination. Set your benchmark for each practice test and keep raising the bar for every subsequent attempt. It is not just about attempting the practice tests. What is more important is that you do a thorough analysis of the results and make a note of your weak areas and strengths. Introspection is extremely important. The secret is to work upon your weak areas and ensure that you achieve a better score the next time. At the same time, you should not feel over-confident about the areas in which you did well. Your focus should be on maintaining the results in your strong areas.
• Before buying PMP practice tests, carefully analyze the manner in which the questions are framed. Ensure that the practice tests have questions from all the process groups and knowledge areas and provide a detailed diagnostic feedback at the end of each test.

Get enough sleep prior to the exam and go for the exam with a relaxed mind, confident of getting PMP-certified by the end of it. All the best!

“I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true — hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.” Ray Bradbury – 1920-, American Science Fiction Writer.

Affiliate program disclosure: Links to external products and/or services published in this post could earn me (should you decide to purchase them) some referral commission. Please note that I take my referrals seriously and under no circumstances would I recommend something I don’t genuinely believe is of high quality and of high professional value.

Note: PMI®, PMP®, and PMBOK® are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

The PMBOK, published by the PMI, is a compilation of the project management guidelines to be adopted as a best practice for the successful execution of a project. It serves as a guiding principle for achieving the scope, cost, schedule and quality constraints of a project and is rigorously followed by numerous organizations throughout the world. The PMBOK establishes five process groups for any project, irrespective of the type of industry. These process groups are: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. Each of these process groups has its own inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. The inputs for a process group include the list of documents that are required to be in place before starting off a particular process.

For instance, before starting the scope planning process, you need to have the project charter and the list of assumptions and constraints for the project. The tools and techniques for each process group include the mechanism or the procedure that should be applied to the inputs to attain the desired outputs. During the scope planning process, you need to perform a benefit/cost analysis and use expert judgment to derive the scope statement for the project. The benefit/cost analysis and expert judgment in this example are the tools and techniques to be applied whereas the scope statement is the output of the scope planning process.

There are nine knowledge areas recognized by the PMBOK. These include the processes that need to be completed for the successful execution of a project. The nine knowledge areas are: Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management. Each of these knowledge areas go through the initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure phases.

The following table represents the matrix of the knowledge areas vs. the process groups:

check out the final article (The Secret to Clearing the PMP Certification Exam (Part 3)) which will include practical ideas on how to prepare and what resources to use in preparation for the exam.

Note: PMI®, PMP®, and PMBOK® are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

You have read enough about the PMP certification and the benefits associated with it. You have also been toying with the idea of getting PMP-certified for quite some time but do not know where to begin with. You have often pondered how to clear the PMP certification exam. This article aims to throw some light on the PMP certification, its benefits, the eligibility requirements, the examination structure, reference material, and some practical tips for clearing the exam.

Before you resolve to get PMP-certified, you must understand that the secret for clearing the exam (apart, obviously, from having good practical experience in Project Management) is lots and lots of revisions and exam practices. If you are game for it, then half the battle is already won. So, let’s get cracking!

Project Management is increasingly becoming popular as a profession. More and more organizations have realized the benefits of following a disciplined methodology for executing their projects successfully. To become a successful project manager, it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of the different processes to be followed at each and every stage of the project. The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a universally recognized benchmark that validates an individual’s expertise and knowledge in the field of project management. The PMP certification is offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) (http://www.pmi.org). It demonstrates your knowledge of all the aspects of project management. Once obtained, the certification will become a testimony to your understanding of how to manage and lead projects and project teams.

PMP Certification: Benefits

While hiring a project manager, most organizations are increasingly opting for people who are PMP-certified. The certification is becoming a distinguisher against the ever-growing competition and is a valuable tool for increasing your market value. With the PMP certification to add to your resume, you do not only stand a better chance of getting the coveted job, but are also in a position to negotiate for a higher pay package. Another key advantage of getting PMP-certified is that you establish a common language of communication with the project management fraternity. Organizations hiring a PMP-certified project manager are confident that the individual is well-versed with the various process groups and knowledge areas as prescribed by the PMI in its Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Therefore, there is a higher probability that such an individual will easily gel with the organization’s project management methodology.

Considering the numerous benefits of getting PMP-certified, you would be wondering as to how to get PMP-certified? Well, to get PMP-certified, you need to combine substantial practice with a thorough understanding of the PMP examination structure and the concepts included in the PMBOK.

PMP Certification Examination

The PMP certification exam is conducted by the PMI. To be able to apply for the PMP certification examination, you need to have a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of three years (4500 hours) of demonstrable project management experience. In addition to this, you need to have 35 hours of project management education (which are referred to as Professional Development Units (PDUs)). More details about the PMP certification eligibility and the process for filling up the online application form can be obtained from http://www.pmi.org/PDF/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf. You must remember that filling up the application form is a time-consuming process and adequate care should be taken while filling up the form. At times, the application might be rejected, or audited to verify the correctness of the information provided by the applicant. On successful submission and approval of the application form, the PMI will send a notification for the same. After this, you can schedule your exam.

The PMP certification exam uses the computer-based testing method and you can schedule the exam at your convenience depending on your preparation. You have to appear for the exam within one year of successfully submitting the online application form.

The examination comprises 200 multiple choice questions that need to be completed within 4 hours. Out of these 200 questions, 25 questions are pretest questions which do not affect your overall score. The current passing score for the PMP certification exam is 61%.

The exam comprises a specific percentage of questions for each project management process group. The percentages of questions for each process group are: Initiating: 11%, Planning: 23%, Executing: 27%, Monitoring and Controlling: 21%, Closing: 9%, and Professional and Social Responsibility: 9%.

A visual representation of the distribution of the PMP questions across various process groups is given below:

All the PMP examination questions are based on the content included in the latest edition of the PMBOK (4^th edition as of date). Therefore, it is important that you have a thorough understanding of all the concepts included in the PMBOK.

Click here for the second article in this series, titled ”The Secret to Clearing the PMP Certification Exam (Part 2)“. This article provides a closer look into the PMBOK.

Click here  for the  third article in this series, titled “The Secret to Clearing the PMP Certification Exam (Part 3)” which provides practical advise as to how to prepare and what resources to use in preparation for the exam.

As usual, your comments and suggestions will be appropriated.

Note: PMI®, PMP®, and PMBOK® are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Imagine you were prepared to take the PMP certification examination and realized, at the very last minute, that you’ve been reading the wrong guide. You based your studies on PMBOK3 while the current version is PMBOK4.

How would you feel?

Check out the video below: