PMP Exam Preparation and Approach

When I was scrambling to get some form of guidance or information on how should I study, other than excellent guidance and motivation from my brother-in-law (who is also PMP certified of course); I found very little resources on the web. I really wished someone had written down exact steps on the method of preparation so that I could simply follow that and pass the exam. This is the reason why I am motivated to write this article for the benefit of other PMP exam takers. Hope this helps!!

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What is expected of you to pass the PMP exam?

According to the PMI, Project Management can be summed up in 5 Process Groups and 9 Knowledge Areas.

• Process Groups – Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing
• Knowledge Areas – Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Human Resources, Communications, Risk and Procurement

There are 42 processes spread out in the 9 knowledge areas as listed above. Every process has 3 parts – Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs.

Now, of course you are expected to know all the 5 process groups, 9 knowledge areas and 42 processes – what does each process do and the order of the processes within a project. But, you cannot pass the exam by merely knowing all of this.

You are required to know how to apply all this knowledge to make the right decision / choice when you are faced with a real project situation. This is the crux of passing the exam.

To better understand the expectation, consider this question as an example – “You are the project manager and your project is in the middle of executing work packages (development), a key stakeholder comes up with a change that is a must. At this stage, any change means critical time and cost implications as you are approaching a deadline. What will you do?”

Then, there will be 4 answers to choose from. All the 4 answers might seem logical and appropriate, but there is always only 1 best answer that is the correct one according to PMI standards.

PMI expects you to follow a very methodical approach in choosing the right answer. Only if you have a thorough understanding of all the knowledge areas and processes, you will be able to come at the right answer by a process of elimination. Many times, you will be required to use your expert judgment too.

What resources did I use to study?

Following are the resources that I used and this was all I needed to pass the exam.

1. PMBOK Guide
2. Andy Crowe’s book – How to pass the PMP the first time?
3. Velociteach Video Tutorial (www.velociteach.com)
4. Mock exams – from Andy Crowe book and Velociteach
5. Flashcards (prepared by me)

When to study what? What was my study approach?

The following approach took me exactly 4 weeks to prepare for the exam. I suggest you follow this approach as it really worked for me. When I looked back, I could identify some areas where I could have put more focused effort and that could have helped me to be better prepared for the exam. So, I have slightly modified these steps for your benefit. Ideally, I should have done exactly the way I have written it (I did about 90% of these steps though):

Summarized Step by Step Approach for PMP Exam Preparation:

1. Watch Velociteach Video 
2. Read Andy Crowe book (Chapter-wise parallel reading from Velociteach Video and Andy Crowe book)
3. Do 20 question exercises from Andy Crowe book
4. Read PMBOK Guide thoroughly
5. Do 20 question exercises from Velociteach (Read Andy Crowe book 2nd time)
6. Plan for Flashcards (Read Andy Crowe book 3rd time)
7. Give 1st Mock Test from Velociteach
8. Prepare flashcards (Read Andy Crowe book 4th time)
9. Give 2nd Mock test from Andy Crowe book
10. Give 3rd Mock Test from Velociteach

Detailed Step by Step Approach for PMP Exam Preparation:

1.       Watch Velociteach Video: I started my PMP preparation by watching the Velociteach Video Tutorial. As I was going through the chapters one by one, I realized this might be a good time to read Andy Crowe’s ‘How to pass the PMP the First Time’ book as well.

2.       Read Andy Crowe book: So, I decided after watching every chapter in Velociteach, I will read the corresponding chapter from the book as well to get a better perspective of things. This drill took a long time but it really helped me gain an understanding of the philosophy behind PMP and how PMI has defined and organized  ‘Project Management Workflow’ and broken down into ‘Processes’ and ‘Knowledge Areas’. But, I still did not get the logical flow.

3.       Do 20 question exercises from Andy Crowe book: At the end of every chapter in the book, there are 20 question exercises. Do that after you complete every chapter.

Tip: The neat thing about the book (also Velociteach) is for every question, it gives you a thorough explanation about how did it choose the right answer. This is extremely helpful – read all these answers especially the ones that you answered wrong – you get a nice comparison about your thought process versus the thought process laid by PMI. It helps you realize your ‘gotcha’ moment.

By this time, you will have a pretty good idea about the PMI material in a discrete or disconnected form.

4.       Read PMBOK Guide thoroughly: Now will be a very good time for a thorough read of the PMBOK guide in detail. I did not do this step – I realized this later. There are some key concepts in the PMBOK guide that are not covered in the Andy Crowe book. I missed out on those – as a result I could not attempt certain questions during the mock tests that dwindled my confidence. Also, certain concepts that are only touched upon in the book are explained in detail in the PMBOK guide. So, I believe reading the PMBOK guide thoroughly at this juncture is very important. If you would have started with the PMBOK guide first, it would not had made sense to you, but now it all makes sense.

5.       Do 20 question exercises from Velociteach (Read Andy Crowe book 2^nd time):  Do the 20 question exercise in Velociteach after every chapter. So, for example, if you finish reading Cost Management from the PMBOK guide, take the 20 question exercise at the end of ‘Cost Management’ chapter in Velociteach.

Important: Before attempting the Velociteach exercises, you might require a 2^nd read of the corresponding chapter from the Andy Crowe book. This time, put more emphasis on the logical flow of the processes – read thoroughly the introduction before every process – it gives you a concise understanding of - Why is this process important? When does it come in the project workflow? What do you need to know about this process for the exam?

Tip: You can actually get more out of Velociteach as follows. After the end of every chapter, it prompts you to take the 20 questions test. But, instead of 20, type in 200 (max). What Velociteach does it pulls put the maximum available questions in the database that are based on that Knowledge area. That way, you get to do more questions – like 50 or 80 after every chapter.

6.       Plan for Flashcards (Read Andy Crowe book 3^rd time):  Okay. Enough with the understanding part. You now need to memorize all this stuff like what process in what knowledge area falls in which process group. Read the Andy Crowe book again. As you are going through this book now for the 3^rd time, this might be a good phase to start thinking what flashcards would you want to make? What content will go in there? Of course you will want to put the stuff in your flashcards that you think you cannot seem to remember. It could be the formulas, the names of all the 42 processes, some key concepts with some statistical data, etc. In my case, I decided to create 2 sets of flashcards –

a.       First set that will have all 42 flashcards with one process per flashcard. It listed only the key inputs, tools and techniques and outputs. I got different colored flashcards just to color code the knowledge areas. It helped me remember better.

b.      Second set that had key definitions and stats that I would want to glance through quickly once every day last week of the exam.

7.       Give 1^st Mock Test from Velociteach: At this point, you have read the Andy Crowe book thrice, gone through the Velociteach tutorial in depth once, read the PMBOK guide thoroughly, done a lot of exercises, had understood the thought process that goes behind answering the questions.

You now know exactly what areas would you want to put more effort on. This will be a good time to give your 1^st mock test. Do the 200 exam test from Velociteach. That gives you a pretty good idea where you stand. For the mock test, you are expected to answer 164 questions correct out of 200. That’s 82%. Now 82 is not the actual passing percentage, but for the mock test, it is; to better prepare you for the actual PMP exam. I got 151 correct in the 1^st mock test. So, I knew I needed to prepare more.

Tip: Very important – Download the answer sheet from Velociteach. As you are submitting your answers online, mark your answers in your sheet as well. If you are guessing the answer, then marked them as ‘guessed’ in your answer sheet. This is very important as later on when you analyze your answers, you should know

·         How many questions did you guess correct?

·         IMP: How many questions did you answer wrong that you thought were correct?

So, the metrics after my test analysis looked something like this:

·         How many answers did I guess? – (this number should decrease with every test)

o   How many I guessed wrong? – (this number should decrease with every test)

·         How many I answered I thought were correct? – (this number should increase with every test)

o   How many of these were wrong answers? – (this number should decrease with every test)

This analysis is extremely important as after the mock test you need to strategize where you want to focus your efforts now.

8.       Prepare flashcards (Read Andy Crowe book 4^th time): After the 1^st mock test, you know in your heart where you stand.  After analyzing the mock test results, you will realize what you need to do finally to prepare for the exam? What you need to memorize even thoroughly? You might need to revisit your planning for the flashcards.  Read the Andy Crowe book the 4^th time and start making the flashcards. You might have to skim through the PMBOK guide depending on how much have you retained from the 1^st read. This will take some time and patience but this is the most important phase in your PMP preparation.

Important: For passing the PMP exam, it all comes down to the flashcards – how thoroughly have you prepared your flashcards. In the final 3 days, all you will refer to are the flashcards. You will never go back to the videos, the book or the PMBOK guide. You will never give another mock test. So, it is important to be honest to yourself and be a 100% sure what you want to put in the flashcards. Skim through the “key facts” from the Andy Crowe book or the PMBOK guide one more time or maybe the explanation for the answers from your exercises or mock tests – whatever it takes to make the most effective flashcards.

9.       Give 2^nd Mock test from Andy Crowe book: Now that you have flashcards, refer to just the flashcards and give the 2^nd mock test that is at the end of the Andy Crowe book. Analyze the test results as explained in Step 7 above. If you get more than 82%, that means you are working in the right direction. This will be a test on how accurate have you done your flashcards. Add / modify the flashcards accordingly.

10.   Give 3^rd Mock Test from Velociteach: This could be your final revision. Give the 3^rd mock test from Velociteach. Every time you take a 200 question test from Velociteach, it selects questions at random. So, no 2 tests are the same. This time, you should get the score well in the nineties (90%+).  You should ensure you get better scores with every mock test you take. Now, there are tons of other websites from where you can take mock tests. I truly do not know their relevance on the PMP exam so I cannot comment on those. I did try the Oliver Lehmann website – but after attempting about 30 questions, I stopped taking the test – as I found the questions very vague and outside the scope. After taking the PMP test and passing it, I believe the material that is laid out in Andy Crowe’s book is very much relevant to the PMP exam. You really do not need to refer to any other material besides the PMBOK guide and the Velociteach videos.

Good luck preparing!!