Ashish Yadav : How I get my CAPM!

I cleared my CAPM exam on 11th June.

First I would like to give an intro about myself (would it make any difference??):

I am a System Engineer with Asia’s best IT firm, with an overall experience of 30 months. (It seems very less, I believe).I was always been interested in Management, still I am . At very early stage of my career (within 12 months of total experience), I got the chance to lead (although just as Back-Up Project Lead) a new team. And from there my journey of Project Management took off.

Out of curiosity to judge my Project Management knowledge, I took first Braincench tests in mid December last year (without any formal reading, just with my practical experiences). Completed all of the tests successfully by mid January. That was the instance, where I felt like having some formal certificate in Project Management. And my search ended at CAPM.

But, I got busy with my office work, so I had to holdup my aspiration by a month. In Feb 24th I applied for PMI membership (Although I got the kit in May last. Yes it took them 3 moths to deliver the kit, and that too after lot many email correspondence). And in March applied for the CAPM examination, from there itself I started preparing for the exam.

I started with Rita, read first few chapters from it, then switched to PMBOK. I was able to grasp from PMBOK (sounds weird?) directly, so stuck to it only. By April first week, I got the unheard news being displayed at the application status area of PMI site, that “Your application has been selected for an audit”.
It took me 3-4 days to explain and convince my supervisors, about the CAPM certificate (no one has ever heard of it) and audit process. Finally within 4 weeks (I took 4 days, courier took 5 days and PMI took around 3 weeks) this phase got over .i.e. by May first week. Till April last I had gone through the PMBOK for the first time.

I planned to take the exam by May end, as still much of the portion was still remaining,but scheduled it for 4th June. Started again with PMBOK, Andy and Joseph. This time I didn’t follow any single book, but referred all these books as and when needed to clarify my understanding. I became more regular to our forum (PMHUB), mostly for LLs. Kept the tests available with these books (Any and Joseph) for the last week.
Just a week before I had to postpone my exam date by a week, due to sudden demise of my near relative. I went on leave for few days. My preparation got shattered.

I took 11th June as next date for exam. I just revised PMBOK and Rani’s document in last two days, didn’t got time for any mock test. And I never felt the need for any mock test, as I was sure that CAPM would be only PMBOK. Without any fear, I went to the center.

In the test center I was asked to dump all my personal belongings in a locker. I could only carry my 2 ids and the locker key.

The exam started with the tutorial and I did the brain dump (PMBOK page 70 and some formulas).
I finished the tutorial in 10 minutes and started with the exam and did the first 50 question in 23 mins, with very few unanswered but marked many. By, 1Hr and 14 mins I was done with the first pass. Then I took the quick break of 2 mins. After the break I started off with the unanswered question, they took around 15 mins. As still much of the time was still remaining, I thought of going through all the questions. It took me around 30 mins for all the questions; I changed a few answers although.

After 2 hrs and 5 mins I pressed the Finish button.

After a heart thumping 20 seconds I got
“Congratulations you are now a CAPM”. I felt honored and the feeling of responsibility also came to my mind.

I wish to thank all the previous writers of LLs that encouraged me and provided good cursor for preparation.

And would like to wish good luck all the aspiring CAPM.

Regards,
Ashish Yadav
B.Engg, CAPM

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