Thanks for your LLs! I was planning to get PM Fastrack. Luckily it was always out of stock from the popular online bookstores. After reading through your LLs, I decided to use a number of practice exams rather than one single source. In summary, I used the following materials for my 2-month exam preparation.
Books
1.PMBOK
2.PMP exam prep – Rita Mulcahy
3.The PMP Exam how to pass on your first try (Andy Crowe)
Initially I just read Rita’s book twice and skimmed through PMBOK. The book covers a lot of useful materials for the exam but is a bit disorganized without too much ITTO concept. I found it was a bit hard to follow. And then, I started to read PMBOK and Andy’s book. It was a lot easier to understand. Therefore I’d suggest to read in this sequence # 3, 1,2. It will help understand the entire PM framework. By reading/rereading through the materials and doing the practice exams, you will memorize it naturally.
Practice exams
1.PMStudy test 1 (free), 2,3,4 (paid)
2.Head First (200 questions)
3.Andy Crowe (Chapter end questions and practice exam)
4.Oliver Lehmann (75 + 175)
5.Rita Mulcahy (Chapter end questions)
PMStudy questions are the closest to the actual exam. I rated this 4 because some questions are ambiguous and/or have 4 correct answers. You may like to try 2 & 3 first. These tests will help build your confidence. #4 is the hardest. A few questions are irrelevant but nice to know. I’d suggest try only if you have additional time or you are interested in gaining more knowledge.
#5 is quite helpful for exam preparation esp. good explanation of the answers but the questions are more wordy than the actual exam. I found that the overall tone of this book is a bit discouraging/sarcastic and the actual exam is not as hard as described. Just a general comment, the book doesn’t really demonstrate that the author has effective soft skills to train others. Overall, the above practice exams were quite helpful to identify my knowledge gaps.
After 2 month study, I finally passed the PMP exam with above average results. It was quite a strenuous exam. I had to put extra effort, patience and perseverance during my exam preparation.
You may get frustrated or panic if you find some difficult questions from the practice/actual exam. Regardless of the exam results, you are still a good PM with unique strengths, skills and knowledge as the way you are. At least, you have already tried hard to enhance your knowledge by doing the exam.
I wish all you best of luck.
Sharon
originally in PMHUB Lessons Learned Forum
http://pmhub.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15350
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Sharon,
Congrats for clearing PMP !!!!. In your LL you have written ” rated this 4 because some questions are ambiguous and/or have 4 correct answers. You may like to try 2 & 3 first” Are you referring to Oliver Lehmann (75 + 175)
Sharon, congratulations on passing. Welcome to the ranks.
I, too, thought Rita’s book was poorly organized without very much explanatory behind the rationale for an answer (the whole reason I’m studying the book is to understand, not be brow-beaten for not understanding the logic). I’ve spoken with others who’ve expressed similar concerns. While I’ll highly regard FastTrack as a simulator, with all due respect to Ms. Mulcahy, she spends much more time showing the reader how much she knows rather than successfully imparting that knowledge (again, isn’t that the purpose behind learning?).
I’d definitely agree with your other assessments, but I’ve also found Kim Heldman’s work very useful, and lacking much of Rita’s sarcasm.
Regards,
Andy
Hi Peter,
Thanks! just to clarify further for the following comment.
“rated this 4 because some questions are ambiguous and/or have 4 correct answers…”
I am referring to PMStudy test 2,3 & 4. Some test takers also have similar comment on the PMStudy simulation tests. I found that the following link to the PMP product ratings is quite helpful.
http://www.pmhub.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=13991
Regards,
Sharon
And this is the reason I read http://www.pmhub.net. Nice posts.