Santosh Korde: Passed PMP Sept. 12, 2010

I am quite pleased to share that I have passed PMP exam on 12/09/2010. To be
frank I was quite tensed until I saw the “Congratulations” message on my
screen.  Although I was confident of passing exam after answering 200 questions
but I was not sure about outcome as those 4 hours is all together different ball
game. I guess you are under tremendous pressure to clear exam because of fear of
failure. Also when I was reviewing answers I changed 8-9 answer so that added
bit pressure. I will explain later if this is correct approach or not in my
case.

Here are my LLs:

Preparation:
For me it took more than 3 months of study. I am not big fan of stating how many
hours I have spend every day. But it was average 2 hours daily. Weekends I was
studying 7 hours but quality study time was just 5 hours or so as rest of the
other time I was surfing internet or going out for some weekend activities. PMP
preparation need not be always full fledged war but it should be focused and
consistent. But I have to acknowledge that last month you have to be in full
speed.
Although I have planned to take exam last year but I have postponed because of
not finding enough time to prepare for exam. This May I have decided that until
I apply for exam I am not going to start preparing genuinely. In May I have
started reading PMBok and as I have expected it was quite dry to read. Same
month I have ordered for PMP® Exam Prep, Sixth Edition by Rita Mulchay. I have
read all chapters from Rita. Also solved all questions in the book religiously.
I think many people have objection about how talking is done in book but I guess
everyone have their opinions. I liked overall approach of preparation. I was
scoring just 60% to 70% average in Rita’s exercises. After I finish one
reading, it was June end so I have applied for exam. Remember while applying
application process needs lot project details information, so expect substantial
amount of time recollecting old information and data. Immediately in 5 working
days after applying I got approval for taking exam.
Immediately I set date for 12 Sep, to make sure that there is deadline. Then I
have planned for detailed second revision of what I have read earlier and also
make sure that I am using highlighter so that next reading it will help me focus
on important points. In this phase I was consistently scoring 80% average. I
would suggest if possible start taking your own notes, which helps a lot on day
before exam as you can go through it and have confidence that you are not
totally blank.

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After finishing Rita by early Aug I have started solving online free exams.
There are many questions available on internet. I think this was big trick as it
sets the tone and perspective. Now I was scoring 80-85% in simple exams and
Oliver Lehmann score was 70%. I have begun to focus on knowledge area where my
score was poor. I reread only those knowledge areas where I was weak mainly it
was integration and risk, procurement. Because of engineering background I was
quite comfortable with PERT questions as I had studied that as subject. But for
me in exam there were not many questions on this topic. Cost knowledge area
questions I could manage pretty well because of memorizing those formulas.
It is not very tough, go though Rita’s book she has simplified a lot. I think
one needs to be careful about Risk and procurement as I think that have some
challenging questions. Usually IT companies have CMM processes implemented and
I happen to work on SixSsigma project so Quality questions were not that bad for
me. Anyway last one week again I focused on Rita’s book as I was drained of
solving exam questions everyday and gone through self prepared notes again.
Personally I did not memorize those ITTOs as I think if you understand topic
then it should be sufficient. I think Rita’s chart is quite impressive. It
helps a lot decipher information as what goes on and relate to our real life
experience on projects.
What I could have done better:
-Solving more questions. It helps a lot as it sets tone of your preparation. It
converges attention instead of way warding everywhere in the process if reading
material.
-In July I took 8 days break from studies after restarting preparation I was
thinking whether I read this or not.
- Initially when I have solved questions all choices used to look correct but
later realized that my understanding of topic needed to be refined.
Exam day :
The PMP Exam day was rather challenging. Before exam day although I went to bed
early 11AM, I could not sleep until 2 AM and my exam was scheduled for 8 AM.
Somehow I got tense as I did not have taken any real exam in last few years. I
would have loved to have sufficient sleep, otherwise it feels cranky.
I set 8 AM as exam time as I don’t like to read on the exam day and usually I
wake up early everyday for office.
I have arrived to the Prometric center around 7:30 AM. I had to put my
food/water and keys in locker and I had to empty my pockets as well. They gave
me 4 sheets of special color scratch paper and 2 pcs of pencils. I had to sign a
check in protocol as well which shows what time did I enter the exam room. I did
take sweater with me as many people have suggested and I am thankful as it was
really chilly out there.
I marked first 10 questions as I have previously observed that as in the
beginning we are not in exam mode so I used to make mistake. Usually after every
30 questions I used take deep breath and close eyes for 20 seconds as it relives
little bit of pressure. Don’t think earlier questions be in present qiuestins
while answering. Up to 140 questions I felt okay, but after that I became very
tired. I was slowly gaining confidence that exam questions are not that bad and
there is good chance that rest questions will be ok. I finished the next 35
questions and by that time it was almost 2.5 hours I have decided to take break
for bathroom. I took only one break it was for 10 minutes, I ate cookies as well
as I was feeling hungry. After coming back I solved rest 25 questions and by
that it was 3 hours. I have decided to review all questions again. That was my
BIG mistake. To finish reviewing all 200 questions I have to complete 50
questions in 15 minutes so I started reading and changing answers. I believe
first time I may have used 1 minute to arrive at answer, and now I was changing
answer by spending just 20 secs. So after going through first 50 questions I
have deiced that this strategy is not going to fly. So I changed course and
focused only on calculation questions. After 3:45 minutes I decided to end exam
as I feared I will change more answers.
Then I hit the “Finish Exam” button and closed my eyes. I waited for 15-20
seconds and it turned out that there are additional feedback questions about
Prometric. I did not answer and hit the finish button. I was presented with my
examination result with those magical words “Congratulations on passing the
PMP exam” I felt relived!
What I could have done better:
- Sleep better before exam.
- It is really important to pace exam as its 4 hour and you need to have
strategy I think I wandered. Spend average 1 min for 1 question and I think 2
hours and 30 minutes if you finish first round you are good.
- I think first guess on complex questions is usually correct so in second round
just go and change answer left and right.
- Forget about all talks about those dummy 25 questions, give merit to all
questions and solve.

Last thing:
Even though certification process is rigorous and grueling but I feel that its
worth as it puts many things in precise perspective. And thanks to PMHUB.net and
PMHUB yaho groups.

All the Best!!

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