Little1: My Lessons Learned for CAPM

I did my exam last Wednesday and I unfortunately did not pass.

I did think that I had prepared very well so here are some points to note before booking your exam. I may reiterate what other people have said already.

1. The exam itself looks a little differently to the Test Prep that I had done and while I was expecting that it would, it did take me a little while to get used to looking at a new screen.

2. The questions are worded differently to those on the Test Prep so you really need to know each process indepth. There is no point in having a good conceptual grasp of each area. While this is essential, you will need to know the nitty gritty stuff too. I thought that I did!
I was scoring highly in the Test prep and mock exams that I did. I scored more highly in the exam, in the areas where I fell down when doing the mock and test preps.
I think that I took the areas where I was scoring highly a little bit for granted and perhaps didn’t revise these areas as closely as my ‘weak’ areas in the days coming up to the exam. Make sure you know each area equally well.

3. Know your formulas as these are easy marks.

4. Take your time and read each question. I know this may sound obvious but it is easy to read the first sentence and scan the options and click! Sometimes the question is contained in the second sentence. Read and re-read the questions before answering. If you are unsure of the answer you can also mark it for checking at the end.

5. Know the tools and techniques for each process. NB!

6. It goes without saying but know your inputs and outputs.

7. Other people have said that other questions that follow can help answer previous questions. While this is true to a point, I did find that dwelling too much on questions that followed is not a good idea. Personally, I started to doubt my previous answers and I ended up going back and doubting why I answered x when I had been pretty sure it was the correct answer first time round. This also comes back to knowing your processes inside out!

If I had known these areas as well as I thought that I had then I wouldn’t have doubted myself.

8. I would recommend a book that I got to prepare for the exam (I unfortuanately didn’t use this book enough!!!) – It is Exam Cram 2 – PMP practice questions.

It has a CD rom in the book and the exam screen looks a lot like the format used in this CD rom. Unfortunately it does not work on a MAC sad. The CD is very useful as you can test yourself on each knowledge area in test or study mode.

You can choose the amount of questions you want for each exam. This is great if you are reviewing your knowledge for a particular knowledge area or process group. The questions in the mock exams for this book are also worded a lot more like those in the exam.

PMP Exam Simulator

To order click this