When I started my journey with project management I was not even aware of the fact that what effective and efficient project management was? I knew about planning, budgeting and controlling things but had no idea what PMP® (Project Management Professional) was! I was a ‘tabula rasa’ especially when it came to Project management certification!
Knowing About Project Management Professional
In the beginning of my career, I was attracted by the project management. The ideas of managing a project from A to Z, of having the big picture of all activities done within a project and how they interact with each others, of building team spirit with a great motivation to achieve a project objective, all of this passionate me and pushed me to learn more and more on how to be successful in managing a project.
I heard by PMP® certification. It stands for Project Management Professional certification that will allow me to learn about project management methodologies, processes, and best practices, and to become recognized globally as a project management professional. Thus, the journey started when I joined the UK chapter of Project Management Institute.
Earning Project Management Hours
In order to apply for the PMP® certification, a project manager needs to have a four years degree and 4,500 hours of experiences as a project manager (or member in a project team).
This project management experience must have been accrued within the eight consecutive years prior to the Project Management Professional application.
Just working will not complete the whole process. You need to submit verifications from the managers under whom you have worked.
Tips For Studying And Boot Camp
Before attending any boot camp, it is necessary to study. Otherwise someone who goes there without studying will miss out things and will need more time to understand what is going on.
I searched for a training company who deliver PMP training course. There are many, but rare are those who prepare participants effectively and efficiently to pass the Project Management Professional exam in the first attempt.
The important criteria for selecting a training company is that it needs to be a PMI Registered Education Provider. It guarantees the compliance of the training with PMI requirements.
A member of the PMI Chapter recommends to me to pursue the PMP training with Management Square.
I was impressed by the Project Management Professional Training they provide: the competencies of the trainer, the high quality of contents, …
For preparing the exam, I used the 5 simulation exams and practice tests to
- understand how the questions are asked and framed, and
- know about each process and what will be the inputs, tools and techniques, and output.
Once prepared, it’s time to sit for the exam.
Applying And Studying
By signing up at PMI website one can easily fill the application form and apply for the PMP® credential. While filling the application you need to document all projected hours and I too did that. Filling all details of the project done is quite tedious and it took much of my time so you must be prepared to face that.
After filling I waited and got their email that my application was received.
I paid my exam fee and I was not audited. Once my application accepted, I had about one year to appear for the test.
Participants who are member of PMI gets a discount in the examination fee thus before paying for the application it is recommended that you become a member, like I did.
This will allow you to have access to the PMI standards and webinars.
The Exam
The exam is a MCQ with 200 questions, of which 175 are scored questions. The remaining 25 questions are pretest questions and then unscored.
The allotted examination time is 4 hours. It means that I had 1’12 minute to answer a question.
Following are the tips I used for the exam:
- Read each question twice to understand them properly.
- First get relaxed and then start working on the questions.
- Most of the questions will be tricky but what I need to do is not assuming anything myself. Just I concentrate on the fact that was in front of me.
- Eliminate the incorrect answers.
- Mark questions for reviews when I was not sure. It allows me to review all marked questions before submitting the exam results.
- Go through each answer repeatedly. Although I may know some answer it is better that I judge all of them as many questions may have more than one correct answer. I choose always the best one.
The Result
So it was over and it’s time to get the result. There were some questions to get survey of the testing center and answering those was toughest for me as I was waiting for my results. After completing them I found my result and Yes, I passed the PMP® in my first attempt.