Hello! My name is Dmitry and I passed the PMP exam in 2020 online. In my article, I want to share my subjective opinion about the methodology for preparing for the exam and those little things that I would like to know before starting preparation. Without water.
The article does not contain unethical ways to prepare and pass the exam. You need to rely only on your own strength.
I will not tell you why I chose PMP, because if you are reading this article, you have already opted for PMP - and I fully support this choice.
So let's get started.
Requirements for admission to the exam
The requirements for admission to the exam have not changed for many years and look like this:
- Higher education (bachelor, master or specialist) or secondary education (school, technical school)
- 36 or 60 months of project management experience (only 8 working hours per day)
- 35 hours of project management training (optional PMP and optional PMI accredited courses)
Lifehack # 1
No more than 260 working days per year; during the day you are directly involved in project management for no more than 5 hours, which gives only 1300 hours of project management experience per year on one project.
You can manage more than one project at a time. The projects that you will describe in the application must not be older than 10 years (the number may vary from year to year).
Admission requires 35 hours of project management training, but the course does not need to be PMI accredited and does not need to be about PMP preparation. If you have not previously taken courses in project management, then you will need to take. I was trained at PMExpert, cost 25 thousand rubles, I liked everything. If it's expensive and you are confident in your abilities, then, for example, a course in English on Udemy for £ 13.99.
Training
Everyone has different abilities. I have met people who have been preparing for both 4 and 9 months. It took me
7 months to prepare for the exam. I did 2 hours on weekdays and 4-5 hours on weekends. 1 day off a week, I also took breaks for public holidays.
Life hack # 2
Pay a membership fee and, moreover, set the exam date only after the first
months of preparation.
The "dog in the back" in the form of the appointed exam date can play a bad joke, as you can overestimate your strength, or underestimate the fatigue after work and schedule the exam too early. Therefore, start preparing, and after what time, you can estimate how much
time you will need to complete the preparation, then you can pay the fee and set the exam date. PMBok has answers to absolutely all exam questions, but the book is written in dry clerical language, difficult to comprehend.
My knowledge of English at the beginning of my training was intermediate. All 7 months of preparation, I never parted with the dictionary. By the end of the training, my level of English was already upper-intermediate.
The training takes place entirely in English, there are no quality resources in Russian. On the Internet you can find a number of tests and materials in Russian, I have tried all of them - I do not recommend it. There are errors in the logic of answers, translation errors, some materials are outdated (PMBok is updated every 3 years). You will have to prepare in English, this stops many, but trust me, you can handle it and prepare, it just takes more time. First, install Google Translate on your mobile .
Life hack # 3 Getting ready
should not start with reading PMBok.
Preparation materials
- / . – . , : Facebook, Facebook, telegram, Youtube. PMI , .
- /. PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy, 76$+. . , 2 , / . , . , . , . 2 , , . , – . 9 . – .
- /. (initiating, planning ) PMP Exam Mentor. Android iOS.
simulator 1000 , . (, ), ITTOs.
Bronze, 1 8. Silver Gold c , , .
PMP Exam Prep PMP Exam Mentor Formula, Tip, Cheat Sheet. . - /. , , . . , Ricardo Vargas! 0 ( 4 ) . PMP Exam Prep . .
- // . PMP Exam Prep PMP Exam Mentor. PMP Practice Exam 200 : , , . , , . – 65% . * PMI .
- // . PMchallenge PMI, : , . . , Agile. , — 250 .
- // . PM Fastrack Cloud Rita Mulcahy. 6 259$. , . 8 , 9, .
- Paid / English . There is another mobile application with PMLearning tests. Available on Android and iOS . Subscription for 3 months $ 50. Good questions, but didn't buy. Limited to demo access for 17 questions, tk. by this time I had already spent a lot of money on preparation.
- Paid / Russian . Download PMBok 6 and scroll. Repeat all your entries.
Life hack # 4
Take screenshots of wrong answers, difficult questions, formulas. Combine them into one file or folder. You will need them at the stage of reviewing the material.
How do you know that you are ready?
I stopped preparing after getting 75% + correct answers 3 times in PMP Exam Prep. Every 3 question in the test was already familiar to me.
Registration of an application on the site
After you have created an account on the PMI website, go directly to the registration of the application. The step-by-step instructions for filling out an application are perfectly described in the article by Konstantin Bolotin, with pictures. Thanks, Konstantin, it helped me!
Based on Konstantin's article, I generated an excel file available from the link , use it.
Life hack # 5
The spelling of the surname and first name in English must match your passport or driver's license. This is fundamentally important for people who have the letters , , , , etc. in their Surname or Name. on the exam, you will be asked to show your ID.
Life hack number 6
Becoming a PMI member for $ 544 gives you access to the current pdf version of PMBok, unfortunately without the option to print. You will also receive one attempt to pass the exam. If bought separately, you get $ 694. Membership must be renewed annually. A PMI membership will also give you access to free project management webinars, document templates, and industry standards.
* You do not need to be a PMI member to take the exam.
A lot has been written about audit, for example, from an article by Mikhail Belov. From myself, I can only add: indicate contacts only of colleagues you know well. A colleague, not necessarily a boss, can also confirm information about you. Organization stamp on the letter is not required. The audit can take about a month.
Exam
There are several changes in 2020:
- Now Pearson Vue takes the exam instead of Prometric, which hasn't been reviewed yet.
- You can take the exam online.
- On January 2, 2021, the proportions of exam questions will be changed in the direction of increasing the number of questions for team management and reducing the number of questions for processes.
- The new PMBok 7 standard is due to come into force in 2021.
My recommendation is to take this year. All existing materials are aimed at preparing for the exam according to the current rules. It will take time for the developers to update the questions.
There is enough about the process of submitting offline information, google for help. I'll tell you about online. To take online, a minimum knowledge of English is required. All navigation is in English, communication with technical support too.
How I passed:
Lifehack # 7
On weekdays, there are a lot of free lots to schedule an exam. Lots are run in 15 minute increments. Usually everything is busy on Saturday. Sunday is a day off. Therefore, it is better to schedule an exam 2-4 weeks before the desired date, so that there are free lots.
Life hack # 8
When choosing an exam time, be sure to check the time zone and time format. The default is US and 12-hour format. Otherwise, you can make a mistake and schedule an exam for the night. The transfer of the exam is a paid service, for the transfer of the exam less than 48 hours before the appointed time, money will not be returned. Be careful.
Lifehack number 9
I chose Russian as the main language for passing the exam. Despite the large amount of criticism of the translation, my opinion is that the translation is of high quality. It is easy and quick to switch between Russian and English text.
Lifehack # 10
Before starting the exam, you need to go through the identification procedure. You can go through it any day in test mode and check the equipment. For delivery, you need Safari + MacOs or Google + Windows 10. Other browsers are also supported, but these are the combinations I tested, everything worked stably.
Life Hack # 11
Read the Agile Appendix for PMBok 6. Among the exam questions are questions from Agile.
What if there are technical problems during the exam?
I was unlucky, right after passing the personal identification procedure, the exam did not start, but just a white window hung. After an hour of waiting, nothing happened and I was unable to
start the exam. What I felt then is hard to describe. In my case, Pearson Vue's support didn't help, so I had to write to PMI. Please be patient, I have been waiting for an answer for 18 days. At the same time, he always reminded of his existence in the online chat once a week . The waiting time for a response in the online chat is from 20 minutes to 4 hours. In my case, everything ended well - PMI rescheduled the exam date, and I passed on the first try.
It is imperative that Pearson Vue's tech support records your problem and assigns a number to it. PMI mail address customercare@pmi.organd Pearson Vue pearsonvuecustomersupport@services.pearson.com . In the letter to the PMI, you must indicate the registration number of the problem (case number), PMI ID number, full name and examination number (you can see the exam number in your Pearson Vue personal account) and ask for help in solving the problem.
Conclusion
After passing the exam, I shared the good news in one of the groups, after which a flurry of questions fell upon me. Then I realized what moved people when they shared their experience
"how I gave up something." This is how the article appeared.
Share your experience, encourage your colleagues, and remember to congratulate them on passing the exam.
PS
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