How I passed my PMP exam
I recently earned my PMP certification and thought to share what that looked like for me as I planned toward its examination aspect. I've always wanted a certification in project management but didn't seriously consider the PMP until 2021, when I reached out to friends who encouraged me to do it.
If you're reading this, you probably already know what the requirements for a PMP are, and are at least considering it, so here's my preparation timeline for passing my PMP on my first try.
November - December 2021: Finishing the 35-hour course requirement.
I had sworn not to take the 35-hour course requirement into the new year, so on the 31st of December, I finished the very last module in Andrew Ramdayal's (AR) PMP prep course. I purchased his book earlier on, giving me a free access code to his prep course (also available here on Udemy).
I went for AR's prep material because it had so many great reviews, especially on Reddit, where a huge amount of people have credited their passing to his Mindset. The Mindset is a set of principles he teaches that helps you identify correct answers to the PMP exam's situational questions and, overall, become a better project manager. This prep course also came with downloadable handouts, which I printed and took light notes on as I listened.
January 2022: Submitting an application to PMI and reading through the material.
AR's course also comes with a section on how to describe your project management experience in your application to PMI, and I spent the first few days in January working on submitting it. Getting a response took about five business days, and after my application was approved, I continued with my studying.
I found the PMBOK a bit cumbersome to read, so instead, I read AR's book to help solidify some of the things I'd already learned through the 35-hour course. After this, I started answering practice questions (starting with the practice questions that came with AR's course and another set of practice questions created by Yassine Tounsi (YT) on Udemy here). During this time, I was also watching YouTube videos of example questions and answers in my free time. I didn't study every day. However, I think I was still debating when to take the exam at this time, but I didn't want to lose the momentum I'd already gathered.
February 2022: More casual studying.
I intended to study at least 2 hours every day in the hopes of taking the exam in early March but decided to move that goal a few weeks further to late March when I saw that 2 hours of studying every day just wasn't feasible. The goal became to study a few times every week and not schedule my exam until I started seeing an increase in my practice test scores.
At this point, I started attending AR's weekly YouTube live sessions on Tuesday evenings, where I was motivated to keep studying and also practiced some more questions with him. Seriously, Andrew is the best, and studying with him made it so easy because he truly cares about and encourages his students.
I will note something crucial here: Each time I took a practice test, I would review the questions I got wrong, why I got them wrong, and go back to that whole section to study it all over if I felt I hadn't grasped the concepts needed to answer these questions correctly. I believe this is the single most important thing that made me feel like I was making progress in my prep. This is because I saw my scores improve as I took new practice tests.
Each time I took a practice test, I would review the questions I got wrong, why I got them wrong, and go back to that whole section to study it all over. I decided not to schedule my exam until I was scoring at least, 80% in any random practice tests I took.
March 2022: Finally, an actual study plan.
Things got a little bit more serious in March because I became determined not to bring this over with me to April. I'd planned a vacation in April and wanted to enjoy it with the PMP behind me, so I got more serious with my prep.
At this point, I purchased AR's TIA PMP exam simulator. This simulator comes with only 60-day access, and this meant I'd have to use the simulator (over 350 questions) within that time window or have to repurchase it. This became another motivation to take the exam as soon as possible.
I decided not to schedule my exam until I was scoring at least 80% in any random practice tests I took. I will say, however, that AR's simulator is probably the closest thing you'd find to what the actual PMP exam questions look like. I say this because I finished with over 80 minutes left on my clock and could only do so because I was already familiar with answering situational questions by using this simulator.
Final Notes:
I took the exam at home - the online proctored version. This wasn't my first choice, but I couldn't find dates available at any of the in-person sites close to me. I still don't like taking tests at home because concern about my internet going out or my computer hanging in the middle of the exam makes me a little more nervous than I think I would be when taking it in an actual center. I'm glad none of these things happened; this exam actually went smoother than I thought it would.
Three things kept me motivated through this process:
Going at my own pace: As you can see, I didn't study every day - that would have been too much for me. I took breaks when I needed to, but I still made sure these breaks weren't too long. I kept an eye on making sure I was weekly making progress towards my goal of scoring higher in practice tests and feeling confident in my knowledge of project management concepts.
Accountability from colleagues and friends who knew I was preparing to take it: telling people about this goal was why in many moments, I didn't back down from this when I realized how tough it actually was. If I hadn't told anyone about this, I probably wouldn't have been motivated to continue after finishing the 35-hour course.
The PMP subreddit: I spent a lot of time reading stories of people who passed, and it helped me stay inspired.
I hope this post is helpful for anyone preparing to take their PMP or any other project management certification. You got this!
