Hi all: Passed PMP yesterday but after a full day at work and 4 hours of gruelling test, I didn't have

it in me to come up with an LL. Having said that, I wanted to write a good LL because all I have been doing at these forum(s) for months is using all the wisdom and tips and now it's time to give some back. So I wanted to structure this LL slightly differently. I had some basic questions when I started with this process in the beginning of May and I want to answer those for complete newbies before moving into my LL. I got Proeficient inthe first 4 and Moderate Proeficient in last 2 process groups. Is PMP worth it? YES. My Senior Director walked in today and shook my hand and congratulated me for getting it, two of my senior managers asked me how one goes about getting it and in gerneral, everyone seems to know about it. I am part of SAP implementation for a large food retail chain. A PMP pretty much means, you are ready for the next level. It does for Senior Analysts what an MBA does for Managers/ Sr. Managers. It's your step up the food chain. Not to discount all the added knowledge you acquire in the process. How long does it take to prepare? 3-4 Months. 2-3 hours on weekdays and 6-8 hours on weekends. That's how long it took me. I started knowing nothing about PMP on May 1 and it took 3.5 months. I could've probably passed last month but I wouldn't have felt as prepared or done as well. Is it an expensive process? Yes and No. if you think paying $500 for application and membership, certain amount for PDUs (I paid $250 for a college course) and material is expensive proposition (overall ~ $1000) then Yes. If you think its worth it at the stage of career you're in then No. Honestly, I have read LLs of many people who have spent thousands of dollars on material, tests, exam simulators, courses, bootcamps, seminars and all kinds of fancy stuff. that may work for them but I just don't find it necessary. And frankly PMP is not worth it for its function. I'll probably spend alot on my MBA but PMP is not MBA. The total amount I spent is less than a thousand dollars total, application and all. What would I need? At the very least PMBOK and an exam prep book, throw in a few paid exam if you want. recommendations below. What material would you recommend? I didn't use all the books and tests, so this is based solely on the materials I used. These are widly available to buy or steal (if your concience allows), so here you go: Books: PMBOK: Covers almost everything you need to know for the test. It's all in there but nothing is highlighted out so that's why you need prep books. People complain about what a terrible read it is, yes it is dry but I am an Engineer so I have done much worse. It is a little dry but nothing horrible. (Completeness: 9/10, Presentation: 7/10, Overall: 8/10) Headfirst: Doesn't cover everything. Tests are easy. Presentation is absolutely fantastic. More key concepts got stuck in my head because of this book than any other (e.g. Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control is illustrated with two couches arguing, you'll know it when you see it, it's brilliant).(Completeness: 7/10, Presentation: 10/10, Tests: 7/10 Overall: 7.5/10) Rita Mulcahy: Covers almost everything. The tone in the entire book is cynical and negative. Stories in intros are all depressing, one of them ends with Rita telling one of her students that his boss should've fired him! But... that's not always a bad thing, especially if all you want to do is pass the test, which is all that this book concentrates it's focus on. Tests are excellent, if way too wordy. The actual exam was surprisingly not. If I had only a month, or a week, to study and had to use one book, it would be this.(Completeness: 9/10, Presentation: 7/10, Tests: 8/10 Overall: 8/10) Kim Heldman: Best out of the bunch really. Covers all of what you need to know for the test. Fills all the holes in your knowledge from the other books. Presents it in a regular textbook format, even though there is excessive use of the word "you". Tests are better than Rita but there are only 20 after each chapter and 75 in the beginning so not as many as Rita. (Completeness: 10/10,

Presentation: 8/10, Tests: 8/10 Overall: 8.5/10)

There is another one I tried to read by Joseph Phillips but I ran out of time and it was horrible. Tests: I did mostly free ones, seriously there is so much free shit on the internet, you'd be an idiot to pay the big bucks for simulators. I actually ran out of time to do all the free tests I printed out. This is solely based on my recollection so I may screw up and I am sure I am missing a few. My first tries were a month into the preparation and seconds were a month after that. Here are my ratings and marks: Free (or in the book): PMStudy: Probably the best out of the bunch. Takes exact quotes out of PMBOK which is the best part. Most like what you are likely to see on the actual exam about which I am not going to reveal much but watch out for semantics. (Marks: First try (78%), Second

try: (89%), Rating: 9/10)

Oliver Lehmann: Has a good mixture of the easy and the difficult like the exam, but it's difficult are way too difficult unlike the actual exam. Still, great quality questions. (Marks: 75Q First try (69%), Second try: (78%), 175Q: First Try (78%) Rating: 8.5/10)

Kim Heldman 75Q: A lot like the actual exam. (Marks: First try (75%), Second try: (93%), Rating: 8/10) SimpliLearn: Seems to get maligned around these parts because of advertising tactics. The test however is actially good! Also, better formatted than any of the other ones. Some answers I am sure are wrong though. But hey, it's free. (Marks: First try (69%),

Second try: (79%), Rating: 7.5/10)

Edwel: Good quality questions. Eays formatting. Some questions again I think are wrong. On the harder side as well. (Marks: First

try (76%), Second try: (77%), Rating: 7.5/10)

PMRoadtrip: Good test overall. (Marks: First try (84%), Rating: 7.5/10) Headfirst: Easy. (Marks: First try (87%), Second try: (93%), Rating: 7/10) PMPModel: Mix of good, bacd and the ugly. Go for it anyways. (Marks: First try (76%), Rating: 7.5/10) techfaq(81%), PM-ABC (80%), effectivepmc: Stay away. Waste of time. Caution: Watch out for bad tests. They have bad questions, wrong answers and incorrect format. They'll do more harm than good as they'll confuse you. Paid: I bought the PMStudy exams last weekend after much deliberation. Mixed decision. Tests are excellent, but I am not sure how much extra I got out of them since I was at the peak of preparation and pretty much killed them. Did point out some holes in my knowledge. Highly recommended though. First test is a lot like the free test, stil can't go wrong with four test for 50 bucks. PM Study 1: 89%; PM Study 2: 86%, PM Study 3: 88%, PM Study 4: 85% What should be my study plan? I did all of the follwing but in a different order. If I could go back in time, this is how I would tell myself to go about it. Call it 10 Steps to PMP Success: (Note: using all the material I pointed out above) 1. Read the PMBOK and Headfirst together chapter-by-chapter. Do the 200 Question Headfirst Test. 2. Read through Rita book and do all the problems at the back. I got 60-80% in my first try. 3. Try some free tests mentioned above. You should be scoring 70% by now. 4. Read Kim Heldman and do all the problems at the back. I got 70%+ in my first go. 5. Try some more free tests. You should be scoring ~80% by now. 6. Re-read Rita and Kim and do all the tests all over again. You should get at least 80% by now. 7. Re-do as many free tests you like as you can. See where you stand. You should be ~ mid 80s by now. 8. Memorize the ITTOs. More on this below. 9. Re-read PMBOK and the gloassary. It'll all make sense now. 10. Buy the PM Study 4 pack. If you're not scoring high 80s in them by now, there's something wrong. So that's it fow the newbies. Good luck!

Lessons Learned, Tips and Tricks: Now the dreaded question: To Memorize or not to memorize the ITTOs? I say, do it. Make the memonics and get it done with. I know I wouldn't have got at least 10 questions right on the exam without it. It's difficult, you have to remember over 500 fields! I did it though, over the long weekend and narrated them out perfectly by the end to my wife. Although I agree you can get most of them right anyways, but the ones on my exam were tricky and I couldn't have got 'em right without memorization. The ones on sample tests tend to be easy. What was on my Brain dump sheet? I had all 42 processes, ITTO mnemonics and outputs. EAC formulas for each variation, Final Fee/ Cost and PTA formulas. ITTOs helped a lot, though I got burnt and most of my questions were on inputs. Great to have them, if for nothing, just the sense of security. Formulas didn't help at all. Tips and Tricks: 1. Know your change control process. Can't stress that much, exam is obsessed with it. 2. Know the order of closing activities and the whole process group in general. I blame my "Moderate" proeficiency on the books. None of them including PMBOK cover it well.

3. Know your project selection methods well. NPV, IRR etc. 4. Most really intricate stuff is not on the exam. Sample tests love to put that stuff in there to trick you, but hardly worth knowing everything. Get your fundamentals right. 5. The exam is tricky. It'll try and trick you out of stuff you already know. Watch out and read the questions clearly. 6. Quality and Risk are two big ones. Prepare those well. Exam Day: Worked all day. had the test at 5 PM. Got there early and they gave me a choice to start early which I did. Took a protien bar and Sobe. Great idea! You'll need it. Took a brief pause every half hour and a break at every hour. I was going about 40 qns. every half hour as I did in most good sample exams and was done in 2.5 hours. Took rest of the 1.5 hour to go through all the questions all over again, changed maybe 5-10. I know a few of them I had got wrong the first time around. Finished. Heart was pounding during the survey despite the fact that I knew i would pass. 3.5 months flashed by my eyes. Congratulations! Fuckin' A. Done with it, over, sense of relief washed over like fountains of zamzam. Live long and prosper, Prashin, P(i)MP