My Advice for Passing the PMP Exam
I passed the PMP exam on the first try recently, scoring Above Target in all three domains, and want to share my tips for success in case you are considering the certification.
The PMP is 180 multiple choice questions and it is dry, dry, dry. You want to set yourself up for cognitive success, so rest well, hydrate, and try to calm your nervous system before the exam starts through some slow breathing or meditating.
Choose the testing center option. Trust me, I opted for the at-home Pearson software and it was a nightmare. I should have listened to Reddit! Everything went wrong: my house’s air conditioning broke, my laptop wouldn’t charge, my dog kept barking, I got a white screen of death for the first 30 minutes and had to sit on the phone with customer service trying to work it out. By the time exam started, I was not in a good head space. Plus, I had to wait a full 24 hours to get the results, but if you take it in a testing center you get your score immediately.
As far as studying goes, the most useless tools were the official PMBOK guides (6 and 7 have relevant content). Don’t get me wrong, these are informative for learning about the field and useful as a reference when you are taking a course. But they aren’t set up to help you study for the PMP, in my experience.
Here are the resources that were worth every penny:
Third3Rock’s Cheat Sheet. This is a compact PDF that has all the content you need. The mindsets at the beginning are probable the most important part of this document.
David McLachlan’s YouTube channel. This is the only free resource, and I like that you can control the speed. The big videos with 150 or 200 questions are the best. I paused the video before he revealed the answer to test myself.
The TIA Exam Simulator. There are 6 mock exams. My scores gradually went up from 58% to 78%. Watching the video explanations was helpful, but one piece of advice to NEVER escalate isn’t really true once you get to the actual PMP exam.
PMI’s Study Hall. This is the gold standard. You could probably get by with only this resource because it comes from the official source. I only used the Practice Questions and Practice Exams but there were a lot of other resources. If you are scoring in the high 60s on the practice questions and exams, you are ready to go!
The two biggest pieces of advice I have: pay for the PMI Study Hall, and take the exam in a testing center.
