12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Seen better..., August 11, 2005
This review is from: PMP Exam Cram 2 (Paperback)
Considering that this book consistently receives high rates - based on which I made my purchase decision in the first place - I feel it's important to point out some of its shortcomings.
Having just successfully passed the PMP exam I feel that this book played a very insignificant part in preparing me for the exam. First of all, I found the structure of the book confusing. Especially the separation of core and facilitating planning processes and the fact that these were organized into separare chapters made reading this book difficult. The organization of the material does not lend itself to the organic flow of general PM processes. I much prefer these topics discussed and organized into Knowledge Areas, just like the PMBOK(r) does.
I also found the writing style of the author in a number of chapters downright annoying. What especially angered me was the phrase: "to better prepare you for the exam and streamline your exam preparations" was used over a hundred times in this title. OK, OK, I get it: you wrote the book to prepare me for the exam. Can't we please just leave it at that? Thankfully, around chapter 7 another author seems to have taken over, and the annoying phrases are gone.
I found NONE of the exam questions were similar to the ones presented in the title as examples. I also found that the real PMP exam makes virtually no use of the sneaky, under-handed questions / scenarios this title brings up as examples. Later of course being the good news.
I gave this title 3 stars because despite its obvious shortcomings it contains useful material and reading it at least once will help you in your preparation for your exam. Some reviewers claim this title alone with the PMBOK(r) enabled them passing the exam with flying colors, but I am very skeptical of those statements. Tremendous amount of material was covered on the actual PMP exam that is not even referenced in this title.
I would encourage anyone attempting the PMP exam to read Andy Crowe's PMP Exam guide. (ISBN 0-972-9673-0-3). In my experience Andy's title gave me significantly more insight to be able to pass the PM exam on the first try with over 85% success.
Oh, one more thing... Usually I'm not too fussy about typos, but this title has several, and Andy Crowe's has none.
All the best for your exam!
Gabe
PMP
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Test Prep Resource, February 28, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: PMP Exam Cram 2 (Paperback)
This Exam Cram makes it very easy to understand the Five Process Groups and relevant Knowledge Areas with Core and Facilitating Processes. It was this focus on the Process Groups, the phases that one takes when performing an actual project, that more clearly helped me to understand application of the Knowledge Areas and where they fit in.
Although undoubtedly the PMBOK is the "BIBLE" of the PMP Exam and a resource without which no one should consider taking the actual exam, I found it to be too focused from the Knowledge Area perspective. I feel in contrast that the Exam Cram's Process Groups approach helped to round out my perspectives and gave me a better overall understanding of the subject matter.
Although not the only source of study for the PMP Exam, I found that with the application of the PMBOK, the PMP Exam Cram 2, ESI's The Portable PMP Prep, and Mulcahy's PM Fastrack Exam Simulation, the subject matter was easily demystified and the test became a very achievable task that I passed without the use of any preparatory seminars.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent reader's disgest version of PMP, August 17, 2004
This review is from: PMP Exam Cram 2 (Paperback)
I am happy to report that I passed my PMP test on the first try. I studied Francis's book, and PMBOK for 5 consecutive weeks in addition to taking several practice questions from Phillips, Rita, and Heldman's book. You can probably get as much as 60-80% of the necessary knowledge to pass the test from Fracis' and PMBOK guide alone but will most definitely need to study/review other sources even if you have extensive managerial experience. Francis' book gets to the point and reviews the main concepts not covered in the PMBOK namely professional responsibility, and conflict resolution. This book is fairly an inexpensive option over the other books out there.
Good luck to all future test takers.
Regards,
Jose Fajardo, PMP
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