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The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, Fourth Edition

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Yes! I passed the PMP 4th Edition Exam on the first try today! I studied for 3 months, using PMBOK® Guide--Fourth Edition, Andy Crowe book and the free full length PMP Exam @ PMStudy.com. Here is how I studied:

A) Dedicate 1 Day Per Chapter with Andy Crowe book(No More, No Less)
B) Dedicate 1 Day Per Chapter with PMBOK® Guide--Fourth Edition (After each chapter, go directly to Andy Crowe book to take chapter quiz.)
C) Spend 2 Days reconstructing chart on page 36 in Andy Crowe book, from memory.
D) Spend 2 Days writing down 3 Point Estimate, Communications Channels, Earn Value and TPA formulas, from memory. Put emphasis on calculating EV= and EAC=
E) Spend 1 Day working EMV from decision tree diagrams.
F) Dedicate 1 Day Per PM Knowledge Area using both books. Putting emphasis on common Inputs, Tools & Tech or Outputs i.e. Expert Judgement is common tool in all Project Integration Mgnt Processes. Also, observe how an Output from one Process becomes an Input to another Process. And slow down to understand the purpose & advantage of certain diagram/charts i.e. control, pareto, tornado.

Let me share with you an important secret. In order to read the PMBOK® Guide--Fourth Edition with appreciation, motivation and comprehension, you need to reverse your academic position. Do not read it from the perspective a student. Instead, imagine that you are a guest professor who has to deliver a lecture on one PM Knowledge Area per day to a classroom of 300 graduate students @ a prestigious university. Create an OUTLINE of each chapter in the PMBOK® Guide--Fourth Edition (putting an emphasis on what YOU think is important). Now take 1 or 2 Practice Final Exams from Andy Crowe resources or Internet (PMStudy), in order fine tune your OUTLINES. When you feel confident to give your lecture, go take the PMP EXAM! No matter how they spin the question, You WILL KNOW what you know!

It works - I cleared my PMP exam last week :)

This is what I did to prepare :-

1. I used Andy Crowe as my only study material - (had the old PMBOK) could not read the new PMBOK, however it would be a good idea to read the PMBOK as I found many terms and concepts in the actual exam which were not covered in Andy's book (I still don't know if these concepts are there in the new PMBOK or Rita )
2. Took all chapter tests in Andy and Rita, which I borrowed from a friend (my scores varied from 50% to 85 %)
3. Took some online test papers from Andy's website
4.Took all the Rita tests once again (3 days before the exam - my score varied from 70% to 90%)
5. Reread the concepts behind the questions I got wrong
6. Read the glossary of PM terms in Andy's book - this really helps to refresh your memory regarding the concepts
7. Rather than memorizng all the formulae, I studied the concepts behind the formulae - this helped me to reproduce/reconstruct the formulae easily
8.While studying each chapter, I wrote down all the important concepts,inputs,outputs etc - this really helped me understand & memorize them

The Exam :

1. I found the exam not too easy or tough
2. There were lot of direct questions about inputs/outputs and tools & techniques( around 20-30)
3.There were atleast 10-15 formulae based questions
4.The exam I took had lot of questions from EV calculations and quality management
5. there were atleast 75-100 case based questions where you had to apply the PMI concepts-- I used the elimation method a lot .
6. I finished all 200 qns in 2+ hours and used all the remaining time to review my answers(upto the last minute)
7.I did find myself changing many of my answers while doing the review :)

Lessons learned :

1.Based on my experience, I think the way to go for this exam is to cover the material & take as many test papers as possible.
2.Hone your skills in eliminating wrong answers - you will use it a lot
3. Memorize/learn all the formulae - these are sure shot questions which you can get right
4. Leave enough time to review the answers
5. try to memorize input/outputs/tools/theories - direct questions did come
6.Read the questions atleast twice before looking at the options - I used to make a lot of careless mistakes while doing practice tests.
7. Once again, take as many tests as possible

My take : The book is good and reasonably priced.Use it to your advantage.

Hope this helps - let me know if you have any questions..:)

I bought the Fourth Edition book few months ago and haven't got a chance to read for quite some time. Now when I decided to read, I was glancing it and am shocked to see it still carries info from third edition unchanged. I believe when they decided to give a make over for the fourth edition from the third, they din't pay enough attention and overlooked lots of third edition information as it is. Looks like they just updated the high level tables.

For eg. In chapter 10 - communication , they repeatedly mention four processes in the book - when infact PMI updated the fourth edition communication knowledge area with five processes. and Andy crowe book mentions 2 processes in Monitoring & Controlling Process group, which is again from third edition in page 272, when infact in PMI fourth edition, M&C contains only one process. This I found within 5 minutes of opening the book.

I searched for errata, if any, being published by velociteach - the publisher who released the book and found none. I'm disappointed and am not sure whether I'll be comfortably able to use this book for my exam preperation going forward.

PS - I just talked to velociteach, after my above comment was published. They mentioned the book I purchased is the First printing from april 2009 and errors were corrected in subsequent printings and is in Third/Fourth printing now. So pls make sure the printing before purchasing and you'd be fine.

From what I've read online, the average person preparing for the PMP exam spends about $1000 on prep materials and studies for 4 months, and still only about 51% pass on their first try. Not counting the PMI membership and exam fee, I only spent $50 on Andy's book and studied for 11 days, and I passed. However, I'm not super special; I just wanted it very bad and worked very hard to get it. I thought it was helpful to read about how others prepared for the test, so here's my story:

I have worked in IT for about 15 years, I have a Masters degree, and I've managed numerous small to medium sized technology integration projects. My largest was a $1.3 million dollar infrastructure upgrade of four dispersed contact centers. Unfortunately, the economy was tough on my company and I was laid off in late June. After not getting much response from the numerous jobs I applied for, I decided that I needed to upgrade my skills with some recent certifications. While several of the technically oriented ones (CCNA, MCITP, Security+) seem to be in demand, I didn't think that they would lead me into a position I would enjoy. My personal talents seem to be more in line with organizing and leading projects, and that's what I want to do. Incidently, I also have a Project Management certificate from Portland State University's professional development program from about 9 years ago. I spoke with a career counselor, and she suggested that with my background, getting the PMP would seriously boost my chances of landing a good job.

The PMP application is a beast if you take it seriously. I went through all my old job reviews for the past 8 years and listed out every project I was ever involved in. Breaking them down and estimating the hours spent on each activity from each project was hard. It took me a whole day to fill out the application online... but maybe I took it too seriously! Five days later, I got the news that my application was accepted and I bought Andy's book to start preparing.

I tried reading the PMBOK first, but all I have is an online PDF version, so it was kind of tough to stay focused. Therefore, I just resorted to reading every chapter in Andy's book numerous times and doing all the exercises and quizzes. The first time through, I averaged an 80% on the quizzes. The second time through, I averaged a 90%. The first time I took the full-length practice exam in the book, I got an 82%. I then went online to Crowe's site [...] and used the week-long free pass that comes with the book. I started to watch all the online PMP videos that were there, but I was bored out of my mind (it just seemed like someone reading the same material that was in the book). Therefore, I ended up taking numerous full-length practice exams from the testing lab instead. I took 1 or 2 of these exams per day, scoring 90%, 82%, 98%, 93%, 90%, and 87% (the range depended on which random questions came up and whether I remembered the right answers). Since I was scoring so well, I wondered if Crowe's tests were too easy. Therefore, I took the free practice exams from [...] (among others). My average scores on those sites were around 72%, and I made note of the questions I missed and either looked up the material on the Internet or in the PMBOK. There were numerous topics of material in those tests that weren't covered (or covered well) in Crowe's book, but the clarifying material was easy to find for free. I later read that the tests at those various sites are extra hard just to scare potential PMP-ers into thinking they won't do well unless they buy the prep services from those different companies. The final prep exam I took was a retake of the one in the back of Crowe's book, which I scored a 95% on the day before taking the real test. In my opinion, the real PMP exam was about the same difficulty as that one in the book and it covered approximately the same material. There were absolutely no questions on the real exam about topics that I hadn't read about, so I felt that my preparation was very good.

PMI doesn't give you a numerical score anymore, so I don't know what my overall passing percentage was. Crowe says that a passing score is 61%, but that the test is harder than in the past, but I've seen other sites that say the passing score is actually 70-75% now. The results page after the test just shows pass or fail, and a breakdown of proficiencies in each process group. "Proficient" is supposed to be above average, "Moderately Proficient" is supposed to be average, and "Below Proficient" is below average. My scoresheet looked like this:

Examination: PASS
Initiating: Moderately Proficient
Planning: Proficient
Executing: Proficient
Monitoring and Controlling: Moderately Proficient
Closing: Moderately Proficient
Professional and Social Responsibility: Moderately Proficient

(Based on this, I would guess that I probably scored in the low 80s overall.)

My advice to someone else trying to take the latest version of the PMP exam is to:

1. Buy Andy Crowe's book and read it thoroughly numerous times. Cross reference it with the PMBOK if you need clarification.
2. Memorize all of the earned value formulas (page 182 of the current book) and be able to calculate them easily.
3. Memorize the process framework (listed on page 36) and truly understand how each of these processes work and how they fit into the overall project phases.
4. Pay special attention to the Time Management knowledge area, and understand how a project network diagram, critical path, and float work.
5. Take numerous practice exams until you are easily scoring in the 90%+ range, and really explore the questions that you miss so that you understand the material or reason why that question tripped you up.

Andy's book does have numerous editing errors (typos, misspellings, etc), but there is nothing wrong with the actual material. Given that I only spent $[...] on the book and passed, it was a great deal! Now I just have to go get a job so I can put the PMP to use!!! ;o)

I wasn't going to write a review but after my six week study marathon and successfully passing the PMP the first time, I felt I should give credit where credit was due.

My resources - Andy's Book with one week free Insite online testing, Rita's Book, the official PMBOK Guide and a website www.pmstudy (dot) com.

I started with Andy's book because it was much easier to read. I then added Rita's book and started reviewing material in parallel, e.g. communication and risk chapters in each book. I reviewed and highlighted each book three times...took me a month to get all that done. Two and half weeks before the exam, I signed up for the free Insite testing that accompanies Andy's book. Based on my research (from other reviewers), the exams contained in the books were not stringent enough to emulate the actual exam so I didn't bother with those. Insite provided me some good insight (no pun intended) but after taking all of the tests, I still wasn't satisfied that I was reviewing material that was parallel, e.g. hard enough, to the actual exams (based on other reviews here). I found pmstudy and paid $50.00 for 4 practice exams (they do offer one free 200 question exam so minimally, that can be a reference point to decide if you want to purchase the others).

This is where it gets interesting. I started seeing material in the pmstudy exams that wasn't covered in either preparation book. The pmstudy exams contained the the official PMBOK Guide references to the answers. When I started taking the first exam, I was scoring in the low 70s. By my 4th test, I was in the high 80s. The material made me realize that you have to pay attention to the inputs, tools and techniques and outputs (ITTO); there are 512 of them. Using Andy's book and the guide, I was able to 'lock' the information down for the exam. Rita's book contained more info than Andy's but I didn't care for her writing style (I highlighted what I thought was pertinent). I also didn't care for her 'PMIsms', her statements 'are you sure you're ready to take the exam' and her name being used about 2000 times throughout the book. Her information felt disorganized to me and therefore I don't recommend her book. I do agree with one belief she has though...the PMP exam is for individuals who have the requisite experience, education and training in project management. The certification is not for individuals who never managed a project or at the very minimum, do not have some training in project management. Numerous times I had to link my experiences with PMI's project groups, knowledge areas, ITTOs and processes; this produced a 'clarity' for my understanding. That is just my opinion and I'm sure everyone is different but consider this. If you present yourself as an PMP during an interview and were asked to explain some of the 'intricacies' of managing a project, the interviewer may be able to poke some holes in your answers (this happens all the time in the IT world...we refer to these individuals as pdf experts...they may have a cert but have no experience and hence no real understanding to back up the cert processes).

My background...

CIO
Director Business Development
Director, IT/IM
Director of Ops

a few degrees including an MBA and quite a few other certs so I am 'senior', not old lol and have quite a bit of experience under my belt. The best thing about having this cert is that I clarified some PM methodologies that I can use in the real world and I can actually prove via the cert, that I can do it.

I scored 'proficient' (better than average) in two areas and 'moderately proficient' (average) in the other four areas; there is no grade provided - you either pass or you don't. BTW - I didn't zip through the four hour exam; I used 3.75 hours for the exam with two short 5 minute breaks. The practice exams prepare you for this time period and if you're not used to it, you'll definitely feel the 'pain' while taking the exam.

Best of luck to all...

Hello,

My study techniques for passing the PMP were somewhat common, but since there is so much material available out there, it's best that I tell my limited story as specific as possible to help you in your journey.

1st step: select the appropriate study material based on how you learn best. Since I can bury myself in a bookstore corner for 6 months and drill the material in my head 10x over, I chose to do the self-study method, which also happens to be the cheapest.

2nd step: I walked into my local bookstore and found Kim Heldman's "PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, 5th edition, includes audio CD ( PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Includes Audio CD ). I read this book literally 5x and felt I knew the material decently, not adequate to pass the test though.

- Cons: It throws a lot of "extra" material at you. It spends more time emphasizing the advanced topics of PMP over the basics, which depending on your preexisting knowledge, could be good or bad.

- Pros: It takes you through the story of explaining a project from its inception to closure, thus giving you a real world view of what process a PM would follow to manage a project.

- Notes: This book explains the project management process via process groups, instead of knowledge area. This doesn't mean its better or worse, it's just a different style of learning / presenting the material. Also, if you're new to PMP methodologies, I would recommend this book as a supplement to Andy Crowe's "The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try." (4th Edition).

3rd step: I smartened up and read different PMP blogs and Amazon PMP book reviews before deciding on another book; Andy Crowe's "The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try." What can I say, this book is the primary reason I passed the PMP on my first try. Yes, the above Kim Heldman's book helped me, but it was more of the icing when Andy's book was the cake. So, I read this book literally 5x too and this material seemed to stick with me much easier than Kim' book. The 1 week free access to Velociteach's website, comes with the book, was crucial to my PMP exam success.

- Cons: Explained the material a little too easily, thus throwing me for the first few questions on the PMP exam. The problem is the PMP exam likes to take an easy 1 sentence question and make a paragraph out of it. It's asking the same thing as Andy's book is teaching you, but you have to go through the entire question to realize it's what Andy explained in one sentence. Keep in mind, because of this; it will take you longer to complete the actual PMP exam than your practice exams, due to extra reading / deciphering.

- Pros: Easy to understand and repetitive when needed. Andy spends more time concentrating on the main points of PM than the fine details. However, he doesn't skip needed material to pass the exam; he has just made a science of presenting what needs to be presented and playing down what doesn't require as much emphasis. (This is what Kim's Heldman's book above was missing. She spent equal time on each topic which made it impossible to determine the "important" parts to understand for the PMP exam). 1 week access to website was absolutely critical to my success. After months of reading this book, the free 1 week access to Velociteach's website provided a fresh alternative to viewing the same material, and most importantly, access to hundreds of new practice questions and practice exams. I waited 7 days before my exam before viewing the website and this was perfect to allow the material to stay fresh in my mind for the exam. This website is a must!


Summary:

1. Research the material you buy before purchasing the "best available" book at the bookstore. Don't let your ambition get the best of you on this one. Spend the couple of hours to do the homework (researching PMP blogs & book reviews) up front and you'll save that time many times over later.

2. Buy Andy's most current edition book and make sure that the PMP exam isn't going to updated during the time your studying a specific edition of Andy's book. It's rare, but PMI will update their PMP test questions (every 2yrs?) and you don't want to be caught studying the wrong material when this happens.

3. Use the 1 week free online access, which comes with Andy's book, to Velociteach's website. This gives you access to hundreds of additional questions & answers and exam prep tests.

4. Take every practice exam available via Andy's book & website (Velociteach).

5. Keep in mind the PMP exam will take longer than your practice exam's because the PMP exam questions are, usually at least, twice as long.

Good Luck!

I just took the PMI-PMP exam on Friday, October 29th and I "passed" all 6 areas with "Moderately Proficient". Just to give you an idea of how I studied and how I utilized the book:

(1) I read the Andy Crowe book cover-to-cover,
(2) I took all of the Andy Crowe exam questions in the book,
(3) Any questions I answered wrong I reviewed in the book,
(4) I watched all of the online lessons offered at the back of the book through Velociteach and then I took all of the online practice exam questions.
(5) I memorized all of the 42 processes and I just made sure I had a general idea of where all of the inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs belong (mostly common sense), and
(6) I made sure I memorized and I could apply the variance and index formulas under the schedule and cost knowledge areas.

My opinion is this one book is proficient for anyone just wanting to pass the exam in about a month or so. I never even looked at the PMBOK guide and I don't even know what the PMBOK looks like. I'm smart but not brilliant. I actually pushed back my exam about a week or so when I had already started studying and I came back to Amazon.com to read the negative reviews about the Andy Crowe book and I got spooked. If you follow those six steps using this book you should be fine. HINT: If you take the computer test you can use the first 15 minutes Prometric gives you to do a "data dump" and write down the 42 processes and formulas in the blue book they give you before starting the test. The 15 minutes is typically provided so you can take a quick tutorial on how their computer testing works but that is pretty straight-forward if you know how to use a computer already.

Again, this one book should do it. I don't even know who Andy Crowe (except the writer of this book) is or really what the big fuss is about this exam so please accept this as a completely unbiased review.

The What:
Review of the 4th Edition - Fourth printing October 2009.

The Good:
I passed the exam after three weeks study, this book was critical to my success. Total prep costs: purchase price of this book.

The Process:
Read the PMBOK, or at least try to before falling asleep or getting frustrated by all the unfocused, testable information. Just remember, all the information that can be on the test is in there (except PMI Ethics) so it is wise to at least review the PMBOK.

Then
1) Read the PMBOK Guide as deeply as you can before going into a Coma.
2) Read the Andy Crowe book and take the test at the end of each Chapter. The exams at the end of each chapter are similar to the actual test questions. I thought they were just a little easier than the real exam.
3) Sign up for the Exam. You will need the pressure of this "end date" for motivation.
4) Sign up for the free 1 week insite/[...] trial subscription offered at the end of the Andy Crowe book. The test questions are a little easy and they repeat questions - so, you should score above 75 to be confident of passing.
5) Take at least 2 of the online courses every day and then a practice test. While watching the online course, have the PMBOK Guide and the Andy Crowe book open and follow along. This will help you identify anything they lazy editors missed on the 4th edition update.
6) By day 5 you should be done with the online course. Start taking as many practice exams as you can. Keep notes on all your wrong answers and study only those. There is no need to study the correct answers - you already know those! If you need more test questions try the recommendations at [...]. Taking practice tests is what helped me the most.
7) Two days before the exam load the formulas (page 182) and process diagram (page 36) into your head. The formulas helped me for at least 8 questions. The process diagram helps keep the 42 processes organized so you can verify your process related questions. Dump the formulas and process diagram to paper while the 15-minute exam tutorial is playing.
8) Relax and take the test. I took it with a serious head cold and easily passed.

The Bad:
The book has still not been completely updated to reflect the 4th edition of the PMBOK and was either hastily put to market and/or has lazy editors. There are several sections missing or overlooked. The Index is not completely updated and sends you to the wrong page. Example "RACI charts" sends you to page 335 which is the first page of the Risk Management Chapter Test!
The test questions repeat too often and are easier than the exam questions

The Bottom Line:
This book is a good prep tool. You really need to use this book as a guide WITH the PMBOK. The most import aspect of this book was the solid organization, the free one week online course and online practice exams. I can't give it 5 stars due to the book errors.

I passed the PMP certification in my first attempt. I finished my exam in 3 hrs and achieved moderately Proficient in all 5 Process Groups. I read a LOT of reviews about this book and Rita Mulcahy and decided to buy both. Remember ANDY CROWE's book alone is just NOT ENOUGH to pass. But Andy's book will make it VERY VERY EASY for you to understand the topics. This book is very essential for you to PASS THE EXAM IN YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT!

1. I read Andy Crowe's book three times and made sure answer all the questions end of each chapter. I received around 65% in my first reading and by the third reading I got around 90% and above. Make sure you read end to end of this book and DO NOT miss anything.

The text size in the book was very helpful. The author describes the whole topic in a VERY EASY manner to understand and I suggest you to read this book FIRST before going over Rita's. The author also described the importance, difficulty and memorization required for each chapter. This really helped me. Author's language was very easy, positive and i just felt very comfortable reading it overall.

2. Then I read Rita's book twice and made sure to answer every question and read the book end to end. This really helped me find some topics that were not covered in Andy's. Esp the Quality Management chapter - I found Rita's book very helpful. Although Rita's book had some important topics that I did not see in Andy's book explicitly.

However, from the first page in Rita's book I noticed a FEAR in me while I was reading this book. Rita's presented the information in a way that YOU WILL FAIL IF YOU ARE NOT PERFECT. That scared a hell out of me :) and that language was totally unwarranted. I also felt the text size was small, the information presented was a lot more.

Even though Rita's made it sound EXTREMELY HARD TO PASS Overall This book is VERY ESSENTIAL for you to PASS in your FIRST ATTEMPT. Remember DO NOT GET CARRIED AWAY WITH FEAR AFTER READING THIS BOOK.

Actually After reading Rita's book for the second time I was so scared that I went back and read Andy's book for the fourth time to build confidence in me and THAT HELPED!!

3. I NEVER READ PMBOK. Well this is my experience, however, I read few reviews where some people have read PMBOK also.

4. Total Time: I took over 3 months to complete my preparation.

5. Other tips:

- Do I need to know the ITTO for every Process Group?

I took a photocopy of the Processes and ITTO for each Process Group and read them over a 100 times and before the exam I was very comfortable and confident.

- Did I take a formal PM Training?

Yes, I took a 6 month PM training based on PMBOK through my employer. But this was last year.

- Did I take additional Practice exam questions?

Yes, a LOT :) One of them was Andy Crowe's Velocity preparation. This comes free (well, for 1 week) with the book. I used the last week to go over the questions. I also referred to pmtools.com etc.

Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!!

I waited to write a review until after I took the PMP. I was all set to buy Rita's book from the advice of several co-workers. However, after doing a little research, the scale seemed to tip a little in Andy's favor (and the book was about $20 cheaper), so I went for it. I found the book to be very well laid out, and I felt very confident in the book. I don't know that this is advised, but I read ONLY Andy's book. I didn't read the PMBOK. I did take a few of the free practice exams all over the Internet (and consistently scored in the high 70's - low 80s)...I did this over a 3 week period. I went in today to take the PMP, and I felt like it was much easier than I thought it would be. I felt very confident that I was going to get a "Congratulations" message at the end of the exam...and I did. I did get a little freaked out, because a lot of people on the Internet made comments that they read Rita's book, Andy's book, several other books, the PMBOK, and took 3500+ practice questions - and still found the exam to be extremely difficult. I personally think this is overkill, and either you know it or you don't. My belief is if you truly have project management experience, good logical skills to work through the questions, and a good book like Andy's...you will pass...on the first try!