Customer Reviews

The PMP Exam: How to Pass On Your First Try (Test Prep series)

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After studying Rita Mulcahy's "PMP Exam Prep" book for months, I found myself so frustrated and confused that I started looking for other material. I went online and found the positive reviews of Andy Crowe's "The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try" and bought the book, and I am SO glad I did!

What took months to understand reading the overly-complex RMC book became crystal clear when I read Crowe's book. Crowe organizes his material well, and at the beginning of each chapter he conveniently defines the material's difficulty, memorization level and importance on the exam in terms of "High, Medium or Low". Each page has a tab on the edge that identifies what process you are in, so if you find yourself deep in concentration and suddenly wondering, "Hey am I reading about Quality Assurance or Quality Control?" there's a large indicator right in front of you to help.

On a purely mechanical level, Crowe went out of his way to make sure this book was organized to help you study. I really appreciated that.

The material itself is excellent. As some have pointed out, it is a little slim in some areas, but the book's purpose is to help you pass the exam and in this regard, Crowe admits that he glosses over some items that tend to appear less than others. I recommend you read this book and refer back to the PMBOK and one additional study guide whenever you are confused or need additional detail.

I did find that PTA (Point of Total Assumption) was covered here, where it wasn't covered in the other material I used. I didn't find any major shortcomings in the coverage of the book.

I have read criticisms of the book's grammar and spelling. I did find a few (under 5) spelling errors, but I honestly appreciated the "big print" type and simplistic words. The material covered on the PMP Exam is pretty complex and tough. And too many PMP education providers seem to think they have to mimic that complexity and difficulty to teach the material. It was incredibly refreshing to find a book that actually went out of its way to make the material simple.

The book was also an easy and fast read, unlike all of the other materials I found. I read the first half of the book (up through the end of the "Time" chapter) in one day, and the second half in another day. I then went through the book with a highlighter and re-read it, in 2 days time again, highlighting all the key points. During each of these passes, I took the questions at the end of each chapter. Finally I skimmed the material several times, only glossing over the highlighted points. Doing this I could flip through the entire book in a day. I did that twice. Finally, two days before the exam I took the entire 200 question test at the end of the book, scoring 90%.

The only suggestion I have to improve this book would be to make the exam questions more difficult, so that they more closely mimic the tough, brutal questions I encountered on the PMP exam.

The free material at the Velociteach website was great. I signed up for the online site two weeks prior to sitting for the exam. The online quizzes were good, but limited. The real benefit for me was the classroom slides which presented the material very well. Even though it was mostly a rehash of what was found in the book, it was slightly different material, presented very well, using repetitive images and phrases that really helped key concepts stick in my head. (After going online, I easily memorized word for word the definition of a "Baseline" as they always referred back to the same images and the same words on certain key points. I found this GREAT for learning!)

I took the PMP Exam a few days ago and passed fairly well, thanks completely to Andy Crowe's book. Crowe explains early on in the book how much weight each process group carries on the exam. Calculating my scores in each process group (Initiation, Planning, Executing, M+C, Closing and Professional Responsibility) x the weight each group carries on the exam, I arrived at an estimate of 75% for my score on the overall exam, passing is approximately 61%. My weakest area was in Initiating by the way, which surprised me. Note that I took the final exam in the book shortly before the exam and scored 90%. I would recommend that you get to an 85% or 95% level on this particular book's questions prior to taking the exam.

I am very pleased with my score on the exam and with this book and Velociteach in general. This is my PMP preparation book of choice and I highly recommend it to anyone who is studying for their PMP credential.

have recently read a few PMP books cover to cover, and I thought I should share my experience with other readers with an intention to help them to find the right books. A brief review of what I think are the top three PMP books follows:

1. This Book: The PMP Exam.
This is a great book and relatively self contained. You can study this book and pass the PMP exam. There are a only a few topics, which are not covered in adequate depth. The material coverage, however, is organized around the knowledge areas while the exam objectives are organized in order of the process groups. That breaks the exam objective coverage into pieces, and may cause confusion. I consider the book price un-reasonably high.
I recommend this book if you are looking for a self contained book to pass the PMP exam.

2. PMP In Depth by Paul Sanghera, Thomson Course Technology.
This book has just hit the market and is relatively unknown. But I found this a rock solid book. Almost all the topics are covered with adequate depth. The material is presented in a logical learning sequence and the presentation is very cohesive: no hopping from topic to topic. It's an easy and interesting read. All concepts are clearly defined and expalined. This makes it a great book for both the PMP and the CAPM exams. I feel that the communication management could have more coverage. Although for the exams, the current coverage is enough.
The material is organized in order of the project lifecycle (the process groups) consistent with the way the exam objectives are organized. Furthermore, exam objectives covered in a chapter are explained in the beginning of the chapter. This makes the exam preparation easier and confusion-free. The book is very reasonably proced.
I recommend this book for the PMP and the CAPM exams, and also if you just want to build a good understanding of the project management basics.

3. The PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy, RMC Publications.
It is a very good book if you are either taking a course from the author or from an instructor who is using this book as a text book. There are lots of exercises. Unfortunately, this is not a self contained book. Topics are not covered with enough depth. Also there is a poor flow and a lots of hopping from topic to topic. The coverage of topics is organized around the knowledge areas while the exam objectives are organized in order of the process groups. That breaks the exam objective coverage into pieces, and may cause confusion.Moreover, it's outrageously high priced. Too many cross references and over-hyped.
Overall I recommend this book of you are using it in a course.

This is the first book I read to study for my exam and I passed today!!! I think it's time for me to contribute and provide comments to the other people. This book is very easy to read; however, YOU CAN'T JUST RELY ON THIS BOOK! I brought the "PMP In depth by Paul Sangher" and it is also a good book to read. In conclusion, please please read the PMBOK after you read this book since you don't want to be like me -- I got very low score and I thought I couldn't pass!! Hope this helps and good luck ;-)

I had read the first three chapters of the PMBOK only to be put to sleep by the dry material. Saw the good reviews for this book and decided to give it a try.

Most of my co-workers have purchased the Rita Mulcahy study guide but the presentation seems like it doesn't do as good of a job in catching and keeping the readers attention.

After about three weeks of studying that included reading the book twice. I passed (not such a high score but a pass 65% is just as good as a pass 85%). If my goal had been a high score it would have required more weeks of study. And there is a really good place on the internet for taking simulation tests to help determine readiness. Take a look at the pmstudy site. The 2 week Insite membership site in the book doesn't give one enough new questions to determine readiness.

When I started studying for the PMP, I started w/ Rita Mulcahy's book "PMP Exam Prep." After a few days of trying to learn the material her way, I gave up. It was almost as bad, dry, and confusing as reading the PMBOK guide itself. I did some research, read the reviews from Amazon and decided to try Andy Crowe's book. Whew, what a relief! The material is laid out in a way that it just makes sense and I would recommend the book (and have) to anyone who wants to learn the material. The book is really good at teaching the ITTOs, sequencing, and the processes and knowledge areas that you have to know for the exam. The material is easy to read and the repetition really does help you learn the material! HOWEVER, the tests provided at the end of chapters, at the end of the book, and on the provided website will give you a very big false sense of security! I was easily passing the provided tests with 80-90%s. When I purchased Rita Mulcahy's exam prep questions software ($$$), my percentage correct rate went from 80-90%s on Andy's tests to 50-60s with Rita's exam questions. When I finally was getting to really understand the process and procedures, and passing Rita's questions in the 80-90%s, not only did the questions Andy provided almost seem ridiculously easy, but I knew I was ready for the test.
HOWEVER, even though I knew the material cold, and could easily answer what ever Rita or Andy could throw at me, I only passed the PMP with a 78%.
Bottom Line: learn the material from Andy Crowe, test using other materials/merchandise.
P.S. even though the test was only 200 questions, when the first three questions of the exam is stuff you've never heard of, it makes for a very long day...
Good luck and I hope this info helps you!

I passed the PMP test on my first try on September 25th 2006. My preparation material:

1. The PMP Exam: How to Pass On Your First Try(Andy Crowe)
2. PMP Exam Prep, Fifth Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam(Rita Mulcahy)
3. PM FASTrack: PMP Exam Simulation Software, Version 5 (CD-ROM)(Rita Mulcahy)
4. PMBOK

I read Andy Crowe's book twice. I felt that it has a lot of information in a very easy to read format. I actually liked it better than Rita's book since Andy explained certain confusing concepts VERY clearly. His writing style is very easy to read without putting you to sleep. He covered all the material from PMBOK and more. On the other side, the sample questions in his book are too easy. I used Rita's book more as a supplement, but it's a good book to study as well. I used Rita's CD for practice tests and questions.
I read the PMBOK 2 days before the exam just to see if there's anything the other books missed and there was none.

I purchased this book after reading lot of good reviews on Amazon. My study plan was to read this book and PMBOK thoroughly and take the test. Three weeks before taking the exam, I took the 200 questions @4hrs at the end of book and got 92%. The same day I read some comments about false sense of security one may have after reading this book. I read some reviews where candidates recommended the Rita's book. I immediately purchase Rita's book and read it thoroughly. So my primary book was Andy's and secondary book was Rita's. This strategy paid off very well. In almost 80% questions on exam day, I found myself referring to the Andy's book. Rita helped me in other 20%. This 20% is a lot and can be a deciding factor in your success. Bottom line is GET THE BOTH books. I can never stress enough on this. Read Andy'd first; make it primary and then Rita's. You will feel confident and hopefully do well in exam. I never touched the PMBOK except during the training for 35 contact hrs.

AG

As others have stated, it definitely lives up to it's title, and I passed on the first try. Not by a wide margin, mind you, but it's title is not "How to pass by a landslide on the first try", is it?

My criticims are like most other reviews. The questions and excercises, while very good in early study, become old and repetitive. A 3rd party test application would be suggested to compliment this book. Also, I did encounter some never-before-seen material, but obviously not enough to hurt me too badly.

I went in thinking I'd do better than I did, but I did pass. Overall I was satisfied with this as my only source of study, plus the PMBOK. One final suggestion -- unless the author explicitly says, "you will not need to calculate this...", learn the formulas! You'll be glad you did.

This book is a valuable guide to PMBOK. I Passed after reading it along with the PMBOK. The PMBOK is of course the bible of PMP exam, but this book is extremely pleasing to read, concise, and geared to highlight important concepts from an exam view, and also relate to the overall highlevel "architecture" of the processes.

The only thing to be aware is that, in certain areas, I felt topics were inadequately covered, and that is where the PMBOK comes in.

I passed on my first try. However, I would say the reason I passed is because I have used Rita's PM Fastrack (I didn't use Rita prep guide tho). this book is good for an introduction.