Customer Reviews

PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide, Third Edition (Certification Press)

5 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(2)
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With so many books on the market for PMP prep, and some with a much higher profile & price tag, I chose this book as my sole source as I successfully studied for the exam. I found the 100% coverage to be true, and it's definitely a lot more entertaining than the PMBOK!

Over an extended period of time, I bought and read many books to pass the PmP exam, I compare all off them, this book was the best, the material, and value is exceptional,
strongly recommend this book over other authors.
The book includes a Cd with preparation exams, videos that are of great quality,
the author gives you the right direction and where to focus your study with out wasting
time,this is a safe bet, I'm glad to have this book in my Library.

This is all you need to pass the PmP exam.
Ruben E.

I started using this book for PMP exam review and I found that there are a surprising number of errors and typos in the text, along with some confusing graphical diagrams. This was particularly noticible in the section on Risk Management, but I found problems in other sections and on the CD too.

I have emailed the publisher asking for an errata sheet for the book -- we'll see how McGraw-Hill responds.

I have found the 25 questions at the end of each chapter to be helpful for my preparation, and I expect to use the sample test on the CD too.

As a project management instructor at a state university and someone who has reviewed countless project management books, I highly recommend this book.

For the price, you can't beat this. If you have the money, you can get the more popular PMP Exam Prep, Seventh Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam, which I like slightly better but it also costs twice as much.

PROS

- This book, when accompanied with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), is what you need at a minimum. Although I know people who passed the PMP only using this book, I don't recommend it. There are topics that are on the exam that are covered in the PMBOK that are not here and vice versa. Unless you are a good guesser, buy both.

- The chapters are aligned with the PMBOK, based on knowledge area. You'll find that all PMP prep books are organized either by knowledge area (e.g. scope, time, cost) or by process group (e.g. initiating, planning, executing). I prefer the former since I believe it's easier to compartmentalize knowledge areas, say learn about cost at once. The latter would cover cost in three different areas of the book since that would follow the life of a project.

- Joseph's writing style is easy to understand.

- The sample questions are very good overall. The current exam passing score is 61% but you should aim for 75% from this book.

CONS

- Not enough time spent on Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs (ITTOs). This is the number one reason why you need the PMBOK. You don't need to memorize them but you'll need to understand them really well and Rita's book is not sufficient in this area.

- Exercises could be a little better. Some topics require more reinforcement than others (e.g. activity sequencing, earned value) and this book could have offered more practice in some areas.

OVERALL

- For people who like to study independently, this is an excellent resource for any project management certification exam. Make sure you buy the PMBOK to accompany this.

- If you opt to take a training course, this book can be a nice supplement to your course materials.

- You can buy either 2nd or 3rd edition of this book and you'll be fine.

This is hands down the best PMP prep book out there, it has video, practice questions, and is written very well

The book itself is fine and the writing style makes it easy to read.
However, the practice exams are of poor quality. The exams repeat the same questions, give the answer multiple times for a question, and occasionally mark your answer wrong even if it was right. Once you complete an exam, you can get a report showing the correct answers to the questions you got wrong. However, the report does not show all the original choices so it's hard to determine what mistakes you made. In short, don't but this book if you are looking to practice the exam.