The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) is no doubt one of the most difficult professional accreditations to achieve. Studying for the four-hour 200 question test gave me flashbacks to my high school days. Trying to cram as much knowledge into my skull as possible to get a good score on the SAT was very similar to getting ready for the PMP. (For the record, I scored a so-so 1170 on the SAT. Being a somewhat lazy student, I figured that was good enough. Thankfully the good people at the University of Florida agreed. I would probably get laughed all the way to Tallahassee if I tried to sneak into UF with that kind of score today!)
After passing the PMP with flying colors (‘above target’ in all process groups!), I am happy to report that the exam is not as tricky as this famous fictional test:
The PMP is a test that you can win. And there are tons of websites and articles out there that claim to help you do so. I went to many of them to get ready for my exam. Most are trying to sell you something. I am not. Based on my experience, I’ve come up with eight action-oriented items that can help anyone interested in getting their PMP certification. If that’s you, I hope these prove useful.
1. Don’t Apply for the PMP Until You Are Ready
To qualify for the PMP, the PMI requires that you have 4,500 hours of project management experience if you are a college graduate. If you do not have a college degree, they require 6,500 hours. The extra hours requirement doesn’t make sense to me, but that’s a topic for another article…
My first piece of advice is to not apply for the PMP until you actually have the hours of experience required. You need to document these hours in detail on the PMP application, which is one helluva form to fill out. I’m sure there are ways for almost anyone who has worked for more than a few years in most business environments to fake like they have the experience. Don’t.
My fifteen-plus years leading projects in IT did more to get me ready for the exam than classes or studying ever could. The questions you are going to face on the exam are almost all scenario-based. If you’ve spent many thousands of hours managing projects, you have already tackled many of them. The real trick to passing the PMP is to be able to translate your experience into the PMI’s language. Understanding the business logic behind the questions gives you a significant head start doing that.
2. Find the Right Education Provider
In addition to experience, you have to take at least 35 hours of formal project management education. This classroom time is critical. I was fortunate to work with New Horizons to get my certification. They are a great organization that helps train people in a whole range of business and technical areas. For displaced workers like me, their services are invaluable.
Through New Horizons, I was able to take a week-long class with a world-class instructor. She was great at talking through all ten of the process knowledge areas, the five process groups, and the 49 different processes. More so, she used practical examples and exercises to help us understand the concepts.
It’s possible to take these types of classes online. Once again, I’m going to say, don’t. Putting your butt in a seat in a classroom with a great teacher will make learning what you need to know so much easier.
3. Understand Your Learning Style
Before you take your PMP class, you need to know how you best learn new information. I was very fortunate that I previously worked for a great company with an engaged and innovative Director of Organizational Effectiveness. He brought in a speaker that introduced us to the concept of VARK. In a nutshell, there are four main ways that humans learn:
- Visual – We learn by seeing
- Aural – We learn by listening
- Read/Write – We learn by reading
- Kinesthetic – We learn by doing
If you have ever tried to read a humungous book like the PMBOK and your learning style is not conducive to picking up knowledge by reading, it’s going to be a painful and likely fruitless exercise. My learning style is strongly kinesthetic. I had to adapt to how I prepared for the PMP accordingly.
You can learn your VARK style and learn more about the concepts for free here. It doesn’t take long and is well worth it.
4. Use the PMBOK the Right Way
Ah, the Project Management Book of Knowledge. 756 pages of the most exciting reading imaginable. In Bizzaro World.
One of the websites I visited to learn about passing the PMP advised that no one should take the exam until they have read the entire PMBOK twice. Nope, that was never going to happen for me. If that sounds like you too, it doesn’t mean you can just ignore the thing though. There is a ton of useful information in the book, and it’s a must-use resource to be able to pass the exam. Learn to use it the right way.
For me, that meant taking practice exams and then following up in the book regarding questions that I got wrong. Don’t know the difference between a Salience Grid and an Affinity Diagram? The PMBOK has the answers. If you learn by reading, maybe you can pick up all the information you need by poring through the book a couple of times. If so, great. Do it. If not, figure out how to get the information from the book into your brain in a way that works for you.
5. Practice Everyday
It may be my kinesthetic style coming out, but I practiced for the exam every day. My go-to resource was PMP Pocket Prep. This app lets you take mini-tests on your phone using the same format as the real exam. Their default is a quick ten-question quiz, though the settings can be customized if you want more or fewer questions at a time. The app provides feedback by process area on how you are performing. You can choose to take exams focused on just the processes you are struggling with for additional reinforcement.
You can download the app for free, though this only gives you a limited number of questions. They have two pricing tiers that provide you with access to more. I paid for the ‘ultimate’ package to get unlimited access and ended up answering 800 questions before my exam. It was $35 well spent. The PMP Pocket Prep website has more information.
New Horizons also provided access to PMP exam simulations from Kaplan. Their site lets you take four-hour practice exams with 200 questions just like the actual test. I did this twice. It was a great experience that helped me be ready for what taking the four-hour exam was going to feel like. Their PMP study package starts at $99.
I’m not getting any sort of commission from these companies, so I’m true to my word when I say I am not trying to sell you anything. 😀 I do think it’s critical for anyone prepping for the test to use tools like these to practice. I doubt I would have passed without them.
6. Study Everyday
There’s a difference between practicing and studying. My approach was to take practice exams and then focus on the questions I did not get right. This approach was easy to follow with PMP Pocket Prep. I could take a ten-question quiz and then do some research on the handful of answers I got wrong. It was harder after the 200 question Kaplan tests, though I did spend hours after each going through what I got wrong.
Both testing systems provided detailed information about the questions answered incorrectly. PMBOK references were also cited for additional reading on the topics.
As part of my study process, I ended up documenting the inputs, outputs, and tools & techniques used for each process area on an Excel grid. Others I know have used flashcards to do something similar. This process was painful but necessary. I could refer to my grid whenever I needed to during my study sessions, and it really helped reinforce the information.
Again, it comes down to your learning style, but you need to come up with the right way to absorb the knowledge for you.
7. Learn the Language
Being able to pass the PMP is all about learning the language of Project Management as defined by the PMI. You may have learned how to manage projects at one company (like me) or many, but odds are that the terms and concepts you used do not mesh up with the vocabulary the PMI wants you to know. If you go to France, expect to need to speak French. If you take the PMP, you need to speak PMI.
After practicing and studying, you will start to notice patterns in how their project management language works. There are approximately one gazillion different inputs, outputs, tools & techniques, testing methods, analysis methods, and leadership concepts the PMP wants you to know. You can’t learn them all by pure memorization. Like learning a language, you need to rely on understanding the concepts so the vocabulary becomes natural and not just individual words that don’t stand on their own.
8. Set a Deadline and Stick to It
When it comes to intimidating exams like the PMP, it’s easy to delay scheduling the test because you don’t think you are ready. This is a mistake. You’re going to make yourself crazy going over the same information again and again. Set a deadline for yourself and schedule the exam. It could be two, four, or six weeks in the future, but make it relatively soon — practice and study towards being ready for that date.
The PMP is a difficult test to take, but I will let you in on a secret. The practice questions I took using PMP Pocket Prep and on the Kaplan site were harder than the actual exam itself. I don’t know if this was by design or because I had learned the material thoroughly by exam day. In the end, it doesn’t matter. With the right preparation, any test can be passed. You have the power to ace the PMP. Go out and do it.
