From Dwayne Wright PMP - Certified FileMaker 10 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
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Very happy to report that yesterday I passed the PMP certification exam! Although you have four hours to take the exam, I sailed through the 200 questions in just under 3 hours. I felt pretty good about that but didn’t hit the “Finish Exam” button until there was less than 2 minutes left. I had marked 20 or so questions for review and took the remaining hour to go over them. I didn’t finish reviewing all of these but wasn’t feeling any pressure to do so. I guess I probably changed my answers on 30% of the questions I did take a second look at. Impossible to know if my first impressions of these questions were correct or my revised answer choices. Heck, it is possible I just shuffled incorrect answers around (grin)!
The exam results are broken down into six areas and you get an indication if you did below average, average or above average in those areas. I got average marks in four areas and above average in the remaining two. I had to chuckle when I read the results because my above average areas were in planning and closing. Yep, that pretty much describes my work ethic!
In preparing for the exam, I cast a wide net. This included a project management certification course at a local college, a comprehensive multimedia training course called “The PMPrepcast” and a collection of four study books.
The local college experience probably wasn’t the most efficient use of time or money in preparing for the exam. As I write this, I have 6 hours remaining in one class and one other 15 hour class to complete their 150 hour project management certificate curriculum. I’m not saying I regret the decision to pursue the certificate with them, far from it. I have enjoyed and have benefited immensely from most of my classes. In fact, I hope to explore other classes at the same college (after a small break).
From a pure money / time perspective, here is a breakdown of what the local college route looked like for me.
- I spent about $3,500 in class fees & books
- Spent over 200 hours in class and driving time
- It only partially helped me on the PMP test.
However, I well be a better PM, better developer and a better workforce team member because of this investment. So I wouldn't recommend anyone counting out the college experience solely due to the budget/time expended.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Project Management Prepcast! You can find it at ( http://www.project-management-prepcast.com/ ) and I recommend it highly! I purchased the prepcast at $99.00 and the PMP Exam Formulas at $29.97. This is the most efficient use of time and money I can imagine for PMP exam preparation. I listened to all the episodes on my iPhone while traveling, hiking and morning jogs. I watched a few episodes on my computer but mainly it was an audio only learning experience for me. I don’t think I would have passed the exam without the PMPrepcast.
NOW ABOUT THE BOOKS
For my local college classes, I had to purchase the PMPBOK, MBA in Project Management and the Rita Mulchay PMP Prep book & Flipbook. On my own, I purchased the Kim Heldman PMP Prep book and the Pass The PMP On Your First Try by Andrew Crowe.
Although I liked the MBA In Project Management book, I never really considered it as a PMP exam prep book. I don’t think I ever opened it after my Bellevue College Fundamentals Of Project Management class. The PMBOK I used all the time but never really finished reading it cover to cover. I really like the PMBOK and used it extensively when reviewing practice exam results!
The Rita Mulchay books I had to purchase for the local college PMP Prep class. Rita Mulchay obviously knows her stuff! However, her presentation style just isn’t a good fit for me. I did read the exam prep book cover to cover and did make it through all the pages of the flip book. I took her practice exams multiple times and that was indeed valuable. Some folks really love her books and they are definitely popular. I recommend them with just the slightest bit of hesitation.
I had been listening to a podcast called PM Lessons Learned (also recommended by the way) and one of the key presenters kept recommending the Kim Heldman book. I looked it up on Amazon and it was a very good deal! The book is very dense with content, comes with practice tests and comes with a CD that is incredible! The CD has a pdf of the book, audio content (which I listened to on the iPhone) and a quiz engine! I didn’t read her book cover to cover but I gorged myself on pieces of it while doing research. If I came across a practice exam question I did not know about, my “go to” resource was always Kim’s book first!
I picked up the Andy Crowe book about six weeks before I scheduled the exam. I really like this book! It is different than all the others but complimentary to them in every way. Loaded with the best practice exam questions I have seen! For those of you that really like to read a book cover to cover, this is the book you will want to get!
If you are thinking about the PMP Exam, I would recommend the PrepCast, Kim Heldman's book and Andy Crowe’s book without reservation. That will set you back about $250 and that may be all you need! The PrepCast can even be used to meet your 35 hours of training requirements for the PMP exam!
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2010 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 2:31PM 