Wednesday, August 22, 2018

PMP Success Story: Mission PMP

By Shalini Pathak, PMP




Introduction
I wanted to advance my carrier in management line so my husband told me to get the PMP® credential. And that's how I started to prepare for the PMP certification.

PMP 35 Contact Hours Experience
After all my research, I joined Satya’s classes for my training. I did google search and found good feedback about his classes and finally reached to attend the training on 10th March 2018.

Before the training I had read the PMBOK® Guide once. But it was Satya’s teachings that made sense to me and cleared all my doubts. I still remember all his tips and particularly the sentence “Most people could not pass PMP because they could not gather the courage to attempt it”. It kept me motivated.

Note down all the one liners which Satya tells in the class room. Along with that follow the examples, questions, videos and specially graphs. Take notes of all.

Listen carefully what Satya says when a new knowledge area starts.

Own Study
I started studying from November 2017 but only reading books were very boring until I attended training.


After training the PMBOK new version was introduced due to which I became little restless. But as I Satya had mentioned that there are not too many changes in the new edition. Hence, I decided to put my best in the first attempt. 

I used to study while commuting in the auto to and from the office. Continuity matters in the preparation. I had installed few free mobile apps which I used to solve on the way in auto. I used to study 2 hours on weekdays and minimum 4 hours over the weekends 

Before exam which was on Tuesday, I took Monday off and Saturday to Monday till 5pm I devoted my full time to ITTOs, their concepts why it is in particular process and other important topics which I had made notes during study. I was always getting 65 to 70 percent in mock tests. I attended more than 2000 questions which were available in the internet.

Due to preparation I was not able to spend time with my son which was a biggest motivation for me to clear in first attempt. Credit goes to my husband who always motivated me and helped me to achieve me this certificate.

PMP Exam Experience
I took exam appointment in Whitefield centre on 31st July 2018. My strategy was to finish every question within one minute so that I can save time for mathematical questions.

The test paper was full of tricky questions. 
  • I had to choose the document which will be updated as output or part of input to the process. 
  • Three to four questions on control chart and scatter diagram. 
  • Around twenty to thirty questions were on risk management aspects and change requests. 
  • It appeared as paper is full of Stakeholder Management, Communications Management, Risk Management, Procurement Management and Resource Management knowledge areas.
  • Four to five questions were mathematical and they were straight forward.
  • I did not get any agile related, best practices questions or emerging trend questions.

I was not sure if I can sit for so long and hence didn’t drink much water. But I didn’t feel the need to get up and refresh myself. I had put noise cancelling headphones which kept me concentrate on my test as noise is biggest distraction for me.

I finished my paper in 3hrs 45 mins. I had marked 8 questions for review in which I changed only 1 answer. After finishing when the result process was in progress I was not sure about result as you don't get much time to think about your answer as speed matters.
I passed the exam with 3 Above Targets and 2 Targets. 

Suggestions for PMP Aspirants
  • Use your commute time. Be always in touch with your preparation, even for 15mins. It helps to keep the aim of PMP in your mind. 
  • Don't read many books. Choose only one book apart from PMBOK to clear your concepts. 
  • What is not in PMBOK guide, will not be in the PMP exam (very less likely). It’s like what is not in the WBS, is not part of the project.

Conclusion
I hope that it will help me enhance my personal and professional growth.

Brief Profile
Name: Shalini Pathak
Role: Senior Lead QE
Organization: Tavant Technologies



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