What Should You Know about the PMP Exam Changes in 2021 and Beyond? (Part 1)

The Project Management Professional (PMP®) examination offered by Project Management Institute (PMI) has changed this year on 2nd January. PMI first made this announcement earlier and has made the new Examination Content Outline (ECO) available for aspiring PMPs.

Many PMP aspirants don't know on these changes. In fact, many even don't know the importance of the ECO, which is actually the blueprint of the exam! As I interact with PMPs - aspiring and successful, this information gap is striking. This article tries to address this information gap.

The first version of this article was published by MPUG. This is a refined and latest version of the article as of 2021 and beyond. This article will be covered in two part series, because of its size. 

I've also taken a number of questions which I face from aspiring PMPs during my interactions and a detailed FAQ will be available in part-2 of the article.

Why the Change?

Project management as a profession is increasing in complexity. It is evolving to meet new challenges of this century—rapid technological changes, expectations and aspirations of a new generation of workers, and of course, new methodologies and practices pertaining to Agile and/or DevOps, which are now mainstream.

PMI understands the shifts taking place in project management. In fact, every three to five years, PMI conducts a Role Delineation Study (RDS) or Job Task Analysis (JTA), which checks the knowledge, skills, and tasks required to perform the role of a project manager. This RDS or JTA, in turn, impacts the creation of the ECO due to the RDS providing the blueprint for the exam. PMP exam questions obviously link to the role of the project manager, so shifts are unavoidable. The final blueprint for the exam is documented in the ECO. This is depicted in the below figure.

The ECO is crucial because questions in the PMP exam are mapped against the ECO. The ECO mentions the domains on which exam takers will be evaluated, the tasks that are supposed to be performed in these domains, and also the knowledge and skills that are needed for project managers performing these tasks. The expected percentage of questions that will come from each domain is also outlined in the ECO, so that the right number of questions are in place for a valid PMP exam.

The last time such a study was conducted was in 2015. It resulted in changes to the exam in 2016. The recent years’ study has resulted in the new ECO, and hence the PMP exam has changed from January 2, 2021.

Important Dates *** NEW ***

If you are an aspiring PMP, you should be aware of the following dates.

Looking at the above dates, you have to follow the new ECO, which is effective from January 2, 2021. This new ECO will continue to be there in Year 2022, too.

Overall Changes

Now that we know the change process for the PMP examination and we’ve covered the important dates, let’s get to what the changes actually are.

Change #1: Domains

The old PMP exam was based on five domains, which are outlined in the old ECO. The domains are:

• Initiating: Outlines the processes to define a new project or a new phase of an existing project and have the needed authorization to start off.
• Planning: Outlines the processes to establish the scope of the project, refine objectives on scope, time, cost, quality, etc. and informs on how these objectives will be achieved.
• Executing: Outlines the processes to complete the work defined in the project management plan, which is created in the Planning domain.
• Monitoring and Controlling: Outlines the processes to track, review, and control the progress and performance of the project and manage corresponding changes.
• Closing: Outlines the processes to finalize all activities across all process groups to formally close the project or phase or contract.

The new PMP exam is based on three domains, which are outlined in the new ECO. They are:

• People: Emphasizes the skills and activities associated to effectively lead a project team (conflict management, team building, mentoring, etc.).
• Process: Reinforces the technical aspects of managing a project (scope management, schedule management, cost management, etc.).
• Business Environment: Highlights the connection between projects and organization strategy (benefits delivery and management, organizational change management, etc.).

You could say that the new PMP Exam will be standing on these three legs or (performance) domains. 

Change #2 Percentage of Questions *** NEW ***

The percentage of questions coming from each domain in the old exam is shown below.

In the new ECO of 2020/2021, there is more of a focus on the Process domain, followed by People, and finally Business Environment.

The distribution of questions across domains is significant, as it impacts exam preparation and time that exam takers will be spending on each domain. 

However, do note that the actual number of questions in the PMP exam can change with some variations in percentages.

Change # 3: Tasks

Each domain in the ECO is associated with a set of tasks. In the 2015 ECO, the Initiating domain had eight tasks and the Planning domain thirteen. In the new ECO, too, each domain is associated with a set of tasks. The People domain has fourteen tasks, the Process domain has seventeen tasks and so on. The differences are noted in the below table.

The tasks are important because exam evaluation will be on these tasks on three scales. The score from each of these tasks will, in turn, be rolled-up to give the rating earned in each domain. This will be explained further in "The Impact of the Changes" section of this article (in the second part).

Change # 4: Exam Duration, Number of Questions and Breaks *** NEW ***

These new changes were introduced just before January 02, 2021 (sometime in late December, 2020) and enforced for the new exam. This continues till date. 

These changes are with respect to the number of questions, exam duration and number of breaks. 

There was one 10-minutes break initially and it was increase to two later. You will get this break after 60 questions.

Change # 5: Type of Questions

In the new exam, half of the questions will be in the predictive project management approaches and the other half in Agile/hybrid approaches. In the 6th edition of the PMBOK Guide, these approaches are clearly defined and used across the process groups and knowledge areas.

Change # 6: Varieties of Questions *** NEW ***

In the earlier exam, you had only multi-choice questions. Every question has four choices, out of which one choice will be correct. In the current version of the exam, along with the multi-choice questions, you will also have other types, which are explained in the below table.

Change # 7: Multiple Reference Guides and Books *** NEW ***

In the earlier PMP exam, you clearly had one reference guide, i.e., the PMBOK guide, 6th edition.

In the new PMP exam, you have:

• Agile Practice Guide, First edition  
• PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition (not the 7th edition)
  
• Eight other reference books

You can see the list of books in this linked page: PMP Exam Reference List. 

Hence, for your new PMP exam, you have together 10 guides and books to refer.

Continued to Part - 2

References:

[1] PMP Live Lessons Course, Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] PMP 35 Contact Hours Online Course with Full MoneyBack Guarantee, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] Article - What Should You Know about the PMP Exam 2020 Changes, by MPUG on September 3, 2019

Transitioning from PMBOK 5th Edition to PMBOK 6th Edition in 2021 and 2022

The current edition of the PMBOK Guide for the PMP exam is the 6th edition. However, you will many find many providers still have contents and questions with respect to the PMBOK 5th edition. This I came to know recently, as I interact with aspiring and successful PMPs, who have earned their credentials in recent months. It’s a real struggle for PMPs when you refer the old content and give the exam with new content! As providers don’t change the content or change improperly, PMP candidates struggle with wrong or outdated content. 

There have been professionals who have studied and prepared with the PMBOK Guide 5th edition. Due to personal or professional reasons, they could not sit for the exam in the earlier edition, and they may struggle to find the differences with respect to the new edition. 

Also, there are professionals who hold the PMP credential (in earlier editions), but want to know about the new changes that have come in. This article will address exactly that – the differences between the 5th and 6th editions of the PMBOK Guide.

This article addresses the above needs of PMPs – aspiring or certified. The first version of this article was published by MPUG. This is a refined and latest version of the article as of 2021. 

Though the PMBOK Guide 7th edition is currently available, the PMBOK Guide 6th edition will remain enforced in this year for the latest PMP exam and early part of next year.

Now let's go through the changes one by one. 

1. Overall Changes – Process Groups, Knowledge Areas, and Processes

The PMBOK Guide consists primarily of process groups, knowledge areas, and the processes along with the associated inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs (ITTOs). At a high-level, the changes are as follows.

Process Groups

There are no changes to the process groups. There are still five Process Groups.

Knowledge Areas

There are two changes in the naming of knowledge areas.

• “Project Time Management” has been renamed as “Project Schedule Management.”
• “Project Human Resource Management” has been renamed as “Project Resource Management.”

In total, there are still 10 knowledge areas, which are shown below. The new ones are in bold.

Process Changes

Three new processes have been added. They are:

• “Manage Project Knowledge” in Project Integration Management knowledge area and under Executing process group.
• “Implement Risk Responses” in Project Risk Management knowledge area and
• under Executing process group.
• “Control Resources” in Project Resource Management and under Monitoring and Controlling process group.

One process has been removed.

• The “Close Procurements” process is removed. It was operating under Project Procurement Management knowledge area and the Closing process group.

One process has been moved across knowledge areas.

• The “Estimate Activity Resources” process operating under Planning process group has been moved from Project Schedule Management knowledge area to Project Resource Management knowledge area.

Nine processes, across knowledge areas and process groups, have been renamed. They are noted in the below table. 

2. Changes – Process Groups

As noted earlier, the process groups are unchanged. You may consider this to be good news. This is important for the exam taker, because your performance evaluation happens with respect to the Process Groups.

The number of project management processes (or simply processes) for the process groups are as noted below.

Now, let’s look at the key changes for the individual process groups.

2.1 Changes – Initiating Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Initiating process group are noted below.

• Added processes: None
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: None
• Total number of processes remain as they were earlier (total 2).
• More elaboration has given with respect to “Business Documents.”
• Business documents are documents outside the boundaries of the project. Hence the project manager does not create or control them.
• There are two business documents – Business Case and Benefits Management Plan.
• The focus on “Business Case” is consistent with the PMI Talent Triangle, and so also the focus on Benefits Measurement/Management in a project.
• Business documents are significant because they act as inputs to some project management processes, including both the processes of initiating process group.

2.2 Changes – Planning Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Planning process group are noted below.

• Added processes: None
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes:
• The “Estimate Activity Resources” process has been moved from Schedule Management knowledge area to Resource Management knowledge area.
• Renamed processes: 2
• The process of “Plan Human Resource Management” under Resource Management knowledge area is now “Plan Resource Management,” as both team (human) and physical (non-human) resources are considered.
• The process of “Plan Stakeholder Management” Stakeholder Management knowledge area is now “Plan Stakeholder Engagement,” as you don’t directly manage the stakeholders, rather manage the engagement with the stakeholders.
• Total number of processes remain as they were earlier (total 24).
• In the Resource Management knowledge area, as both team and physical resources can be managed, the process “Estimate Activity Resources” is an apt fit in Resource Management knowledge area in place of Schedule Management knowledge area.

2.3 Changes – Executing Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Executing process group are noted below.

• Added process: 2
• The process “Manage Project Knowledge” has been added to Project Integration Management knowledge area.
• The processes “Implement Risk Responses” has been added to Project Risk Management knowledge area.
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: 4
• The “Perform Quality Assurance” process has been renamed as “Manage Quality” in Project Quality Management knowledge area.
• The “Acquire Project Team” process has been renamed as “Acquire Resources” in Project Resource Management knowledge area.
• The “Manage Project Team” is now just “Manage Team” in Project Resource Management knowledge area. The term ‘project’ is implicit here.
• The “Develop Project Team” is now just “Develop Team” in Project Resource Management knowledge area. The term ‘project’ is implicit here.
• Total number of processes has now increased by 2 (total 10).
• A significant addition to Integration Management knowledge area is the “Manage Project Knowledge” process.
• A key output here is the “Lessons Learned Register.”
• This process also emphasizes the importance of managing knowledge throughout the life cycle of the project.
• The “Implement Risk Responses” process has been added to Risk Management knowledge area because the risk response plan has to be implemented. Earlier it was happening in the “Control Risks” process, which was really a difficult point while trying to understand the content.
• The naming of Resource Management processes are changed, as both team and physical resources are now considered together. For example, in place of “Acquire Project Team” process, it is now plainly called as “Acquire Resources.”
• The naming of “Perform Quality Assurance” is changed to “Manage Quality” because project management as a profession is more focused on managing quality through a quality management plan. The “Manage Quality” process is also expanded in scope to include product design aspects, process improvement aspects, and the previous aspect of quality assurance.

2.4 Changes – Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Monitoring and Controlling process group are noted below:

• Added processes: 1
• The process “Control Resources” has been added to Project Resource Management knowledge area.
• Removed processes: None
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: 3
• The process “Control Communications” has been renamed as “Monitor Communications” in the Project Communications Management knowledge area.
• The process “Control Risks” has been renamed as “Monitor Risks” in the Project Risk Management knowledge area.
• The process “Control Stakeholder Engagement” is now “Monitor Stakeholder Engagement” in the Project Stakeholder Management knowledge area.
• Total number of processes has increased by 1 (total 12).
• The “Control Resources” process has been added because now physical resources are also considered (in addition to human or team resources).
• You will be controlling these physical resources.
• The “Control Communications,” “Control Risks,” and “Control Stakeholder Engagement” processes in the earlier edition are renamed as these are mostly monitored rather than controlled.

2.5 Changes – Closing Process Group

The salient points for changes in the Closing process group are noted below.

• Added processes: None
• Removed processes: 1
• “Close Procurements” has been removed from Procurement Management knowledge area.
• Moved processes: None
• Renamed processes: none
• Total number of processes now has been reduced by 1 (total 1). With just one process, it is still called as a Process Group because organizations may have their own additional processes for closing projects or phases, or for contract closure.
• Procurement closure happens in “Control Procurements” process of Procurement Management knowledge area, but formal completion of contracts happens in “Close Project or Phase” process of Integration Management knowledge area.
• Confusion can occur with respect to closing. Hence, few important notes on “Close Procurements” have been removed.
• It was found that globally PMs typically don’t close, rather someone from the contract/procurement or legal team does it. Hence its removal.
• The closure of contracts can happen many times in the life cycle of a project or in a project having multiple phases. However, the closure of project or phase happens once at the end.
• Other than administration, information about communication and records also have moved to the “Close Project or Phase” process!

2.6 Changes Summary – Process Groups

I’ve put the summary of these changes for the processes in the process groups in the below. This will help you quickly get the information in one snapshot.

3. Changes – Knowledge Areas

As noted earlier, two knowledge area are renamed.

• “Project Time Management” has been renamed as “Project Schedule Management” knowledge area. According to PMI, “Project Time Management” was changed to “Project Schedule Management” to reflect that the project schedule is defined and managed during the project, whereas time is not managed.”
• “Project Human Resource Management” has been renamed as “Project Resource Management.” According to the PMI, “Both team resources and physical resources are addressed. Hence, Project Human Resource Management was changed to Project Resource Management.”

The most significant changes have happened in the beginning part of each knowledge area. Four new sections have been added to every Knowledge Area. They are:

• Key Concepts: Many of these concepts were there earlier. However, in 6th edition, they have been consolidated. In many cases, they have enhanced and, in some cases, modified.
• Trends and Emerging Practices: As the project management profession continues to evolve, so also the associated trends and practices evolve. This section tries to address them.
• Tailoring Considerations: As every project is unique, the demand or requirements for every project, from project management perspective, is unique. You need not follow all the processes, all the ITTOs, enterprise environmental factors (EEFs), or organizational process assets (OPAs). Rather, you customize what works best for your project. This is tailoring. It has been added for every knowledge area.
• Consideration for Agile/Adaptive Environments: Agile or Adaptive approaches are now mainstream in many industry verticals. Hence, the PMBOK guide has included what will happen if you working with adaptive approaches.

4. Changes – Tools and Techniques

Most of the tools and techniques are now grouped. There are six possible groups. The grouping is done based on the intent (i.e. what the tool or technique is supposed to accomplish). The tools and techniques that cannot be grouped are mentioned individually in the processes.

The groups tools and techniques are:

• Data gathering: The intent here is to gather data from a variety of sources. Examples are Brainstorming, Interviews, and Benchmarking, which you would have seen in the PMBOK 5th
• Data analysis: The intent here is to analyze on the data which you have gathered. Examples are Cost-Benefits analysis, Earned value analysis, and Make-or-buy analysis. Most of them were already there in the PMBOK 5th
• Data representation: The intent here is to display or present the data in various forms. Examples are Flowchart, Control chart, and PI matrix, which you would have seen in the PMBOK 5th
• Decision-making: It is used to select a course of action from different alternatives. Examples are Multicriteria Decision analysis and Voting. This also was in the earlier edition.
• Communication skills: This is used to transfer information between stakeholders. This is somewhat new, but was seen in the PMBOK 5th edition as feedback and/or nonverbal communication.
• Interpersonal and team skills: This is used to effectively lead and interact with stakeholders and team members. You would have seen most of these in the earlier edition. Examples are Negotiation, Team Building, Active Listening, etc.

In addition, there are many tools and techniques which are ungrouped. Many were included in the earlier edition.

Ungrouped Tools and Techniques:

• Known examples are prototypes, risk categorization, and rolling wave planning.
• New are Agile release planning, Iteration Burndown charts, Prompt list, etc.

5. Impact on PMP Exam

The PMI-PMP exam is primarily based on the Exam Content Outline, popularly called ECO in short. The ECO lists the exam topics to be covered, the domains PMP aspirants will be tested upon, and the enablers that aspirants need to know. It also indicates what percentage of questions will come from which domain. 

In the 6th edition, the ECO has changed along with the domains, tasks and enablers. Hence, the percentage of questions coming from the domains have changed. The number of questions from each performance domain shows the proportions. The PMP exam remains pretty close to it, but you can expect a few variations.

6. Agile Practice Guide (APG) *** NEW ***

Many PMP aspirants ask this: what about the Agile Practice Guide? Will it be covered in the new PMP exam based on the 6th edition? Exactly, how many questions will come from it?

First and foremost, Agile Practice Guide is NOT part of the PMBOK guide, 6th edition. Rather, it is an addendum, i.e., an additional material. If you open the PMBOK guide 6th edition, in the very beginning it is noted: 

PMBOK Guide 6th edition + Agile Practice Guide (APG)

So, Agile Practice Guide is a separate guide. However, the exam has changed from January 2, 2021 and APG will be one of the main reference guides, along with the PMBOK Guide.

The reason is simple. The new PMP exam from Jan 2, 2021, will have 50% questions in Agile/Adaptive or Hybrid approaches. While the PMBOK guide contains sections for Adaptive/Agile environments for each knowledge area, APG gives further information from a practitioner perspective. It also contains information on a number of Agile approaches such as Scrum, XP, Kanban. 

Hence, you MUST read this new Agile Practice Guide, which comes together with the PMBOK guide.

Also, do remember this: though PMBOK guide and the APG are the main reference sources, the exam question patterns, i.e., number of questions, types of questions etc. are governed by the Exam Content Outline (ECO). 

Conclusion

If you are preparing for the PMP exam, refer the ECO and simultaneously the PMBOK Guide 6th edition along with the Agile Practice Guide and other reference books/material covering the latest edition of the PMBOK Guide.

If you are a PMP, you will be able to quickly understand the changes as compared to the PMBOK Guide 5th edition by going through this article. More importantly, if you are transitioning from the earlier edition of the PMBOK guide to the new edition, I hope this article will help and guide you in your preparation.

 

References:

[1] Article - Transitioning from PMBOK 5th Edition to PMBOK 6th Edition, published by MPUG on 25th September, 2018

[2] Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, 6th Edition, by Project Management Institute (PMI)

[3] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, 5th Edition, by Project Management Institute (PMI)

[5] I Want To Be A PMP: The Plain and Simple Way To Be A PMP, 1st Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

PMP Success Story: Takes Sweat, Determination, and Hard Work to Make Your Dream a Reality

By Ansuman Mishra, PMP, SAFe Agilist, CSM

Introduction

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” This quote, by Colin Powell, former Secretary of the United States, is perhaps the most appropriate one to describe my PMP journey!

During the early phase of my career, I came to know about PMP from my managers who were already PMP certified. Then I did more research about the certification and had the dream of achieving this precious certification one day. Over the years, I was able to clearly see the difference in the way PMP certified professionals were handling the projects and teams.

Although I attended the PMP classroom session a few years before, I could not prepare and give the exam because of professional and personal commitments. Finally, during January, 2021, I decided to go for it.

I knew Mr. Satya Narayan Dash from the classroom sessions and I called him one fine evening to express my eagerness to appear for the exam. He set-up a video call in the same evening and by the end of the call, I was motivated enough to go for the exam, no matter what happens on the other side of my life.

PMP 35 Hours Learning Experience

Though I attended the 35 hours mandatory training session a few years back, I decided to go for that again. Hence, I requested Satya Sir to share the 35 Contact Hours video course, along with the book, I Want To Be A PMP. 

About the 35 Contact Hours Online Course

• I was learning the latest content with respect to the PMBOK guide (I had learned earlier in PMBOK 5th edition) and also had to go through the Agile content. In addition, the style of questions has changed. 
• What I liked about the video materials shared by Satya Sir is the simplicity and clarity. The way he explains the concepts is amazingly simple and straightforward.
• The thing which I appreciate the most is tips and tricks. There are tips and tricks to remember and understand all the 49 processes, in sequence. It helped a lot during the preparation stage and during the exam, to relate and answer questions correctly.
• The content is actually of 35 hours long and covers all the lessons thoroughly.

About the ‘I Want To Be A PMP’ Book

I’ve read this book around 4 to 5 times. 

• It is aligned and structured, as per PMBOK guide. Hence, it is very easy to read and revise.
• I really appreciate the texture. It is very clear and motivates to continue the reading process, page after page.
• Yogic vision tips: It is one of the highlights of the book and helped me during the preparation phase.
• Yogic revisions: It helps to remind the past learning. Gives a signal to go back and check the concepts again, if needed.
• The book contains a lot of flow diagrams and tables, to expedite the learning process.
• Each chapter contains the comparison/mapping of the Agile environment with traditional predictive methods.  

About Question (Practice) Sets

The questions are really of top class. I’ve also taken questions from Oliver Lehman and Udemy, which gave me more practice. But the questions from the 35 contact hours and the book are way ahead of them. Each chapter contains questions, apart from full length ones.

The reason I mentioned the questions are far ahead because they are situation-based questions. You will face similar questions when it comes to the real PMP exam. Rarely any question, if at all, will be direct!

The answer sets have clear explanations and that helps a lot. The content in the book and videos along with the questions sets, complement each other well! 

Own Study Process

I started with 35 hours of online video lessons and simultaneously referring to the book, I Want To Be A PMP. I was also preparing my own notes.

Each and every day, I ensured to devote at least 2-3 hours, mostly in the evenings after office hours. During the day, whenever I was having time, I was browsing the topics on the internet for light reading.

I have gone through all the questions shared by Satya sir along with his materials, more than once. After finishing two rounds with the reference book and video materials, I started reading PMBOK and APG. I was able to appreciate the content of PMBOK, because I completed the reference book first.

My practical experience in Agile Project Management helped me a lot during the study phase. During my preparation, I was scoring well in the Agile areas as I know it from my job experience. 

Towards the end of course, I did call Satya Sir a few times to check my readiness for the exam. He was very gracious to devote his time, asking questions to me to check the understanding and clarify questions.

In the end, I took an assessment test and received the 35 contact hours course completion certification. When I was consistently scoring more than 75%, I got the confidence to schedule and appear for the exam.

PMP Exam Experience

Below is my exam experience at the exam center and during the PMP exam. 

Exam Center

• I scheduled the exam in the Pearson VUE center in Bangalore, because I never wanted to take a chance with electricity/ISP/technical glitches at home and wanted to have complete focus on exam content/questions.
• I did not get disappointed because of my decision. The experience in the exam center was good. They are following all Covid-19 related regulations strictly.
• I reached the center an hour early and that helped me to settle down, before the exam.

Types of Questions Faced

• Around 70% questions were based on the Agile and/or Hybrid model.
• Not one question was direct. All the questions were situational based and needed a deep understanding of concepts.
• I did not have any mathematical questions barring one on Cost Performance Index (CPI).
• There were few questions related to multi-response, questions related to graphs. I also received a few drag and drop questions.
• A lot of questions were there from Stakeholder Management, Communications Management, and Quality Management processes.

Time Management

This is another aspect I want to emphasize. While doing practice sessions, I was able to complete 180 questions within 2.5 hours to 3 hours. However, during the exam, literally all the questions were lengthy. First 60 questions took me around 70 minutes, the next 60 took around 80 minutes and the last 60 around 70 minutes. I marked a few questions for review and spent a few minutes answering those at the end of the phase.

10-Minutes Breaks

The exam comes with two 10-minutes breaks. I took both the breaks and that helped me to refresh for the subsequent sessions.

Suggestions for PMP Aspirants 

The PMP exam is not at all an easy one and below will be my suggestions/advice for the aspiring PMPs. 

• When you decide to go for PMP, just go for it. Do not give any break in between. Even a gap of one week is good enough to derail the preparation.
• Read PMBOK guide and Agile Practice Guide, at least 2 times, word by word.
• Just remember 49 processes (in sequence) and important Inputs, Tools & Techniques and Outputs (ITTO). You need not remember all the ITTOs.
• Pay focus to the Agile related concepts. Map those to traditional processes and ITTOs.
• After each practice set, spend a good amount of time reviewing the answers. If needed, go back and refer to the concepts in PMBOK/other reference books.
• Practice enough questions, but choose from reliable sources only. On the internet, there are many free questions available. Ensure that those questions are based on the current version of PMBOK and the answers/explanations are based on PMBOK guide.
• Do not wait for the last day to learn/understand new concepts. That won’t help to answer the questions, which are more or less situation based.
• Celebrate your success!!

Conclusion

I cannot forget the moment when I saw “Congratulations” on the computer screen, after answering 180 questions and three “Above target” scores were icing on the cake. 

More than anything, I will remember the journey. The knowledge acquired during the process is something which is priceless and I am sure it will help me in future assignments.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my family members (blessings of my parents and rock-solid support from my wife were instrumental), friends, all my supervisors/managers and team members who supported me, directly and indirectly during the amazing journey.

As I reach the end of my journey, I can clearly say that, without Satya Sir, I could not have seen the light of the day. He was there for me each and every time I needed. Without his motivation and constant push, I could not have achieved success.   

Brief Profile: 

Ansuman Mishra, PMP, SAFe Agilist, CSM

Project Manager, Tata Elxsi Ltd, Bangalore

 

PMP 35 Contact Hours Online Course:

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