PMP Certification 7

[pmkia]

For those of you who have already done this, how long before you plan to take the PMP Certification exam should you fill out the application? Do you have a certain amount of time after your application is accepted to complete the exam?

Any responses would be helpful.

Thanks.

 

[mainepe]

People in the class I took last week cited 10-day turnaround on exam applications they submitted within the last six weeks.

You have 90 days to take the exam from the time your application is approved.

 

[elizabeth]

I submitted mine on line and it was accepted within 2 days. However, I didn't get the letter with the code authorizing me to schedule the test with a test center for another week or 2. Then you call the test center and set up a time with them. Once you get the letter, the letter authorizes you to wait up to 6 months to take it. If you go past 6 months, however, you just need to give them a good reason and they'll extend. I think the extension is free. However, you should also know that the test changes periodically. In September a small subset of questions will be added - this information is on the web site. In 2002, the whole exam is supposed t change as it will be geared more toward the structure of the 2000 PMBOK, while the current test uses the 1996 PMBOK.

 

[jbaugh]

I just got my authorization letter last week, which was about a 3 week turnaround. It is good through December 2001, so I am going to target that, but thanks, Elizabeth, for the info on extensions. There is a exam prep class in Phoenix in November that I want to take before the exam, otherwise, I would go ahead and schedule the exam for the September/October timeframe.
Good Luck,
Joe

 

[pivan]

Hi:

Well...I applied to PMI using on-line application. Called PMI after 10 days and found out that I was approved for taking the exam.

Will be taking exam prep course from RMC Project on August 6 and 7. And will take PMI exam the following Friday.

I'll let you know how it works out.

The thread here and Elizabeth have been a great motivator.

Regardds,
pivan In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[pmkia]

Thanks for all the helpful information. I know elizabeth thought the RMC prep class was very helpful. If anyone else has comments about that class, please let me know.

 

[elizabeth]

Pivan, how'd it go? I'm scheduled for the end of the month but am considering putting it off for another week or 2 because I've been working through lunch (when I thought I'd study). I am doing fine on the practice tests but they are not written specifically to confuse, as I've heard the test is.

 

[pivan]

Hi elizabeth...well...schedule slipped.

I took the RMC Exam Prep course in Minneapolis, per your suggestion. It was really great!! Prior to attending I took a sample test and came up with a 67% before reading the PMBOK. I am up to 75% now. I am postponing it until the second week in September or when I am at 90% score level on sample exams, whichever comes first. Largely due to the questions written to confuse which means you have to know a lot of this stuff cold, to be able to parse the logic backward and forward as they do when they present the questions.

As you know, they will be changing the exam mid-September to incorporate the section and project ethics which will be about 19% of the questions. So I want to get it done before they change the scope or the exam.

After the class I was really amazed at the gap between the knowledge required for the exam and the small amount of detail provided in the PMBOK.

I'll let you know when I take it.

Regards,
pivan In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[justpm]

Where did you apply on-line at? I could not seem to find anything for on-line application at PMI's web site???

 

[elizabeth]

Yeah, it can be heard to find. Firt go to

http://www.pmi.org/

then click on the "Certification" tab at the top of the page, then click on the "Certification Administration" box in the middle of the page, then you'll finally see a link to the Online Application.

 

[justpm]

Thanks I found it. Have you seen any good examples of resumes?

 

[elizabeth]

Format of resume is no different from job hunting. Mine looked exactly the same - no reference to projects by name or anything like that. They ask for all the detail in the application. As long as your hours per project on the application (they allow a max of 1500 hours per year) fits the companies and dates listed on your resume you should be OK. This worked for me and other people I spoke to and I was also told this was true by a person who answered the phone at the PMI office. Of course they do a random check (I know someone who had one) so if asked you must give contacts at those companies to verify.

 

[jbaugh]

pivan and others, if applicable,

¿Did you use the exam simulator on the PM FastTrack CD from RMC? I have been looking for sample exams and wonder if this CD is of value for exam preparation.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[pivan]

Hi Joe:

No... I didn't use CD. Wanting to keep things simple, I just read the Exam Prep Book and took the sample exam in the RMC Exam Prep Book. When I scored 90% I took the exam.

The RMC course was invaluable (IMHO) and despite 20+ years of managing technical projects, I don't think I would have done very well without it.

g Luck
pivan


If not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[e1]

For those planning to write the PMP exam:
1) always, repeat always use the web registration. You'll get service much faster than the usual snail mail approach

2) your resume is not important in format as long as you fill it consistent with your on-line web site registration. Many people keep asking about resume format and ask lots of details on this. Waste of time. Fill in the web site forms as well as you can and send any resume you have.

I just found out what I miss here. In yahoogroups you can upload EXAMS samples, diagrams etc etc. We did that in PMCert@yahoogroups.com, so that our FILES has tons of files. Also you can send attachments.

The positive things about this group is that the discussions are in general - more in depth. You have to use more words vs diagrams

 

[elizabeth]

Michael, since you say you do not know much about ethics, you may want to read the wording at the PMI website regarding the code of professional conduct. People who take the test are specifically barred from revealing actual questions. We are allowed only to discuss generalities. There are many places to get practice questions, including the prep books, prep CDs, and the PMI site itself. I suggest you run your database idea past some people involved with the test to ensure that you will not be reported for unethical behavior. I have heard of action being taken against people who reported only a few questions they "remembered" from the test, and I'm sure you don't want to inadvertantly step over the invisible line.

Also, PMI put out a book with year 2000 salary info that you might want buy. "Many years of technical experience" and "close to completing an MBA" are not factors reported to affect salary. However, gender is a big factor (females are paid around 15% less than males), as is project size ($millions vs. 100's of thousands). Also factors are industry and location. Having an MBA and a PMP can make you about $10-20k more. I THINK the average about $80-84k. This includes international consultants working on massive projects with PhD's, and those working on projects under 100k with high school degrees. I suspect diversity (handicap and minority status) is a pay equity issue but I did not see that addressed.

mmni, go to

http://www.yahoogroups.com

and search form pmi and pmp. There is more than one group.

 

[jbaugh]

Well, I took the RMC Exam Prep class and was very impressed with it. I had the Version 3 CD and started running through the exams after I got back from Phoenix. I was scoring between 90% and 100% on the first passes through the topic exams. My first shot at the PMP simulator exam was 94.7%. The tips and tricks that I learned in the course should save some time studying, although I still plan to burn the midnight oil between now and 0800 on December 7. One word of caution about the simulator that I am using is that there is a limited number of questions and the rote factor starts to creep in pretty quickly, so I developed an alarming habit of not concentrating on the entire question and/or all of the answers. As we were advised in the prep class, this is NOT a good strategy for the actual test. The advice is to read each question twice, then read the answers completely before making a decision. Sometimes a single word will change the entire meaning of a given question, at least it happens on the simulator. This will call for some speed reading as my calculations show that 200 questions in 4 hours only allows an average of 72 seconds per question to answer each one. Less than that, if you plan to leave some time to review.

My personal test strategy on multiple choice exams is to make my best decision, select it and move on. The only one I have ever failed was a CA Unicenter exam that I didn't study very much for and blazed through nonchalantly. I decided to use the extra time to review, I changed 4 answers, all of which were originally correct and failed the exam by 1 percent. [Which implies that I was sinking into minimalism anyway, another lesson learned!!] Since that dismal day, I take my test preparation seriously for all subjects, regardless of how easy I may deem the material. I never go back unless a later question reveals an answer that I chose previously to be wrong. Even then, given time constraints, unless you mark problematic questions, there may not be enough time to go back and find a specific question. I guess it all boils down to personal preference and test taking strategies. We'll see how my "No Guts, No Glory" strategy works out on December 7.

Good luck to one and all.

Joe

 

[elizabeth]

My experience was that because I knew the material, many of the questions could be anwered with very little thought, like the sample tests. In the long questions, much of the material is irrelevant. That's when it's faster to look at the end of the paragraph for the actual question, so that you can pick out the relevant facts as you skim over the rest. Also the ones set up to deliberately confuse need careful reading or rereading, and the prioritizing ones. But unless you have are generaly a slow tester, I would guess that 4 hours is enough time as I haven't yet heard of anyone running out of time. As noted in other threads, a lot of the time-consuming questions are deliberately placed up front to throw you off on the timing thing. I took a break and still finished in 3 hours. Although I didn't get them all right, more study time or more test time would not have helped me much. My eyes and brain were just tired.

 

[jbaugh]

Post-Mortem on my PMP exam on 7 December 2001:

"No guts, no glory" worked for me and it was a very good thing. I can share this without breaking the NDA, because I can't remember more than a handful of actual questions anyway, and won't mention them verbatim. It was a very grueling experience and not one that I am eager to repeat anytime soon. I was under the (mistaken) impression that one would be able to go back and review each question at the end, so I only marked three that had me really confused. By the end of the first hour, I had answered 115 questions and was still able to click the "Previous" and "Next" buttons, to migrate back and forth. So I took a short bio-break, walked around a little bit in the cold [for Tucson, 45 degrees, Brrrr] air to clear my mind, came back in and churned through the rest of the two hundred, thinking that I would be done by the end of hour two and have two hours to leisurely go back through and revisit all of the situation questions. Sure enough, I finished in two hours. Plenty of time left on the clock, so rather than using the "Previous" button to walk back through the questions, I opted to "Review" instead. Imagine my suprise, when I could only review the three marked questions, none of which did I change. There is a button marked "Go to Question" and a text box to enter a number, but it was grayed out and did not work. I suspect it is intended to allow you to jump directly to a specific marked question only. Thus I didn't get to review anything anyway. :-( [I did get a little emphatic on the uselessness of this button on the post test survey that PMI requests we fill out.] Moral of this story is "Mark everything you may want to revisit".

So with my heart in my throat, I ended the test and beheld that blessed word PASS appearing at the bottom of my report. I think Elizabeth may concur that this generated a most exhilarating feeling. ;-) I was shooting for >= 190/200 to win the free class from Rita Mulcahy of RMC Project, but fell a little short. In a P/F environment, it really doesn't matter, but I did pass the exam in two hours with a comfortable margin. All those nights of endless reading and study have paid off. I am pretty sure that I nailed all of the definition and formulae related questions, I had that stuff down cold, probably as a result of the PMP Exam Prep class, a wise investment IMHO. What I believe I missed were some of the situational questions that seek the PMI-ism as the correct answer. This is a case where my own experience may have worked against me, as I answered the ones where I couldn't determine what PMI considers the correct answer through my personal filters.

When I got home, I analyzed the report to see where I fell short. I was gratified that I didn't blow any particular area, just missed a couple here and there from all of the PMBOK Knowledge areas. This reinforces my opinion that the situational material is where I had difficulty. Not a major problem, since I am comfortable that I will be able to work through real-life situations with aplomb. I have already seen the improvement in my current and recently finished projects as a result of implementing the tools and practices I have learned as a result of chasing the PMP and expect it to be of great benefit in the future. Be looking for me in the list of December PMPs on the PMI website.

Good luck to all and hang in there, it's a tough road, but a merry one at the end.

Joseph Baugh, PMP

 

[elizabeth]

Joseph, I marked only a few questions too but had the capability to go back and review the entire test beginning at Q1, not just the marked ones. Do you think you had a faulty install? If so I suppose I should mention to anyone who has not yet taken the test, do spend the 15 minutes or so alloted for the tutorial before you begin, and test for this specific ability to review. If you think you have a faulty install you might want to mark all questions for review. Also did I mention the test center guy told me the time for the tutorial would come out of my total time. Only when I insisted that this was incorrect, and refused to start the test, did I get the guy to read his instructions and confirm this. Just like real life project management, you have to know your requirements and make sure they are delivered.