LESSONS LEARNT: PMP

1. For the sake of clarity and better understanding, I will divide my lessons learnt notes
into three parts- preparation for the exams, the actual exam experience, and some other
important aspects. I will try to include all the aspects which I remember and try to give a
comprehensive info for the benefit of all, especially as I am one of the few persons presently
who trusted God and had faith that the internet connection would hold as I gave the
proctored exam from home at a remote place in the country (:
Preparing for the Exam
2. I was contemplating appearing for the PMP exam since beginning of the year but did
not act on it because of pure lethargy. I finally started giving serious thought to it in the month
of Mar 20. I spoke to Col Sandesh Sharma (thanks to Forces Network and Col Sajan) who
helped me clear the cobwebs in my mind and gave me clarity of purpose. I started my
preparation on 02 Apr 20. This was the day Col Sandesh started his first online course and I
started attending it. Thanks to the lock down, I could dedicate more than usual time to the
studies at that time. Here I would like to make a point that the 35 hours of training are very
important to understand the PMI way of thinking. So, this should not just be taken to satisfy
the PMI requirement but also to actually enhance your knowledge and understanding. I was
fortunate to have Col Sandesh as an instructor who knew how to make faujis understand a
not so easy concept by giving normal, day to day work examples and conducted very
interesting and interactive sessions. So, be careful while choosing your trainer and make full
use of this training. It will be good if this trainer guides you while filling your application also
and keeping you motivated throughout the preparation period the way my trainer did!!!
3. As has been pointed out earlier also, reading PMBOK Guide first time can appear to
be quite daunting as it is a very boring and monotonous book. Its thickness and format also
does not inspire much confidence. What I did was that I read each chapter as it was covered
by Col Sandesh on a daily basis. This not only helped me understand the PMBOK Guide and
the language better but also helped me clarify the doubts next day. So, in about 14 days, I had
a good clarity of PMBOK Guide which is very essential to pass the exam as it is not possible to
remember all the details otherwise. After completing the first read of PMBOK Guide, I read
Rita Mulcahy to better understand the concepts. It is a wonderful book and a must read for
any PMP aspirant. After this I again read PMBOK Guide and this time could easily understand
the language and the logic in it. I read Rita Mulcahy once again to solidify the knowledge which
I had gained till now. I read another book call ‘Read and Pass PMP Notes’ by an Indian author
called Maneesh Vaidya. This is a book written in an easily understandable language with
colorful illustrations (good change from the monotony of PMBOK Guide and Rita). But this is
a ‘could read’ and not ‘must read’.

4. After this I started attempting the questions given in Rita. It is very important to not
only understand the reasons as to why you got certain question wrong but also why you got
the right ones right. It helps you to identify your knowledge gaps and concentrate on weak
areas rather going through the complete material again and again which becomes very
boring. There is a plethora of apps available for getting questions on mobile also. Just
download any one of them with highest rating and you could solve questions whenever you
have some time available. For mock tests, I tried a few questions from Rita Mulcahy fast trac
question bank which I got from few of my friends. But I found the mock tests from PM
Prepcast really good as the type of questions as well as their explanations were really good.
It costs around Rs9000 and has a validity of 3 months. I also attempted certain free tests like
the tests available from Oliver Lehmann. Further, once your application is approved and you
make the payment, you get access to a mock test from PMI also with 200 original questions
from past PMP exams which actually helps you measure your preparation level.
5. Another thing which I did after I had a fair bit of confidence about the subject was that
I started looking into the ITTOs on a regular basis and I specially concentrated on unique
aspects of the ITTOs. For example, I would look into why flowchart is a specific tool for quality
management processes and what info can it provide, or why an approved change request
from PICC can go to three specific processes. This really helped me build up my knowledge
base. I would like to clarify that I did not attempt rote learning of any of the 49 ITTOs which I
found to be impossible for me. Understanding the logic for why something is where it is, is
really helpful in attempting questions also.
6. A large number of resources are available on you tube also which can teach you
specifically about some important processes/tools. So, any doubt can be cleared through
these. I specifically liked this gentleman from iZenBridge.

Attempting the Online Proctored Exam

7. I was apprehensive about appearing for the online proctored exam from home
because of two reasons. Firstly, there is a requirement of a stable internet connection, and
secondly, PMI does not allow you to keep any writing material with you during the exam,
hence, brain dump (ie. writing down certain formulas/processes prior to beginning of the
exam on the provided scratch pad), making network diagrams, or mathematical sums on a
piece of paper would not be possible.
8. First issue I resolved by relentlessly pursuing my internet provider to ensure the
internet stability which culminating in him changing the router. All said and done, I basically
prayed for uninterrupted internet connection for four hours and luckily my prayers were
heard.
9. As far as second issue was concerned, I got in touch with a few persons who had
attempted the proctored exam before me. They told me that they hardly got any questions
wherein scratch pad was required. There were no complex mathematical or network analysis
questions. This gave me confidence to go for proctored exam, and, as it turned out, I got only
one network analysis question which could be solved using online white board and no
question wherein I needed to use the online calculator.

10. The online proctoring process is very simple. A few photographs of self, passport and
the surroundings of your working space are required prior to the exam. Then the proctor will
start monitoring you and will check the surroundings through web cam. In my case she
wanted me to plug off the TV which she could see in the background and show her the
disconnected plug which I did. Apart from this I did not interact with her as I was monitored
by her throughout the exam through the web cam except for once when I got the message to
not to cover my mouth with my hand (a general habit for me while thinking).
11. In this type of exam, an optional 10 minutes’ break is given after first 90 questions.
You are required to submit these 90 questions (irrespective of whether you take the break or
not) and you cannot go back to these 90 questions for review. In my case I completed the first
90 questions in 110 minutes and balance 110 in 130 minutes. Since I was more careful in first
90 questions, I had kept a lot of them flagged for later review and wasted a lot of time in this.
In the balance 110 questions, I did not flag any questions for review as I knew I will not have
any time left for them. Now a lesson in this- I used to finish the mock tests in less than 3hr
30mins on a regular basis but I could hardly finish the actual exam in time (I just finished 10
secs before the scheduled time). This is because in actual exam I was more conscious of the
questions and reviewed even simple questions before moving on. One should keep this aspect
in mind while preparing.
Some Important Aspects

12. Summarizing certain important aspects which may be beneficial to the reader:-
(a) A dedicated effort of 3-4 hours per day for 3 months should be sufficient for
preparation.
(b) I specifically paid Rs10,482 for PMI membership and Rs37,573 after my
application was approved. All this was in dollars as I did not find any option to pay in
Rs. Apart from this, I spent Rs 9000 on the PM Prepcast for the mock tests.
(c) PMI prohibits internet connection through mobile hotspot while attempting
the exam, so keep that in mind while taking a decision.

(d) About 15 questions will be from Agile. No need to take this aspect very
seriously but be clear on considerations for Agile as given in PMBOK Guide (I don’t
think there is any requirement of reading the Agile supplement provided- I did not)
Just be clear on the various requirements of Agile and that should be OK (eg. Unlike
waterfall, agile welcomes changes throughout).
(e) Be very clear on change management aspects. 30-35% questions were on this.
(f) Don’t fret too much on mathematical sums. The questions involving maths
were too simple.
(g) If you want to practice on online white board, you can do so on MS paint or
Powerpoint. Otherwise, the actual tool is available on [Link] also for practice.
(h) While giving online proctored exam, no other person is allowed even to enter
the room, so plan accordingly.
(j) I found the difficulty level of questions in actual exam to be little higher than
the mock tests I attempted.
 (k) Generally questions will have two easily discardable solutions and two closely
contending ones. The test is to select the correct one out of these two.

Concluding Thoughts
13. Each individual has his or her own style of learning and may take more or less time
based on the availability of free time. My recommendation will be to start at the earliest and
conclude by attempting and passing the exam as any break or diversion will mean more time
being spent to catch up as these terminologies and concepts are not the ones we use in our
normal functioning and being out of touch for a longish duration is not advisable. As you
would already be aware, PMP exam will go a major overhaul and new format will be
applicable from 02 Jan 21. It’s better to finish it off before that. Also, if you can ensure a stable
internet connection, taking exam from home is way too comfortable than going to the center,
especially for people like me who have to travel to a different city to appear for the exam.
ALL THE BEST