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In this issue... |
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Welcome to this week's issue of the PMP Exam Tips Newsletter. This week I will share a secret on how to create a brilliant technique used by many students on closed book exams - the brain dump. Read on and find out how this study technique can help you answer all questions on your most anticipated PMP exam.
I have also shared a few tips on how to prepare mentally on the eve of your PMP exam, a sample PMP exam question and of course, don't forget to read the success story of Tom Reblora, PMP. Learn how The PM PrepCast helped him pass the PMP exam on first attempt.
Enjoy!!
Until Next Time,
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
President, OSP International LLC
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The Secret Of Creating Your PMP Exam Brain Dump Sheet
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There's no better catalyst for self realization than taking the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. I'm kidding you, of course, but there is some truth in that the PMP exam day will illuminate that "you don't know what you don't know."
The PMP Exam is a 'closed' book exam. That means the only reference material you are allowed to carry into the testing facility has to be contained in your brain. But during your exam, your brain is going to be very busy interpreting the exam questions and trying to apply all of the knowledge, skills and principles you've accumulated in your studies and work experience.
If you haven't already, you should go for a visit to the local testing facility where you'll take your exam and confirm what to expect. Most likely, on your exam day, the exam monitor will check you into the testing facility, hand you six or so sheets of scratch paper and two pencils, then show you to your seat and confirm that your PC is working. Then you'll have about 15 minutes to go through a tutorial that really only takes about 5 minutes to do. Then you begin your exam.
During the test, recalling what you do know can be daunting. Quite frankly, some of your ability to access that knowledge is going to seem misplaced amongst your grey cells. So how do you create the best opportunities to pass the PMP Exam that day? You can use the 10 minutes you don't need from the tutorial time to do a Brain Dump!
What is a Brain Dump?
A Brain Dump is a technique used by many students on closed book exams to create their personal mini reference table. Brain dumps are abbreviations of components and concepts, which you have committed to memory and are then spilled out on to sheets of paper prior to the exam for reference.
Brain dumps contain just enough key concepts, theories, formulas and content, which will jog your memory. By having the information on your Brain Dump, your mind can focus on the question at hand instead of trying to remember the formula needed to answer the question. It helps you to be in the the right frame of mind specific to each question.
What goes into a Brain Dump?
Brain Dumps are only as good as the quality and quantity of information that you can spill out on the piece(s) of paper just before you begin your PMP Exam. They contain the formulas, theory, concepts and PMP-isms that you might otherwise forget for a moment at the very moment when you need it most.
Here is what you can generally find as part of a PMP Exam Brain Dump:
- Table 3-1 of the PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition
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Formulas, such as earned value, PERT, communication channels, procurement, probability, project selection and depreciation
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Values, such as 1, 2 and 3 sigma and estimate ranges
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Acronyms, such as BAC or TCPI
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Powers of a project manager
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Conflict resolution (best to worst)
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Sources of conflict (order of priority)
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Herzberg's motivators
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Project closing check list
And of course: you must include all the items that you personally have trouble remembering during your studies and that you feel need to go onto your sheet. The list above or using a Brain Dump that someone else created can be a good start but you really need to customize it to your needs. Don't study what others are having trouble remembering. Instead, include what gives you the hiccups.
How do I Study a Brain Dump?
Brain Dumps are pure memorization. As part of your exam preparation, exercises and studying, go ahead and practice committing the content of your Brain Dump to memory and then writing them out onto a blank sheet of paper on a daily basis.
Every morning, practice your brain dump until you're satisfied with your progress. By the end of the first week you should be able to write out your brain dump in its entirety on the first go.
Then continue dumping it on a regular basis, going back to the daily routine in the two weeks leading up to your exam.
So What *IS* The Secret of Creating My PMP Exam Brain Dump Sheet?
Creating and studying your very own, personalized PMP Exam Brain Dump Sheet is a means to an end in itself. It all begins with creating the content that goes into it by getting to know your weak areas as you prepare for the exam. Then you memorize, you dump and you repeat. Pretty soon what seemed too complex to remember is at the forefront of your knowledge.
So the secret is that you will accelerate your studies and knowledge simply by going through the motions of creating, studying and knowing what's on your personalized Brain Dump.
Last but not least, your PMP Exam Brain Dump is a great tool not only to help you bring your reference material into the testing facility, but also providing stress relief knowing it's there as you encounter questions that require it. You'll help yourself to learn the material as you study for your PMP Exam and give yourself an important edge in passing.
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Prepare Mentally for the Day of the PMP Exam |
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 Mental preparation before you actually take the PMP exam is very important.
Here are a few tips on how you can prepare on the eve of the PMP exam.
Watch this video we have prepared for you:
http://bit.ly/fg2D3W
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Sample PMP Exam Question
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Activity / Duration / Predecessor
A / 4 / START
B / 3 / A
C / 1 / B
D / 5 / START
E / 4 / D
F / 6 / E
G / 2 / C,F
H / 4 / D
I / 2 / H
What is the duration of the critical path?
A. 10
B. 11
C. 17
D. 18
HINT: Use PDM to calculate. |
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Exam Tip: Be sure to answer all the questions |
 The PMP exam is a computer based exam with 200 multiple choice questions. This means that each question has exactly one correct answer. The exam will give you exactly four hours to answer these questions. If you prepared well, this should be a breeze. Most find four hours to be more than sufficient for the exam. (It took me 3 hours and 58 minutes because I wasn't feeling well on that day.) Out of these 200 questions, 25 questions are pretest questions. These are randomly places through out the exam and are used for research purposes. These questions will not count towards your final score. But even though you will only be evaluated on the basis of 175 questions you still must answer all 200 because you won't know which are the 25 pretest questions.
PMI does not release the actual score that is required for you to pass the exam. All they tell us is that "The passing score for all PMI credential examinations is determined by sound psychometric analysis." So nobody but PMI knows how many questions you have to answer correctly in order to pass.
This is important: Remember that there is no negative marking on the exam. This means that you are not penalized for questions that you answered incorrectly. There is just "correct" or "wrong" for the scoring. This means that if you leave a question unanswered your answer is "wrong". So remember not to leave any question unanswered. You need to answer them all.
After you click on finish and submit the exam, you will see on-screen whether you passed or failed. This takes about 10 seconds but feels like an eternity. You will also receive a printed examination report that tells you how you did in the various process groups.
To feel confident that you can do it, you must have undergone enough preparations and must have taken practice exams several times based on the lessons learned from the study materials of your choice.
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Solution
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The correct answer is: C
Reference: PMBOK4- pg:138
Explanation: The duration of the critical path for the given data is 17. Hence choice C is correct while rest of the choices are incorrect.
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Lessons Learned from Tom Reblora, PMP
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I passed my PMP exam on May 11th on my 1st attempt and I'd like to share my lessons learned, with the hope that this could help candidates on the same aspiration to become PMP soon.
Before starting, I'd like to emphasize that most of these are not new. Some of the tips I got from PM PrepCast (thanks, Cornelius!), some from friends who had either passed or failed the test, some from the net and the rest are my own. The very first lesson therefore in this LL is: don't ignore PMP exam tips as they are first-hand experiences and thus, they have been proven. Maybe not all tips will apply to everyone but it doesn't hurt to LISTEN and APPLY. At the end of the day, you are doing it for yourself "so that you will not wonder whether the results would have been otherwise --- if you HAD ONLY LISTENED & APPLIED".
Here goes my Lesson Learned...
A. WHAT WORKED DURING PREPARATION
- Memorizing page 43 of the PMBOK
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Regularly-paced reviews (note: I had to re-memorize page 43 and those that I had reviewed already as I tend to forget over time)
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Reading the PMBOK glossary many times, especially the acronyms and types (i.e. technique, input, output, etc. See example below). It helped a lot in eliminating incorrect choices during the exam. Thanks Cornelius for this excellent tip!
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When too busy to squeeze studying, at least reading the PMBOK glossary or viewing/listening to Cornelius Fichtner's PM PrepCast while in the train. (note: I always made it a point to listen to PM PrepCast everyday in my 1-hr trip to work with my noise-cancelling earphones)
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In parallel, reading the PMP Exam Prep 6th edition (by Rita Mulcahy, PMP) from cover to cover and taking notes of new insights or things that I found difficult. Then reviewing my notes every now and then.
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Before reading 1 chapter in Rita's book, taking the test for that chapter to gauge how I would fair (had I taken the exam at that point in time). Then re-taking the same test after reading the chapter to MEASURE IMPROVEMENT. Then re-taking the same test after a week or two to GAUGE RETENTION.
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Using the results of the above step to prioritize which process to review further (i.e. the lowest score)
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Taking mock tests then understanding the right answers for wrongly-answered questions
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Taking mock tests then validating why my answer to correctly-answered question were correct
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Understanding how EVM is calculated, inside & out
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Understanding the numerous PMI-isms and applying them to situational questions
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Understanding where you are among the processes, under a given scenario (note: aside from understanding, PMBOK's page 43 helped a lot to validate correctness)
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Understanding the Prof. Code of Conduct's key principles and their applications to situational questions
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Scheduling the exam on a Tuesday afternoon and taking a leave on Monday & Tuesday to have a full, 3-day continuous review before the exam. (note: if you could take more than 3 days, the better)
Read more..
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