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In this issue... |
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 Hello ,
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During the PMP Exam, 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! Read more about The Secret Of Creating Your PMP Exam Brain Dump Sheet below..
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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 You are managing a complex hardware design project. Deadlines are aggressive and the project team is stressed. You schedule a team meeting to motivate the team and to share some newly-approved design changes. During the meeting you realize that the attendees are either not paying attention to you or they do not seem to understand what you are trying to communicate. What is a potential reason?
A.) You are not focusing on Non-Verbal Communication.
B.) You are not focusing on Paralingual Communication.
C.) You are not focusing on Effective Listening.
D.) All of the above.
Hint: You are not communicating effectively.
All our questions are updated to the latest PMBOK Guide standard. Stop by at http://free.pm-exam-simulator.com and try the PMP Exam Simulator free for 3 days.
We also offer 110 free questions at http://www.free-pm-exam-questions.com. We are a PMI Registered Education Provider.
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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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Answer
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 The correct answer is D.
Explanation: Non-Verbal Communication involves body language and gestures. Paralingual Communication involves variation of tone and pitch. Effective Listening involves monitoring non-verbal and physical communication and providing feedback to indicate that whether the message has been clearly understood. All three are necessary elements of effective communication.
Reference: Head First PMP 2nd Edition, page 510
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Lessons Learned from Simone Bandinelli |
I recently earned my PMP certification and here is how I got it.
I decided to take the exam last summer and purchased the PMBOK on Amazon, then I bought the PM Prepcast and downloaded all the episodes on my iPod, but I didn't really started using this material before the end of August.
I started reading the PMBOK, but found it really too dry and difficult to use to learn something. So I gave up and used it as a reference during the months of my preparation. I sort of used it as a dictionary when I had doubt on specific aspects. I have to say that it became more useful and readable toward the end of my preparation, when I had a general understanding of the matter. I didn't really read it from start to end, but I read most of it. Read more..
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