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In this issue... |
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 Hello ,
Welcome to another issue of the PM Exam Tips Newsletter. Here is what's in store in this week's issue:
- Our recommended study material: The PMBOK Guide
- Featured Video: Release and impact of The PMBOK Guide 5th Edition in 2012
- Article of the week: Create your own PMP Exam Questions
- PMP Exam Sample Question and Answer.
- PMP Exam Tip:Validated Deliverables and Accepted Deliverables Are NOT the Same!
Last but not the least, Congratulations to our new PMP's!
Until Next Time,
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
President, OSP International LLC
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Recommended PMP Exam Study Material: The PMBOK Guide
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 If you're preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam or the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Exam, we recommend The PMBOK Guide (Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate) as one of your reference materials. It will help you cover the step-by-step process of project management. It will also provide you the ideas of some of the exam questions that you will encounter. Most project managers reading this book found how a lot of the exam questions came from this guide.
Are you preparing for the PMP exam yourself? Then a couple of good practice that you can start with are (1) going through 1 of the 42 process every day as 1 process wraps up 1 Knowledge Area or chapter and (2) familiarizing yourself with the PMP vocabulary by checking the Glossary.
The newest edition illustrates Project Management Institute (PMI) commitment to a well defined and straight to the point writing by raising quick questions and stressing the project management's core essentials. This guide is handy if you want to enhance your knowledge about project management or if you simply want to improve your project management skills. It provides an up-to-date knowledge of project management concepts.
The great news is that if you are a member of PMI, you will receive a FREE PDF copy of The PMBOK Guide. If you prefer a printed copy, you may order by Clicking Here!
(Full Disclosure: The PMBOK Guide is an affiliate product.If you click and choose to purchase the book, we will earn a commission.)
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| Congratulations! |
Our warmest congratulations go to the following students of ours who have recently passed their PMP Exam:
- C Timothy Fleming
- Ahmad Sindi
- Shepperd Luce
- David Valdez
Have you passed your exam as well? Then let us know by writing to examtips@pm-prepcast.com
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| Create your own PMP Exam Questions |
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One of the best study tools for the PMP Exam are PMP exam sample tests. As you are preparing for the PMP exam you are in fact preparing to take a 200-question multiple choice exam. And just as if you were an Olympic athlete, taking this exam becomes your sport and you have to practice it. Again and again. However, instead of answering someone else's questions, it is a good thing to create your own.
You may be wondering how in the world you can make up sample questions about a subject you don't feel you know enough about. Well, that's the whole point! In order to ask a question, you must know something about the subject and so you must study it. If you're not sure about the elements of team building and want to include some practice questions about it, you're going to have to study it carefully. By studying and forming practice questions in your mind and on paper, you'll begin to know that subject from a different point of view and better retain what you learn.
This approach will also help you address your weak spots. Once you've discovered an area of weakness, you should begin to focus on the elements that are confusing you and thoroughly read all materials relating to it. Let's say that you need to study the five processes groups of project management that are outlined in the PMBOK Guide. Which of those is giving you the most trouble? Are you also having difficulty applying it in your work? It helps to discuss this with other PMP aspirants or a study partner. As you study the subject, you should write down particularly troublesome areas and you may even think of some practice questions as you're reading. Jot those down and go over them the next day, see if you can answer them. You might be surprised how much you've retained by applying your reading in the form of questions.
By framing questions as you study, you're examining all the details of the subject that may have escaped you before. You'll find yourself understanding more and able to analyze the area much better. Don't just stick to dry facts, either. Create situational and conceptual questions that force you to apply the principles in a theoretical real-life scenario.
By practicing this kind of thinking in-depth about the subject that's giving you trouble, you're learning much more than you would just reading about it. Your mind is wrapping itself around the concept and internalizing the information, applying it to the workplace. This can be the most effective method of studying for your PMP exam, particularly in the areas in which you're deficient.
When you think of questions and then are able to answer them, try posing them to others. Toss them out to one of the online forums for prospective PMPs and see what their feedback is. As you get the opinions of others on your practice questions, you can gauge whether you're being too easy on yourself. It's important to know this now, because the final exam will have no such consideration!
Once you've formulated your practice questions, answered them to your satisfaction and gotten them critiqued by others, you'll be able to form others that may be more challenging. Learning which questions to ask is sometimes just as important as the answers you give. Remember, it's crucial to be tough on yourself. The PMP exam questions are drawn randomly from a database containing over two thousand possible questions! The more practice questions and scenarios that you can come up with, the better your chance at passing the PMP exam with a score you can be proud of.
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| Exam Tip:Validated Deliverables and Accepted Deliverables Are NOT the Same! |
Students often confuse validated and accepted deliverables, so if you're struggling here, you're not alone. At first glance, they do seem to be rather the same, but once you get the idea, you'll never confuse them again. The most important thing you need to understand is in which process from the PMBOK Guide these deliverables are created as outputs. The PMBOK Guide defines each as follows:
** Validated Deliverables: Validated deliverables have been completed and checked for correctness by the Perform Quality Control process.
** Accepted Deliverables: Accepted Deliverables have been accepted through the Verify Scope process.
So, validated deliverables are an input to the Verify Scope process, while accepted deliverables, where formal sign-off is obtained, are the key output of the Verify Scope process.
Let's walk through it: First, you create a deliverable. The deliverable then goes through the perform Quality Control process where it is checked for correctness. In essence, you're making sure that the deliverable meets the quality criteria that were defined during the project set up. You answer the question: Did we build it the way we said that we should.
Once the deliverable passes the Quality Control inspection, it is considered validated. Essentially, Quality Control has given you the nod to take the deliverable to the customer or stakeholder for approval, or acceptance. The customer or stakeholder then reviews the deliverable. Only when the customer or stakeholder gives the deliverable a "thumbs up" does the deliverable become accepted.
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| Sample PMP Exam Question |
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You have just been assigned as the project manager for a new construction project. The Project Charter has been handed over to you by your sponsor authorizing you as the project manager. You have performed the Stakeholder Analysis process and documented the information in the Stakeholder Register. Which of the following processes should be performed next?
A.) Plan Communications
B.) Define Activities
C.) Determine Budget
D.) Create WBS
Hint: Follow the PMBOK Guide recommended sequence.
Please click here to give your answer and see the explanation...
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Release and impact of The PMBOK Guide 5th Edition in 2012
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 In this video we are going to review when the PMBOK Guide 5th Edition will MOST LIKELY be released, what this means for the PMP Exam and what version of study materials you should be using for the exam.
Click here to watch the video.
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Free Exam Resources
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Want access to free episodes of The PM PrepCast and other free PMP Exam resources?
Get 6 other free PMP Exam resources like worksheets, exam tip videos and an ebook called The Short Guide to Becoming a PMP.
It's absolutely free!
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