This week's featured lessons learned comes to us courtesy of Tsubasa Hikage.

Tsubasa Hikage passed the PMP exam last March 17, 2014. Learn some of what he noticed while he was preparing for PMP exam in terms of study tip and taking exam technique...

Study Tip: It might be worth it to concentrate on process groups which have higher percentage of emergence. Particularly, if we find result of exam simulation 'below proficient' on initiation and closure process group, it does not mean that we must improve them immediately because frequency of them are lower them the others...

I was recently interviewed on the Construction Industry Podcast and asked to introduce PMI and the PMP exam to construction professionals. Cesar Abeid, the host of the show is himself PMP certified and one of my students. We discuss the following topic:

- What is the PMI?
- What are the benefits of PMI membership?
- What are the PMI certifications?
- What are the benefits of the PMP certification?
- How has the PMP certification helped you?
- What does it take to get certified?
- What is the best way of preparing for the exam?
- What are some tips to select the correct answer on PMP questions?

You are currently performing process analysis for your project and you are following the steps outlined in the process improvement plan to identify needed improvements. You are examining problems that have surfaced, constraints experienced, and non-value-added activities identified during process execution. You are analyzing a sample of readings from the processes. If you need to decrease your confidence interval for your measurements, what should you do regarding the sample size you have selected?

A. You should increase the sample size to decrease the confidence interval
B. You should decrease the sample size to decrease the confidence interval
C. You should keep the same sample size since it does not have any effect on the confidence interval
D. You should keep the same sample size but decrease the number of measurements in the sample

Hint: Confidence interval is the range of statistical values within which a result is expected to fall with a specific probability.

What usually happens is that students preparing for the PMP exam try to go through too many PMP Exam Prep books or online courses thinking that they will be able to absorb everything that they watch and read. That is far from the truth. Too many books will in fact confuse you. Usually, one good exam prep book and one course is enough to complement the PMBOK Guide. Studying the PMBOK Guide is of course a must for any PMP student and no exam prep book is a substitute for it. And don't forget to study the the PMBOK Guide Glossary. As boring as that may seem, you'll really get to know and understand the terminology you need for the exam.

Head First PMP: A Learner's Companion to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam by Jennifer Greene PSE

The Head First PMP: A Learners Companion to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam (Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate) offers a fresh perspective on preparing for the PMP Exam certification. Not the typical, dry PMP preparation book, this one explains the current principles and certification objectives in The PMBOK Guide, 5th Edition in a clever and entertaining way...