I am so happy to receive stories about my student's PMP exam journey. Stories like this never fail to amaze me. This week, I am going to share with you Michael Bartlett's story. Read an excerpt below:

Cornelius,

So I was fortunate to spend all of December with you (In a virtual sense). I had always planned on getting my PMP and actually gained most of my experience in the movie business. Had the PMBOK for almost a year but it sat on my shelf gathering dust! My father got very ill in 2015 and when I flew back to the UK to see him, he told me to focus on my goals and I would be successful. He is not here to see my success today but he motivated me to get on with it.

I came home from work on December 1 a free man; I always joke I had a head start on the Human Resources knowledge area as I had become obsessed with Organizational Development after seeing a wonderful start-up I worked at hacked to death by investors who had no idea how to grow a company. People were promoted into Project Manager positions because they were "Spunky" (Actual quote) as opposed to competent. I worked in a division for what is hands down the worst manager I have ever had to deal with. He drove out 12 people from a team of 13 and to this stay I always remember that "Dictatorship" is a "Group Decision Making Technique" because of that debacle.

When I arrived home on December 1 I cut each of the diagrams out that showed the knowledge areas with their inputs, outputs and tools and techniques and then began placing them on my wall (I called it the "PMP wall") once I had completed your modules. By the end of December I had been through your entire course. I was scoring 77.5% consistently in the various exams. I then started a new job and the company kindly agreed to pay for the PMP exam so I booked it out in May so I would not be distracted in the critical first 90 days of my new job.

This last month they purchased me the sample exams and I took them, moving my scores up from high 70s into mid 80s. I took the ITTO exam this morning before the real PMP and scored 89% so I felt I was definitely ready. Some things did throw me off about the actual exam though which I would like to share...