The content is high quality, although I found it is focusing a bit too much on ITTOs. Cornelius Fichtner is trying his very best using his voice to make it at least sound as interesting as possible. The downloadable video and MP3 files provide a good way to study while commuting.
I signed up to this site to get access to the PMP Exam Simulator (see below). Online: PM Prep Cast ( OSP International LLC, Cornelius Fichtner) And some of them even read it two or three times! I used the PMBOK Guide as a reference only, and rather towards the end of my studies. Honestly, I look up to people who actually read the PMBOK Guide from start to end. Highly recommended! Book: PMBOK Guide ( Project Management Institute) Don't get me wrong: if I had to choose one single book to prepare for the PMP Exam, this would be the one. In some parts, I found the writing style a bit condescending, trying to give me a bad feeling because I have never heard of this or that. I read it thoroughly from cover to cover, highlighting everything that seemed important (think "active reading"), worked through all the exercises, completed all the sample questions - and never looked at it again. Probably the most famous among the PMP Exam preparation books, this doorstopper was included in the classroom training mentioned above.
Book: "Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam" ( RMC Learning Solutions, Rita Mulcahy) If you are on a budget, expect to get the same content and your 35 contact hours online for less than 10% of the cost (minus the group exercises and the classmates, of course). Our instructor Elias Jehle, a PMP himself, did a fantastic job in turning the PMBOK material into an interesting presentation and lively interactive sessions, to keep us happy and awake.Ĭlassroom training is expensive and time consuming, and as a result the cost benefit ratio is not optimal. For example, I have never before done risk analysis in "PMBOK style" before, and to actually do this task together with others was to some degree like obtaining real work experience. The most beneficial part of the lessons were the group exercises. I always tried to show up prepared, meaning that I studied the material to be presented before the evening class took place. Classroom Training at ZHAWĪ few days after I decided to go for the PMP Certification, I found myself with a bunch of new classmates in a PMP preparation class at ZHAW in Winterthur (Switzerland), which went on for nine weekly sessions of 3.5 hours. Knowing different perspectives of a topic will help putting everything together in the end. Of course every confusion needs to be smoothed out until the day of the exam.
I would even consider confusion as a sign that the mind is working on full power, trying to figure out how everything fits together. At some point, confusion is not a bad thing. However, I cannot backup this recommendation. I have seen recommendations to only use one other source of information besides the PMBOK Guide, to prevent confusion. To study the vast domain of the PMBOK Guide, I used a variety of resources.
Knowing the end date will help you stick to your plans. Schedule your exam date as soon as possible. And don't forget that life will keep on happening, thus you might want to add some contingency for your social life and those known unknown risks like illness. I then regularly revisited and updated my initial plan, as I learned what my real progress is. This involved talking to my wife and others, so they are aware of the plans too (think "stakeholder engagement"). Before I started, I analyzed my personal and work calendars to come up with a realistic (!) estimation of the time I will be able to spend on studying.
PlanningĪs with every project, take your time to carefully plan your endeavor. I would like to share information about the sources I used to study and the Lessons Learned I collected along the whole process. Recently, I passed the PMP Exam with "Target" in Initiation and "Above Target" in the other process groups.