How To: Practical Approach for PMP

03/10/2012

About this Material

This material takes an understanding that you are already aware of all the pre-requisite for taking
a PMP exam. The content ONLY describes the practical approach which I took for planning and
executing my study plan that helped me clearing the PMP Certification easily in first attempt.

Prepared by
Subramania Vadivel PMP

Before you continue reading

The main content of this document is just 5 Pages and takes max about 20 min to read. Please do
no skip or skim through the sections. Read EVERYTHING.
Please use all the templates given. They are very practical and are very useful

What are these?

You might see these all along the document.

IMPORTANT DO NOT SKIP - CAUTION items.

Tips & Tricks.

Disclaimer
This document is not intended to promote Rita Mulchays materials. Those are the materials I
used and found useful preparing for PMP. This is not the only method to prepare PMP and this is
to be considered as lessons Learnt doc to explain the experience I had in preparing for PMP
certification. This document doesnt guarantee 100% pass on first attempt and it purely depends
on the experience and knowledge level you have in project management and PMBOK/Other
materials. This is just a tool which will structure your preparation process.

ABOUT THIS MATERIAL

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING

WHAT ARE THESE?

DISCLAIMER

OVERALL APPROACH

PLAN
DO
CHECK
ACT

5
5
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5

STUDY MATERIALS

PRACTICAL STUDY PLAN (PSP):

TEMPLATE:
GROUND WORK:
APPROACH
IMPLEMENTATION:
CYCLE 1:
CYCLE 2:
CYCLE 3:
APPENDIX:
PSP TEMPLATE:
CET TEMPLATE:

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10
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Lets begin and get you PMP certified

Overall Approach
The approach is based on the time tested Plan Do Check Act cycle.
Plan

The key is to create a Practical Study Plan (PSP) that fits your work and
personal schedule. A template and list of considerations to be made while
creating PSP are explained later.

Do

Once PSP is in place, you need to start your study sessions as per the plan.
Buffer Time (BT) is built into the plan. So any deviation in study plan will be
cushioned by the BT that helps you to keep you on course. This phase also
includes taking regular Chapter-End-Tests (CET) for each Knowledge Area.
Towards the end of the study cycle, the plan will allow you to take Knowledge
Area Test (KAT) and PMP Full Exam Simulation Tests (PMP FEST).

Check

At regular interval, the plan has Check Points (CP). This helps you to see the
overall progress and how for you are on course!

Act

If you are Off-Course, you have to modify the rest of the PSP. The more
modification you make on PSP, you need to realize that PSP is not practical
anymore. You need to go back and make an honest PSP

Study Materials
My PSP is based on only 3 study materials.

PMBOK

Rita Mulchays PMP Exam Prep

Rita Mulchays PM FASTrack PMP Exam Simulation Software

Remember to check version of PMBOK and Rita Mulchays Material that relevant based on the
month you take exam. When I attended TCS training, Version 6 of Rita Mulchay was relevant.
But Version 7 was relevant for the month I planned for the exam. So always decide at a high
level which month you are going to take exam and find out which version you should be using
as study material.

Practical Study Plan (PSP):

The Practical Study Plan (PSP) is divided into 3 main parts:

1st Cycle: CET Cycle

2nd Cycle: KAT Cycle

3rd Cycle: PMP FEST Cycle

All these three cycle can be seen in PSP.

In Cycle 1, I studied each knowledge area in depth. In this cycle, you understand concepts and
thought process behind each topic.
Starting cycle 2, I prepared from Exam point of view. In Cycle 2, I studied by Process Group
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitor & Control and closing. This helps to identify questions in
each process group in the exam.
Cycle 3 is purely Full Mock Exam cycle where in I took 5 Full Exams to prepare myself for the 4Hour long exam session.
Template:
Here is the template of PSP. This can be customized based on your need and Target dates.
Please DO NOT jump and start entering dates into PSP Template. Please read this section
completely before you customize the template. Remember it is a Personal Study Plan and
there are so many aspects you need to consider before planning.

Ground Work:
Ideally start to finish, PMP preparation can take around 12 weeks. Before we move further,
please consider to gather the following information for the next 12 weeks. They should be part
of the PSP.

Work:
o

Major Deployment or Product Release dates (If you are part Development team)

Critical Onsite / offshore calls which might cut your study time.

On-call schedule (if you are part of production support team)

Holidays

Personal:
o

Vacation plans

Functions / Parties / get together plans (if available)

Doc appointments for you and your family

Once you collect these, enter them in Speed Breakers tab of the PSP template.
12 week is almost quarter of a year. It is a long period. So new speed breakers might come up
in the middle of preparation time. Keep updating Speed Breakers tab as and when something
new comes up. We will discuss further about this in the coming section.

Approach
When putting dates in the PSP, there are two approaches you can take:

Top Down or Bottom up. Top down is basically working through each chapter in order
and start filling in dates based on your gestimate time required for each chapter.

Bottom Up approach is to Set the exam date first and then work backwards to the
current date fitting all the 3 cycles in between.

I planned Cycle 1 in Top Down approach. After finishing the Cycle 1, I booked my PMP Date
and planned Cycle 2 & 3 using Bottom up approach

While filling the dates,

You can give an overall time for each chapter or give dates for each topic in the chapter.

Copy and insert the speed breakers in appropriate place so that PSP has a continuous
flow of dates. (Specifically for this reason, the column width of Speed Breakers Tab
matches the Column width of the PSP tab to maintain the look and feel)

It is important to refer the tab Speed Breakers to make sure none of those dates are part of
your Study dates. This is the best way to get a Practical Study Plan which you will be able to
follow honestly.
Implementation:

Cycle 1:

If a chapter takes longer than planned, please DO NOT rush. Use the buffer time to
complete. If it goes beyond buffer time, take the needed time to finish. Then adjust the
remaining chapters of PSP to accommodate your original plan.

After couple of chapters, you will understand your pace and accordingly you can change
the PSP dates.

I finished each chapter in the following order:

Read PMBOK

Read Rita Mulchay

Take test

When you finish reading PMBOK and Rita Mulchay, please DO NOT take the Chapter End
Test (CET) on the same day. As per the plan, you will take the CET only on the day when

you start the next chapter. When you take CET on the same day, everything is fresh and
it is easy to get answers right. The idea is to give a break and see how for you can
remember /understand the concepts to take CET.

Use CET template to take test. Each CET may take about 1 Hour. (30-45 min to answer,
15 min to evaluate). Use CET answer sheet to take test and evaluate. Always aim for
80% or more.

When you take CET, always have a blank sheet of paper to jot down To Study again list.
When you take exam, you will know the list of topics which are challenging; those you need to
revisit or study again. Keep jolting down the areas or topics as and when you encounter one.
This list will be useful in Cycle 2.Please DO NOT take this list lightly. This came quite handy to
me when I was in Cycle 2 & 3. Even the day before PMP exam, going over this list will help you
quickly refresh your memory on difficult topics.

After finishing the exam, take 10 min to:

o

Enter the % Marks in Progress tab of PSP after finishing the exam.

Update the list items you jotted down in To study again tab in PSP

At the end of the Cycle 1, when you refer to the progress tab, based on your score, you can see
which process area you need to concentrate more in upcoming study cycles.

Cycle 2:
Staring Cycle 2, you should ideally need 50% of time to finish each chapter compared to your
first cycle. For example, if Project Scope Management took 7 days to finish in Cycle 1, you should
ideally able to finish the entire chapter in less than 3 days in second cycle. So update the PSP
dates for Cycle 2 based on:

Initial time required to study a chapter

To-Study Again list

After finishing each knowledge area, use Rita Mulchays PM FASTrack PMP Exam Simulation
Software to take knowledge area wise KAT. This test will take longer time based on knowledge
area you are dealing with the number of questions you have. Again during this test, Keep noting
down the To Study again list.
At the end of KAT:

Enter the % Marks in progress tab of PSP after finishing the exam.

Update the list items you jotted down in To study again tab in PSP. If you are
confident in some of the Cycle 1 items, then those items can be removed and the list
can be updated with the latest ones. With progress you make, list at the end of Cycle 2
for each knowledge area should be smaller than the Cycle 1 list.

You can always track your score and review wrong answers in Rita Mulchays PM FASTrack
PMP Exam Simulation Software. I kept the progress sheet up to date with % of KAT as well,
as I will have one place look at all my scores and monitor progress. Also, I didnt completely
remove the to-Study again items which I felt confident. Instead, I highlighted them in grey
for future reference.

Cycle 3:
In this cycle, you will take 4 Hours Mock exams using Rita Mulchays PM FASTrack PMP Exam
Simulation Software.

Please DO NOT under estimate the 4 Hour long session. Sitting through 4 Hour session and
answering 200 questions will be very challenging. It is important that you are fully prepared
to undergo that ordeal Physically and mentally.

During each PMP FEST, keep marking the areas to study or the areas you find confusing.
These items will go to To Study Again items.

After the exam:

o

Update the Progress Tab with over all %.When you click detailed report, you
will see % for the 5 Process Area. Capture this information as well.

Please review all the wrong answers to know what went wrong.

Once you finish a 4 Hours test, update the Progress sheet and take a good break. After about
2-3 Hours, spend about 1 Hour reviewing all the wrong answers. The explanation given is a
good way to understand your knowledge gaps.

Aim to score more than 75% on all exams. The final exam will take longer time and has
tougher questions.

ALL THE BEST TO COMPLETE PMP SUCCESSFULLY

Appendix:
PSP Template:

Personal Study
Plan.xlsx

CET Template:

Chapter End Test.xls

For Printing the Templates: In the template provided in appendix, the print areas are set in
such a way that it fit well for an A4 sheet.