02/11/2020 Top 7 PMP Study Tips to Ace PMP Exam and Tackle PMP Exam Questions

Top 7 PMP Study Tips to Ace PMP Exam and Tackle

PMP Exam Questions
By andrewshih - August 24, 2019

PMP Exam Study Tips

Are you getting ready for the PMP Exam and looking for PMP study tips? If so, you are in the
right place. PMP exam is not an easy exam and about a third of PMP aspirants fail the exam. It
is going to take a few months of hard work to prepare for the PMP exam. In this article, I
compiled the top PMP study tips to help you prepare for the test as well as PMP exam tips for
tackling the PMP exam questions.

PMP Study Tips #1: Read the PMBOK Guide Properly

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Yes, I admit reading the PMBOK guide is dry and boring. However, PMBOK guide should be your
primary PMP exam reference guide. You are missing out on this valuable resource if you do not
read the PMBOK guide and leverage it as part of PMP exam preparation.

For those PMP aspirants who read the PMBOK guide, many only read Part One covering the first
13 chapters and still not utilize the guide completely. To maximize the benefits of the PMBOK
guide, you should utilize all 3 parts.

Part One
You will need to read all 13 chapters in Part One, although you may want to skip chapter 4
Integration Management then come back after you finish the other 12 chapters in Part One.
Once you have a better idea of all 10 knowledge areas, you will be in a better position to see how
all of the 10 processes integrate and work with each other.

Part Two
Part Two is really how a project should execute from initiation, planning, executing,
monitoring/controlling, to closing. It will help you with solidify your understanding of project
management process from Part One. Part One helps you understand each of the processes
within the knowledge areas. Part Two puts all of them together in a way how a project should be
carried out.

Part Three

The PMBOK Guide includes several Appendixes. The Appendix is a really useful reference that
most PMP aspirant neglect.

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Appendix X3 – Agile, Iterative, Adaptive and Hybrid Project Environment. For people
who will be taking the PMP exam after December 15, 2019, you should go through the
material in this small section. If you are taking the PMP exam before December 15, 2019, it is
optional reading but it is possible ungraded can come from here in preparation for the future
exam.

Appendix X4 – Summary of Key Concepts for Knowledge Areas. PMI conveniently

layout all the key concepts for all knowledge areas in one appendix. You should validate your
understanding as you finish each chapter. You should also review the full list again before you
step into the exam room.

Appendix X6 – Tools and Techniques mapping. This appendix provides the mapping of
tools and techniques that are associated with each of the knowledge areas. It will help you
solidify understand the ITTO, rather than trying to memorize by brute force.

Review the Glossary, Acronyms, and Definitions. You should review the common
acronyms that may appear in the PMP exam. While you don’t need to remember the definition
by heart, it serves as a good checkpoint if you know what they are. You can use it like a Flash
Card.

PMP Study Tips # 2: Pick a PMP Exam Study Guide

That Works for You
Many PMP aspirants will supplement the PMP study with a PMP study guide. There
are many PMP study guides available, including PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy, How to Pass on
Your First Try by Andy Crowe, and Head First PMP by Jennifer Greene.

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Each of the PMP study guides has its own strengths and weakness, and you will need to find one
that works for you. Just because the book works for other PMP aspirants, it does not mean it will
work for you.

If your objective is simply to find a good PMPs study guide that focuses on getting you to pass
the PMP, typically PMP aspirants prefer Andy Crowe’s book. If you are looking for a PMP study
guide not only to help you pass the exam but also willing to take extra time and readying to
master the PMP learning, Rita’s book may be a good choice. If you are looking for an
introductory book to help you understand Project Management, Head First may be right for you.

If you want to learn more detail about the pros and cons of the popular study guides, you can
read the full PMP Study Guide Review.

PMP Study Tips # 3: Pick a PMP Training Course That Fits

Your Learning Style
Choosing a good PMP training course is not only to fulfill 35 contact hours to sit for the exam but
also to help you prepare for taking the PMP exam. The course will provide you with the
knowledge, material, and support to help you pass the PMP Exam.

You should only take the course from a Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) certified by PMI.
You can find the certified R.E.P. from PMI website. You can find R.E.P. offers various class setting
including on-demand, Instructor-led virtual class, and instructor-led classroom settings.

You will need to determine which course is the most suitable for you based on your personal
learning style and budget.

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For PMP aspirants who pay the cost of certification out of their own pocket, most of the PMP
aspirants will pick either on-demand course or virtual instructor-led course.

The on-demand course offers the maximum flexibility for busy PMP aspirants who prefers to
study independently and keeping the cost low. The virtual instructor-led course will ideal for PMP
aspirant who prefers direct interaction with instructor, classmates, and has a support group.
Some corporations will sponsor their project managers for PMP certification and provide a
classroom instructor-led course.

For more information about the most popular PMP course providers, please refer to the course
offerings and reviews for PM-Prepcast, PMTraining, Simplilearn, and GreyCampus.

PMP Study Tips # 4: Use Quality Exam Simulator

Practice, practice, practice. Many PMP aspirants would agree that using a quality exam simulator
with difficulty similar to the real PMP exam is the most important success factor for passing the
PMP Exam. Indeed, you will need to do plenty of practice questions so that you are comfortable
with the real exam.

Criteria for selecting PMP exam simulator

A good exam simulator should meet the following criteria.

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Questions that are similar to real exam in terms of difficulty and the style of the questions.
Exam interface similar to the real exam that at the minimum allows you to mark for review,
and go back and forth between questions.
Have at the very minimum 3 full exams (600 questions) with a countdown timer.
The answer key will have detailed explanations of the right and wrong answers. Ideally, it will
have a reference back to the section in the PMBOK guide, so it will be easier for you to review
the information on the PMBOK guide.
You should be able to track your progress from the exam dashboard. A nice feature to have
would be highlighting your strengths and weaknesses.

Complete at least 3 full practice exams

Before you take real PMP exam, you should have completed at least 3 full practice exams within
4-hour time limit for a number of reasons:

You need to create your own PMP exam taking strategy. You will need to understand your
physical limitations when you tend to lose focus and need a break? How long is the break and
how often? For example, do you need to take a short break every 50, 60, or 100 questions?
Do you need a 1, 3, 5 minutes or a longer break to take a deep breath, clear your mind, or do
some stretching? Do you need time for a small snack or a bathroom break?
It is critical to try out your strategy and to go through the full exam experience a few times to
get more comfortable with taking the PMP exam under time pressure and building up your
stamina. You have to get comfortable with limit yourself averaging 1 minute per question,
even if that means you need to guess or simply skip and move on.

There are several sites that provide free PMP Exam questions. Most of these do not provide the
full exam experience or the quality of a premium exam simulators. You should use these

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resources only as additional practices to supplement your PMP exam preparation. You can find
the collection of free PMP Exam questions at the bottom of my complete PMP resource page.

PMP Study Tips # 5: Understand the Types of PMP

Exam Questions and How to Answer Them
The exam will be 200 multiple choice questions with 4 choices for each question
with 25 beta, ungraded questions. It will be helpful to know what types of questions will appear
on the PMP exam and understand the practical tips for answering those PMP questions correctly.

PMP exam consists of the following types of questions

Short/direct questions
Lengthy questions (Scenario, Wordy with excessive/unnecessary info)
Formula-based questions that test your understanding and memorization of formula.
Knowledge-based questions test of your memorization of the facts typically found in the
PMBOK guide. For example, you could be asked to identify a chart for quality management.
ITTO Questions – You could be asked to identify input, output, and took and techniques for a
particular process.
Situational/Scenario-based questions are considered the most challenging questions that
test the PMP aspirant’s ability to apply the knowledge. The majority of the PMP exam
questions will be situational.
Interpretational questions such as identifying the critical path, forward pass/backward
pass.

PMP Exam tips for answering PMP Exam questions

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PMP Exam Tips #1: Take time to go through the tutorial

Not only this technique will help you to get ready for the exam, but you will also learn important
tools on how to use highlight text and strike out wrong answers. This function is not available
from 3rd party exam simulator provided by REP so it is worthwhile to take time to learn it as it
can be a tremendous time-saver.

PMP Exam Tips #2: Target to spend on average 1 minute per question

Quite often you will be able to eliminate 2 choices and with 2 left to choose. Pick an answer,
mark for review, and came back later. Don’t get stuck. One common PMP Exam failure is running
out of time so do not let this happen to you. Keep in mind, there are 25 ungraded questions so
remind yourself you could be wasting time on an ungraded question.

PMP Exam Tips #3: Read the question carefully

Highlight and look out for important keywords. Watch out for words like “NOT” or “Except”.

PMP Exam Tips #4: Answer wordy question

Have you ever read through a question and wonder what you just ready? A considerable number
of PMP exam questions will be lengthy. The trick is to read the last sentence carefully first to find
out what the question is asking. With wordy questions, some of the information can be
unnecessary and it is there to make the question more complex and purposely confusing. Part of
the purpose is to make sure you know what information is relevant and what is not.

PMP Exam Tips #5: Answer scenario question

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You can expect there will be many wordy scenario questions. Generally, this is the hardest type
of question. It is very typical that the answer choices may appear to have more than one right
answer and multiple actions need to be taken. You will need to be able to pick the best answer
among the ones that appear to be the right answers.

Here are the steps for tackling the scenario questions:

Step #1: Read the last sentence to find out what the question is asking.
Step #2: Go back and read the full question and ignore information you don’t need or
highlight key information.
Step #3: Identify what stage of project management process you are in based on the
passage. You will need to have a solid understanding and memorize where each of the
processes fits in within the 5 domain groups.
Step #4: Read the choices carefully. Ask yourself, Is it the BEST and FIRST action to take to
solve the problem?
Step #5: Eliminate wrong answers and pick the best answer from the remaining choice.

PMP Exam Tips #6: Answer formula question

You simply must remember and full understanding of the formulas.

You must have a very good grasp of the Earned Value Management (EVM) formula. It is critical
that you must be able to determine if a project is over or under budget or behind schedule. You
are almost certainly going to see questions about SPI and CPI and crucial concept to understand
for passing the PMP exam.

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Estimate At Completion (EAC) and To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) will be considered
more complicated formula questions, and there should be very few of these questions if you are
lucky to get any.

You may get a question or two asking about PERT and or Communication Channels for which you
will need to know the formula.

PMP Exam Tips #7: Answer ITTO question

A very common question asked by PMP aspirant is whether ITTO needs to be memorized. Most
of us don’t have a photographic memory and fortunately, PMI doesn’t expect us to have this
talent. However, It is more important to understand how the input, output, tools and techniques
benefit the project management process, as well as the inter-relationship between them.

You can likely expect very few direct questions that ask you about the ITTO. However, ITTO can
also be mixed with a wordy problem and asking which input, tool, or chart should be applied at
this process stage.

PMP Study Tips # 6: Create your PMP Study plan

and study hard

Plan your study

While there are PMP aspirants who study and pass PMP within a month or take more than a year
to prepare for the PMP Exam, on average PMP aspirants take about 2 to 3 months to study for
the PMP exam with a full-time job.

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If you have a full-time job, you should plan to study 2 to 4 hours during the weekday and
allocate as much time as possible to study the PMP Exam on the weekend. Try to multi-task
when it is safe to do so. For example, Can you study during your commute such as using audio if
you are driving? If you are taking public transit or waiting in a line, you have more choices –
app, study notes, flashcards, video/audio.

Your situation can be different and maybe you do not have a full-time job, so you will need to
create a schedule that works with your study plan.

Memorize processes and formulas

You should memorize all the processes and where it belongs in domain groups (page 25). This is
a very important page you must commit to memory for the PMP Exam.

You must understand and memorize the formulas as well.

While you do not have to remember ITTO, it’s certainly helpful if you do to score easy points.

Maximize learning base on your learning style

You can find a lot of lessons learned and success stories from PMP aspirants who have passed the
PMP exam. Some of them have shared their study plans. Keep in mind however that everyone
has different learning styles; what works for others may not work for you.

For example, some people find Rita’s book helpful, while some did not. Some people pass the
PMP Exam barely read through the PMBOK Guide, and used other resources. Ultimately, you will

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need to explore what works for you that will maximize your learning and help you pass the
exam.

PMP Study Tips # 7: Register PMP Exam for Peak

Performance
Once you have a study plan, you should schedule the PMP exam and work toward that date. By
setting a deadline, it will help you stay focus and prioritize the exam preparation above other
tasks. It is possible that you will still feel overwhelmed with the study and not feel that you are
ready, but you also don’t want to drag on the study forever either. The best way to tackle this is
to register the PMP Exam ahead of time and work toward the end goal.

You should pick a date and time that you can perform at your peak. You should allocate enough
time to have a relaxed meal and travel time to the PMP test center so you will not be under extra
stress.

You may be wondering how do I know that I am ready for the exam? While PMI doesn’t disclose
the passing score, it is generally believed you need to score at least 62% to pass the exam. If
you are using a quality exam simulator and you should strive to score 75% or above on your
practice test to ensure you have a good chance of passing the PMP Exam.

Conclusion
Ace the PMP exam is just like completing a successful project that requires diligent preparation
and planning as well as relentlessly executing the plan and monitor your progress along the way.

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If you are looking for a recommendation of R.E.P. courses and a collection of free PMP Exam
questions, it is available at my complete PMP resource page. If you need help with your PMP
study plan or need a roadmap for your PMP journey, you can visit PMP Certification Success
Roadmap.

If you have PMP study tips that you would like to share, please comment below what works and
not works for you. Best of luck with your PMP Exam.

andrewshih
Congratulation on taking the initiative to become a PMP. My goal is to share my PMP experience
and help you achieve your goal. I hope you find the information helpful. If you have questions,
feedback, or willing to share your experience, please comment below and I will respond as
soon as I can. If you are will to support, you can more info here

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