Sanket wanted to obtain his PMP certification to transition from his engineering role to a project management role. After he found ExamsPM’s PMP prep course, he obtained his certification in just 6 weeks! The most important thing he says is to understand (not memorize) the flow of the ITTOs and do as many practice questions as possible.
We recently caught up with him, and he shared his PMP journey with us below.
1. Why did you want to get PMP certified?
I would like to switch my career from technical profile to management profile.
I sincerely hope that PMP certification will equip me with required project management skills and knowledge.
2. What is your current role? What were some past positions you’ve held?
I am currently working in automotive industry with company called Cummins Inc. My current role is ‘Customer Liason’ for one of our key customers in NA. In the past I had held engineering roles like system engineer, controls engineer & project engineer.
3. How long did it take you to get PMP certified?
I started studying for PMP at the start of this year but meanwhile i had to relocate due to my job change. So I could not appear for exam. After relocation, I had to start fresh in September 2018. Approximately i studies for 6-7 weeks in September to October time frame. Finally appeared for exam on 10/19/2018.
4. What did your study plan look like? How often and how long did you study per day? Per week?
Since I had only 6-7 weeks to prepare before my PMP exam, I had prepared time table to cover various topics, quizzes and mock exams. I used to study daily 1-2 hours on weekdays and 5-10 hours on weekends to complete study material based on my time table. I gave 4 practice tests from ExamsPM before actual PMP test that helped me tremendously to gauge my weak areas.
5. What study material did you use?
ExamsPM PMP course was the primary material that I used for preparation.
6. What tips and tricks would you give someone who is currently going through this certification journey?
- PMP exam is 4 hour long test without any break. So time management is the most important aspect. One need to practice focusing for 4 hours without any break or with shorter break. There is no water or food allowed inside test center so one need to manage eating schedule per test schedule. Otherwise you might run out of fuel on actual test day. Eat/drink something light before exam start time like energy bar or Gatorade.
- Practicing mock tests is the key factor in preparation as it will prepare you for 4 hour long test with required focus and time pacing. Practice at least 3-4 mock exams before real one.
- I realized rather that spending too much time listening/reading theory for various PMP topics one should spend more time learning/understanding glossary of key terms that is available in ExamPM course. This will ensure that you are familiar with lingo used in various knowledge area topics. You would spend less time learning/understanding key terms glossary rather than going through all video lectures. If you have time then feel free to watch all videos but i am sure you won’t remember everything just by watching video lectures.
- Complete quizzes for each chapter once you are familiar with key terminology for that chapter.
- For ITTOs refer to spreadsheet available in ExamPM course and have high level understanding of key process flows there.
- Practice tricks mentioned in ExamPM course to memorize 49 processes under each process group.
- For formula based questions, practice all questions from ExamPM course that is more that sufficient to answer real exam questions.
- Create your own formula/memory sheet and go over it every other day before your actual exam to memorize formulas and other key concepts.
7. Walk us through your actual exam date. How did you find the actual exam?
- I got lot of questions in real exam on topics like risk management, contract management and situation based questions for ‘Manage’ process group.
- Almost all formula/mathematical questions I got on real exam were same/similar to what I saw in ExamPM mock tests and quizzes.
- I did not see any direct ITTOs related questions like what specific inputs/outputs for specific process activity. So I don’t think one need to memorize ITTOs for actual exam.
8. Can people connect with you via LinkedIn?
Yes, sure. I would love to network with people who are currently working in PM or TPM role. Since i am aiming for job transition it would be helpful to seek guidance from people in those roles.
Congratulations Sanket! Wishing you all the best in your career!
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