Original Certification Date: 05/18/2012

Exam Prep Course

School

• The Project Management Academy
• http://projectmanagementacademy.net/phoenix/pmp-certification.php
• 9631 North Black Canyon Highway
  Phoenix, AZ 85021
  (877) 637-0450

Course Details

• In person 4-day boot camp
• Next class is from April 2-5 from 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM
• The PMP Exam is 200 questions with a 4 hour time limit. Questions cover 5 process groups:
  1. Initiation (13%)
  2. Planning (24%)
  3. Executing (30%)
  4. Monitoring and Controlling (25%)
  5. Closing (8%)

Cost

• Price: $1,895
• 100% first-time pass guarantee
  • If you take the exam within 30 days of the course and don't pass on your first attempt we'll pay for you to retake it.
  • If you don't pass after 2 retakes we'll refund the full cost of the course.

Eligibility Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or global equivalent
• Minimum three years/36 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience
• 4,500 hours spent leading and directing project tasks
• 35 contact hours of formal project management education

Certification Requirements

• Take PMP Exam Prep Course to satisfy the required 35 hours (PDUs) education requirement.
• Register to become a member of the Project Management Institute.
• Submit your PMP application online. Application will be reviewed and responded to in 3-5 days.

Checklist

• Became a member of pmi.org on 02/25/2012
• Purchased class enrollment on 03/05/2012

Enrollment & General Info

• Take course, submit application to pmi.org, then take mock exam about 1-2 weeks after the class ends.
• Typical time frame for pmi.org to approve applications is 3-5 business days.
• Check the availability of proctored exams via prometric.com or prometric.com/PMI/default.htm. Tests can typically be taken Mon-Sat in the morning, aftternoon, or evening.
• Nobody knows how tests are graded, although they suspect that an applicant must score 80%+ in each group.
• Pass rate for Project Management Academy is about 95% on first try.
• PMI.org application typically asks for a contact reference for each project as well as the % of hours spent on each process group. 97% of applications are approved without audit.
• Cancellation Policy: $800 fee for early cancellation. Can reschedule with at least 7-days notice for no fee. If rescheduling in less than 7-days, a $400 fee applies.
• Promotional rate is good through June 31, 2012
• As of 02/27/2012, there are about 4 registered students. There are typically 15 students in each class.
• After enrolling, you will receive:
  • The Project Management Body of Knowledge book (4th edition).
  • Case Binder.
  • Breakfast and Lunch included.
  • Application helper (a spreadsheet to help complete the pmi.org application in less than 1-hour).
  • 24/7 access to online training tools. These include the mock exam and are available for 6-months after class ends.
• Successful applicants
  • Read through the PMBOK book before class.
  • Complete in-class activities.
  • Focus on studying heavily a week before they take their test.
  • Spend a couple of hours each night reviewing what they learned in class.

Certification Statistics

• US Government recently mandated that any projects receiving Government funding need to have certified project managers
• 5 million copies of Microsoft Project are in circulation
• 15 million people worldwide consider themselves Project Managers, yet only 500,000 of them are certified (3.3%)
• New PMP's earn $10,000 more than non-PMP's
• PMP's who hold their credential for 5 years typically earn $25,000 more than non-PMP's

Instructor

• Asad Haque
• 847-323-0784
• asad.haque@projectmanagementacademy.net

Application Process

1. Visit www.pmi.org
2. Join PMI (it saves you $ on the exam fee)
3. Apply for PMP Certification
   1. 4,500 hours of experience (overtime factored in) + 36 months of project management
   2. 550 character description on each of the projects. They're looking for what I did on the project. Use phases such as "develop project charter, manage project execution, delegated tasks to analysts. Use verbiage from the process grid to define what I did.
   3. "Domain" means 5-process groups
   4. 2,000 in a standard working year. Add overtime. Then estimate time in each project.
   5. Once you've comfortably met your requirements, you can submit the application (you don't need to include every single project).
   6. You don't need to do every single process group for every single project. You must, however, have experience in each process group (domain) over the course of all projects.
   7. Overlapping months are only counted for one project.
   8. All hours are included, even if they overlap.
   9. PMI will review your application in 5 business day.
   10. You will receive a confirmation code once approved. This is needed to schedule the exam.
   11. Coordinator and Expeditor are still considered "leads" on a project. Any role on drop down menu is fine.

The Exam

Why People Fail Exam

1. Take exam 1-2 weeks after class. People fail when taking it too late.
2. Haven't done enough studying.
3. Haven't done enough practice questions.

Registering for the Exam

1. Visit www.prometric.com
2. Schedule the exam.
3. Go to the Prometric testing location
4. Take and pass the exam. You are PMP certified once you pass the exam.

Audits

• If you get audited, this will happen when you pay the exam fee.
• Probability of audit is 10%.
• You will receive an audit notice within 10 minutes after paying the exam fee.
• Will usually approve within 1 day of receiving the envelope of sign-offs.

• Expect to see 5-10 formula questions on the exam.
• Need to know ethics – not stand alone questions any more. They are integrated into the knowledge area questions.
• Ethics study guide is located in the binder to study.
• Take 3 practice exams before taking the real exam
• 200 questions. 25 experimental (no credit if answering right or wrong). 1 min 12 sec per question.
  • Initiating – 13%
  • Planning – 24%
  • Executing – 30%
  • M&C – 25%
  • Closing – 8%
• PMI databank is 13,000 questions
• Pass rate in PMBOK 4 is not revealed. Pass rate in PMBOK 3 was 65%
• Score is pass/fail. A numeric score is not given.
• Expect the first few questions to be difficult.
• Questions are completely random; they are not adaptive (not based on answers to previous questions)

Types of Questions

• All questions are multiple choice
• Expect a lot of situational / scenario type of questions
• Long and wordy questions
• Totally irrelevant or seemingly nonsensical questions. When you see these, typically only the last sentence is valuable. The scenario is completely irrelevant.
• Extraneous information (red herring)
• More than one right answer; choose the best answer of the ones provided.
• Common sense answer versus PMBOK answer; select the PMBOK answer.
• Something you've never heard of before. PMBOK covers 75-80% of the exam. Additional questions on ethics, management theories and quality theories. Exam reserves the right to ask questions on anything project management related. You should only see 1-2 questions like this.
• Expect 5-10 mathematical questions.
• Long and complicated critical path diagrams.
• Correct answer to a different question. Be sure to read every single word to every single question.

Prometric Testing Center Tips

• Arrive 30 minutes early
• Wear layers of clothing! Will either be too hot or too cold; never in between
• Eat something before you arrive.
• You cannot take anything into the exam room (pen and paper are provided)
• Most people finish in 3 – 3.5 hours
• Take a couple of breaks (1-2 min "stretch" break)
• Can only use calculator on the computer
• If you have a choice where you sit; sit far away from the door
• Use 15 minute tutorial to do a brain dump. You will have 15 minutes to review a tutorial on how to use the testing system. During this time, write down the following information:
  • Dump anything you've memorized onto your notes sheet
  • Formula sheet
  • Process grid
• Countdown clock may be in hours or minutes

Exam Tips

• Often the entire question hinges on one word or phrase. Always look for that key word.
• Always look out for words or phrases like "most likely, least likely, next, first, not"
• Beware of non-substantive answers such as "quality is really important" – maybe true, but no real details in the answer
• Assume, unless question states otherwise, that:
  • PM's are always proactive, take action and confront conflicts
  • Historical information is always available
  • Adequate Change Control Process is already in place
  • Adequate documentation is being performed
  • You are in a Strong Matrix Organization (high PM authority)

Helpful URL's

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