PMP Study Resources – Part 4

Time to catch and finish this series. So, along with the reading resources, the podcasts, and the practice exams, what other tools are available for studying for the PMP? Well, the web of course – in spades. There are many, many sites out there dedicated to PMP preparation, many of which provide advice and answers in a discussion format or forum. Here are only a handful, just a few that I found useful in my studies.

http://www.pmhub.net/forums/

has a collection of practice questions in the Exam Question Bank forum, a long long list of lessons learned by other PMP preps in the Lessons Learned forum, and some exam tips and tricks. If you have a question about preparing for and writing the PMP exam, it’s probably answered in one of these forums.

http://www.headfirstlabs.com/phpBB2/index.php

is a forum sponsored by the ‘Head First Labs’ from O’Reilly, the same crew that provided us with the ‘Head First’ series of technical books. Personally, I found this forum more interesting to read and less repetitive than the pmhub.net forums.

http://pmzilla.com/ and http://www.donkim.info/PMPCertPrep/

have some good resources including a fairly comprehensive list of formulas relevant to the exam, and some interesting memory aids (for those who can actually memorize any of the inputs and outputs to all the processes).

http://www.maxwideman.com/pmglossary/index.htm

is an interesting and comprehensive glossary of project management terms, always useful when you come across an unfamiliar term when working through your reading material or scouring the forums.

And yes, Google and Wikipedia play a useful role in preparing for the exam. I found these two came into play late in the preparations when I was interested in reading more on a particular concept or specific term and found that the study guides came up short.

PMP Study Resources – Part 3 (Addendum)

I’m tired of writing PMP practice exams, really I am. Now that I’ve had the chance to run through both the pmstudy.com exam and the ESI practice exam, I thought I’d comment quickly on them while they’re both still fresh in my mind.

The pmstudy.com exam (I took #2) was a good exam I thought – probably the hardest of any that I’ve written – but it covered a lot of material and was phrased in such a way that the questions were written and structured differently than previous practice exams I saw. This gave me more exposure to different types of questions, and different phrasing of the same questions. 

Quite a few of the questions were based upon Kerzner’s book (of which I’m now quite curious) so if you haven’t read it, there are some questions and topics in this exam I haven’t seen anywhere else. 

The good thing is, on the pmstudy.com exams, you can mark questions for review, then review them much like the real exam, plus once you’ve finished the exam, you can click on your incorrect responses and view the explanation of the correct answer, a good learning tool.

Oh yes, and another good piece of information – pmstudy.com have a free practice exam as well – I worked through the first 50 or so questions, which seemed a bit easier than exam #2. However, it could be a useful part of  the overall preparation as one more of the free practice exams.

Not so with the ESI exam unfortunately. Not only can you not mark questions for review, you don’t get any explanation of which individual responses were incorrect, or any explanations of the correct answer. On top of that, I was surprised by the heavy weighting towards decision trees, EMV, contract/procurement, and earned value. 

OK, perhaps the earned value weighting I can understand, but the number of questions on decision trees and EMV seemed completely out of whack, with only a smattering of PERT and network diagram questions, a healthy dollop of human resource and communication questions. The one upside of this exam? If you want practice on decision trees, EMV, earned value, and PTA calculations, this is the place to go.

On the whole, I felt that the balance of questions and coverage of the PMBOK in this exam wasn’t up to par with other exams, and not worth the $40US. A disappointment to be sure, because the quality of the ESI classroom sessions has impressed me in the past.

PMP Study Resources – Part 3

So let me write for a moment about the practice exams I’ve used in preparing for the PMP exam. There are plenty of exams out on the web, some commercial, some free – these are the ones that I used based upon what was available and what was mentioned in some of the PMP forums and websites (grist for another entry later). 

Head First – the Head First PMP study guide has provided a 200-question practice exam here.

Lehmann 75 / 175 – Oliver Lehmann has an online 75-question exam and a PDF version of a 175-question exam.

PMBOK Q & A – the PMI publishes a small book called the ‘Q & As for the PMBOK Guide 3rd Edition‘ with 200 questions.

PMP Examp Prep, Rita Mulcahy – the practice question in Rita’s study guide add up to 374 practice questions – that’s one long practice exam!

PMStudy.com – this commercial website has 4 practice exams that receive favourable reviews from the notable PMP prep forums and websites, and are quite affordable. 

ESI International – a reputable training outfit with a focus on project management, ESI International has an online practice exam for PMP preparation as well as a number of PMP prep courses available.

OK, so with list as a starting point, what do I think of them all? Well, to qualify, I haven’t yet tried the PMStudy or ESI practice exams so I’ll comment on those in a later entry. For the others, some observations:

• the easiest is the PMBOK Q&A – possibly the PMI intended it for use by both PMP and CAPM students.
• the hardest is the Lehmann 175 – he introduces questions from some of his suggested study material that’s not covered in the other study guides so it’s a good way to get used to answering a question from left field.
• the Head First PMP exam, like the study guide, felt a bit soft – don’t take a strong result on this exam as an absolute indication of your performance on the final exam.
• the questions in Rita’s study guide are good and challenging – I covered them all as I read it, but now I’ll be reviewing them from start to finish (all 374!) – the only downside is that she phrases the questions within the context and slightly altered terminology of the study guide – which could also be an upside by having to answer questions that are asking the same as other exams but in a different way.

Also, it’s good to try a couple of exams that provide ‘randomized’ questions that bounce around from topic to topic within the study material. Using the questions from study guide chapters, where consecutive questions come from the same topic area, isn’t as good an exercise for the exam. 

And, of course, many other sites and forums suggest strongly that you take at least one, preferably two, 4-hour practice exams to get a feel for what it’s like to work through 200 questions in a single sitting. This will give you an idea of how you might pace yourself, an estimate of how long you’ll need before taking a brain break, and generally improve your confidence heading into the exam.

PMP Study Resources – Part 2

Allow me to back up a bit on this series and outline broadly what sort of tools I’ve used in studying for the PMP. 

• reading material – this has included the PMBOK, and a couple of study guides that I’ll detail in a moment
• podcasts – such as the PrepCast I described before in my first entry, Controlling Chaos, and a few others
• forums and websites – such as PMHUB, Head First, the PrepCast and other sites for useful resources
• practice exams – there are many, let me cover this in detail in another entry
• other bits – flashcards, prior course material and experience

Of the study guides, I’ve used two primarily in addition to reading the PMBOK. I have found this to be a valuable addition to the PMBOK for a couple of reasons. 

One, repitition – reading the same subject several times, written in different styles by different authors, enforces the learning and ensures that new elements or facets of the same discussion are exposed in the reading. 

Two, supplementary knowledge – the exam and our work experience don’t rely solely upon what’s in the PMBOK. The PMBOK itself recommends a wide variety of other reading materials to supplement the Guide in preparing for the PMP exam. The study guides provide much of this supplementary material in a condensed and summarized form.

The two I’ve used have been Rita Mulcahy’s ‘PMP Exam Prep’, Fifth Edition and Greene and Stellman’s ‘Head First PMP’. They both have their relative upsides and downsides. 

Rita’s is a good reference with good practice questions, well laid out, free of obvious errors, and quite comprehensive. However, I agree with other reviews I’ve seen that suggest that the tone is at times a bit harsh. e.g. You must do this or read this or else you’ll fail the exam! The “Tricks of the Trade” scattered throughout the book are useful, as are the “Quicktest” listings of topics to be known and understood at the beginning of each chapter. I’m on the fence regarding her “Process Game” in which she overviews the project management process groups and knowledge areas but in a different language and nomenclature than the PMBOK. On the one hand, it helps to gain an understanding of some of the PMBOK concepts and terms; on the other hand, knowing page 70 of the PMBOK backwards and forwards is, I believe, a key to a successful exam.

The Head First PMP study guide is a very different styled book, with plenty of funky images, witty captions, freeform exercises and layouts, such that it’s the most engaging visually of any of the study materials. However, this comes at the expense of space – it’s a large heavy book meaning you don’t want to be packing it around with you all day, and some of the material ends up being covered fairly superficially to make way for the layout and the images. Perhaps the coverage is sufficient for the exam, perhaps not. As a supplement to the other reading, it’s been fun and engaging, but I don’t believe that I’d feel comfortable going into the exam with only this study guide under my belt.

So, in summary, for reading resources, my own two cents worth – pick two or three good books and go though them in detail. Read the PMBOK twice, while reading the others. Read a chapter in one, then the corresponding chapter in the other as reinforcement or explanation. At the same time, try one of the podcasts as a different learning tool, and listen to different material in several podcasts to mix it up. Hearing and reading the same topics discussed in different ways has been very beneficial for me in my studies.

PMP Study Resources – Part 1

While I’m in the process of studying for the PMP exam, I thought I’d begin to track for the benefit of others the tools and techniques that I’ve found useful. There’s only one problem – the farther along through my studies I am, the more great tools I find. The trick will be to find the time to read through all the excellent material that others have made available already on the web.

I’ll highlight to begin with one different tool that’s been quite valuable for me. It’s the PMPrepcast developed by Cornelius Fichtner, PMP. Given that I’m new to podcasts, and to the iPod in general (having only purchased my nano  late last year), it’s surprising that it might be my first tool of choice. However, I spend roughly 25 minutes in the morning and the evening walking to and from work in downtown Calgary, and those walks are an excellent time to be studying by listening to the prepcast. 

To get a feel for it, listen to the free sample episodes of the prepcast online or you can subscribe to it through iTunes.

How has it been useful for me in my studies? In two ways. One, rather than reading the PMBOK or the various study guides, listening to the prepcast probably uses different parts of the brain for auditory learning rather than visual learning. Also, I find that the prepcast provides me with “ahah” moments where a problematic or dry topic in the PMBOK is covered by Cornelius in such a way that the penny drops and it begins to make more sense.

For the price of the prepcast, you receive over 80 episodes with an average length of perhaps 20min per episode, detailing each of the knowledge areas, process groups, and processes in the PMBOK. The prepcast also discusses the PMP exam application process, some interviews with previous students, study tips and so on. Relative to the price of other study guides and materials, it’s a steal, and I recommend it as an addition to your personal tools and techniques for the exam.

And no, I have no stake in the PMPrepcast – other than as a positive stakeholder in my PMP studies.