How to Prepare for PMP Exam

Cracking the PMP exam requires a great deal of commitment and thorough preparation. Serious and good exam preparation is inevitable,
regardless of your experience and education. In the past, people with more than a decade of project management experience hav e failed just
because they undermined the difference between being a succe ssful project manager and being succe ssful in clearing the PMP exam. Mo st
of the successful PMP candidates spend 35 hours or more to prepare, so ma ke su re to leave plenty of time for preparation befo re you take
the exam. The images below show some of the best practices adopted by succe ssful PMPs.
1. Rev iew the PMP Examination Content Outline.
Going through the PMP Examination content outline document is a very important step towards doing well in the PMP exam. Published by
PMI, this is the most credible document you can go to for the following:

 Break up of questions a s per the Process a reas

 List of tasks, skills, and knowledge required as per PMI’s Role Delineation study. Going through this gives you a high -level idea of
what all get covered as part of the exam. Once you feel you have attained a rea sonable command on the content covered by
PMBOK (or a study guide you use) go through these and make sure nothing sounds unfamiliar
Here is a link to the PMP Examination content outline document:

2. Enroll in a formal study course offered by accredited Registered E ducation Prov iders (R.E.P.s).
Project Management Institute’s Regi stered Education Provi ders (R.E.P. s) a re organizations approved by PMI to offer project management
training. PMI started to accredit training providers to establish a global network of quality education providers to help hun dreds of thousands
of PMI Proj ect Management Professional (PMP) ® credential aspirants and credential holders.
There are a few reason s why you may want to enroll in a training course on PMP. These course s provide tailor-made PMP study materials,
best practices to prepare for the PMP Exam. They give you a quick start in getting a grasp of various project management conc epts,
terminology, formulae and other key inputs needed to get ready for the PMP exam. Most of the training course s also give you the 35 contact
hours certificate, necessa ry for you to be eligible for the PMP exam.

3. Prepare a Study plan.

It is important you treat getting your PMP certification also a s a project. Prepare a plan that covers all the activities that lead to your PMP
certification. One of the sub plans to this, and a very important one is the study plan. Break your study se ssion s into smaller chunks and
prepare a study plan which includes timelines to read PMBoK, practice mock te st s, study various materials etc. He re is a sample study plan:
4. Rev iew the latest edition of PMBO K Guide and self -study books published b y other reputable traini ng or ganizations.
It is recommended that you study the PMBoK Guide, no matter what other preparation tools you decide to go with. Within the PMBoK Guide,
focus on page number 61. It contains a table that shows the relation between 13 Knowledge Areas and 5 Process G roups with 47 processe s
and how these are applicable in the project management. A number of PMP aspirants get this table by heart. They would make use of the
first 5 minutes of their PMP Exam time to draw this table onto an empty sheet of paper so that they can use it as a reference in answering
their 200 exam questions.
Along with the PMBoK Guide, you may want to review other study guides published by R.E.P.s and other reputable training organizations.

5. Practice Mock Tests to get ready for the exam

Mock Test s are often a very good indicator of your readiness to take the exam. They are very useful to identify the gaps in y our project
management knowledge. After taking a test you can review the results and focus on areas that you need to improve on.
Taking full-length mock test s is important for another reason - it is not easy to sit at a place for four hours at a stretch with a complete focus
on answering questions. It is a physically daunting and mentally straining experience. However, it is required to get to your PMP certification.
You better get used to it before it is too late.
6. Form a study gr oup:
A good study group can be quite helpful. Check out local meet -ups (read meetup.com) and in case you don’t find one, form one. There are a
number of benefits of being part of a meetup:
1. Studying in a group breaks the monotony of studying alone

2. It helps you to get help on areas that you are struggling with, and when you help someone your own confidence grows
3. Sharing project management experiences with others are very helpful in cracking a particular type of questions that PMP is
notorious for - the scenario based questions
4. It helps you to motivate each other and stay on course

5. The biggest advantage is that it forces you to study on a regular basis, and makes the preparation activity a part of your ro utine
Check the below video to get in brief about the pmp exam tips and tricks.

Video Link:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1HTWt7n4K0- Four Secrets to pass the PMP Exam.