1. Take test preparations seriously. This test demands respect; it is not a walk in the park. Counting the 4 days of classes I went through (36 hours), I spent an additional 20 hours on my own.
2. Suggest really understanding the ITTOs—they’re essential to knowing where you are in the process—a key item with PMI.
3. PMI is big on ethics and doing the right thing … know what they think is the right thing to do … it’s not always what you would do.
4. Lots of good study materials out there … find one that best fits your learning style. (Find your “poison.” For example, some find Rita’s test guide to be too “in the weeds” and rather dry … others have the exact opposite opinion. While some find the “story book” style and graphics in “PMP Head First” to more ideally suit their learning needs; others felt their approach was too “elementary.” To each their own someone once said.
5. I enrolled in a 4-day teaching course and found that the interaction with the other participants added greatly to the learning experience.
6. Don’t dawdle too long before taking the test. There is so much info (I’ve heard that PMI has a database of over 7,000 possible questions) that you can’t memorize or remember it all. Hit the study guides hard, read through the PMBOK and go take the test. There are several folks in my company who took the 4-day instructional a couple of years back and still haven’t taken the test. Definitely strike while the iron is hot …
7. Force yourself to read ALL the answers before making a selection. With a good many of the questions seeking the “best answer,” the first “right” answer you see may not always be the “best” answer. I read the answers in reverse order (i.e., D,C,B,A) … that helped me read them all.
8. Also, read and re-read the questions. Many of them are very “layered” … pay particular attention to such grammatical articles as “a” and “the” — they can greatly influence which of the answers is the “best” answer.
9. Most all of the stress I felt whilst taking the test (as compared to many sample tests I’d previously taken) was that this one counted! I took nearly the full 4 hours allotted, but never felt rushed. (I had never gone over 3 hours on the 200- question practice tests I had found on line. My 57-year old brain (and rear!) did grow tired.) My approach was to go through the test in a deliberative fashion the first time through … answering those I was dead sure about … and answering/marking for further review those questions on which I was readily unsure of my answer–or had me reading through the question more than twice. I also took a 10-minute break at the half-way mark (100 questions). As a result, I finished my first run through the exam with 30 minutes to spare, and thus was then able to turn my full concentration toward those questions on which I needed to a more thorough break down. (FYI-I had 40 such questions.) Not too surprisingly, however, I only changed my answer on 3 of the questions … leaving the remaining 37 as I had first marked.
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