PMP Exam Cram Session - Updated for the 2021 PMP Exam

https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-exam-cram-session-pmbok6/

I got it on sale for $10.

https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-exam-cram-session-pmbok6/

https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-exam-cram-session-pmbok6/

I had a moment when I thought I was losing what I learned too and I ended up buying the PMP Exam Cram by Joseph Phillips and it was able to keep me going. I had this online course playing while I was multitasking (driving, cleaning, eating). At the moment it's on sale for $14.99.

Hope this helps. You can do it!

Sure happy to share.

I bought below courses on Udemy.

1. PMP Exam Prep Seminar - Pass the PMP on Your First Attempt
2. PMP Exam Cram Session - Updated for the 2021 PMP Exam

Passed the PMP! (AT/T/AT/AT/BT) Here’s my story...

First and foremost, if it was not for the insight from the posters here I would still be beating my head up against a brick wall trying to study... for that, thank you everyone!

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Before I begin, little background information. I originally took my PMP course back in 2013 while still a student. Found the profession interesting and planned to study for the exam after graduating. Fate had a slight change in hand when my now ex wife kidnapped 5 years of my life. Over the course of the marriage, I’d attempt to study but never could find the drive. Fast forward a few years, she passed the Bar, and conveniently wanted a divorce (yup, was one of those marriages).

I’ve accepted it all and have moved on completely. Currently dating an amazing girl who I will explain why she is significant below. Midway through the divorce process, my company laid off 50% of their staff due to COVID-19; myself included. The final decree came through in late May and for some reason, my drive came back and I began putting my nose to the grindstone. Needless to say, getting the PMP yesterday was more than just some letters next to my name, it was personal.

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Study Tools that were used:

PMBOK 6th Edition (reference only)

PMP Cram Session https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-exam-cram-session-pmbok6/

PMTraining https://www.pmtraining.com

Project Management Prepcast https://www.project-management-prepcast.com

PMP Pocket Prep (app for your phone) https://www.pocketprep.com/exams/pmi-pmp/

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First, I never read the PMBOK cover to cover. I only used it as a reference tool. Not saying you shouldn’t memorize/drill your processes, tasks, ITTOs, formulas, etc. You should be studying smart, not hard. Assuming you took the required 35 contact hour course, paid attention, took notes, all that is needed is practice and maybe a dash of confidence. Best served Medium Rare, obviously...

That said, Joseph Phillips is the man! He posted a cram session on Udemy that can be done in one day and takes about 8-9 hours total. Did this day 1 to lay the foundations needed. Scored a 77% on his practice exam and was ready to get my confidence thrown in the wood chipper as I began doing mock exams in other simulators. I’m not saying his exam is worthless, I just got really lucky.

Next I began taking the practice mock exams and quizzes through PMTraining. These were great because they were only 50 question slaps to the face to gauge my strengths and weaknesses. At first, remember how I scored a 77% through the PMP Cram Session? Yeah... gotta 50% on my first mock exam through here. Wanted to throw my mouse at the wall. Anyway, went through the process and improved. Confidence was still shaken a bit but consistency was key here.

By the end of these, I was in the upper 70s and low 80s. Was time to begin the full length exam simulators, that’s where the Prepcast came in. The first one was rough. I scored in the 60s... Again, that wall started looking very attractive to my mouse. After reviewing what/why I got wrong, it became clear my problem was now stamina, not application/knowledge. After taking a few more, reviewing what/why and rinsing/repeating, I found myself back to the mid 70s again!

Key is not knowledge and memorization but understanding WHY you got the question wrong

Last but not least is the PMP Pocket Prep app for your smartphone. I hate flash cards so this was truly a Godsend! Instead of wasting your time scrolling through Facebook raging over what your aunt Mary Sue posted on Facebook about wearing masks, your head can now explode over this! The difference is one will help you pass your PMP. It is amazing for drilling your ITTOs and some exam-like questions when you have a free 5-10 minutes. You can also customize your practice quizzes so you can do up to 100 at a time.

All 3 simulator resources offer great feedback and will chart your strengths and weaknesses. These three were key to me being able to pass yesterday on my first attempt! Will say after reading what everyone was saying about scoring 80s... its true. I was scoring mid 70s and I still passed. Just make sure you’ve done 3 unique exams and consistently scored above a 75 on each. After that, you’re only going to fail if you’re irresponsible at this point. I hope all of us know what I mean from that one guy named Bob in College who partied the night before his final and fell asleep on his desk when the blue book was handed to him. Don’t be like Bob...

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The night before the exam, my girlfriend took me to Chuy’s (an amazing Tex-Mex restaurant by the way) and we binged Ozark on Netflix till we crashed (off topic but Ruth is my favorite character on that show). You either know it or don’t at this point. Just give yourself the night off, trust me! I normally have this ritual where I pop my multivitamin (take the GNC Mega Men) and fish oil before going to bed the night before an exam. The loads of B vitamins in there make you feel like you slept 24 hours when you wake up. The day of I usually down a Snickers and Red Bull. Been doing that before exams since taking those stupid SOL tests in high school and it hasn’t failed me yet!

The exam was online proctored. Got the 10 minute break half way through to go empty the tank and munch on some goodies. Felt confident to knock out the remaining 100 until I got to 150... started to feel as though I had to go to take a leak again but thought I could hold it.

That was until my girlfriend’s cat decided to walk up near me and give me a gift, a hairball... of all the places that twerp had to throw up right next to me! Remember how I was proctored? Yeah, imagine the remaining 50 questions, an hour left, you gotta pee badly, and there’s puke at your feet. Can’t cover your mouth during the proctor experience either so that last hour was fun!

As for the cat, he’s now a brother to a puppy so his life has since been ruined. I don’t care after what he put me through. I’m actually blaming him for why I didn’t get AT in everything 😂😈

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In the end, it’s surreal that this ordeal is over with. I will say the reason I waited so long did not have to do with discipline, it had to do with support. Your family, friends, and loved ones are key to you attaining this credential. I personally experienced two extremes with two different women I was with. One demoralized me to the point where I just didn’t care, the other drove me to the point where I now can’t sit still.

Toxic support will only cause you to get frustrated or give up. This also goes for every Negative Nancy in your workplace that always rants about how you don’t “need” the PMP or how it isn’t useful/valuable. Distance yourself from these people, they don’t care about you, nor should you care what they have to say. A great resource to understand this concept more is from Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich,” if you’re interested.

If you want this, make sure before you start investing in study materials to have your support system locked in otherwise you will be wasting your time. That said, hope this experience helps all of you currently studying for or plan to pursue this gauntlet of fun!

When you do pass, make sure to treat yourself to something you don’t do often. For me it was a few fingers of Lagavulin 16 and a Cuban Cigar that’s been sitting in my humidor for a while now.

Hi,

Congrats on passing! I'm sure it's a load of your shoulders.

Regarding the materials and sites you used, can you help me make sure I'm using the write sites and docs?

• Joseph Phillips Udemy class: good basic foundation and easy way to get the PDUs you need

https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-pmbok6-35-pdus/ or https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-exam-cram-session-pmbok6/ ?

• Rita book: helpful for wording of test questions and to build on foundation, but the test is so “agile” now that some information felt irrelevant

What edition did you use?

• Sybex / Wiley Online wording: I was frustrated with the mock tests on this site, until I took the real PMP exam. There were way more questions on agile methodologies than I was expecting, and Sybex actually helped me revisit some agile concepts that I hadn’t thought about since taking the PMI-ACP.

https://www.efficientlearning.com/pmp/products/test-bank/ ?

• Prepcast free exam: so helpful, if I were to go back I would have bought prepcast to help me prepare.

https://www.pm-exam-simulator.com/pmp-exam-simulator ?

Thanks!!!

Here's what I did. The most helpful items were as follows:

• PRAIZION - I think this was most helpful in being able to understand everything in context and connected. The mainline was very helpful and then I made my own data flows using miro.com. I found Phil easier to watch (on 1.5x) than Vargas. The latter's voice became very grating on me. I did however watch Vargas several times over and also used that to make a flow on miro.
• PREPCAST - Definitely helped with being able to stay focused through all 4 hours and build that stamina.
• UDEMY - I took a random free udemy course for the hours, but Phillips cram session helped a lot. Whenever I would score low on prepcast in a knowledge area, I would listen to that section again and then take the prepcast quiz on only the wrong items. (I HATED the transitions though!!!!!)
• LINKEDIN - I saw someone's post "u/theblackstandard - I used Sandra Mitchell's course on LinkedIn. ...-- she communicates clearly and explains concepts well-- and I learned a lot from her course about project management..." And thought this was also helpful (when Phillips wasn't helpful when I got confused on topics and wanted to review after prepcast, I used Sandra)
• EVM & ITTOs - Aileen Ellis ITTO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwpVISMmf4&t. EVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpMTv3LVKyw&list=PLis-nCZGtynXASMBQlQ-C6jxcOiOaSg_Z

I think if I stuck to just these materials, I would've been more efficient in my studying.

I used no books or reading material (I did not read PMBOK).