A beginner’s guide to take on the PMP Certification exam
PMP Certification is one of the toughest professional credentials to obtain, primarily due to the types of questions posed during the daunting 4-hour examination. For situational and scenario related questions, the applicant must decipher and identify the appropriate answers.
Here are 5 steps which will help you to crack the PMP Exam with ease
- You must be thorough on the eligibility requirements for the exam and be acquainted with the test format as well. It is also advisable to be a member of the PMI, in order to have access to the PMBOK Guide for free, along with other benefits.
- Perform a research regarding the PMBOK Guide’s contents and domains. Buy a self-paced training course for the same, if you have the budget. Make sure the course meets the latest PMBOK guide and you’d be getting the mandatory 35-hour PDU. There are even some mock tests in the course, so you must get all the required study material. Choosing classroom training over online / self-study is always recommended.
- Go through the entire curriculum you have been taking. Take note of the terminology and create flash cards to grasp the content quickly. Here is a list of the domains included in the current PMBOK guide-
- Planning – 24% – 48 questions.
- Initiating – 13% – 26 questions.
- Executing – 30% – 60 questions.
- Monitoring & Controlling – 25% – 50 questions.
- Closing – 8% – 16 questions.
- This is the most critical step and therefore it requires a significant revision of the massive examination course. You’ll need to review the entire course at least twice to get good hold of it. Mock assessments and flash cards come useful here as the syllabus for PMP certification is very large and needs numerous assessments and practice to complete.
- Be confident in your preparation, and have a study plan. There are 2 forms to sign up for the exam: computerized and paper-based. There are 200 multiple-choice questions in both situations with 4 hours of the time allocated to answer them. And as 60 percent is the pass rate, to qualify for the PMP Certification, you would need to get about 138 questions correct. No scheduled breaks occur within the time allocated.
Such PMI and IIBA Certification exams meet the time and expenditure and it’s a type of project itself. There are many websites online, providing free simulators of exams and mock tests that you need to practice every now and then – to effectively take on the exams to obtain these prestigious credentials.