Passed the PMP exam in my first attempt with AT / T / AT

Hey y'all, thought I'll share some ideas and tips that helped me through the prep and the exam for PMP.

Overall the whole process took me approximately 2.5 months. I'd say, normally just 2 months of dedicated prep would suffice.

1. I went for PMTraining's PMP prep for the 35 PDUs and also for the prep in general. I attended Danilo "Dani" Chaparro's classes and I gotta say he was amazing and instrumental in getting me through to the other side. I did not use any other source at all, ex: PMI Study Hall, Andrew Ramdayal's study materials etc. all of which I've heard are amazing sources for PMP prep. I used only PMTraining's mocks to practice. That was more than enough in my opinion.

2. Read through the PMBOK Guide 7th edition and the Agile Guide religiously - just once. This is mandatory for very new PMs or people looking to transition into this domain.

Note: Edition 7 will be phased out and edition 8 will be the new PMBOK from July.

3. Don't memorize details. Understand them. The key is in getting yourself to ask this - "How would a PM react to this as per PMI" not yourself. It's called the PMBOK mindset.

4. Make sure you have someone to give you an expert opinion/advice on your PMP exam applicatio****n. If the application gets rejected or gets selected for an audit, you do not wanna go through what comes after. The payment for the exam only opens up after your application is accepted. The application is equally if not more important than the exam itself. It's step 1. Make sure you get that right.

5. Schedule your exam as soon as possible after your classes. What you're studying is perishable. The more you wait, the less you retain in your head.

6. In the exam, the best answers are usually ones that

• Followed a process

• Did not escalate

• Prioritized collaboration

• Contain words like "analyze, facilitates, evaluate" etc.

7. Trust your instinct, do not second guess. Your first answer is more often always the right answer.

8. Remember, PMI values servant leadership. Not a boss attitude.

9. Sometimes 1 out of 4 options may look so unusual, in a lot of the instances that's the right answer. Look out for the odd answer.

10. Trust your gut. If you really really doubt an answer, only then flag it for review later and then revisit it. Do not if else.

11. Use elimination technique. Most often you can eliminate 2 out of the 4 or 5 options. Do this right at the start.

12. Read the real question first. Which is usually the last line in the question. The sentences before that are stories to give you context or sometimes even to distract you. They play smart. You gotta plan smart.

Hope this helps!

I ended up getting a better result than what I expected. I'm sure y'all can too.

All the best for all you future PMs out there!