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Top 5 Tips in Getting Your PMP

For those of you familiar with the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation, you know it's not an easy thing to obtain, so when I share that I earned my PMP, I am usually immediately asked this question: "How did you do it?" It was a long road for me, and I'm proud to have come out better on the other side.

So I'm glad to share with you what worked well for me!
(A bit of a disclaimer: I understand that since I took the test in July 2015, the PMP test has been revised slightly. Regardless, I can still say with some level of certainty that all the tips below are still relevant despite the changes.)

1. Consider an online course to fulfill the PM education requirement. I know some companies have internal courses that you can take, so I'd definitely encourage you go that route if that's an option. I didn't have that option, so a seasoned PM recommended I fulfill the PM education requirement via an online course. I'll be even more specific: I took the course via the PM PrepCast (linked here). I would definitely recommend this over and over again. It enabled me to download video podcasts to my phone and watch them whenever I had time. I'd even watch a 15-minute segment while doing something like eating lunch at work. The PM PrepCast also offers an exam simulator, which brings me to my next tip...

2. Use an exam simulator. And again, I used the one that the PM PrepCast offers and loved it. An exam simulator provides you with questions similar to those you may see when you sit for the actual exam. The PM PrepCast's simulator is flexible in the fact that you can take a shorter 10 or 20 question quiz when you don't have a lot of time but also offers several full practice exams as well. These were invaluable in my studies, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

3. Focus on what the PMP wants, NOT what you want. Okay, I'm going to say something that might be a bit controversial: I don't agree with everything the PMP has to say. Most of the stuff is good, but there are some things I would do differently. The writers of the PMP exam are pretty good about recognizing this and purposefully tosses in options to questions that sound right but are wrong according to them. Beware of this trap! Exam simulators also try to do the same thing, so again, practice with an exam simulator to weed out your expectations versus PMI's expectations.

4. Prepare yourself for an audit. I was fortunate enough to not get audited, but I have heard some horror stories from other friends of mine. For example, an Indian friend of mine sought to be as honest as he could with his experience references and included an old boss of his he worked for in India. When he got audited, it took him two whole months to track down this person. Because of this, I would suggest you do what I did: contact every person you listed as a reference prior to submitting the form to let them know of a potential audit. This will hopefully make your audit process go more smoothly, if you do get audited. (Side note: PMI says audits are random, and from everybody I know who has / has not been audited, that seems to be true.)

5. Tell other people you're going for your PMP. This might be an odd one, so allow me to explain. People are much less apt to follow through with something if they do not share it with anybody else. Perhaps this is because people rightfully or wrongfully feel socially pressured to follow through with something if it gets out there that you're going for something. This is pretty much true for everything, including things like losing weight, and it is especially true for the PMP. Not only will you have a stronger desire to follow through with getting your PMP, but you will pressure yourself to study harder so you don't have to share any potentially embarrassing news that you failed the exam.

So there you have it! There are other tips I didn't include here because I think they should come naturally, like not lying about your education or experience. The audit is a pretty serious deterrent against that, anyway. Even though I did qualify for the PMP, I was still extremely nervous when I first submitted my application. If you have any other questions about the PMP, feel free to get at me directly! I'm glad to help with anything.
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