I am Gaurav Bucha, a project management professional with an overall experience of close to 10 years, that spans management consulting, financial services, manufacturing, SaaS and aviation sectors. The companies I have been associated with are Deloitte, American Express, JWL, British Airways and 6D Technologies. So far in my career, I am fortunate to have been exposed to different areas of Project Management, however, I felt the need to gain a broader understanding of the project management processes and life cycles. This is when I decided to pursue PMP® certification which unarguably is the gold standard for professionals working in the project management industry. After thorough research, I zeroed in on ProThoughts Solutions and enrolled in their weekend classroom training sessions in the first week of November 2022. Our trainer was Mr. Saurabh Parikh, and to keep sessions more interactive the batch size was limited to only 7 individuals.
For How Long Did You Prepare for the PMP Test?
I studied for 30 days and took another 15 days to write mocks. The core material for the exam preparation was Rita Mulcahy’s Exam Prep 10th edition book along with Andrew Ramdayal’s course on Udemy to fill any gaps. During the first 30 days, I read the RM book thrice and did the random practice of free mocks that were available on Google. After 30 days of preparation, I started writing ProMocks and scored above 75% in all five mocks. I also practised Tridib Roy’s mocks that were available on Udemy to gain more confidence before I sat for the exam on 02nd January ‘23
What was the Biggest Struggle When Preparing for the PMP Exam?
The biggest challenge was managing time while writing mocks. Sitting for 4 hours straight initially was a bit taxing.
How Was the Quality of PMP Training Materials?
The quality of the PMP study material was great. As ProThoughts was an authorized training partner, they provided access to pmi.lochoice.com which included student guides. Student guide turned out to be useful at the time doing a quick review of the examination content outline which is required to pass this exam.
How similar were the questions in the real PMP certification exam when you considered the PMP certification exam questions in ProThoughts’ materials?
The PMP exam is heavily situational and requires an agile mindset to conquer it. The mocks were of the same difficulty level as that of the PMP exam.
How Many Sample PMP Questions Did You Practice Before the Exam?
I did all the questions from the RM book which laid the groundwork. Apart from this, I practised close to 2000 sample PMP questions to prepare myself well for the exam.
How Did You Find the Assistance You Got During the PMP Training?
ProThoughts created a WhatsApp group for our batch wherein we could discuss topics and questions from the study material provided to us. The topics and questions were well taken up by our trainer Mr Saurabh Parikh.
My Tips to Pass This Exam
- It is a psychometric test, the PMP exam. One needs to have an agile mindset to conquer it so do NOT memorize anything apart from formulae. Try to understand the concept and its application in the project life cycle.
- Do a thorough analysis of your mock result. Determine where you can improve, then work on it.
- Think from a servant leader’s point of view. You will get 90% of the questions correct I bet.
- Most of the questions in the exam will have extraneous information so read the last line of the question first. This will save time as most of the questions can be answered if you are familiar with the best practices of project management.
- Let the team handle all the technical issues in the project as they are the ones who have the best view of the project. As a Project Manager, your role is to remove impediments and not resolve technical issues.
Are you also looking to get PMP Certified? Then look no further & schedule a free call with ProThoughts Consultant.
