Briansensei started with the mission to provide simple and innovative courses to help people achieve their learning goals anytime anywhere. The terms anytime and anywhere focus on the full-time availability of the courses and flexibility to run the courses from anywhere.

Brainsensei PMP Training Programs

Brainsensei’s main forte is their PMP training program. The Brainsensei PMP Training comprises of several modules.

Brainsensei PMP Program is one of their mainstream offerings. There are various reasons for this primary focus. As the PMP certification brings certain advantages to the PMP certification holders. According to independent researches, certified project managers in the United States make an average of $111,000 per year and PMPs make 22% more than non-PMPs. The annual salary ranges from $85,000 to $135,000 depending on the years of experience. In addition to this, many employees already engage in project management without even realizing it. Becoming certified is a way of showing your boss the value of what you do and achieve the career recognition and salary that you deserve.

Furthermore, many companies look to hire project leads who understand the latest process improvements systems and technology. As a certified project manager, you elevate yourself above the competition in the job market. Moreover, having a certification is about protecting you and your family from economic uncertainty. Certified project professionals make an attractive hire and are more likely to keep their jobs when there’s a downturn.

The modules of Brainsensei PMP Program include:

• Project Management Overview
• Initiating Projects
• Planning Projects
• Executing Projects
• Monitoring & Controlling Projects
• Closing Projects
• PMP Exam Prep

The names of these modules clearly depict the breakup of Brainsensei PMP with respect to Process Areas including Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing. Their training course is in line with  PMI PMBok.

Brainsensei Founders

John Estrella

Dr. John A. Estrella, CMC, PMP, is a co-founder of Brain Sensei.

A successful entrepreneur, John has worked with some of the world’s most respected organizations in Asia, North America, and Europe. He authored six books and several courses for audiences in Canada, the U.S., U.K., France, Sweden, Japan, India, and other countries.

John founded Agilitek Corporation and was awarded a scholarship by the Project Management Institute (PMI) Educational Foundation for his doctoral studies. In 2012 he received Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal, so that kind of proved it.

Chris Stafford

Chris Stafford, PMP, MBA, is a co-founder of Brain Sensei. With 20 years of project management experience, Chris has worked with Canada’s most profitable companies and has managed projects worth over $5M. He successfully combines solid project management know-how with a sense of entrepreneurial adventure that his clients appreciate.

Brainsensei Story

Before moving further into the details of Brainsensei PMP program, let me share with you the story of Brainsensei – short and sweet.

The founders of Brain Sensei are certified project managers who do not claim to be 100 years old. The journey started with their PMP certification when they noticed that all of the online PMP^® certification courses or PMP exam prep courses were targeted to the “Serious Corporate Professional”.

Furthermore, they noticed that the material was presented in a streaming video that looked like a PowerPoint deck with an audio track of the instructor explaining things. This felt like deriving a rule that online learning should be boring? That is the breaking point of the theme offered by Brainsensei: Getting your online certification shouldn’t be painful, so they set out to create an online learning system that not only works but makes learning interesting.

They believe that professionals should love being project managers and they should have interesting opportunities to apply project management skills to excel in their careers. And it should be fun and easy as possible to achieve everything you want from your career. Getting the right certification is the first step.

What Are The Available Brainsensei PMP Training Formats?

Brainsensei PMP Program – Complete Course

Project Management Professional (PMP) certification prep course will help you pass the PMP Certification exam. Let me also mention that Brainsensei is a Project Management Institute (PMI)® Registered Education Provider (REP).

Brainsensei PMP program comprises of 8 modules plus 4 full practice exams at a single price. This course fulfils 35 contact hours/PDUs required to write the PMP exam. Brainsesei PMP program is based on PMBOK^® Guide 6th Edition. This online and self-paced course provides comprehensive prep for the certification exam and access to:

The eligibility requirements for the PMP certificate are as follows:

Does Brainsensei Offer Any Continuing Education Programs?

Brainsensei mainly focuses on PMP Exam certification. They offer different e-learning modules as part of the overall course. However, one can acquire these independent modules if required at a later stage. But there is no extensive list of the courses that aim to cover the continuing education requirements.

Professional project managers do need to qualify for the renewal of PMP certification every three years. After each cycle, 60 hours are mandatory for the PMP accreditation holders to renew their PMP accreditation after every 3 years.

Is There Any Money Back Guarantee?

Since Brainsensei offers this course as an e-learning program. Therefore no money-back guarantee policy is applicable. You can review their free course for glimpses before you purchase.

What Are The Reviews of Brainsensei PMP Training Program?

The Brainsensei PMP program comprises of modules. Though reviews can be posted by the registered candidates however there are no reviews available as such. So it is hard to share their ratification.

Pros & Cons of Brainsensei PMP Program

Everything has its pros and cons. So below, you can see my findings for Brainsensei, read it till the end.

Pros:

• Competitive Cost due to an e-learning format

The courses listed in the schedule are marked with the status “guaranteed to run” which saves the candidates from hassle and frustration of course cancellation and reschedules.

• Extensive Project Management Course Material

• Content includes sample exams to check your knowledge.

The content of the course includes four practice exams with over 900 practice questions. These help the candidates to assess their readiness and identify the gaps.

You can practice full rehearsal for the PMP Examination. This helps you to assess how you answer the questions you can see in real exams. So it helps you to assess your level of thinking, and predict your performance in the real exam situation.

• All PMP exam topics exist in the content

Since the course is fully aligned with PMBoK, therefore it addresses the completeness of the course in regards to the PMP exam topics.

Cons:

• Confined Course Listing 

Brainsensei offers a confined set of courses with their main focus on PMP Exam preparation which on one hand indicates their focused approach. However, this also has a disadvantage. Due to limited course offering, the project management professionals may not find courses for a continuing education program.

Don’t forget that these continuing education programs help the professionals to earn PDUs and comply with the continuing requirements as specified by PMI.

• Only one e-learning course format is available

Brainsensei only offers an online self-paced course which means that other formats like instructor-led live classrooms as well as instructor-led virtual class formats are not available.

• Money-Back Guarantee 

Since Brainsensei offers this course as an e-learning program. Therefore no money-back guarantee policy is applicable. You can review the free course before you purchase the actual course.

• No Reviews are enlisted

There are no reviews available for Brainsensei PMP modules. Generally, reviews are helpful for the visitors to get a feeler of customer satisfaction and success rate. This could have been more value-adding to the interested candidates.

• Cost – Performance Ratio with respect to e-learning offerings

Cost – Performance refers to a product’s ability to deliver performance, for its price. Certainly, the products offered by Brainsensei are higher in price, so the performance ratio with the higher price makes it average. Obviously, the products with a lower price/performance are more pleasing but only if you exclude other factors.

Yes, the overall cost of Brainsensei PMP Program is relatively lower and it comes under the medium-cost range. However, the cost is still higher with respect to e-learning format offerings available in the market

In my opinion, the provider with the best cost-performance ratio is Master of Project Academy. Master of Project Academy PMP Training is reasonably priced, additionally, they have enrollment options which start from $67/month. Finally, Master of Project Academy PMP Training has a 99.6% first-attempt pass rate and they had more than 100,000 past students.

Alternatives for Brainsensei PMP Training

After considering all the pros and cons of Brainsensei PMP training programs, you might think that it is not a good fit for you. We have explored the other PMP training programs which can be a Brainsensei PMP alternative for you.

You can read our Top 10 PMP Training post to see all PMP training options and ratings.

#1 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: Master of Project Academy

Master of Project Academy is founded in 2012 and helped more than 100,000 professionals in more than 180 countries. The biggest advantage of Master of Project Academy is providing as many flexible plans as possible for the PMP certification candidates. Self-paced PMP training, in-person PMP Training, instructor-led PMP live sessions. Starting from $67/month, you can find comprehensive PMP training materials to get ready for the PMP exam. All you have to do is opting for the best option you would like to enroll.

You can see our complete review and details about Master of Project Academy PMP programs.

#2 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: Simplilearn

Simplilearn PMP programs can be considered as a Brainsensei PMP alternative as well. Simplilearn offers self-paced and instructor-led PMP training programs. However, they have a very unfair pricing strategy. If you are visiting their page from India, you can enroll in their training which costs as low as $100 (they show pricing in INR, which is the local currency for India). Whereas visitors from Europe or the United States can see more than $600 for the same self-paced content material. You can read all the pros and cons of Simplilearn PMP Programs.

#3 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: Udemy

You might have heard of Udemy, which is a learning platform where several instructors place their content and students can purchase and enroll in their curriculum. You can consider Udemy PMP programs as a Brainsensei PMP training alternative. However, keep in mind that the instructors you see on Udemy may not be there after your purchase the next day. Moreover, their content may not be 35 contact hours. This is a very big problem and a con for Udemy PMP programs. Even though many programs advertise that they suffice 35 contact hours requirement of PMP exam, their content is far below of 35 contact hours if you a little bit look on the training page. You can see our comprehensive review of Udemy PMP programs.

#4 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: Velociteach

If you have lots of money that you do not consider how much you will pay for the PMP training, you can consider the Velociteach PMP option. While there is no significant difference in their virtual or in-person PMP training programs, they ask for around $2,500 to attend their program. This option is well-known by the founder of the organization who is Andy Crowe. He has a PMP book as well and maybe that is why Andy Crowe PMP platform is significantly more expensive than the other options in the market.

#5 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: Project Management Academy

Project Management Academy PMP Programs can be considered as a Brainsensei PMP alternative as well. Project Management Academy PMP course indeed provides a good course structure with good success rates. However, the cost is pretty high. The course formats include instructor-led classroom and virtual classroom. You can read all the pros and cons of Project Management Academy PMP Programs.

#6 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: PM Prep Cast

Another PM Training alternative can be Project Management Prepcast PMP programs. Cornelius Fichtner, who is an experienced project management expert, is the founder of Project Management Prepcast platform. They have self-paced PMP options however they do not offer in-person or instructor-led PMP classes which is a big negative for this PM Training alternative.

#7 Brainsensei PMP Alternative: PM Training

You can consider looking at PM Training PMP programs as well. They offer live and self-paced PMP training options. Live sessions are around $1,600 while the self-paced PMP training is around $600. Although they look a good PMP training provider, there are better PMP training provider options for sure. You can read our full review about PM Training PMP programs.

End of Review

In summary, PMP certification is a crucial business requirement for senior-level project leader roles in all globally. Thus, this course is the best for Project Leaders, Assistant Project Managers, Team leaders, Project Engineers, Software Developers or any professional wishing to become a project manager.

PMP credential gives you the knowledge of project management hence, it is an approval of your global professional experience. In short, the advantages of PMP include high market value, increased reliability, and in many cases higher wages.

Brainsensei offers e-learning PMP course. This course is in line with the PMBOK. Furthermore, the course covers the 35 PDU requirement of PMI to write the PMP Examination. The cost of Brainsensi PMP course is relatively lower due to the e-learning format. However, there are other good options available which are more cost-effective.

Brainsensei is just one option so I strongly suggest you look at other options!

The post BrainSensei PMP Training – 100% Review – All Pros & Cons appeared first on Project Hipo.

PMP Study Guide Can Help You Bring professional rewards

The dynamic global market always has demands for the project manager role to ensure the challenging projects turn into success and add value to the organization. This brings a lot of opportunities to project management professionals. So what could be better than acquiring the PMP credentials if you want to pursue your career in the project management field? PMP credential is an endorsement of recognized skills and knowledge of the professionals.

In addition to this, there are many benefits PMP brings to qualified professionals. The PMP exam is not an easy task. It requires the candidates to fully prepare for the PMP Exam. Likewise, project management aspirants look for the possible ways that can help them to get them well prepared for the PMP Exam. The PMP certification requirements are quite demanding for the aspirants and it is not easy to clear the exam unless you are fully equipped with a PMP study guide to qualify for the exam.

Rewards of PMP Credential

There are many advantages you can reap after you got your PMP certification. When you have your PMP certification you will have a big advantage over your peers who are non-certified. Some of the major benefits of PMP certification include:

Global Recognition of Skills:

• The PMP validates your understanding of the overall context of the methods. Therefore, PMP offers best practices, the latest developments in project management and the ability to learn tricks and techniques. This is what gives you an advantage over others.
• Your colleagues and communities will see you as a coach and mentor based on both your credentials and your practical experience.
• You feel more assured that you are at the forefront of your distinguished accomplishment, which provides a strong base for your career development.

You Are Recruiters’ Favorite:

• Recruiters look for the best-fit candidates who can add the values which make them more appropriate for the projects. Because the value that you would add to their organizations will make their profiles more prominent.
• PMP credentials help organizations to get better scores while procuring project management services.
• The PMP certification stands out as an endorsement of the candidate’s expertise, skills, and experience. It makes it much easier for hiring managers to test applicants with such endorsements.
• Most organizations make it compulsory for candidates to have PMP certification.

Improvement of Salary:

• You may expect a hike of at least 20% in your salary after obtaining your PMP Certification.
• The project managers within various industries earn higher salaries as compared to their non-PMP peers within the same industries. You may review the average PMP salary you would earn by industry, experience, and location.
• PMP certification also increases job stability, because even with fewer positions on the market, 
  businesses will be more interested in recruiting and retaining PMP accredited project managers.

In this section, we will talk about the different steps of the PMP Study Guide.

PMP Study Guide – Step #1

This is the very first step of the PMP study guide. Because first, you need to know what you need to do in order to attain your objective.  So for PMP certification, you need to know the PMP Certification requirements that are set out by PMI. Knowing these requirements will help you set out your PMP study plan for the PMP Exam. The main aspects that set by PMI as PMP exam criteria include education, experience, and training. These very well defined criteria are good enough to assess the knowledge, experience, and approach of the PMP candidates. The following table depicts the PMP exam criteria:

Let’s discuss these PMP certification requirements a little bit more in detail.

Education

Education is the foundation requirement of the PMP Exam. According to the criteria you should have at least have a high school diploma or associate’s degree or global equivalent. If you have a graduation degree it is a plus as it will reduce the work experience requirement from 5 years to 3 years.

Experience

The experience requirement is subject to your education level. In case you have a bachelor’s degree, the required experience is 3 years (36 months) which you can interpret as work experience of 4,500 hours. You must have experience of at least 4,500 hours if you are planning to sit in the PMP Exam provided you have a bachelor’s degree. Likewise, if you have a high school diploma or associate’s degree or global equivalent the required experience is 5 years (60 months). In this case, you require work experience of 7,000 hours to fulfill the criteria.

Training

PMP training requirement is a must to sit in the PMP Exam. According to PMI criteria, you must have 35 contact hours of PMP training. So you must include a formal PMP training to your PMP study guide. For this requirement, you may explore many options available in the global market.

PMP Exam Application – Requirements

Though you have to fulfill the aforementioned PMP exam requirements before applying for the PMP Exam, however knowing how to fill your PMP application is also important at this stage. Please note that you should also keep in mind while filling in the application that PMI may randomly select your application for the audit. All you have to do is to arrange for the evidence for what you have claimed in your PMP Exam application.

Education: You need to fill in the details and level of your degree you have qualified while applying for the PMP Exam.

Experience: If you have worked on projects in any capacity, you should be able to claim these hours depending on the different phases of the project that you have been working on. Based on your education, you should specify your projects and your effort in terms of time. So you can cover the required time span based on your education. For each project, you should mention the start date and the end date. During each project time, you should mention your effort in terms of hours within each phase of the project.

Training: As you are applying for the PMP Exam when you already have your training certificate of 35 PDUs so filling in the details of the training is quite simple.

PMP Study Guide – Step #2

Now you know the different aspects of the PMP exam requirements, let’s move to the 2nd step of the PMP study guide. Obtaining professional training should be your second step in your PMP study guide. Training is a mandatory requirement to sit in the PMP Exam. This requirement seems very simple but it is quite tricky as you need to choose one training from many options provided by different vendors. Many of the vendors are available who provide the PMP trainings. Now what you choose should be based on a good assessment of the training provider.

Choose your training programs

The second step of the PMP study guide is important because the PMP exam is not a simple exam. It is more likely that the candidates have a higher tendency to fail the PMP exam if they are not well prepared. That’s why when assessing the training providers you should not keep any redo scenario in case. In other words, you should choose the one that can help you get your mission accomplished in a single try. So you do not have to repeat the trainings and preparations again. Generally, there are various aspects you should consider to filter the most feasible option:

• Whether the training is comprehensive and covers all the aspects of the PMBok?
• Will the training satisfy the PMP exam criteria of 35 PDUs?
• Whether I should opt for classroom training, virtual online or e-learning training format?
• What is the study material I will get with the training?
• What is the duration of the training?
• Will the training give me the flexibility to follow my own pace or do I have to follow any stringent schedule?
• Are there any mock-up tests and quizzes?
• Are there any testimonials of the training provider?
• What is the success rate of the training provider?
• What is the reputation of the training provider?
• Is the training cost feasible for me?
• Will I get a better return on investment?

These are the few consideration points that you need to keep in mind while assessing the training providers.

Training

When you are choosing the training, you need to select the training format. In other words, the choice of training format will be the first step to move forward with the training. Candidates choose the training format as per their feasibility. You can look for the following training formats and make a choice according to your priorities to fulfill PMP training requirements. These formats include:

• In-person Classroom Training

In this format, training providers offer instructor-led training within their premises. These trainings are generally of a duration of 4 days which fulfils 35 contact hours requirement of PMI to sit in the PMP Exam. Training providers publish their calendars on their website so the candidates can find and select the training with respect to dates and locations. If you opt for this training you will have to follow the schedule and be on the premises for the training sessions. This may be a hassle if you are working on tight deadlines as these sessions do not have the flexibility of repeat. Once you miss the class you will have to find ways to cover up the gap with your colleagues or through the provided material.

There are some cases when the candidates have the flexibility to adjust their schedules or they are willing to attend the classroom trainings. Such candidates find in-person classroom training the best option.

• In-person Virtual Classroom Training

Another option of PMP training format is the virtual classroom training format. In this format, you also get instructor-led training. But this training is carried out in a virtual environment so you do not have to travel to a specific venue to attend the class. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. Or you can even connect using mobiles or portable devices. This format provides flexibility in terms of commute as you do not need to travel to attend the class and you can just join the class from anyplace. However, following the timing is important.

When candidates look for in-person trainings but they are not willing to travel to attend the class. Hence, Virtual Classroom training can be a good option for such candidates.

• E-learning Online

Another option that gives a lot of flexibility to the candidates and also provides a lot of expansion in the outreach of the training providers, is the e-learning format. In this format, you are not bound to follow any specific date and any specific location. So you get the flexibility to learn at your own pace. Generally, you get duration based access to the extensive material produced by the training providers. There are many cases where the candidates look for flexibility in terms of both location and time. Such candidates prefer the e-learning format.

These trainings are great events that prepare you for the certifications. Considering that the aspirants are professionals and must be busy in their jobs, finding time to attend the training could be a bit difficult for them.

PMP Study Guide – Step #3

Once you get the PMP training, you are on the next step of the PMP study guide and it is to prepare and assess yourself for the PMP Exam. At this stage of the PMP study guide, you must have already gone through the formal training for PMP exam preparation. But during this self-study period, you should start your practice through the materials you have been provided during the training. On top of that, you can prepare your own notes which can help you reinforce your learning while taking notes you should follow a PMP prep book.

As you know, PMI offers various benefits to the registered members. You will have free access to download standards, guides and other valuable material relevant to project management. This also includes the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). The entire content is available on PMI’s website pmi.org.

You can even prepare your own flashcards. These are the best tools to revise the main points. As these are just short notes of the topics. So instead of going through long study material, you can review and remember with the help of these short notes. You may also acquire flashcard products from training providers as training providers also offer such products for the ones who are willing to buy these additional products and get an advantage during their preparation. However, when you opt to buy flashcards from the market, you certainly have to pay for such tools.

Many well-known education providers have prepared flashcards which are available in different qualities and numbers. For instance, you can look for RMC Hot Topics Flashcards, or you can find Flashcards (Test Prep) by Crowe, Andy as well as the reasonably priced flashcards from Master of Project Academy.

PMP Study Guide – Step #4

Once you have completed your PMP exam materials, it is time to move to the next level of the PMP study guide and it is to start practicing with PMP practice questions. For this step of your PMP study guide, you can find a variety of quizzes, practice exam mock-ups being offered by training providers. In addition to this, the practice exams are also being offered as separate products by those training providers.

The training programs provide you with the study material that may include quizzes, games, practice tests, and simulations. In this way, you can assess your readiness for the exam, identify the preparation gaps and cover them with the revisions.

For this step of your PMP study guide, you should start first with the quizzes and PMP questions that are provided during the training. Then you can expand your practicing horizon. You can start finding questions on the internet and try solving them. This will help you get more and more practice as you will see a variety of questions and keep on looking for the answer in various scenario-based questions.

Another approach is to dive deep into the test environment and mock practice. You can look for exam simulators and with them, you can get the feeler of the actual exam. You can practice through these exam simulators to assess your time management and response accuracy. Thus it will enable you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Once you identify these areas you can prepare for your specific areas and cover any gaps you identify during these the simulations.

Exam Simulators

Many training providers also offer the exam simulators as an individual product, for instance, RMC and Master of Project Academy. RMC offers the PM Exam Simulator. You get 90-day access to practice 1600 plus sample PMP Exam questions. Also, Master of Project Academy provides a PMP Exam Simulator consisting of 7 simulation exams or a total of 1400 PMP online exam questions. They offer a lifetime access plan or a monthly plan which gives flexibility to the candidates to choose as per their feasibility.

PMP Study Guide – Step #5

Now comes the most crucial part of the PMP study guide that shapes up the improvisation. At this stage of the PMP study guide, you must already have gone through the study material and started practicing through tests, quizzes and simulations. You need to review your performance in these tests, practice sessions, and quizzes. So try to note your performance and identify your strengths and weaknesses. This will help you ratify your positioning.

Once you identify your weak areas, you definitely need to strengthen your knowledge in these areas. In this regard, you will have to go through your notes and ensure the base concept is learned and the mapping of the concept with the specific situations is also clear. So you are fully equipped to attempt such situation based questions in your PMP Exam.

Further, you also need to frequently go through the topics that are identified as your strength in the previous practice tests. First, you need to ensure that your understanding is reinforced in these areas and you can be an expert in these areas. In this way, you can secure better marks through your areas of strength.

I would suggest that after some practice and reinforcement, you should be able to start coaching. You do not need to be a professional coach to start this. Besides, you can start looking at the PMP questions that other candidates have asked for clarification and understanding. You can join different PMP forums for this purpose.

PMP Study Guide – Step #6

If you can score over 70% from practice tests, you can schedule your PMP exam. This is the 6th step of your PMP study guide. Go through your PMI profile and schedule your PMP exam. In order to schedule the PMP exam, you must have registered for your PMP exam with PMI and you should have received your authorization to test prior to scheduling your test appointment at Pearson VUE testing locations. After authorization from PMI,  you will have one year to schedule the PMP exam date and take the exam. If you do not sit for the PMP exam in one year, you will have to restart your PMP application.

Scheduling through Pearson VUE

Provided you meet these pre-requisites you can set your appointment by logging in to PMI.org and navigate to Schedule Exam. This will direct you to schedule your exam through Pearson VUE from where you can select your exam for which you are authorized. Once you select your exam, the screen will display the booking method options available. You will be scheduling your exam for a future date at a test center.

PMP exams are conducted by Pearson VUE test centers. However, Pearson VUE test centers do not offer only the PMP exam. There are several other certifications, language and skill tests offered by these test centers. You will have to schedule your test as per the availability of the slot in the test center of your choice. Based on the available slots, you can book one for your PMI Exam. So you can set the date and time of the PMP online exam you want to sit in. Depending on the location and business of the test center, you might not find an early available slot for your PMP exam date. Therefore, it is recommended that you schedule your PMP exam at least one month before the date you plan to sit for the exam

In the meantime you still can get ready for the exam date, go over your notes and continue practicing.

PMP Study Guide – Step #7

Now is the final step of the PMP study guide. This is the time to sit for the PMP exam and get your PMP certification! Before the exam day, you should get good sleep and get rest so you can feel fresh at the time of the exam. Another key factor is that you should be cool and calm. Also, there should be no sign of stress. In the previous steps of the PMP study guide, you have practiced frequently so that it must become your norm now.

On the day of your examination, please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment. You must sign in, present the required identification and provide your PMI ID number. In addition to this, you may also be asked to provide the confirmation number you received when scheduling the appointment. Furthermore, you should have your identification documents with you. These may include government-issued identification. The identification must be current and must match your name exactly as it appears on the scheduling notification, for example, a valid driver’s license, valid passport or valid national identification card.

What is the PMP Exam?

PMP exam is a computer-based online exam of 4 hours of duration in which you have to attempt 200 Multiple Choice Questions. PMP online exam has questions with four options, of which you need to pick one correct answer. There is no negative marking but the positive responses count towards the passing score. You can take breaks but the timer will not stop so if you plan to have short breaks during the examination you must keep in mind that it will reduce the time to attempt the questions.

Read the questions carefully and eliminate the incorrect answers from the provided choices. Choose the most appropriate according to the context of the question. You can mark the questions that you feel you need to answer later or you need to review later during the exam. If you complete your PMP exam and you still have time left, you can spend this time to review your answers.

Once you complete the test by pressing the submit button or the duration of the test is lapsed. The online test allows you to receive your score immediately. Provided you have passed the PMP online exam you get the “Congratulations” message on the screen. So your mission is accomplished!

Upon passing, you are approved to use the PMP credential for 3 years. Once you got the PMP, you must earn 60 PDUs every three years to retain your certificate, so do not forget to earn and report PMP PDUs.

PMP Study Guide – Summary

In this article, we shared with you a PMP Study Guide with 7 steps to help your PMP success. The PMP study guide takes your step by step from knowing the PMP requirements to appearing in the PMP Exam. Once you know the PMP requirements, you will need to obtain professional training. In this step of the PMP study guide, we discussed various formats that are available for the training. Also, we reviewed what you need to consider to choose the training program that is ideal for you.

Once you obtain the training, you need to prepare and then assess your readiness for the PMP exam. In this step of the PMP study guide, you will have to review your performance in these tests, practice sessions, and quizzes. So try to note your performance and identify your strengths and weaknesses. If you can score over 70% from practice tests, you can schedule your PMP exam. This is the 6th step of the PMP study guide, Go through your PMI profile and schedule your PMP exam. Finally, we arrive at the last step of the PMP study guide: the time to sit for the PMP Exam and get your PMP certification!

We hope the PMP study guide will help you in your PMP exam preparation and you find this article helpful to achieve the PMP certification.

The post PMP Study Guide – 7 Steps to Your PMP® Success appeared first on Project Hipo.

What is the PMP exam?

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the most renowned, significant and industry-recognized certification for project managers. PMP certification is really global i.e. once you obtain your PMP certification that means you are able to work virtually in any industry, any location, using any methodology irrespective of any geography or domain.

PMP certification benefits both the employees and employers. In regard to employee salary, PMP certified individuals garner a higher PMP salary (23% higher on average) than non-certified individuals. When it comes to employers, we can say that the organizations that have more than 1/3 of PMP certified project managers, more of their projects get completed on time, on budget and meeting original goals.

Having the PMP certification means that you speak and understand the worldwide language of project management. Additionally, being PMP certified means that you will have a connection with a community of professionals, organizations, and experts globally.

Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s largest not for profit membership association for the project management profession. PMI introduced the PMP examination to get the PMP credentials. So to obtain PMP certification, you need to appear for the PMP exam.

The Evolution of RITA PMP Book

In 1998, the first edition of Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep Book was published. At that point in time, this was the only resource that was comprehensive and dedicated to PMP exam preparation.

The need arose when Rita was preparing for PMP certification. She couldn’t find quality PMP material available at that time. She was working as a project manager in 1990. Besides, she was one of the worlds’ first certified PMPs. Hence, due to lack of quality PMP material available, she made use of her knowledge along with extensive project management experience, Rita wrote the first draft of PMP Exam Prep book.  

Since then, the popularity of the book has grown tremendously through 9 successful editions. Today, Rita Mulcahy PMP book by far is considered to be the best selling PMP exam preparation guide in the world.

About Rita Mulcahy

Rita Mulcahy was an author and public speaker in the Project Management Field. She founded RMC Project Management and she acted as its CEO. Also, she was an internationally recognized expert on project management techniques, advanced project management theory, risk management, and the Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam.

In 1991, Rita founded RMC as a project management training company. During her tenure as a trainer and consultant, she met many people struggling to grasp project management concepts to pass the PMP exam. Always eager to help, Rita decided to create her own study guide for the PMP exam.

She finished the first draft of her famous book “Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep” in only one week! And then, in a short span of time, Rita PMP book became the best seller. This book is a worldwide industry standard for PMP Exam Preparation.

Over the course of her career, Rita Mulcahy worked in over $2.5 billion worth of projects. She also presented several encore presentations at PMI conferences.

Rita PMP Book

We know that Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the most demanding, valuable, world-recognized certification in the area of project management.

To prepare for PMP certification, Project Management Institute (PMI) recommends the main reference book as PMBOK Guide. Since PMBOK Guide is not an easy book to follow you need a supporting book to help you understand PMBOK Guide. Now there are numerous books available in the market. But by far, the most selling and popular book since the 1990s is Rita Mulcahy PMP book because it is easy to follow and helps you prepare for the PMP exam in a quick manner.

Rita PMP book explores various topics like Project Management Fundamentals, Risk Management, Planning, Contracting, Negotiation, Estimating and Determining Customer Requirements. Furthermore, she talks about real-life project roles and responsibilities. Also, she explains program managers, senior management roles in projects, factors for the project’s success and causes or conditions for project failure.

Moreover, the Rita PMP book will help you to improve project management skills. It will prepare you to work with team members, project leaders, and project managers. Last but not the least, it provides practice tests for last-minute brush up before the PMP exam.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Rita PMP book was the only resource for the preparation of the PMP exam. However, with the evolution of online education and ease of access to online resources, PMP aspirants started to prefer reputable online PMP study resources rather than the hard copy PMP preparation books.

It is a good book. But it is NOT a must-follow PMP book during PMP preparation.

Rita Mulcahy PMP Latest Edition

Rita Mulcahy published the first edition of Rita PMP in 1990. Even though she passed away in 2010 her company RMC Learning kept on working on Rita PMP Book. And the latest version i.e. Rita Mulcahy PMP 9^th Edition was published in 2018. This is in compliance with PMBOK Latest edition i.e. 6^th Edition.

Rita Mulcahy PMP Materials

After the launch of the PMP Exam Prep book, Rita became very famous. This book was one of the primary sources of PMP study materials until the 2000s. Further, they started to offer various PMP preparation materials as follows:

1. Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep Book 9^th Edition

First preparatory book for preparation for the PMP exam. This is called as Rita Mulcahy PMP book. The latest edition is Rita PMP 9^th Edition. The cost of this book is $99. RMC Site is offering a discounted price for $76.

2. PM Fastrack Cloud –PMP Exam Simulator-Version 9

This is exam simulation software with a question bank database of over 1600+ questions to practice for the PMP exam. This simulates the actual exam with great detail. It has different modes of study that allow you to take exams by knowledge area, process group, and keyword/concept. Additionally, cloud-based simulator format allows you to practice from your desktop computer, laptop or even tablet. Moreover, all questions are cross-referenced with the Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep textbook to find out weak areas and gaps to focus on. The cost of this simulator is $259.

3. Hot Topics PMP Exam Flashcards-9^th Edition

It offers flashcards for a quick review of difficult topics. This is a spiral-bound portable flipbook format that consists of over 350 most important and difficult to recall PMP exam related terms and concepts. This gives you the flexibility to study at the office or plane or car. The cost of this flashcard is $34.

Besides, it also provides Hot Topics Audio Flashcards. They are electronic flashcards for reviewing important and complex topics.

4. PM Fastrack Exam Prep Combo

This is a 3 in 1 combo. It includes Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep textbook, one year license of PM Fastrack Exam Simulator and one copy of Hot topics Flashcards to prepare for the PMP exam. The cost of this combo is $399 but if you purchase from the RMC store then it is discounted to $319.20.

Rita Mulcahy PMP Products are available in different languages such as English, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.

Salient Features of Rita PMP

• It is the worldwide best selling PMP exam preparation guide
• Rita PMP offers more than 400 practice exam questions throughout the book
• This Rita Mulcahy PMP provides critical time-saving tips referred to as “Tricks of the Trade”, games and activities to pass the PMP exam
• It focuses on what you really need to pass the exam
• A peculiar feature of a straightforward approach to complex material
• Rita PMP helps you to learn the Proven Study techniques
• Another unique feature of practice questions in Rita Mulcahy PMP is that practice exams and questions are focused on essential concepts.
• This book is written in a conversational manner which is easy to follow
• Language of Rita PMP is easy to understand
• This book is completely focused on the PMP exam. It gives you the right content for the success in PMP exam

Shortcomings of Rita PMP

• Process Chart defined in Chapter 3 is quite confusing. Actually the Rita PMP book follows its own process chart which is somewhat different from the one defined in PMBOK Guide.
• In Rita Mulcahy PMP, there are very few diagrams and explanatory pictures which is not quite helpful for visual learners
• Pricewise, this book is quite expensive as compared to other competitors in the market.

What makes RMC different from others?

1. Availability on RMC Stores only

• Earlier Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep 9^th Edition was available on Amazon stores. But due to copyright infringement issues, it has been removed. Hence, you can purchase genuine copies directly from the RMC store

2. New Feature

• New Feature of “Online Subscription” is available. When you purchase a paperback version by adding a new online subscription version of Rita Mulcahy PMP, you get a 35% discount.

3. Customized Learning

• RMC offers a variety of learning modes such as traditional classes in many cities across the United States
• For working professions, they offer self-directed e-learning courses and virtual classrooms
• Students can find the books, software and RMC blogs to help advance their learning

4. Diverse Perspectives

• RMC offers training in 18 languages and more than 60 countries across the world
• RMC content caters to learners of any background

5. Experienced and Passionate Instructors

• Instructors are champions of respective disciplines and have a deep conceptual understanding of practice area they teach
• Due to diverse backgrounds, they incorporate real-world examples in their training

6. Focused Book

• This book is completely focused on the PMP exam. Rita PMP keeps your feet on the ground reminding you of the difficulty level of PMP exam

7. Complete details of project management

• Rita Mulcahy PMP provides complete details about PMI way of doing project management called “PMI-isms”. It is very useful to solve PMP exam questions.

8. Lots of Sample Questions

• Rita PMP provides mid-chapter questions, end of the chapter questions which are really helpful to prepare for PMP exam

Can we download Rita Mulcahy PMP for free?

Generally, PMP Aspirants look for resources such as Rita Mulcahy PMP book to download for free from the internet. But it is not legal!

And you might find some websites which offer to download Rita Mulcahy PMP for free. First of all, it is not legal to download from these websites. Even if you download from these websites, then it will be a non-licensed product. Further, it is unethical to access a copied book without the permission of the publisher or author.

Hence, you need to purchase the Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep book and it will be delivered to your address.

PMP Exam Preparation

For the preparation of the PMP exam, you need to attend PMP instructor-led training. This will give you in-depth knowledge of PMP topics. Besides, PMP experts recommend two popular preparation materials which are Rita Mulcahy PMP book and PMBOK Guide. Hence PMBOK Guide, Rita Mulcahy PMP book and attending the PMP training is sufficient to prepare for the PMP exam.

Here instructor-led PMP training is the most crucial factor to understand the concepts for the exam. Moreover, PMBOK Guide is a must and Rita Mulcahy PMP is really useful along with these.

PMP exam consists of both theoretical and practical questions on project management. The purpose is to evaluate a candidate’s knowledge and experience in leading the project. Hence aspirants planning to appear for the exam need to be aware of real-life work issues and project management practices.

Rita Mulcahy PMP prep book prepares aspirants for these types of problems.

How to study with Rita Mulcahy PMP book

The best way to study with this book for the preparation of the PMP exam is to spare 2-3 hours every day. Use the PMBOK guide together with the Rita Mulcahy PMP book. First, read a chapter from the PMBOK Guide. Then read the same chapter from Rita Mulcahy PMP book and practice the questions at the end of the chapter. Likewise, complete all the chapters. Give Rita PMP book 2-3 passes and practice all mid-chapter questions, numerical and end of chapter questions.

Once you have a thorough understanding of the concepts then you start practicing mock exams from different sources. This will help you give a flavor of different types of questions from different sources. Once you start scoring 80-85% consistently in mock exams, then you can consider yourself prepared for the PMP exam. Then you can schedule a date and you can attend the exam.

In a nutshell, Rita PMP prepares the candidate for the PMP exam as well as real-life project management.

Content Outline of Rita Mulcahy PMP

Chapter 1: Tricks of the Trade for Studying for this exam

• Why Take the PMP Exam?
• Qualifying to take the exam?
• Are you ready for the PMP exam?
• Applying to take the exam
• How to use this book
• Other Materials to Use to Study for the PMP exam
• What is the PMP Exam Like?
• How to Study for the PMP Exam?
• Recurring Themes- PMI-isms to know for the PMP exam

Chapter 2:  Project Management Framework

• Definition of a Project
• Why Projects Exist
• Operations and Projects
• Governance
• What is Portfolio Management?
• And what is Program Management?
• What is Project Management? Why is it important?
• What is Organizational Project Management (OPM)?
• Project Management Office (PMO)
• Organizational Structure
• Project Roles
• Organizational Process Assets (OPAs)
• Enterprise Environmental Factors
• Assumption Log
• Stakeholders and Stakeholder Management
• Work Performance Data, Information, and Reports
• Frequently Used Tools and Techniques
• Practice Exams

Chapter 3:  Project Management Processes

• Project Life Cycles and the Project Management Process
• Rita’s Process Chart
• Initiating Process Group
• Planning Process Group
• Executing Process Group
• Monitoring and Controlling Process Group
• Closing Process Group
• Practice Exam

Chapter 4: Integration Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Develop Project Charter
• Develop Project Management Plan
• Direct and Manage Project Work
• Manage Project Knowledge
• Monitor and Control Project Work
• Perform Integrated Change Control
• Close Project or Phase
• Practice Exam

Chapter 5: Scope Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Scope Management
• Collect Requirements
• Define Scope
• Create WBS
• Validate Scope
• Control Scope
• Practice Exam

Chapter 6: Schedule Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Schedule Management
• Define Activities
• Sequence Activities
• Estimate Activity Durations
• Develop Schedule
• Control Schedule
• Practice Exam

Chapter 7: Cost Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Cost Management
• Estimate Costs
• Determine Budget
• Control Costs
• Practice Exam

Chapter 8: Quality Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Quality Management
• Manage Quality
• Control Quality
• Practice Exam

Chapter 9: Resource Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Resource Management
• Estimate Activity Resources
• Acquire Resources
• Develop Team
• Manage Team
• Control Resources
• Practice Exam

Chapter 10: Communications Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Communications Management
• Manage Communications
• Monitor Communications
• Practice Exam

Chapter 11: Risk Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Risk Management
• Identify Risks
• Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
• Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
• Plan Risk Responses
• Implement Risk Responses
• Monitor Risks
• Practice Exam

Chapter 12: Procurement Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Plan Procurement Management
• Conduct Procurements
• Control Procurements
• Practice Exam

Chapter 13: Stakeholder Management

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Identify Stakeholders
• Plan Stakeholder Engagement
• Manage Stakeholder Engagement
• Monitor Stakeholder Engagement
• Practice Exam

Chapter 14: Professional and Social Responsibility

• Rita’s Process Chart
• Practice Exam

Chapter 15: The PMP Exam: Tips for Passing the Exam the First Time

• Putting it All Together
• Formulas to know for the exam
• Before you take the exam
• Tricks for Taking and Passing the PMP Exam
• Common Project Management Errors and Pitfalls
• A Day in the Life Exercise

Customer Reviews:

Scott D for Rita Mulcahy Hot Topics Flashcard

****

Very Useful to Supplement PMBOK and Rita’s Book

I have always learned best by using flashcards so I found this very useful. I ended up tearing the cards from the spiral binding and cutting the loose ends so I could use them as actual flashcards. That also enabled me to separate the cards I knew very easily from the more challenging ones. Some people complain that the paper is thinner compared to actual flashcards, which is why I gave it 4 stars.

Raul Chavez on Flashcards

*****

Great Flashcards

Do not expect to be a complete book quality with a lot of information. It is a flashcards book. It has the quality necessary for its purpose and it is only effective if you use it to memorize key aspects about the PMP exam, after reading the PMBOK and also the book for PMP by the same author. I used only these 3 books and passed on the first try.

D Bez on Rita Mulcahy PMP Prep Book

*****

I passed the PMP thanks to this book!

I just passed the PMP exam last week on my first attempt too. This was the primary book that I used for preparation. I am sure I passed thanks in much to this book. The tricks and exercises provided in the book are worth a great deal. The reading material is very wordy and long and tends to become disengaging to the reader.

AMW on Rita Mulcahy PMP Prep Book

*****

Must Read for PMP Exam

An author of a PMP book recommended this one in preparation for the PMP Exam. I am glad he did! Rita gives tips, tricks, and insights that aren’t offered in the PMBOK. She even says things like “this isn’t covered in PMBOK but you need to know it for the exam”. I like that there are practice exams at the end of every chapter. And explanations of the answers following. It has helped me learn and understand the concepts a lot more.

Michael K on Rita Mulcahy Exam Prep Book

*****

An excellent resource for PMP Prep

Doing your PMP Certification? Buy the Rita PMP and methodically go through it page by page. If you have vast project management experience you may find the material to be in a different dimension to typical project management procedures and reporting. Content in this book is very interactive and engaging. Don’t get hung up on this, just go through the book as set out, beginning to end and do the sample quizzes.

Summary of Rita Mulcahy PMP

Rita Mulcahy PMP was the most popular and best selling book until the 2000s. The first edition was published in 1998. Now, the most recent edition is Rita PMP Exam Prep 9^th Edition. This edition is in compliance with PMBOK’s latest edition i.e. 6^th Edition.

Rita was an author and public speaker in the project management field. She died in 2010 but still, her team is working regularly and the next editions in compliance with PMBOK editions are released at regular intervals.

Rita Mulcahy PMP cannot be downloaded for free. Earlier, it was available at Amazon site but now you need to purchase from the RMC site only and it will get delivered to your home address.

Rita PMP focuses completely on the PMP exam. Besides, it is very helpful to learn real-life project management.

Further, Rita launched various products such as PM Fastrack Exam Simulator, Hot Topics PMP Exam Flashcards, Hot Topics Audio Flashcards, Books, E-books, and Online Books. These products are of high quality and really very useful for the preparation of the PMP exam. But they are expensive in comparison to other competitors in the market.

It was the primary source of PMP preparation but now there are much better and affordable PMP preparation options available in the market.

The post Rita Mulcahy PMP Review – PMP Rita 100% Revealed appeared first on Project Hipo.

As we are all aware that Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is a world-recognized, most demanded certification in the area of project management. Main reference book to crack this certification is the PMBOK Guide. It is not an easy book to understand the concepts of the PMP exam. Hence there are different books used along with the main reference book to prepare for the exam. But one of the most popular PMP books that have been used for years by new aspirants to pass the PMP exam is Head First PMP.

What is Head First PMP?

Head First books came into existence in 2003 by Bert Bates and Kathy Sierra. This is a series of introductory instructional books to many topics such as Agile, C, HTML, Java, Software Development, Web Design, etc and last but not the least Head First PMP.  Head First PMP was launched by Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Green. It is also known as Brain-Friendly Guide.  There are many supporting books available in the market. But one of the main reasons why Head First PMP became popular is its way of representation of the concept in a pictorial form which helps a new aspirant to understand the subject in an easier manner.

O’Reilly established Head First Labs where series of books were presented in an easy to understand way. Likewise, Head First PMP is also written in an engaging manner. This book uses simple language which is easy to understand and has a flavor of fiction. Also, it makes use of numerous diagrams, charts, and figures to simplify the topic.

Insight Into Head First PMP

Each chapter of Head First PMP starts with a story which is used as a center point for explaining the topics. Further, they give details on the topics via a series of small examples and anecdotes based on the starting story. Also, there are crosswords, short exercises and fill in the blanks which help an aspirant to remember the concepts well. At the end of each chapter of the Head First PMP, sample PMP questions make you revise the chapter thoroughly.

Head First PMP is written in a very casual manner which helps in understanding the topics easily. However, it gives the impression that the level of PMP exam is not tough. On the contrary, the structure is very different from the main reference guide i.e. PMBOK Guide. However, this book can be used by people who are new to project management because they can get an overview of project management in simpler terms. In fact, Head First PMP can be a stepping stone for novice managers. But it needs to be used in conjunction with PMBOK Guide and some other reference book to pass the exam.

Salient Features of Head First PMP

1. Firstly, Head First PMP teaches you the latest principles of The PMBOK Guide in a unique and inspiring way.
2. Secondly, it is not in a traditional format of book but offers a visual format to help you grasp the big picture of project management
3. Thirdly, Head First PMP has a unique way of presenting PMP Concepts into context. Hence, it will help the candidate to understand, remember and apply them on the exam as well on the job.
4. Then, Head First PMP has good coverage of the latest principles and objectives in The PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition
5. Another reason to choose Head First PMP is the availability of hundreds of practice questions and exam strategies.
6. Further then, lots of puzzles, games, problems, and exercises are available to make learning easier.
7. Easy to digest and entertaining book to learn PMP concepts.

You can read our Best PMP Training post to see all PMP training options and ratings.

What makes it different from others?

1. Head First PMP makes use of visually rich format than heavy text approach in other books to engage your mind. Hence it makes use of multi-sensory learning approach designed for the brain.
2. They don’t make use of lecture mode. Instead, Head Fist PMP presents the concept via story using simple language.
3. Also, this book makes use of visuals as it is a fact that visuals are more memorable than words. Hence it makes learning more fun and effective.
4. Head First PMP book makes use of attention-grabbing tactics by introducing graphics in a little humorous and surprising way.
5. Each page has a combination of text and graphics. Further, you won’t find 2 pages whose layout is the same because the page layout is dynamic.
6. Another peculiar feature of Head First PMP book is that they make use of redundancy which means saying the same things in different ways with different media types. So it increases the chance to get content coded in more than one area of your brain
7. Usage of Concepts, Pictures, Exercises, games and fun examples with emotional content in Head First PMP to make brain remember more appropriately.
8. High quality of instructional design that provides easy learning.
9. Head First PMP makes use of personalized, conversational style.
10. They use multiple learning styles which means the same content represented in multiple ways.
11. This book provides memory joggers, hints, tips and tricks for attempting PMP questions.

PMP Exam preparation with Head First PMP

Head First PMP is one of the most popular books used by aspirants since its onset. It has evolved over the years and the latest edition of Head First PMP that is compliant to PMBOK-6^th edition is Head First PMP-4^th edition. Exam content of PMP keeps on changing, so it requires extensive study of material, book along with practice questions. These days online content is gaining importance. However, books cannot lose their importance because “OLD is Gold”. So they still have importance and in good demand in the market. Moreover, one book that is most in-demand and tops the charts is Head First PMP. Now we will see what is in this Head First PMP Book.

Content outline of the book:

1. Introduction
2. The Organizational Environment
3. The Process Framework and Project manager’s role
4. Integration Management- This knowledge area is based on “Getting the job done”
5. Scope Management- This knowledge area is based on “Doing the right stuff”
6. Schedule Management- This knowledge area is based on “Getting it done on time”
7. Cost Management- This knowledge area is based on “Watching the bottom line”
8. Quality Management- This knowledge area is based on “Getting it right”
9. Resource Management- This knowledge area is based on “Getting the team together”
10. Communications Management- This knowledge area is based on “Getting the word out”
11. Risk Management- This knowledge area is based on “Planning for the unknown”
12. Procurement Management- This knowledge area is based on “Getting some help”
13. Stakeholder Engagement: This knowledge area is based on “Keeping everyone engaged”
14. A little last-minute review: This is based on “Check your knowledge”
15. Practice makes perfect: Practice PMP Exam.

Topics covered in Head First PMP are:

1. Introduction Section: Why get certified?

• Why a person should get certified.
• What are the unique characteristics of a good project manager?
• Project lifecycle models such as Predictive, Adaptive, Iterative, Incremental, Hybrid and tailoring.
• Distinguish between Project, Programs, and Portfolios.
• Distinguish between what a PROJECT is and what a Project is NOT.
• Defining of “A day in the life of a project manager”
• How Project Managers run great projects
• Types of Project Management Office (PMO)- Supportive, Controlling and Directive
• Leadership skills
• Project Team
• Operations Management
• Meet a Real-life PMP Certified project manager

2. The Organizational Environment

• A day in Kate’s Life
• Kate wants a new Job
• Different Types of Organizational Structures
• Project Manager power
• Managing Project Constraints
• Kates takes a new job by working in an organic organization
• Acceptance Criteria
• Organization Processes
• Organization Magnets Solution

3. Process Framework and Project Manager’s Role

• Cooking up a project
• Projects are like recipes
• The project can be managed in phases if the size is big
• Phases can overlap
• Process Magnets
• Anatomy of a Process
• Knowledge area organizes the processes
• Knowledge Area Magnets and Solutions
• The Project Manager’s Role
• Your technical skills make successful projects happen
• Leadership is different than management
• Styles of Leadership
• Types of Power of Project Manager
• Benefits of successful Project management
• Exam Questions and Answers

4. Project Integration Management

• Illustration to book a trip where teachers are thrilled but clients are not satisfied ultimately
• Day to Day work of a project manager
• A Birds-eye view of a project
• Seven Integration Management Processes
• Start your project with Initiating Process
• Integration Management and Process Groups
• The Develop Project charter process
• Plan your project
• Project Management Plan lets you plan ahead
• Subsidiary plans
• The Direct and Manage Project Work Process
• The Project team creates deliverables
• Executing the project includes repairing defects
• The Manage Project Knowledge process
• Changes, Defects and Corrections
• Control your changes
• Preventing or correcting problems
• Finish the work
• Close the project
• Exam Questions

5. Scope Management

• Power of Scope Management
• The Six Scope Management Processes
• Plan your scoping process
• Collect requirements for your project
• Talk to your stakeholders
• Understand your requirements
• Stakeholders know a lot about your project already
• Use a questionnaire to get requirements from a bigger group of people
• A prototype shows users what your product will be like
• Now you are ready to write a requirements document
• Define the scope of a project
• How do you define the scope?
• The Project scope statement tells you what you have to do
• Create the work breakdown structure
• The inputs for WBS come from other processes
• Breaking down the work
• Decompose deliverables into work packages
• The project scope baseline is a snapshot of the plan
• The outputs of Create WBS process
• Why scope changes
• The Control Scope Process
• Anatomy of a change
• A closer look at the change control system
• Control Scope Tools and Techniques
• Make sure the team delivered the right product
• The stakeholders give you the criteria for deciding when you are done

6. Schedule Management

• Schedule Management helps with aggressive timelines
• Plan your scheduling processes
• Use the Define Activities process to break down the work
• Tools and Techniques for Define Activities
• Rolling Wave Planning lets you plan as you go
• Define activities outputs
• The Sequence Activities process puts everything in order
• Diagram the relationship between activities
• Network Diagram put your task in perspective
• Dependencies help you sequence your activities
• Leads and Lags add time between activities
• Scheduling software can help you see the sequence of activities
• Create the network diagram
• Figuring out how long the project will take
• Estimation tools and techniques
• Create the duration estimate
• Use the critical path method to avoid a big problem
• How to find the critical path
• Finding the float for any activity
• Float tells you how much extra time you have
• Figuring out the early start and early finish
• Figuring out the latest possible start and latest finish
• Add early and late durations to your diagrams
• Fast-tracking the project
• Use data analysis techniques when you build your schedule
• Other Develop Schedule tools and techniques
• Outputs of Develop Schedule
• Influence the factors that cause a change
• Control Schedule Inputs and Outputs
• Measuring and reporting performance
• Control Schedule tools and techniques
• Exam Questions

7. Cost Management

• Time to expand Head First Kitchen
• The renovation goes overboard
• Introducing the Cost Management processes
• Plan how you will estimate, track and control your costs
• Now you have got a consistent way to manage costs
• What Alice needs before she can estimate costs
• Other tools and techniques used in Estimate Costs
• Let’s talk numbers
• Now Alice knows how much the kitchen will cost
• The Determine Budget Process
• What you need to build your budget
• Determine the budget: how to build a budget
• The Control costs process is a lot like schedule control
• Look at the schedule to figure out your budget
• How to calculate the planned value
• Earned value tells you how you are doing
• How to calculate earned value
• Is your project behind or ahead of schedule?
• Are you over budget?
• The earned value management formulas
• Interpret CPI and SPI numbers to gauge your project
• Forecast what your project will look like when it’s done
• Once you have got an estimate, you can calculate a variance
• Finding missing information
• Keep your project on track with TCPI
• A High TCPI means a tight budget
• Exam Questions

8. Quality Management

• What is Quality?
• “ An ounce of Prevention”
• Plan quality is how you prevent defects
• How to plan for quality
• Quality Management Plan
• Use the planning outputs for Control Quality
• Tools for Data Gathering
• Tools for Data Analysis
• Inspection, testing, and product evaluation
• Control Quality
• Trouble at Black Box factory
• Introducing Managing Quality
• Fireside Chats
• Exam Questions and Answers

9. Resource Management

• Mike needs a new team, Get your team together and keep them moving
• Figure out who you need on your team
• A closer look at Plan Resource Management Outputs
• The Resource Management Plan
• What you need to estimate resources
• Estimating the resources
• Get the team together
• Develop your team with management skills
• Your interpersonal and team skills can make a big difference for your team
• Lead the team with management skills
• Motivate your team
• Stages of team development
• Manage your team
• Conflict Management
• How to resolve a conflict
• The output of Control Resources Process
• Exam Questions and Answers

10. Communications Management

• Party at the Head First Lounge
• Anatomy of communication
• Get a handle on communication
• Let everyone know how’s a project going
• Take a close look at the work being done
• Now you can get the word out
• People aren’t talking
• Count the channels of communication
• It’s party time
• Exam Questions and Answers

11. Risk Management

• What’s a risk?
• How do you deal with risk?
• Plan Risk Management
• Use a risk breakdown structure to categorize risks
• Anatomy of a risk
• What could happen to your project?
• Data gathering techniques for Identify Risks
• Where to look for risks
• Now put it in the risk register
• Rank your risks
• Examine each risk in the register
• Qualitative vs Quantitative Analysis
• Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
• First, gather the data
• Calculate the expected monetary value of your risks
• Decision tree analysis uses EMV to help you make choices
• Update the risk register based on quantitative analysis results
• How do you respond to risk?
• Add risk responses to a register
• Implement Risk Responses
• Risk responses can find even more risks
• Risk Management exposed
• Monitor Risks
• More Control Risk Tools and Techniques
• Exam Questions and Answers

12. Procurement Management

• Victim of her own success
• Calling in the cavalry
• Agreement Process Magnets and solutions
• Ask the legal expert
• Anatomy of an agreement
• Start with a plan for the whole project
• Make or Buy Magnets
• Type of Contractual Agreements
  • Fixed Price Contracts
  • Cost reimbursable Contracts
  • Time and Materials
• Figure out how you will sort out potential sellers
• Get in touch with potential sellers
• Pick a partner
• Keep an eye on the contract
• Stay on top of the seller
• Kate closes the contract
• Exam Questions and Answers

13. Stakeholder Management

• Party at the Head First Lounge
• Understanding your stakeholders
• Find out who your stakeholders are
• How engaged are your stakeholders
• Managing stakeholder engagement
• Monitor your stakeholder engagement
• Pool Puzzle and solution
• It’s party time
• Exam Questions and Answers

14. Professional Responsibility

• Doing the right thing
• Keep the cash?
• Fly business class?
• New software
• Shortcuts
• A good price or clean river?
• We’re not all angels
• Exam Questions and Answers

15. A little last-minute review

• Process Magnets and answers
• A long term relationship for your brain
• Integration and overall PMBOK Questions and answers
• Scope Questions and answers
• Schedule Questions and answers
• Cost Questions and answers
• Quality Questions and answers
• Project Resource Questions and answers
• Communications Questions and answers
• Risk Questions and answers
• Procurement Questions and answers
• Stakeholder Questions and answers

Modes of Reading

Head First PMP book is available in Paperback format at amazon.com. And if you want to go for online reading then the Kindle version is also available.

Shortcomings of Head First PMP Book

1. Content is not very much aligned with PMBOK Guide

For instance, in Head First PMP book under chapter Project Communications Management, it is mentioned that “According to PMBOK Guide, ninety percent of project management is communication”. But PMBOK Guide states that Project managers spent most of their time communicating.

2. Little errors and contradiction in the content of this book

For instance, in Human Resource Management, Head First PMP book says that there are 5 kinds of power: legitimate, reward, expert, and referent. But only 4 powers are mentioned and counting as 5.

3. Chapter names not aligned with PMBOK Guide latest version i.e. 6^th Edition

In Head First PMP, processes are updated to match with PMBOK guide. However, chapters are still as per previous PMBOK Guide version. For Instance: Chapter Resource Management is mentioned as “Human Resource Management” in Head First PMP.

4. Kindle version of Head First PMP book is very messy

Though Head First PMP is useful to prepare for the exam, the way it looks on the Kindle app is not at all acceptable. There is no zoom option. Features of this app are very limited.

Moreover, the layout of the book is different from the printed and PDF version.

5. Coverage of content is less

If you compare coverage of PMP content then it is 85-90% only as per PMBOK Edition. Many of PMP topics are not covered in detail in Head First PMP. Hence there is a need to refer another book to cover the topic in detail.

6. Level of questions are too easy

PMP exam is a mix of simple and complex direct and situational questions. In Head First PMP, questions’ level is generally on the easy side. Although, sample questions should be a blend of simple and complex.

How Can I Download Head First PMP?

Generally, candidates look for the free version of the book that can be downloaded from the internet.

Another way is to get a copy printed of someone known and make use of the book. But as per PMI code of ethics and professional conduct, it is not ethical and highly unprofessional to access a copy of licensed product without the permission of author so it is not recommended to do this.

Moreover, Head First PMP is a very low-cost book so can be easily purchased as a paperback or Kindle version. And the paperback book can be delivered to the desired address mentioned while ordering the book.

Customer Reviews:

“Good Book for basic understanding”

Head First PMP is good for building basic understanding but in no way sufficient for the exam. For the exam, you need to read PMBOK for at least 5 times and practice around 1500 sample questions without fail.

“An Innovative Alternative to PMBOK”

Job well done to authors Jennifer Greene and Andrew Stellman on creating another wonderful Head First Reference, this time for PMP Prep. I was dreading ordering the new PMBOK because of how poor the reviews were for formatting alone and it dawned on me that there might be a better alternative. I loved the format so much I gifted my copy to a colleague who is taking a PMP prep course and am ordering another for myself. Highly recommend Head First PMP book to those who want a more “brain-friendly” approach to PMP Prep.

“Good Buy”

It’s easy to understand and comprehend.

“Won’t help Pass PMP exam”

The book is written at a shallow level, questions are recalled ability question, won’t help in the PMP exam.

“Must have for pomp Prep”

Easy to understand PMP concepts and it really suited my style of learning

“Very Helpful, Great Book”

I am at the beginning of pursuing PMP Certification. The online course I am taking for my 35 contact hours recommended reading an exam prep book before starting the online course. I am glad I chose Head First PMP. It’s not a dry read at all. It’s very engaging and there are a variety of exercises and quiz styles to help you test your learning. My favorites were the end of chapter crossword puzzles. This book will keep you engaged and teach you a TON!

Summary

Head First PMP book was written by Jennifer Greene and Andrew Stellman. Till date, many versions have evolved with time in accordance with the main reference guide i.e. PMBOK Guide. Latest version used for Head First PMP is 4^th edition in compliance to PMBOK Guide latest version i.e. 6^th edition.

Head First PMP is written in a very simple language and it is easy to understand. Hence it is useful for beginners who want to have an overview of PMP concepts and project management. However, this book alone is not sufficient enough to prepare for the PMP exam. Especially the latest version has some small errors and contradiction and some of the topics of PMP exam are not covered in sufficient detail.

You can read our reviews about the most popular PMP programs:

• Master of Project Academy PMP Training
• Simplilearn PMP Training
• Udemy PMP Training
• Project Management Academy PMP Training
• PM Prep Cast PMP Training
• Velociteach PMP Training

The post Head First PMP – 100% Review of the Book Usage appeared first on Project Hipo.

We have reviewed the top five PMP exam simulators in the market:

• Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator
• PM Prepcast PMP Simulator
• Rita FASTrack PMP Simulator
• EduHubSpot PMP Exam Simulator
• PM Training Simulator

The more you practice with a good pool of PMP exam questions, the better you can score in your PMP exam. You need to make sure that you are confident enough when faced with questions about project management from the PMBOK guide. To gain that confidence, you need to utilize the best PMP exam simulator. The best simulator is the one that has quality practice questions, lets you do several tests, is cost worthy and also easy to use.  You should practice all the available questions, read the correct answers with the provided explanations to fully evaluate as well as enhance your knowledge about PMBOK’s project management concepts.

Best PMP Exam Simulator

We have reviewed the best PMP exam simulators in the market and made a detailed comparison of each. We have evaluated the best PMP exam simulators based on five criteria:

• Quality of questions
• Number of questions/test
• Answer rationales provided
• Is a free demo available?
• Pricing

Based on our comparison of the PMP exam simulators, the following is the high-level comparison of the best PMP exam simulators. You can find the details of each PMP exam simulator in the following headings.

Based on these categories, we have reviewed the top 5, best PMP exam simulators, we rated them on a 0-5 scale. We also provided insights about each option. Review the options and opt for the best PMP simulator for you.

#1 Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator

Price

The first in our list of best PMP exam simulators is the Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator. This simulator stands out among all other best PMP Exam simulators, especially when it comes to pricing. You can choose to buy the online exam subscription for a minimum of a one-month duration. Compared to other best PMP exam simulators, you have to make the purchase for a minimum of 3 months, and for Rita Fast Track, the minimum subscription is for 6 months. Read our full Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator Review.

The Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator costs only $45 a month or if you invest only $100 more, you will get lifetime access to the simulator. Furthermore, no other simulator offers a lifetime subscription. So this is another advantage of choosing the Master of Project Academy PMP Exam over others.

When studying for the PMP certification, you should consider the price for the PMP Exam, which is US$555. If you also add the price of the PMP Exam simulator, it might become considerably pricey. However, if you choose to purchase Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator, you will only add $45 a month or $145 for unlimited access to your PMP Exam study costs.

User Interface & Features

The Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator is available online. After purchasing the subscription, instant access to the simulator becomes available to you. Using the simulator does not require you to have technical skills. In other words, you do not need to install or configure before using it as for the desktop software.

The list of questions is listed vertically on the web page. You can easily scroll through the questions as you go through each of them. The questions and the answers are displayed in a bold and prominent font so it is easy for anyone to read the text. Especially the visually impaired persons can read the questions and answers without putting a strain on their eyes.

Choosing the correct answer is done with the mouse click. You will click on the slider button and it will select your answer, as shown in the image below:

To display the result of your assessment, you will click on Finish and the result will be displayed. Moreover, all your questions that you had attempted will also be displayed with correct answers and rationales, as shown in the image below.

Quality of Content

The questions in the simulator are real exam-like questions. These are entirely based on PMBOK. You will not find any irrelevant content in there, nor will you find any grammar or spelling mistakes in the text. Moreover, the given answers and the rationales are very easy to follow and help you understand the subject more.

The user reviews on the Master of Project website confirms the very good quality of the questions available in the simulator. One user of the simulator wrote:

“After completing my PMP training, I wanted to practice sample questions and was looking for these on the web. I had found many free and paid resources but I didn’t find any as comprehensive as Master of Project Academy’s PMP Exam Simulator. The best part of the simulator is when you had a wrong answer, you can check the rationales and find what you did wrong. This is the best PMP exam simulator indeed..”

Hence, it becomes further clear that the Master of Project Academy sells the best PMP exam simulator.

Prepcast PMP Simulator

Price

Another in our list of best PMP exam simulators is the Prepcast PMP simulator. You can read our full PM Prepcast PMP Simulator Review. 

For $139, you can buy a subscription of 3 months. Once you have used it for 3 months if want to use it for more time, you will need to pay for another 3-month subscription. There is no monthly subscription available so this is one disadvantage to this pricing scheme. The good bank of questions that you will get for this price is justified though.

User Interface & Features

The Prepcast simulator opens in a small window on the web page and shows one question at a time. The font used in the simulator is small and it may be difficult for visually impaired persons to read the text easily.

You can mark the questions for later review and when the exam is finished, answers are displayed with explanations. Relevant reference to PMBOK for further details is also provided with each answer.

There are three exam modes in the simulator. One mode shows hints when you’re doing questions and there is no time limit in the test. The other mode also shows hints but is time-limited. Finally, the third mode simulates the real-like PMP exam user experience. There is also a separate exam only on ITTOs, so this is a good feature if you want to assess only your ITTO knowledge.

Quality of Content

The overall quality of the questions in Prepcast is appreciable but is a little less than perfect. User reviews suggest that the questions have good explanations given against each of them and going through them does help you in the last stage of your PMP exam preparation. But some users suggest the contrary. Their reviews say that many questions are not the same questions that you will see on the actual PMP exam, as they are not entirely from PMBOK.

Overall, the Prepcast PMP Exam simulator is worth your money and it can be considered as an option when choosing between the best PMP exam simulators. 

Rita Fast Track

Price

Rita Fast Track, with all its pros, comes with a hefty price tag of $259 (6-month subscription) or $299 (12-month subscription). There is also no option to purchase with a lower fee for a fewer number of months. This is a big downside of Rita Fast Track, which may push one away from its purchase. Even though the quality of the overall product is above average, perhaps its price is too high for many PMP aspirants. You can see our detailed review on Rita PMP Exam Simulator – PM FASTrack Review post.

Comparing the price of Rita Fast Track with Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator, you can get the latter for $145 for a lifetime subscription. If you go for the 12-month subscription of Rita Fast Track, you will be paying $299 ($54 more!)

User Interface & Features

Rita Fast Track has a full-page web interface and the questions are displayed in a neat layout. You will find one question on the screen at a time. Then you will click the next button to move onto the next question. This consumes not only some time while navigating through the questions, but you also don’t get a chance to see what other questions you can quickly skip to if you ever want to.

On the user interface, you will find extra buttons for highlighting text that you want to focus on and also for striking through the text, to strike what is unneeded. When you finish your test, the result too is displayed neatly, with answers and explanations. Furthermore, you will find a graphical report too for your test.

Fast Track is advantageous for Spanish, Arabic, and Portuguese speaking people. Also as the questions and answers are available in these languages too.

Quality of Content

There are 1600 questions available for practice in Rita Fast Track. The questions are of good quality. Although some user reviews say that some questions in the simulator are not directly relevant to what is taught in the PMBOK. It may be because Rita Fast track is there for a very long time and they might not have properly updated all the questions according to the latest PMBOK edition.

When you are reviewing your questions at end of the test, the Fast Track simulator shows you the correct answers, gives explanations, and also references to PMBOK and Rita’s PMP Exam Prep book where you can go to find more details. Furthermore, you can also see how you scored separately, in each Knowledge Area.

EduHubSpot PMP Exam Simulator

Price

The EduHubSpot PMP Exam Simulator has a very different pricing scheme than other PMP exam simulators. You are offered to purchase test modules, and each module contains 200 random questions. You can buy as many modules as you want. There is a total of four modules available and also there is one separate module, which contains 275 questions for all Knowledge Areas.

Each purchase of the module grants you access to questions for 3 months and each module costs $14.99. There is an advantage in this pricing scheme that you can buy the number of questions that you only need.

User Interface & Features

The user interface of the EduHubSpot exam simulator comprises a single question layout and one question can be seen on the screen at a time. The content on the screen is placed in a simple fashion. It is easy to navigate to the next questions. You can mark the question for later review and can also pause the test timer if needed.

When starting the test, you have the option to take the test by a particular Knowledge Area. Or you take the test by the available modules, which comprise random questions. When you finish the test, the scorecard shows you your score by each Process Group as well as by other groups such as ITTO, Math, Professional Responsibility.

There isn’t catchy stuff that you will find on the EduHubSpot PMP exam simulator but for the price that you will pay, what you are getting is justified.

Quality of Content

There are very mixed reviews on the Internet about the quality of the questions, answers, and explanations in the simulator. However, the majority of the users find the quality of the questions just average. Some users say the questions are the same as they’ve seen in the real exam. Whereas some users found the questions not aligned with the PMBOK. Therefore, you will need to decide carefully before making the decision to purchase this simulator.

PM Training Practice Exams

Price

The last one in our list of the best PMP Exam simulators is PM Training Practice Exams. This one has a price tag of $68, and for this price, you get access to 1000 questions, for 3 months. The price is not high but you must consider the other factors before finalizing this simulator, such as the quality of questions, which very much contribute towards the value that the simulator provides to you.

User Interface & Features              

When you start the simulator, it opens up in a new but small window. The question and the answer options, most of the time, do not fit in the window. So you need to scroll down to see all the answers, and the next and previous buttons. This makes the user interface not a very friendly one, since you have to use the scroll bar to see the complete content on the screen.

You have two options when attempting the test. With one mode, you simply go through the questions and see the result. The other mode allows you to see the answer and the explanation for each question as you go. There is also a ‘whiteboard’ feature that lets you write notes and make math calculations in a separate window. The exam simulator also lets you save the test and resume anytime later from where you left it. These are some of the good options in this simulator.

You get in the simulator 10 Knowledge Area tests and 20 tests comprising random PMP exam questions. These are a good number of tests, however, being not able to get enough questions in a single test is also a little annoying since you have to start many tests separately to practice the questions.

Quality of Content

The quality of the questions available in this simulator is about average. Some user reviews suggest that some questions in the simulator have errors as though they had not been proofread. There are also grammar and spelling mistakes, some users reported. Nonetheless, if you don’t care much about these errors, and want just the list of questions, answers, and explanations, at a low price, this simulator would fulfil your needs.

Free PMP Exam Simulator Options

There is nothing free in the world so are the practice questions and the PMP Exam simulator. When you are investing $555 for the PMP exam fee, investing some more money to ensure you pass the PMP exam cannot be a waste of money. Rather, we highly recommend you practice PMP exam questions, in addition to your study, before you finalize your exam preparation.

Therefore, buying a comprehensive and the best PMP exam simulator is definitely a wise choice. We have described above the best PMP exam simulators that you can choose to buy for your PMP exam preparation. All the best PMP exam simulators listed above offer a free demo exam, which you can try first and then decide which simulator to buy.

Summary

When looking for the best PMP exam simulator on the Internet, you must evaluate the best ones before you buy them. In this post, we have reviewed 5 best PMP exam simulators so that you can easily decide which is the best PMP exam simulator for you and which one to buy.

Remember, when choosing the best PMP Exam simulator, you must look for many things offered by the simulator such as the number and quality of questions, whether it provides answers with rationales or not, ease of use, and of course its price tag.

The best PMP exam simulator does not necessarily have to be the most expensive simulator on the market. If the simulator is selling for a very high price, it may be due to the high development cost of the seller. The first thing that you must not comprise is the quality of the questions. Then the other criteria to choose the best PMP exam simulator must be secondary.

We listed above in the table the 5 best PMP exam simulators, and also gave them rankings and explained how each of these is in terms of price, quality of content, the number of features, and ease of use. The topper among the 5 best PMP exam simulators that we have discovered is the Master of Project Academy PMP Exam Simulator, which offers a perfect bank of questions and when it comes to its price, it will not be heavy on your pocket, too.

The post Best PMP Exam Simulator – Top 5 PMP Simulators appeared first on Project Hipo.

Are you interested to be well informed on the critical aspects of the PMP exam? Do you want to know about the recent changes in the PMBok? Or are you keen to explore the PMP Exam requirements? Do you want to have answers to many more PMP related questions? Then you are definitely reading the right article! As in this article, we will provide you information on interesting Top 10+ questions about the PMP exam which will be helpful for project management aspirants to initiate their journey towards project management.

PMP demands a serious focused effort by the aspirants to obtain the PMP credentials. Therefore it is important to get the idea of the PMP Exam so that you can plan to mark the success as certified. Let me take you through these questions one by one. As I understand that the PMP credentials will help you showcase your abilities, experience, in addition to your efforts and consistency you have put in to achieve your target, I surely believe that this little effort of mine may act as a game-changer for you.

PMP Brings Advantages

There are many advantages that PMP certification brings to the PMP certification holders. These advantages surely act as a motivator for the aspirants to initiate and complete their PMP journey. According to independent researches, certified project managers in the United States make an average of $111,000 per year and PMPs make 22% more than non-PMPs. The annual salary ranges from $85,000 to $135,000 depending on the years of experience. So the PMP benefits include high market value, increased credibility and in many cases, higher pay.

• The organizations are looking to recruit best project managers with globally endorsed skills, PMP certification is a must-have requirement of hiring organizations. Even if PMP is not specifically mentioned, one gets preference in the hiring criteria.
• The organizations also get the edge on their PMP certified professionals as they make the profile richer.
• The PMP certification holders earn recognition and value within their current organization. The challenging tasks are generally given to more qualified project managers, so it makes PMP project managers better options. The success in the projects earns them rewards and recognition.
• Companies love to promote and fill in the vacancies with their existing resources if they are certified.
• According to an independent survey, people with PMP certification are earning 20 percent more salary as compared to their non-certified peers. This is a great return on investment of what you spend on the PMP certification.
• PMP does not bound you to a specific industry. Even though the degrees lay the foundation within a specific industry. The PMP certification lays a foundation of the project management knowledge and skills set on top of that technical skills. It paves the path towards the management ladder with a strong foundation and strong recognition.

What Are the PMP Exam Requirements?

PMI defines quite an extensive criteria requirement to sit in the PMP exam. This criterion is very well thought; it ensures that the project management aspirants meet a certain education level, relevant work experience. In addition to this, the criteria also set a requirement for relevant training. The aspirants fulfilling these criteria are eligible to appear in the PMP exam. These three dimensions play an important role to select the right candidates.

Education and Experience

You can see that the project management experience requirement is subject to the degree of the candidate. If the candidate is a graduate then they need to showcase the 3 years of experience which means 4500 hours of project-related activities. Whereas if the candidate is a non-graduate, then the project management experience requirement goes to 5 years. Hence the non-graduate candidate has to showcase 5 years of experience that can be converted to 7500 hours.

Contact hours – Training

In addition to education and experience, the above-mentioned criteria also emphasize the training hours fulfilment. So in order to qualify for the PMP exam criteria, candidates need to acquire 35 hours of PMP training.

Considering this important factor for 35 hours of professional engagement, you must acquire professional training. And it is very clear from this fact that the training plays a crucial role in obtaining the PMP certification. So other than your education and working experience, you must obtain these 35 hours.

What is the PMP Exam Like?

The PMP exam is composed of 180 questions. There are 230 minutes to complete the exam. The PMP Exam Questions will be a combination of multiple-choice, multiple responses, matching, hotspot, and limited fill-in-the-blank types of questions.

These questions are distributed within different project management domains. In other words, we can say that these questions are distributed within process groups that include, Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling and Closing.

The duration of the PMP Exam is 4 hours. So a candidate has around 1 hour for 25 questions on average. Means around 2 minutes for each question. Some of the questions will be relatively easy and may take less time of yours as compared to the average time, whereas some are long or complex which may take more time of yours as compared to the average time.

Domain wise PMP Exam questions distribution

The breakup of PMP Exam with respect to questions within different project management domains is as follows;

Three Main Domains & Weight for PMP Exam:

1- People (42%)

2- Process (50%)

3- Business Environment (8%)

About half of the PMP exam will represent predictive project management approaches and the other half will represent agile or hybrid approaches.

It is important to mention here that each question of the PMP Exam is a multiple-choice question with 4 options. Out of these options, you have to select the right one from these given options. Hence you should try your best to practice the different domains and different types of questions, and you should also practice how to pick the right choice among several others.

Types of PMP Exam Questions

This means that the duration of ~4 hours and 180 questions from various domains within the project management framework, will be good enough to assess your understanding, knowledge, and experience along with your ability to interpret, focus and sustain. For this sake, there will be different types of questions. Many others have also categorized these questions to make the aspirants understand the overall structure of the PMP Exam. But there is no breakup of question types like the one you see for project management domains of process groups. Following are the most common and general categorization of these questions;

• ITTO-based questions
• Definition-based questions
• Situation-based questions
• Formula-based questions
• Interpretational questions
• Professional and social responsibility Questions

ITTO-based questions

Within the project management framework, all the processes are equipped with Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs which is abbreviated as ITTO. The good part of such questions is that these are well defined within the PMBoK so one can practice and remember. But it also brings the tough dimension as one has to remember the ITTOs for each of the processes.

There are certain logical ways to remember and answer such type of PMP exam questions. You need to practice in the real scenarios by putting yourself in the situation where you learn each process in terms of what is the output and what tools and techniques you must apply to obtain this specific output. Also, to apply the tools and techniques you must have certain inputs.

You can make this learning easier if you do your homework with respect to certain domains and process group areas. That includes Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control, and Closing. This makes it easier to recall for the same stage of each knowledge area with some knowledge area-specific alterations.

For example “What is the output of Project Charter Process?”

Definition-based questions

There are also some questions that can check your understanding of specific terms and definitions. These questions are based on the definition given in the PMBOK guide. Such types of questions are easier to recall and hence easier to answer.

The tip of fool proofing this type of question preparation is to go through the close terms, make a list of these terms and make a comparison of these close terms. Different training provers also prepare flashcards to remember and reinforce such types of questions.

The good part of these questions is that once you prepare the question, you are likely to recall easily. These are also straightforward questions as their definitions do not change. The main point you should remember is to cover the broader aspect of terms and their definitions. For example, you should know the difference between types of Risks or the difference between Leads and Lags.

Such as:

Q: “What is meant by Finish to Start relationship?”

A: “A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished.”

Situation-based questions

PMP exam comprises of situation-based types of questions as well. In such types of questions, you are given a situation and based on the situation you are asked to find the correct answer. These questions test your ability to apply theoretical know-how to real-life project management situations. These situation based questions are tricky ones. So you have to be very mindful when you evaluate the situations to get to the most relevant answer.

Comes with long phrasing – a distinguishing factor

These scenarios based questions usually come with long phrasing. So you can develop your baseline of the situation layout in front of you. However, it is important to note that sometimes you may get additional information so you have to extract the right information and build the scenario applicability. The idea behind this is that in real life you will be given both relevant and irrelevant information. This is your test to identify what’s relevant and what is to ignore to build up your practical scenario understanding.

In addition to this, the wording of the questions plays a vital distinguishing factor where you will be asked what will be the BEST, NEXT, LAST, NOT, or EXCEPT option. So you have to give extra care to such tricky words. Especially the keywords like LAST, NOT or EXCEPT actually turn the situation into the reversals. These are the complex questions as there seems to be more than one option within the multiple choices you are given.

Most of the PMP exam questions fall in this type. So you should have a very systematic approach to handle such questions. First of all, you need to filter relevant and irrelevant information, to capture the real and relevant problem set. Once you are done with the extraction of the right information. you must try to read the answers and check whether the provided answer could be a possible option or not. This act will help you to eliminate the obvious wrong options. As a matter of fact, by ruling out the irrelevant you are shortlisting the possible correct answers. Then again you need to try to apply each possible correct answer and check whether it fulfils all the conditions given in the question or not.

Example

For example, you are working as a project manager to implement a project ABC. Your project requirements are in the execution stage. During your progress meeting on the overall status of the project, one of your project stakeholders asks you to implement a requirement. You also recognize that this requirement will add value to the project. What will be your best response to the stakeholder?

Such questions not only check your understanding of the concepts but also the applicability of these concepts as well as your experience in the domain of project management. So you need to focus on answering the question with the given information and your project management knowledge.

Formula-based questions

One very interesting type of question in the PMP exam is formula-based questions. There are almost fifty PMP formulas that you will need to know and understand prior to taking the PMP exam. The number of formulae is associated with different knowledge areas and domain areas. There are formulae associated with activity scheduling and costing, communications, indicators to assess project progress and value of the project.

An important thing to remember is that you will also need to know and understand all of the associated acronyms. You need to understand the applicability of these formulae. Also, you need to understand the acronyms used within each formula. On first look, you may find this variety of formula a bit harder or overwhelming, But as a matter of fact, once you understand the concepts these are like a breeze and you can easily learn them. After all your graduation degree has already taken you to a certain level where you may already have learned tot many during your education.

Just keep in mind that practicing the formula is the only way to remember. You must practice these formulae both sides i.e. forwards and backward so you can apply these formulae based on the given values in the question statement. In addition to this, a good grasp of the formulas may help you to more easily eliminate PMP exam question choices.

Example

For example, the Cost performance index can be calculated by using the formula CPI= EV/AC, provided we can find Earned value (EV) and Actual Cost(AC) from the given statement. Likewise, we can find EV = CPI * AC, or we can find situations where AC = EV/ CPI  is required using the same formula.

Be mindful that even if you know the formula, there is a room of silly mistakes if you are not doing step by step calculations or you take some preconceived notions. Sometimes it looks like you can do the calculations easily but rather than multiplying you just did a division. Try to avoid any such small mistakes. Even the answer options may be based on such mistakes so one can easily fall into the trap if not mindful.

The best advantage that is associated with the formula based questions is that once you identify the formula and apply it correctly within a given situation then there is only one correct answer. Also, it is important to bring your attention that sometimes you will have to solve the problem by not only using a single straight forward formula. You may need to apply multiple formulas to solve the problem. so you need to practice complex scenarios within your study plan.

Interpretational PMP Exam Questions

Another interesting dimension comes with the interpretational questions. These questions aim to test your ability to deduce a condition from the problem statement.

These require you to identify the meaning of the situation based on your understanding of the facts provided and will require you to apply the correct awareness for the correct answer. In other words, these questions require you to go a step further than knowledge-based questions. For instance, you are given some data in the form of a graph, performance indicator. So you can interpret the past, present, and future of the project. These questions will require your good understanding of the concepts as well as formula.

To answer these questions you must be able to decode a situation or condition from the given information in the form of status or problem. Therefore in order to prepare for such a question, you can run different scenarios while preparing for your PMP exam. For example, what is meant by a positive CPI and a negative SPI at the same time for a specific project? Does this situation mean a call for any corrective action or it is the best situation of the project?

You should also be able to understand the graphs like standard deviation. There are also other graphs in the form of quality management tools associated with the Quality Management knowledge area. What is the graph representation of negative correlation or what is the graph representation of positive correlation?

Technique-based PMP Exam Questions

In these types of questions, you will likely be tested for your understanding of specific techniques during a PMP exam question. A technique is “a defined systematic procedure employed by a human resource to perform an activity to produce a product or result or deliver a service, and that may employ one or more tools”.

These types of questions may require you to demonstrate your knowledge of a certain technique and its application. For example, you may be given a certain network diagram and asked to calculate the critical path.  Or you may be asked to calculate the floats on each node within the network diagram. In addition, you may be asked to do a forward pass or backward pass and calculate the critical path, even you may be given a sample data and asked to identify the critical path. In this case, you may have to draw the network diagram first to calculate the desired values and find the best result.

Example

In addition to this, you may be given a decision tree to find out the best option for return on investment. Or you are given a situation where you need to estimate based on PERT. So it may be knowledge-based where you can demonstrate your understanding of what a technique is used for. However, the PMP exam question can also test your understanding of how a technique is applied.

So this is a crucial part of your preparation where you not only know the techniques but you should have the knowledge to apply these techniques. You should go through the Tools and Techniques section of PMBoK, understand the purpose of each technique and the application. There are a variety of techniques mentioned in the PMBoK. Some are relatively easier to grasp whereas some require more practice. During your preparation for the PMP exam, you need to identify the gaps and keep on practicing unless you master these techniques to the extent of their applicability.

However, there are certain scenarios where you do not have to go into the fullest depth. As per my understanding, one must not necessarily apply the steps within Monte-Carlo analysis, but one should be able to interpret the result generated through this simulation.

Professional and social responsibility questions

There are a few questions that can come under this question type. Each professional body brings professional and social responsibility aspects to ensure the positive role of an individual. So these types of questions will test your understanding of the Project Management Institute Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. This may be tested through different techniques where it is reinforced and assessed that you have a good understanding of your professional and social responsibility.

PMI has identified four core values across the global project management community that are most important to project managers. These are:

• Responsibility
• Respect
• Fairness
• Honesty

In order to test these values, you may encounter several questions within your PMP Exam. There may be questions like one of your client offers you a free lunch what will be your best approach? Or one of your clients offers you a gift what will be your approach? Likewise, your integrity for sharing the actual status can be tested.

What is the PMP Exam Passing Score?

PMI has played around with the passing score several times. It is a common belief that 61% is the passing score for the PMP Exam. However, this is not an official pass rate so no hard carded passing score is available. Also, the passing score is subject to PMI discretion. The 61% passing rate was the reason for setting a benchmark based on the complexity of the PMP examination and success ratio with respect to the total exams.

The most important point to consider is what should be the percentage of practice tests. That can give you the idea of whether you are ready for the actual PMP Exam. I can safely recommend that PMP aspirants must score at least 70% in their practice PMP exams to guarantee their PMP success. The better the practice score, the better the chance to succeed.

What is the PMP Exam Pass Rate?

The PMP Exam rate means how many of the PMP exam candidates sit and pass the PMP exam. Like the PMP passing score, there is not an official score or percentage declared by the PMI for this either. So if any websites mention the rates or percentage, they are not the official ratings or scores of PMI.

As I mentioned earlier that the PMP Exam is not a simple exam, therefore there is more likely that the candidates have a higher tendency to fail the PMP Exam in their first try. That is the reason many training providers mention their money-back guarantees. In addition to this, some of the training provers also mention their full backing to the applicants. On top of this, they mention their success rates based on their trainees who sit in the exam and qualify.

If you properly plan your PMP Exam preparation through formal training and practicing, there is more chance of success. If you have practiced well the pass rate will not have much impact. The reason being a mere fact that you do not know how many candidates appear after proper preparation.

How Can I Apply for the PMP Exam?

There are two ways to apply for the PMP Exam based on the delivery type. The examination delivery type is either Computer-Based Testing (CBT) or Paper-Based Testing (PBT). These tests are based on demographic locations. As in some countries, computer-based testing is available whereas in others only paper-based testing is available. The preferred approach is Computer-Based Testing (CBT). In some areas, the Paper-Based Test (PBT) is the only way to take the exam unless you travel far from your location. It is recommended to apply online since the process is easier and faster.

The PMP Exam application comprises of the following steps;

Create a PMI Account at PMI.org

You can create your account at PMI.org through the registration link. Once you initiate the registration you will follow the instructions for creating the account. On completion, you will get confirmation from PMI.

Submit the online application

Once your PMI account is active, you can proceed to fill your PMP application on the PMI website. When you choose Project Management Professional (PMP) certification option in the certification navigation, you are required to follow the application wizard. Once you cover all the steps of application filling, you are able to submit the application.

Review of Application by PMI

Once you have submitted your application for PMP certification, it is reviewed by PMI. There is a chance that your application is selected for the audit. And there is also a chance that your application is confirmed without any audit requirement.

In case your application is not selected for audit, you are ready to go for payment submission. In case, your application is selected for audit, you are required to comply with the audit process so that your application is approved by PMI to further proceed.

Submit Payment

Once you have submitted your application for PMP certification, it is reviewed and approved by PMI. It completes your compliance for PMP certification eligibility criteria in terms of your education, training and relevant experience. You can now register for the PMP exam by paying the PMI examination fees.

Take the Exam

Once you submit the payment and it is acknowledged by PMI you can schedule and reserve your slot for the PMP exam within your nearest authorized center.

How can I pass the PMP Exam Application Audit?

Once you submit your PMP exam application to PMI, your PMP application will be approved by PMI. But another probability is that your application might be selected for the Audit process.

The PMP Audit process has a process of a random selection of PMP applications. In other words, The PMP may select an application at any point in time and ask the applicant to comply with the Audit process.  There is a small percentage of applicants have the chance of being randomly selected for an audit.

On first look, being selected for Audit may seem stressful, however, the audit is generally a simple process. All you have to do is provide evidence of what you declared within the application. So if you fill your application carefully, there should be no problem in providing the evidence.

In order to ensure your application compliance with the Audit process, you must send the following to PMI;

Proof of education

You will need to provide a photocopy of your degree certificate for the highest level of education completed. This is the criteria in which you specified your degree. As you already have the degree with you so not a big deal to get a copy and add it to your Audit response bundle.

Proof of 35 hours of project management education

Another criterion to sit in the PMP Exam is the 35 hours of project management education. Once you get training from a training provider, they must award you with a certificate of completion with 35 contact hours. All you have to do is get a copy of this certificate and add it to your Audit response bundle which you will send to PMI in response to the Audit selection.

Details of your project management experience

The third criteria to sit in the PMP Exam is your experience based on your degree of Education. This may take a bit of additional work but still pretty much straightforward. All you have to do is to get the Print out of the PDF documents from your audit package organized by PMI and mail your documents to your supervisors. They will have to verify and sign off on each form you have sent to them. After the signing off they have to send the forms back to you. After you receive all the forms form your supervisors you will also include them in your Audit response bundle.

Please note that you may have worked on multiple projects which may require sign off from relevant supervisors. So each of the specified supervisors needs to verify their relevant project. Also, the supervisors do not have to send the verified forms directly to PMI.

Once you acquire all these above items and include them in your response bundle, you will send the entire package to the PMI on the address provided by PMI. It generally takes PMI a week’s time to receive the package, and process the audit. Once the audit of your application gets clearance, you can schedule your PMP exam.

How Much Does the PMP Exam Cost?

There are three main costs of PMP exam:

• Training fee
• The fee of the PMP Exam
• PMP exam preparation time

PMP Exam Training Cost

The training is a mandatory requirement of the PMP Exam. Therefore you will first have to complete the PMP training of 35 hours. There are many training providers from which you can acquire the PMP training. Also, several training providers give training in various formats. Some choose a classroom or instructor-led setting, while others take online courses. These formats and training options bring a variety of prices as well. In-person PMP training options start from $500 and go up to $3,500 while PMP exam online training options start at relatively low cost.

You can read our Top 10 PMP Training post to see all PMP training options and ratings.

I think the provider with the ideal cost-performance ratio is Master of Project Academy. Master of Project Academy PMP Training is reasonably priced, additionally, they have several enrolment options which start from $87/month. Finally, Master of Project Academy PMP Training has a 99.6% first-attempt pass rate with a very good refund policy.

Exam Fee

Once you have completed the requirements pertaining to education, experience and 35 contact hours of training, you have to take the PMP exam in a Pearson VUE test center. Based on the acceptance of your application by PMI, you can schedule your exam date at your nearest Pearson VUE test center.

The PMP Exam has an associated cost. This cost varies depending on whether the applicant is a PMI member or not. The following table shows the PMP Exam fees distribution for PMI and non-PMI members. The table also displays the cost of re-attempt examination fees. These fees also vary whether the candidate is a PMI member or not.

The following table shows the PMP exam fees distribution for PMI members, non-PMI members and for re-attempt.

The PMP exam fee is 555 USD for the people who are not a member of PMI whereas the fee is 404 USD for the PMI members.  One important point I would like to mention; If you choose to become a PMI member at the time of your application, you will just have to pay 555 USD for the PMP exam fee and the PMI membership fee combined. If you do not opt to become a PMI-member, you will pay the same PMP exam fee as well. Therefore, I recommend you to opt for the PMI membership prior to initiating your PMP Exam application.

PMI Membership

PMI is a yearly membership. You will have to renew the membership after one year. The year start is effective from the date when your registration for membership is approved. PMI membership comes with its own cost. There’s a membership fee of $129 and a joining fee of $10. This cost is less then what you can save at the time of the PMP exam application as becoming a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) can drop your exam fee from $555 to $405. Re-examination attempt fees are also drops from $375 to $275.

To avail the benefit of PMI membership in the PMP exam you must be an active member at the time of registration for the examination. If you have applied for the PMI membership, you would require ensuring that your PMI membership is approved and activate. You will not avail of the benefit if your PMI membership is either not approved or expired.

What I have just mentioned above, is one benefit of becoming a PMI member. There are also some other benefits of being a PMI member. The PMI membership offers the following benefits to the members:

• You gain free access for downloading standards, guides and other valuable material relevant to Project management. This also includes the Project Management Body of Knowledge(PMBok). All the material is available on the PMI site pmi.org
• Variety of templates that help project managers
• Access to webinars and events
• Discounted price in the examination fees and re-examination fees
• Discounts price in the CCR renewal fees

PMP Exam Preparation Time

Once you complete the PMP Exam training and earn 35 contact hours to fulfil the PMP Exam criteria you are in the phase of self-study. You can opt to study the material prior to the PMP Exam training to get the basic concepts in line with your experience. This PMP exam preparation time is the intangible cost that you need to invest in terms of time and effort.

The training providers may also suggest the PMP Exam Preparation roadmap one can follow after their training. However, this duration is dependent on how much time you can spend on the PMP Exam training. This time may vary from 4 to 6 months based on your daily and weekly effort in terms of hours. You must be considerate especially when you are buying the online course as you can fully boost your roadmap once you purchase the online PMP course because the pace of the course study will depend on you.

How Can I Study for the PMP Exam?

There are a variety of training programs being offered for the project management aspirants. If you are also looking to achieve this milestone, you can look for training options in this regard. Many training providers offer a variety of mechanisms to provide the training. You can look for the following training formats as per your priorities. These formats include:

• In-person PMP Classroom Training
• Virtual PMP Training
• Online Training

These trainings are great events that prepare you for the certifications.

1. In-Person PMP Classroom Training

There are instructor-led classroom training offered by PMP training providers. These trainings generally have a duration of 4 days. Since these trainings are offered in specific locations depending on the premises arranged by the training providers if you want to avail of the trainings in this format, you need to check the availability of the courses at your nearest premises. Also, you need to adjust your schedule according to the training provider program offerings. This format of PMP training has certain advantages and disadvantages:

Pros

• You can directly interact with the experts
• You can interact with other enrolled students
• The training environment is well set for the learning
• You get a chance to work in groups, these group interactions enhance learning. Candidates learn not only from the trainer but also from the others.
• These classes will make you follow the schedule for learning.
• The classroom environment provides human touch rather than only technology

Cons

• It gets difficult to leave for the training out of your busy schedule
• You have to travel to the premises where the classroom training is offered which may cost you extra time
• These are one time trainings so once you miss the topic it may not be possible to grasp the topic in the same classroom fashion
• You can not repeat the lectures
• You may compromise on other critical activities to attend the classes

2- Instructor-Led Virtual PMP Training

Another option of getting the PMP exam training is through instructor-led virtual PMP training. These trainings generally are offered for a duration of 4 days. Such formats are offered on weekdays, and over the weekends. These trainings also award you 35 contact hours. Generally, weekday sessions start every Monday and end on Thursday. Weekend sessions start biweekly on Saturdays and end in two weekends (Saturday & Sunday). However such trainings are also scheduled by the training providers. So if you are interested in the Virtual PMP exam training you can see the schedule of the training provider.

Pros

• Long-distance learning
• Enhances collaboration and communication
• Real-time teaching and learning
• Effective and efficient time management
• Gives students and teacher a worldwide exposure
• Accessed to everyone equally from anywhere and at anytime
• Introduces students and educators to education technology
• Encourages digital and smart classrooms

Cons

• No control over the students or classroom
• No control over the learning atmosphere or environment
• You would need a computer and internet access, which might not be at hand every time
• Students lack real-time teaching experience

3-Self Paced PMP Training

Another alternative is self-paced learning which is 100% online. This training will also get you to earn 35 contact hours that are required to sit for the PMP exam.

These are the online lectures and learning material which are 24/7 available to the enrolled students. Generally, you get online access to the training material for a specific time of period depending on the package you avail from the training providers. You do not have to follow the schedule as is for in-person classroom trainings or virtual classroom trainings. So you do not need to wait or look for the scheduled offerings by the training providers to avail of this type of training.

Pros

• This is a very effective way of delivering courses.
• It is convenient and flexible, so the resources are reachable from everywhere, every time.
• If you are a part-time student or are working full time, you can benefit from this kind of web-based learning.
• Web-based learning promotes active and independent learning.
• No need to travel to attend any sessions
• You will have access to the course content 24/7, so you will be able to study anytime and anywhere.
• If you like, you can study on a day to day basis, but also on weekends or whenever you have available time. There is no fixed schedule.
• You have the option to listen to particular topics as many times as you want if you need it. This means your preparation will be quite effective. For instance, when you do a practice exam, then based on the results you might need to cover some specific gaps. This approach is highly effective to mark success in your PMP training.
• The courses are accompanied by learning activities and tasks.

Cons

• The online assessments are mostly limited to questions.
• The online learning programs might have a problem in terms of the extent of security.
• This type of learning also requires computers and internet access, which might not be at hand to everyone
• There is a lack of group-based learning
• It contains less human interactions and more technologic interactions

You can read our Top 10 PMP Training post to see all PMP training options and ratings.

Many training providers provider PMP exam trainings in different formats, also several provide all these options and you choose the most suitable for your needs. You can choose any of these formats depending on which format suits you or you are interested in. There are many service providers who offer the PMP Exam trainings in all these formats. But to cut it short here, I would recommend you go for a self-paced learning format. It provides you the flexibility and saves you from the hassle of time and location binding which is a great advantage in itself.

Choose a Comprehensive PMP Exam Training

PMP exam training programs play a vital role in the aspirant’s success in the PMP Exam. Therefore you must be careful when you choose from the available options. These training programs help you prepare a clear road map to follow. So you get a direction that you can follow to prepare for the PMP exam.

In addition to this PMP training helps you cover all the required topics to prepare for the PMP exam. You cover the project management framework, basic concepts of knowledge areas and processes with respect to the PMBOK published by PMI. When you cover all these concepts, you can be ready to improve your foundation.

It means that the right choice of PMP Exam Training is mandatory to achieve the PMP certification. Below are some questions that one can consider to choose the training provider:

• Does it provide me 35 contact hours?
• Which training formats are offered?
• Does it offer the flexibility of location and time?
• Does the curriculum cover the topics of the PMP Exam?
• Do they offer me training material to prepare more for the PMP Exam?
• What will be the duration of online access if I choose the e-learning format,?
• Will I get a certificate of completion to apply for the PMP exam?
• Will the PMP exam training help me assess my readiness with the help of exercises, quizzes, practice tests, mock sessions, etc.?
• What is the course fee? Is it cost-effective?
• If I fail in the PMP exam in my first attempt how will the institute support me?

You may refer to the article PMP Training – Top 10 PMP Training Program Review to get extensive details on the PMP Exam training options.

Should I Use PMBOK During My PMP Exam Preparation?

PMI has developed a standard PM Body of Knowledge (PMBok). That includes the foundation framework of all the processes required to manage the project. These processes are clumped together in the form of Process Groups and Knowledge Areas. In addition to this, the PMBok encompasses all the Tools and Techniques for each process within the overall framework. In other words, we can say that PMBok is the bible of project management as well as the PMP exam.

Hence, it is important to go through PMBok. It is not easy to read the PMBok, as there is high-level coverage of concepts, which makes it much theoretical. Most of the PMP exam materials are prepared inspired form the PMBok and more emphasis is given to the elaboration of these concepts. But how you would know that the PMP exam topics are well covered in the course material?

Even though it is not mandatory to follow the PMBok you need to consult PMBok to get the foundation of project management concepts. This way you can also be sure that the material is sufficient enough to cover the PMP exam as well as help you understand the concepts.

The PMP exam books and material helps you understand the theoretical concepts and practice these concepts in given real situations. If you wish to follow a PMP Book, you can follow a PMP exam prep book that focuses more on how to get ready for the PMP exam and pass in the first attempt. For reference, you can find a PMP exam preparation book published by Master of Project Academy.

Best Way to Get Ready for the PMP Exam

There are several ways you can opt to get ready for the PMP exam. Considering the variety of requirements, different training institutes provide trainings in more than one way. As we mentioned before they offer training in these formats:

1. Classroom instructor-led training
2. Virtual online training
3. E-learning

Each of these formats has its own pros and cons. One can way out these pros and cons and identify which suits them.

In my opinion, the online training format is the best training. My point is backed by different factors:

• The PMP aspirants generally have busy routines
• No one likes to pay too much for a course
• Why select an expensive option when you have the option of lesser cost.
• You can repeat the lecture any time so it is in your control on how many times you want to listen to a specific topic
• You can access the contents anywhere and at any time. No constraints or bounds of time and location.
• You do not have to travel to the course location and this saves you time and travel cost.
• You can run the course as per your time schedule so planning gets easier.

When is the Next PMP Exam Date?

The beauty of the PMP Exam is that its timing is not bound to a specific month or date. As mentioned earlier, the applicants once submit their application. It is either selected for the audit by PMI otherwise the application is approved. In case of an audit, the applicant has to submit the audit response package to PMI which may take a week’s time.

Any aspirant can submit their online application at any point in time. All the activities of the PMP Exam audit and eligibility of the PMP application are subject to the application submission. Therefore the aspirants can easily plan for the timing of their PMP Exam on the basis of their availability and preparation.

PMP Exam Schedule

Once your application is approved you will have a year’s time period in which you can schedule your PMP Exam. For this sake, you need to choose a Pearson VUE Test center and select your date & time slot if it is available within the test center. It is important to note that these test centers are not dedicated to the PMP Exam. These test centers also offer several other certification and language tests. Therefore, I recommend scheduling your PMP exam at least one month before your planned date to avoid the busy dates of the testing centers. After your successful allocation of the time slot in the VUE test center, the schedule of your PMP Exam is fixed. In short, your PMP exam date is based on your choice of schedule.

What Are the Knowledge Areas of the PMP Exam?

There are 10 PMP Exam Knowledge Areas:

• Integration Management – the processes that are required to ensure that the various elements of the project are properly coordinated.
• Scope Management – the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.
• Time Management – the processes required to ensure the timely completion of the project.
• Cost Management – the processes required to ensure the project is completed within the approved budget.
• Quality Management – the processes required to ensure the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
• Human Resource Management – the processes required to make the most effective use of people involved with the project.
• Communications Management – the processes required to ensure the timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of project knowledge.
• Risk Management – the processes concerned with identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk.
• Procurement Management – the processes required to acquire the goods and services from outside the performing organization.
• Stakeholder Management – the processes that identify and develops relationships with those people and organization which are impacted by the project and which influence or determine how the team works.

Sample PMP Exam Questions

To give you an idea of the PMP Exam questions, I have mentioned some questions below. These questions do not give you the idea of all the PMP Exam Question types but they can help you grasp the idea of questions how they look like so you can make your mind to read, extract relevant information, and apply the best suitable option in the PMP Exam.

Below are a couple of examples of PMP questions:

Question – 1:

A dashboard viewable by all project stakeholders displays various statuses using the industry standard of red, yellow, and green colors. Throughout project execution, to meet the needs of the project and some of the project stakeholders, the project manager has been adding more colors to reflect additional statuses. This situation has created confusion among some of the stakeholders over the status naming conventions and meanings. What should the project manager do?

• a) Add a simpler status for the stakeholders who are confused
• b) Remove statuses from the dashboard to avoid confusion
• c) Explain the meaning of the new statuses to the stakeholders
• d) Revert the status to an industry standard of red, yellow, green

Explanation: Project managers manage multiple stakeholders. Therefore it is important for the project managers to reflect the accurate information, with the required details, in the status reports. So the stakeholders get the latest on the project. If the project manager has added more colors and statuses based on the detailed reflection of progress, it requires the project manager to elaborate and clarify the purpose of these statuses to the stakeholders. Project managers do not need to delete any information for the sake of complexity. Also, project managers are not bound to follow the industry standards only, the purpose is that all the stakeholders should be on the same page when they read the status report.

Question – 2:

Bob is the project manager for a large construction project. He has just completed a Monte Carlo analysis simulation when he learns from a team member that some of the cost estimates used in the simulation were incorrect. Bob is highly risk-averse and concerned about this issue, so he meets with his team to discuss options for how to move forward. Based on this information, which choice below best describes what the team would likely do with the results from the Monte Carlo analysis?

a) Reject the results and use the triangular distribution technique instead

b) Use the results; the simulation data can still be of value because incorrect estimates are accounted for in the algorithm

c) Correct; Reject the results; the Monte Carlo results would be inaccurate and should not be used

d) Use the results but set aside additional contingency reserves to address the project risks

Explanation: Accurate cost estimates are the most important part of a Monte Carlo analysis. If the project estimates are too broad, or too narrow, the analysis may misstate the overall risk. In turn, this could create serious problems for project planning. Since inaccuracies in the cost estimates can significantly change the results, it is best for the project team to reject the Monte Carlo analysis results and re-run the simulation once they have a better estimate

Question -3:

Your Program Manager asks you to provide an Estimate at Completion for a small project you are working on. The budget at the start of the project was $30,000, and to date, you have spent $20,000. However, in this consumed amount, the worth of work done is only $10,000. On assessment, you ensure that the project team will be able to complete the project work at the planned rate. What is the value you will share as an Estimate at Completion?

a) $30,000

b) $60,000

c) $10,000

d) $40,000

Explanation; You have spent $20,000 out of which you have earned the value of $10,000 only. In other words, the project cost is overrun by $10,000 which actually did not contribute to the project worth. However, you are sure that the project team will complete the remaining work within the initially planned rate and the rest of the work will complete within, i.e the rest of the work will complete in $20,000 amount. Therefore, the overall budget at completion at the current stage will be $20,000 (for consumed)+ $20,000 (for remaining) = $40,000

Question – 4:

During a bidder conference, a supplier asks why a section is missing from the request for quotation (RFQ). The project manager, realizing that an aspect of the project is indeed missing, becomes confused about the mistake. When you receive the seller responses, all but three fail to address the missing section. What is the best course of action?

a) Send a revised RFQ to all prospective suppliers and allow them the opportunity to resubmit their proposals

b) Hold the bidder conference again, and explain the importance of the point that was initially missed

c) Extend the deadline and allow all of the vendors to resubmit their proposals

d) Select from the three vendors that submitted complete proposals

Explanation: In this scenario, it will be fair to send the new RFQ to all suppliers, then clarify the critical point that was previously missing, and subsequently receive the updated responses to the RFQ. It may not be practical or cost-effective to conduct another bidder conference, especially as other aspects of the project have already been covered in the prior bidding conference. Apart from fairness, re-issuing the RFQ ensures that requirements are understood. Another benefit of sending out a revised RFQ would be receiving more viable bids from other vendors. Therefore, of the available options, the best course of action for the project manager is to send a revised RFQ containing the new information to all prospective suppliers and allow them the opportunity to resubmit their proposals.

Question -5:

A construction company has just hired you. The construction company is about to start a large construction management program in an under-developed country. The project will be on a build-operate-transfer basis and have a duration of 2 years. At the close of the project, the local authorities will run the program. World Bank has sponsored the project. The project is awarded to an international consortium. Your company is one of the subcontractor companies. Other than you there are 2 more contractor companies. After the project scope finalization, you developed a cost estimate of USD $11 million. The sponsor reviews your detailed costing sheets and shows his concerns about the total cost figure. He tells you that the maximum allowable budget he can allocate for this project is USD $10 million. What should you do?

a) Begin the project with the intention of requesting a budget increase at a later point in time.

b) Advise the sponsor that the project can only complete within the available budget.

c) Ask for a reduction in scope.

d) Evaluate ways that can result in cost savings and re-estimate the project.

Explanation: There is no question about beginning the project with the intention to request a change at a later stage. Any change will have a rationale for induction and approval so nothing can be added without a justifiable reason. The scope of work is already agreed on based on the project objectives. Multiple companies are going to address these objectives as currently, you are at the negotiations stage. Therefore at this stage you need to first evaluate the ways that can save the cost.

How Can I Earn Free PMP Exam PDUs?

PDUs and contact hours are different terms but they might seem interchangeable on first look. So you must know the difference between these two. The contact hours refer to the PMP training of 35 hours which is a must for the PMP Exam. Whereas the PDUs stands for Professional Development Units. These PDUs refer to post-PMP professional development activities.

Even though you may find free PMP Exam training materials, these will not fulfil the 35 contact hours requirements. Obtaining the PMP contact hours is a pre-requisite of the PMP Exam, therefore it is mandatory for the applicants to obtain comprehensive PMP training.

Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR)

Once you have obtained PMP credentials, it is not the last milestone. PMP certification requires renewal every three years. The purpose of this is PMI’s Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR) program aiming to support the ongoing educational and professional development of the certification holders. So the professionals keep themselves prepared to meet the demands of a dynamic and complex business environment. Hence, you should look for PDUs if you already have PMP and trying to renew your PMP certification.

What Changes in the PMP Exam?

PMI conducts research to assess the progression of the project management field, the impact of emerging trends and changes in the responsibilities of project managers. Based on this research they publish new versions of either PMBok or PMP Exam Contents or both. But PMP exam changes do not mean that PMBOK will change as well.

This is a continuous activity that PMI performs. PMI conducted the last research in 2015. As an outcome of this research PMI defined the currently active PMP Exam Content Outline. In the same regard, PMI publishes a document on an updated outline of PMP Exam Content. Likewise, PMI announces the new PMP exam changes. However, these changes will not come into effect as of now. The new PMP Exam Content Outline provides the framework of what you can expect on the PMP Exam after 30 June 2020. The last day for candidates to take the current version of the PMP exam is now 30 June 2020.

The breakup of PMP Exam Questions

The following table depicts the changes in the domains and the proportion of questions from each domain that will appear on the examination. The table depicts the domains and their percentages within the PMP Exam Contents of 2015 and 2019.

New PMP Exam Focus

The new PMP exam focus on three new domains:

• PEOPLE – emphasizing the skills and activities associated with effectively leading a project team
• PROCESS – reinforcing the technical aspects of managing a project
• BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT – highlighting the connection between projects and organization strategy

It is highly important to note that the content spans over different approaches within these three domains; including predictive, agile and hybrid approaches.

These percentages determine the number of questions related to each domain and task that should appear on the multiple-choice format examination. Each domain contains tasks and PMP certification measures these tasks. In addition, the domain contains knowledge and skills. One requires this knowledge and skills to competently perform these tasks.

Updated Structure of the PMP Exam

The latest document published by the PMI specifies the updated structure for the PMP Exam Content Outline. Which is relatively easier to understand and interpret. In this outline, you will find the domains, tasks, and enablers.

• Domain: Defined as the high-level knowledge area that is essential to the practice of project management.
• Tasks: The underlying responsibilities of the project manager within each domain area.
• Enablers: Illustrative examples of the work associated with the task. Please note that enablers offer a few examples to help demonstrate what the task encompasses.

Example of People Domain

The following table is an example of the People domain which has 42% of contribution towards the total questions of PMP examination. The table depicts the Tasks and Enablers of People domain.

The effective date of new PMP Exam content

Even though the new PMP exam content outline is available, it is important to note the date of validity of the current version of the PMP exam and the effective date of the new version of the PMP exam.

Summary

In this article, I have provided information on various aspects that a PMP aspirant requires to understand in the process of PMP certification. We walked you through many interesting questions that any PMP aspirant is looking for. These questions are helpful for project management aspirants to initiate their journey towards project management certifications.

The high recognition and value of PMP certification make many people want to know more about the PMP credentials. In this article, we started with the advantages PMP brings to the certification holders, then we’ve talked about the PMP Exam requirements so one can assess their positioning on when they can get ready to apply for the PMP Exam.

We also discussed what is the PMP Exam looks like. On top of it, we have shared the idea about the PMP Exam passing score and Pass rate. Furthermore, we talked about the PMP Exam application. In addition to this, the article gives information on PMP Exam cost for PMI members and non-PMI members.

Afterwards, I also discussed how can you study for PMP Exam and also briefed on the PMP Exam registration and dates. Furthermore, the article also gives you a brief overview of PMP Exam Knowledge Areas and the PMP Exam questions.

As the new version of the PMP Exam is also due by the mid of the coming year the article also highlights the PMP Exam changes. So it is a good window of opportunity to go for PMP certification if you have initiated for the PMP Exam and you have pre-requisites including Education, PMP training and Experience.

I hope you found the relevant information in this article. I wish you the best of luck with your PMP Exam!

The post PMP Exam – Top 10+ Questions & Answers About PMP® Exam appeared first on Project Hipo.

If those questions came across your mind, you need to read this article to understand the context of the PMP book as many project management practitioners show interested in obtaining a PMP certificate. In addition to that, companies usually distinguish between those project managers who have obtained certification from their peers.

What is the PMP certification?

PMP Certificate is an abbreviation for The Project Management Professional Certificate. The Project Management Institute (PMI) designed the PMP certificate for professionals who meet certain criteria for education and experience. As you may know, there is a number of requirements that professionals must meet before they can apply for certification. After PMI accepts and approves the application, the certificate applicant must pass a lengthy and comprehensive examination. So you can become a certified project manager.

Although this type of certification is not mandatory for most professions and company positions, it has a wide recognition that improves reliability and promotes any appeal. PMI developed its well known PMP certification to offer a project management standard which includes various industries and locations. Getting a PMP certification is one of several ways that a project management practitioner can showcase his ability and dedication to their career for a target or current employer.

What should we expect from a PMP certification holder?

Practitioners who fulfilled the application process and passed the examination successfully should be highly knowledgeable with project management concepts. In addition to that, they should have an understanding of challenges and a common vocabulary of project management. Most of the project managers’ key skills are common between different industries. Accordingly, certified practitioners should have the right preparation for various scenarios and results. Also, certificate holders should have significant experience in project management.

Minimum PMP application requirements

People interested in taking the PMP exam to become certified must meet one of two sets of strict pre-requisites. Applicants must have at least 7,500 hours of project management experience in addition to 35 hours of related education. Or they have to obtain a four-year degree with 4,500 hours of pilot projects and 35 hours of project management training.

In order to begin the process, applicants must log in to the PMI website and provide their personal information as required. There are also application fees for PMI members and non-members alike, although membership reduces the cost significantly. You can find more information about current requirements and fees on the official PMI website. You can read more about PMP certification cost.

Preparation for the exam

Many people seeking a PMP certification devote weeks or months to pre-test study to ensure they have covered the key topics of the course. The test is divided into five sections: project initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring, and closure. The test currently includes 200 questions from multiple options covering a wide range of topics, including ethics issues and conflict resolution.

Maintain your certification

Professionals who pass the test and obtain their certificate need to keep up with the requirements of continuing education in order to keep their status. Certificate holders must complete 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) in each three-year period to maintain their qualifications. PDUs can be gained through a variety of activities, including public speaking, full-time project management responsibilities, and essay writing for publication.

Is this certificate suitable for you?

Project management skills are applicable in almost any business environment and can be a great way to increase an organization’s personal value. Individuals who meet the requirements must consider obtaining the certificate if they wish to focus their career on project management or leadership. The PMI has thousands of members in various countries and their professional project management certification is globally recognized.

Should I follow PMBOK during my PMP study?

The project management knowledge in line with the PMI framework is fully described in the “Project management body of knowledge” also known as PMBOK. In fact, the value of this standard project management guide goes beyond just being a reference to you. PMBOK is essential for understanding project management standards and Project Management knowledge remains incomplete without this PMP book. But the fact is, it is not a must to fully study PMBOK itself to fully understand the project management framework. However, following a comprehensive PMP prep training is important. In most cases, you can follow a PMP book as supplementary material.

What is PMBOK?

PMBOK means “Project Management Knowledge Book”. It is issued by the famous Project Management Authority, PMI. If you are a project management aspirant preparing for PMP certification, this guide will help you. This PMBOK Guide is a valuable tool for those studying for a PMP certification. It helps uncover the standard project management process. This PMBOK Guide covers all the ten important areas of knowledge such as Integration Management, Domain Management, Time Management, and Cost Management and so on.

Why is “PMBOK” necessary?

Understanding the importance of the PMBOK Guide is really essential if you are stepping into the most popular project management field. Why is that?

1) A unified process across different departments allows companies to experience better performance and transparency. This is best achieved through PMBOK Guidance Practices as it is a set of global best practices in project management in various industries.

2) The PMBOK Guide documents what works best in project management. The documented methods will assist project managers to make better decisions, especially in situations of uncertainty, for example, how to manage project-related risk management.

3) A common system would definitely facilitate the workflow that was greatly achieved through the practice of PMBOK. This helps project managers work with this standard methodology across different companies.

The PMBOK Guide is not only a valuable guideline for the practice of project managers but also for the company to standardize the project management methodology. PMP certification is completely dependent on PMBOK. The advantage of obtaining PMP certification is that you are trained on these global best practices, allowing you to manage the project more successfully.

When the project manager is familiar with PMBOK standards, he assures that he/she can customize the project management process to suit the needs of their organization. Investing your valuable time in learning the PMBOK Guide will not only enhance your career but also allow you to set your priorities to deal with these important projects. Despite all the above features about PMBOK, there are many aspirants who do not prefer studying this PMP book, as there are disadvantages of PMBOK.

This makes us wonder about the disadvantages of PMBOK:

The PMBOK language is difficult and uses an academic way, which makes understanding its purpose difficult and complicated for the learner. Usually, the learner needs explanations for many of the rules and principles found in the book. Therefore, many students choose to take training courses on PMBOK instead of studying this PMP book itself. This is a result of the fact that training provides the necessary explanation of the rules and principles. Also, it provides many applications necessary to understand these rules. This makes it easier for learners to understand it. It is not a must-follow PMP book. Following a comprehensive PMP prep training is more important. You can follow a PMP book as supplementary material.

Should I follow a PMP book during my PMP study?

ِThere are a variety of PMP books spreading across different channels. These PMP books can help learners during their study for the exam. Although many of these PMP books are helpful, it is not a must to use a PMP book for your study. On the other side, it remains important to have a guided PMP preparation training and use the PMP book as supporting material. Before going through different PMP book options, we will first go through the source of PMP knowledge to give you a clear view of the source of all PMP book options.

What are the preparation books for PMP?

They are books based on PMBoK, but they are more used than PMBoK since their language is usually easier. Also, they tend to be less complicated than PMBoK. They also contain many applications, explanations. In addition to that, they feature models that help the learner to understand and grab the information.

What are the top 10 introductory PMP books? What are the choosing criteria?

We also explained previously that the PMP exam relies on PMBOK which is a huge source of information that sets the standards for what the project manager needs to know. And PMBOK is updated regularly, so exam prep books should also be updated. To get the best chance to pass a PMP exam, it is a must that you purchase a PMP introductory book that reflects the current standards as outlined in the PMBOK.

Criteria for selecting the right PMP book

The range of knowledge needed to pass the PMP exam should be included in any PMP book. There are many points to consider when shopping for a prep book that works best for you.

Ease of language

The easier PMP book is, the closer they are to the learner since PMP books that use complex language and difficult academic explanations are difficult to understand.

Learning style

PMP book which offers a light and exciting approach may be what you need in order to click everything in its place. Or diagrams and illustrations that are enhanced with puzzles and quizzes can be what makes you get a passing score on the first try. Others may prefer to provide dry information. Your PMP book must fit your favorite learning style.

Topics covered

The PMP exam covers 10 areas of knowledge and many ITTOs (input, tools, technology, and output). If you need a comprehensive study guide, then this is a much different book from a book that focuses only on practice tests. Make sure that the PMP book you are considering covers all the subjects you need to study.

Price

You can spend less than $10 or more than $100 on a PMP book. The main difference is in the coverage. In the end, you will find targeted books that focus on a small area of knowledge, which may be all you need. At the higher end, you can purchase a comprehensive course, most likely by accessing online additional training material. However, the range from $40 to $60 is where most people will find the PMP prep book they need.

Top 10 PMP Prep Books

#1 PMP Book – PMP Prep Book by Master of Project Academy

Most of the PMP books you can find have coverage of theoretical project management knowledge with ould fashioned teaching methods. If you compare this book to the others in the market, you will find about its unique characteristics. This is because the content of PMP® Prep Book by Master of Project Academy has been organized like a real project.

You will be able to see the practical implications of theoretical knowledge when studying PMP exam content. This will help you better understand the nuances of the PMP exam material. PMP Prep Book by Master of Project Academy will assist you in your first attempt to pass the PMP test.

The unique features of the PMP ® Prep Book by Master of Project Academy are as follows:

– Real-life project examples
– 100+ Must-to-Remember Master Points for the PMP® Exam
– 100+ Flash Cards – Mapping Practice for important concepts
– 500+ PMP®  Practice Questions – Answers & Detailed Rationales
– 550+ Pages PMP eBook PDF downloadable right after your purchase!

Furthermore, you to review the PMP Prep Book before your purchase. Because unlike the other PMP book providers, Master of Project Academy provides a sample free PMP book for you.

#2 PMP Book – Rita Mulcahy PMP book

Rita Mulcahy composed this book with an unconventional tone that makes you think she is talking to you properly. When taking the test, you almost imagine that Rita is right behind you and makes sure you stay alert. It’s great. The classes in the PMP book are aligned with the PMBOK and the questions at the end of the chapters are very similar to the exam. It is nicely organized with great visual tools and clear markings for the key points you need to know for the exam. This book is a great resource for both CAPM and PMP aspirants.

#3 PMP Book – How to Transfer Your First Experiment, Fourth Edition by Andy Crowe

Use this book to master earned value measurements. Learn the equations in the PMP book and you’ll get all the math you will need to know for the test. This book also contains a card that provides you with web access to InSite by Velociteach. It is a website where you can view algebra formulas and complete the earned value exercises. You will find either A or Group B test questions that are effective and direct. The system works just like the actual test.

#4 PMP Book – Head First PMP Book

A brain-friendly guide to passing the PMP Exam of Jennifer Green and Andrew Stillman. Reading this PMP book first allows you to break the barrier between you and PMP. More than a workbook with engaging and fun exercises, it connects you directly with its bizarre but really effective writing style. It is full of pictures, examples, and tests for progressive self-assessment. All the essentials that you will need for your test are included in this book. The fun you have doing in all activities and reading stories really makes the information great. This is a huge advantage, especially for people who don’t like dry materials. Visually, it looks like a third-grade textbook and does a good job of making you understand the process.

#5 PMP Book – Professional Exam Study Guide by Kim Hildman

If you are looking for a PMP book to help you get your passing score on the PMP exam, but you can still enjoy reading, this is it. You’ll love the way the author organizes this PMP book by sequencing information in real life, below the process groups. Some authors explain the processes along with the knowledge areas, crossing the sets of operations. However, the information hierarchy here makes reading more real and fun. This PMP book can be the key to your success by the way it introduces and repeats major themes in the context of the entire book.

#6 PMP Book – The PMP Exam: Quick Reference Guide Test Prep series by Andy Crowe

If you don’t have time to study on the PMP exam, get the PMP Exam: Quick Reference Guide. The people here did a great job summarizing the key points you need to know to pass the test. It’s a good idea to be able to use the quick reference guide right before taking the exam. Because it helps you to focus on the key information for review. This pre-test book is durable, convenient, and affordable. Your time is a valuable resource. If you are following your PMP project then this reference guide is definitely worth your money.

#7 PMP Book – PMP Certification All-In-One: Desk Reference For Dummies by Cynthia Snyder Stackpole

You will say thank you to Cynthia Stackpole for creating this book after you pass the PMP exam on your first try. The information presented here is uniquely arranged in a way that you do not process it directly through PMBOK, but rather through the functional way projects are supposed to work. You can instantly understand the information because it is well-established and follows a logical arrangement. This way, it ensures familiarity with the PMP processes and the materials needed to obtain your certification. It’s worth the cost and time to read this and take useful test questions.

#8 PMP Book – PMP Practice Makes Perfect PMP Book

This PMP Book contains over 1000 PMP Practice Questions and Answers and it is written by John Estrella, Charles Duncan, Sami Zahran, and James Haner. Also, it is very handy in helping you review your knowledge and maintain your focus on the topics that need to be strengthened. The test is very similar to the contents of this PMP exam preparation book that provides specific value for your money. It’s similar to the actual exam in terms of the level of difficulty, scope, and drafting, and this book will also be a great supplement to all your other materials.

#9 PMP Book – CAPM/PMP Project Management by Joseph Phillips

You will find the information in this PMP book to be comprehensive and easy to read. You will start to gain more and more confidence. The frustration and anxiety that you initially felt will start to fade, making the exam seem like a more manageable task. The author keeps the reader engaged through writing and coordination style. This edition accomplishes to arrange the intensive information in the PMBOK into a more manageable format.

#10 PMP Book – All-in-One PMP Exam Prep Kit – Test Prep series by Andy Crowe

This product makes those hours you study for PMP, less difficult. It’s a great package that has everything you need to pass the PMP test. It is well organized, it explains the important aspects of each area of knowledge and process well. It also contains tests with 20 questions about the topics at the end of each chapter. You will have a full sample exam of 200 questions as well. The PMP preparation book offers a great opportunity for those who already understand the concepts and standards to test their understanding and practice exam questions. Although it is very beneficial for the semi-ready students it does not benefit those who seek to understand the framework as much.

Summary

We have discussed the PMP books for PMP exam preparation. Also, we have discussed the top ten PMP books going through how you should select your pick for the PMP book for your preparation. We have explained the difference between PMBOK and other PMP exam preparation books. Also, we described the criteria you can use to select the best PMP exam preparation book that suits you. These criteria included ease of language, learning style, topics covered and price. Accordingly, you can use these criteria to make the right selection.

In addition, we explored our picks for the top 10 PMP exam preparation books offering you the best available PMP exam preparation books in the market. Starting by the PMP Prep Book by Master of Project Academy and moving through other PMP exam preparation books offered by famous authors like Rita Mulcahy, Joseph Phillips ad Andy Crowe. Now It is up to you to make your mind which PMP exam preparation book you will choose!

The post PMP® Book – Top 10 PMP Prep Books for PMP Study appeared first on Project Hipo.

First, let us understand what is PMP exam.

What is the PMP Exam?

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the most renowned, significant and industry-recognized certification for project managers. PMP certification is truly global i.e. once you become PMP certified, you can work virtually in any industry, any location, using any methodology irrespective of any geography or domain.

PMP Certification benefits employees as well as employers. In regard to employee salary, PMP certified individuals garner a higher salary (20% higher on average) than non-certified individuals. And, in regard to employers, in the organizations having more than 1/3 of PMP certified project managers; more of the projects get completed on time, on budget and meeting original goals.

PMP Certification signifies that PMP certified individuals speak and understand the global language of project management. Furthermore, PMP Certification associates you to a community of professionals, organizations, and experts around the world.

To achieve PMP certification, one needs to appear for the PMP exam. And Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s largest not for profit membership association for the project management profession. PMI introduced the PMP examination to achieve PMP certification.

Prerequisites to appear for PMP examination are:

You can read more in our PMP certification requirements post.

PMP Exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions. The duration is 4 hours. This is a computer-based exam conducted in Prometric centers.

PMBOK PDF is the outline of the PMP exam and PMP materials are prepared with the help of PMBOK PDF Guide.

What is the PMBOK PDF?

“A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” i.e. PMBOK Guide documents the standards and best practices for the field of project management. The main aim of the PMBOK PDF Guide is to provide a common language to discuss the project management profession.

PMBOK 6 Edition identifies 10 knowledge areas and 5 process groups that the project manager needs to focus on during the course of a project. Because such information can be of great significance to project managers to help them determine how to make use of resources in the most effective manner.

Generally, Project Managers have limited time to perform all things required by the PMBOK PDF Guide. Hence, they choose to perform those knowledge areas which are quite familiar to them or easy to perform or supported by most frequently used tools. As a result, some knowledge areas which have a high impact on project success get missed out.

It is true that each knowledge area has varying impacts on project success in different industries. However, to manage the project successfully, you need to know the importance of 10 knowledge areas in PMBOK and rank the importance level of each knowledge area.

PMBOK PDF Guide does not identify the relative importance of each knowledge area. Therefore an individual needs to extract this information from PMBOK Guide. Further, this information will help project managers in decision making in regard to the manner in which time and resources are allocated among different knowledge areas and associated processes.

In short, the PMBOK PDF Guide contains proven traditional practices that are generally exercised as well as innovative emerging practices for the profession with widespread consensus to their value and use.

Importance of PMBOK PDF

It is valuable not only for the organization but also for employees for the following reasons:

1. First of all, it allows companies to standardize the practices or processes across the departments. For instance: Employees working in the development of the project will manage the project in a similar way to the ones working in the finance department.

2. Secondly, the PMBOK PDF Guide is helpful to project managers to work with the standardized system across the organization.

3. Thirdly, PMBOK PDF discusses what is practical to implement in the real project scenario. Besides, it also guides what doesn’t work in a real project. Hence, it reduces the chances of project failure.

4. Next is for those experienced project managers who are familiar with PMBOK content can tailor processes to suit their project and meet the organization’s needs.

5. Last but not least, PMBOK PDF documents the methods that can guide an entry-level professional on how to manage procurement or risk management in a project.

PMBOK Knowledge Areas

Project Management as a practice is spreading worldwide rapidly. It is considered as a recognized and strategic career path, competency and a valuable subject for education purposes. PMBOK framework consists of 5 Process Groups and 10 Knowledge Areas encompassing 49 Processes.

Processes are grouped into either 5 Process Management Process Groups or categorized by 10 Knowledge areas.

Knowledge area is defined as an area of project management defined by its knowledge requirement. It is described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques. Here Knowledge Areas group the Project management processes by subject area like Scope, Cost, Schedule, Quality, Risk, etc.

These knowledge areas are interrelated but they are defined separately from the project management perspective. Additionally, these knowledge areas are used in the project most of the time.

10 Knowledge Areas Defined in PMBOK PDF Guide

1. Project Integration Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK PDF brings all of the process groups together. It basically pulls all the pieces of a project together into a cohesive whole. Here, the project manager integrates the work of everyone on the team through all of these major activities to keep the project on track. Activities include:

• The project being authorized by the project charter to control the budget and assign resources
• Plan all of the work that’s going to happen throughout the project
• Direct the work once it gets started
• Monitor the way the work progresses and looking for potential problems
• Look out for changes; understand their impacts and making sure they don’t derail the project.
• Close the project and making sure that there are no loose ends when it’s over.

2. Project Scope Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK PDF defines what work is required and then making sure all of that work and only that work is completed. Activities include:

• Develop a plan for planning, validating and controlling scope and requirements on the project
• Determine all the requirements that support the project’s business case defined in the project charter
• Sort and balancing the needs of stakeholders to determine the scope
• Create a WBS to break the scope down to smaller, manageable pieces and define them in WBS dictionary
• Get the signed acceptance that completed the scope of work is acceptable to the customer or sponsor
• Measure the scope performance and adjust as needed

3. Project Schedule Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK PDF is about breaking the work down into activities so you can put them in order and come up with estimates for each of them. It makes sure that all of the work happens in the right order, gets done by the right people and doesn’t take too long. This knowledge area defines how deadlines are set and met. First, it figures out what work you need to do, how you will do it, what resources you will use, and how long it will take. Then it talks about how to develop and control the schedule. Activities include:

• Define a process you will use to plan, develop, manage, execute and control the schedule
• Identify the list of all of the activities to complete to produce the project deliverables.
• Figure out which activities need to come before the others and put them in the right order
• Estimate the number of time periods needed to complete an individual activity with estimated resources
• Build a schedule from activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints.
• Monitor the status of the project and control changes to the schedule baseline to make sure that it is kept up to date

4. Project Cost Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK PDF involves planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing and controlling costs. This helps in completing the project within the approved budget. It is irrespective of project size whether it is small or big, how many resources and activities are in it, the process of figuring out the budget remains the same. Activities include:

• Define a process of how the project costs will be planned i.e estimated and budgeted, managed, monitored and controlled
• Identify the cost estimates for all the project activities and resources needed to complete the project work
• Determine the total cost of the project to figure out the number of funds the organization needs to have available for the project
• Monitor the status of the project to update the project costs and manages the changes to the cost baseline.

5. Project Quality Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK involves creating and following organization policies, procedures and tailoring them to ensure the project meets the needs of the customer. It ensures that a project is completed in compliance with the project requirements. Activities include:

• Identify all relevant organization or industry practices, standards and requirements for the quality of the project, product of the project and project management efforts and plan to meet those quality standards and requirements.
• Ensure that the project work, processes followed and deliverables produced conform to the quality management plan
• Ensure a certain level of quality in a deliverable. The deliverable can be a product, service or result.
• Formulate a process to ensure customer acceptance. It involves confirming and documenting the achievement of agreed-upon requirements.

6. Project Resource Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK involves identifying, acquiring and managing the resources needed for the successful completion of the project. Here, resources refer to not only human resources but also encompass the facilities, material or physical resources, equipment required to perform the work of the project. It ensures that the right resources will be available to the project manager and project team at the right time and place. Activities include:

• Define a plan to encompass the management of human resources as well as physical resources
• Determine the type and quantity of all the resources (human resources, equipment or material) needed to complete the project work
• Ensure to follow the resource management plan to secure the human and physical resources needed for the project
• Work towards to improve competencies, create a conducive environment to build trust and cooperation and team member interaction to enhance project performance. It is ongoing throughout the project work
• Track the performance of team members, providing feedback, resolving issues and managing team changes to optimize project performance. This process includes day to day management activities done by a project manager
• The project manager needs to ensure that the physical resources assigned to the project are available when required in the right place and the right quantity

7. Project Communications Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK PDF is about keeping everybody in the loop. That means it involves everyone talking about the work done so that they all stay on the same page. Hence, everyone has information they need to resolve any issues and keep the project moving forward. It involves developing a strategy to make sure that communication is effective for stakeholders. Next is carrying out the activities necessary to implement the communication strategy. Activities include:

• Develop a process to plan for project communication activities based on the information needs of stakeholders and needs of the project
• Ensure that information is flowing back and forth on the project in accordance with the communications management plan
• To make sure that the communication needs of stakeholders are met through the distribution of communication artifacts
• The project manager and team assess how communication is going throughout the project. It ensures that information is flowing as planned to keep stakeholders informed and maintain the desired levels of stakeholder engagement.

8. Project Risk Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK PDF involves processes to plan risk management, identification, analysis, response planning, implementation and monitoring risk on a project. The objective of this knowledge area is to increase the probability and impact of positive risks, decrease the probability and impact of negative risks in order to increase the chances of project success. Activities include:

• Define a process to plan risk management activities for a project
• Identify individual project risks, sources, and characteristics of overall project risk
• Analyze the risks by assessing the probability of occurrence and potential impact on the project and prioritize the individual risks.
• Numerically analyze the probability and impact of risk that ranked highest in qualitative risk analysis. It will help to look at how risks could affect the objectives of the project, determine which risk event warrant a response and to determine overall project risk
• Figure out the ways to reduce or eliminate threats, to make opportunities more likely or increase their impact.
• Implement the agreed-upon risk plans
• Monitor the implemented risk response plans, track identified risks, identify and analyze new risks, evaluate risk process effectiveness throughout the project.

9. Project Procurement Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK involves the purchase or acquires products, service or results needed from outside the project team. Activities include:

• Document the project procurement decisions such as performing make or buy analysis, specify the approach and identify the potential sellers
• Obtain the bid documents, to prospective sellers, answer the seller’s questions, receive and evaluate sellers responses, select the seller and award the contract
• Manage the procurement relationships between buyer and seller, monitor the contract performance making sure that both parties perform according to the contract, making changes and corrections and closing out the contracts once it is completed or terminated.

10. Project Stakeholder Management

This knowledge area in PMBOK involves figuring out who your stakeholders are, plan how you will keep them engaged and manage your project to keep them satisfied. Note that engaging stakeholders should take place throughout the life of the project. Activities include:

• Identify the project stakeholders on a regular basis and document stakeholder interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence and potential impact on project success
• Develop approaches to involve stakeholders based on needs, expectations, interest and potential impact on the project
• Communicate and work with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, resolve their issues, make sure that they remain interested and active in the projects and manage their expectations
• Monitor the stakeholder engagement by reassessing the stakeholder register, updating stakeholder information and tailor strategies for engagement.

PMBOK 6th Edition – Latest PMBOK

Project Management Institute (PMI) releases a new version of the PMBOK guide every 4 to 5 years to be compliant with the changes in project management trends and practices. PMI conducts “Role Delineation Study” which evolves these changes.

PMBOK PDF Guide is used as a reference guide for Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. The latest version used is PMBOK 6^th Edition. PMI released this version in September 2017. This latest version was considered as a reference guide for the PMP exam which got changed in March 2018.

Hence, the current PMP certification exam uses the PMBOK Guide 6th edition as a reference book.

As per PMI, PMP certification exam is going to change after 1st July 2020. But, there is no plan of new version i.e. the 7th Edition till 2023. Hence, PMBOK 6th edition will be used as a reference guide only for the upcoming change of PMP exam i.e. 1st July 2020.

Should I use PMBOK PDF in my PMP Preparation?

PMBOK is the main reference guide for the preparation of PMP certification. However, many aspirants find it tough to read. It is not easy to follow. But it is the foundation of PMP certification training material used across the globe.

PMBOK PDF Guide is an exhaustive book. But it is written in such a way that you can use this guide with the intention of using it during implementation. However, if we focus only on PMP certification then it is not mandatory to use it. However, you can attend a comprehensive PMP training or use PMBOK PDF in combination with other PMP Prep books designed to prepare you for the PMP certification exam.

Salient Features of PMBOK PDF are:

• PMBOK is the basis for the certification exam to qualify for Project Management Professional i.e. PMP Certification
• It is a collection of best practices, standards, and procedure for project management
• Experts consider this PMBOK PDF as a bible for project managers
• PMBOK guide offers extensive coverage of project management knowledge areas, process groups, inputs, and outputs, tools, and techniques.
• It can act as a reference manual for project managers who wish to learn various tools and techniques
• PMI originally published PMBOK in 1996.
• Currently, the latest version is the PMBOK 6th edition. PMI released this version in September 2017
• Every 3 to 5 years, PMI releases a new version.
• This book is prepared by many experts across the globe
• An individual can learn and gain an understanding of individual topics in depth. Owing to the fact that knowledge areas can be treated in isolation from one another in PMBOK PDF.

Cons of PMBOK PDF:

• This book lacks clarity and readability
• PMBOK PDF Guide is descriptive which means it describes project management techniques, processes inputs, and outputs, knowledge areas. But it doesn’t describe how they should be used.
• PMBOK PDF guide is just like a reference book
• It doesn’t describe tools and techniques in detail.
• PMBOK PDF guide doesn’t have any tips and tricks to prepare for PMP exam
• This guide doesn’t have sample questions to practice at the end of each chapter

The best way to study the PMBOK to prepare for the PMP exam is to read each chapter thoroughly from PMBOK PDF and then go through the same chapter from another preparation book. Also, you should practice sample questions simultaneously. Once you thoroughly read the entire book, then practice multiple PMP simulation exams from different sources to check your readiness level.

Can I get PMBOK PDF for Free?

PMBOK PDF is a licensed file for individual use. If you have paid for PMI membership during application for the PMP exam and you are a PMI member then you do not pay any extra amount and can access and download PMBOK PDF for free.

PMI prohibits any form of distribution of PMBOK Guide. It is purely for personal education purposes. At the time of the release of the 6^th edition of PMBOK PDF, PMI has completely prohibited any form of printing of this guide.

Since the launch of PMBOK 6^th edition, the PMBOK PDF Guide includes a complimentary copy of the Agile Practice Guide. It is appended to end of same PMBOK PDF file that you will download for PMBOK 6^th Edition.

For downloading the PMBOK Guide you should follow these steps:

1. Login to PMI site using username and password

2. Search for “PMBOK 6^th Edition Download” page

3. You will see the message as “A complimentary PDF download of this standard is available to PMI members”

4. Select language and click “Download” button to get the actual download page

5. On the Download page, Enter your password and click ‘Download’. When prompted, select “Save” to save the PMBOK PDF to your desktop

6. Now you have the PDF watermarked with your name, member ID and it is password protected. PMI gives this licensed copy to you as a member benefit, not for sale, distribution or reproduction

7. Every time, you will open PMBOK PDF, it will prompt for PMI (www.pmi.org) login password.

Summary – PMBOK PDF in PMP Journey

PMBOK PDF Guide plays a vital role in the preparation for the PMP exam. It is the basis of the certification exam to qualify for PMP certification. Further, this is considered to be a bible for the PMP exam. PMI published PMBOK PDF Guide in the year 1996. Every 3-5 years, PMI releases a new version based on the Role Delineation Study (RDS). The current version in PMP exam preparation is the PMBOK 6^th edition. PMI released this version in September 2017.

As the PMP exam is changing on 1^st July 2020 so PMBOK 6^th edition will remain applicable for the upcoming PMP exam change in July 2020. Moreover, PMI members can download the PMBOK PDF guide for free. PMBOK Guide is an exhaustive book. So it is not easy to follow. Hence, the recommendation is to use it along with some preparation books to prepare for your PMP exam.

The post PMBOK PDF – How to Get & Use PMBOK 6th Edition in PMP® Prep appeared first on Project Hipo.

In this article, you are going to read my Prepcast simulator review.

Prepcast PMP Exam Simulator Review

A PMP exam simulator is a very useful product to increase the chances of success in the exam. Prepcast PMP exam simulator claims that it will prepare you for the exam in a short time like 3 months. It’s pretty impressive. In this article, I will share my opinions about this product, the features, benefits, price, and if does it worth the price. Before you make a purchase, I strongly recommend you read this till the end.

The number of users

Before I make a decision, I first look at the number of users who have chosen that service or product, and the ratings and comments that they have given. These ratings and comments are critical factors that influence my decision. The PM Prepcast Training has 711 reviews and a 4.9 point average. Nearly a perfect score. Additionally, I review the negative comments for every online shopping. When I did this, I saw a few negative comments, some of them stated that the content of the education was not worth the money. Some stated that they did not pass the exam even though they received the education and the exam simulator.

The feedback

Successful products/services inevitably reach many people. Therefore, the number of users is also an important criterion for me. Let me explain why I think it is an important criterion. Educators are generally people who are open to student feedback. They see constructive criticism as an opportunity to improve themselves and their education. If you evaluate it this way, there is a significant difference between the feedback given by 10 people and the feedback given by 10,000 people in terms of diversity. So, over 50,000 participants from different countries have purchased this training. Hence there should be a remarkable number of feedbacks given for this training.

This feedbacks make the training evolve to a certain level of maturity. 50,000 enrollments is an adequate number for me. So many people can’t be wrong, right? By the way, is 50,000 a super figure? To be honest I saw another PMP training company with x10 times larger enrollments than this, which is super good.

Pricing

When the pricing is global, the same price can be evaluated as cheap according to the people of developed countries, but also can be evaluated as expensive according to the people of emerging or under-developed countries. And for sure some students will fail the exam. Some training companies also share their students’ first-time pass rate information in the PMP exam. Maybe it would be nice if they shared this information. As there can always be better ones, the ratings and comments shared for PM Prepcast are satisfying for me.

The Trainer

If we examine a training service, we shall examine one other critical thing: The Trainer. In short, I would like to share with you who this instructor is: Cornelius Fichtner. Starting his career as a software developer, Cornelius says he realized that his communication skills were superior and started project management with the help of a little coincidence. When he started to lead more and more complex and important projects, he decided to stop developing software and do project management completely.

Born in Switzerland, Cornelius has been working as a Project Manager in Switzerland, Germany, and the USA since 1990. He also received the Project Management Professional (PMP) ® certificate in 2004. So he has plenty of experience in project management. Cornelius is the founder and the president of PM Prepcast company, and also works with the company’s other trainers to develop new education products. By the way, he is popular with his podcasts. If you ever listened to podcasts in the field of Project Management, you probably came across a few of his podcasts.

Prepcast training and Prepcast exam simulator

PM Prepcast training company sells both PMP exam Prepcast simulator and online PMP training. These are sold together as a pack or separately. The first thing that many people wonder and want to learn is: Will this online training and Prepcast simulator be valid as a 35 contact hours training that PMI wants for the PMP exam? My answer to the PMP Exam simulator is “NO”.

The PMP exam simulator is not a substitute for training. It is a tool to develop your exam experience by making practices. For online training videos, my answer is “YES”. PMI accepts online training and also this one is approved by PMI. Actually, I just emphasized the importance of the number of participants enrolled in the training. 50,000 people have received training and a significant portion of this has already taken the exam. If there had been a situation about the invalidity of this training, it would definitely have been reflected in the Google ratings. You can be comfortable with this.

Another question that I face: Is the training content PMBOK compatible? Yes, it has a close relationship with the validity questions. PMI does not approve training if the content is not PMBOK Guide compliant. So this training is a PMBOK complaint, and you can be comfortable in this regard.

PM Prepcast Simulator Benefits and Features

You have or will receive 35 hours of training. You have read or will read many books on PMBOK Guide, Rita, Head First, and project management. Despite all this preparation, as the exam date approaches, you will start to wonder about whether you are ready for the exam. This will put a significant amount of stress on you. I have good news for you. Regardless of where you get your PMP training, you will be able to prepare and practice with PM Exam Simulator and increase your exam experience with its realistic simulator.

We all aim to pass the PMP exam in the first attempt, and the PM exam simulator will be one of the most important tools to support you. By using PM Prepcast Exam Simulator, you will significantly reduce exam stress because you will be able to predict approximately what will happen in the exam. We know the importance of preparation and this simulator provides you this. This simulator will also help you create practices on how to manage time and develop your own exam strategy. It is a very useful assistant that will try to reduce the stress on you for the day you will take the PMP exam. Now let’s talk about the features of this simulator in our Prepcast Simulator Review.

You can access the PM Prepcast exam simulator via the following link: https://www.pm-exam-simulator.com/

Mark for review button:

In this simulator, there is a “mark for review” button that you will see in the original PMP exam. There is a good and simple logic behind this button. For example, on Question #10, you chose “option C”, but you are not sure about it. Time is ticking on the exam. Do not spend excessive time on a single question. If you have extra time towards the end of the exam, you can easily read the marked question once more and think about it. This feature is cool and it is also the same that we see in the real PMP Exam.

Use on any device:

It will annoy anyone if a purchased product is not compatible with the device that is owned. PM Prepcast Simulator supports the most common internet browsers (PMP Exam Simulator does not support Internet Explorer, but supports Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome), tablets, and mobile phones. An active internet connection is required since the exams are executed online only. It will require an internet speed of 256 kbit which may not be a problem in this world of high-speed internet. The simulator can be used on phones and tablets but works best with a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768. But if you want to be sure about the device support, it provides a free simulator for you to try. I will include the details in the later sections of the article.

Realistic questions:

The feedback of many students stated that 1600+ questions in the PMP Prepcast exam simulator were prepared very close to real questions. I also agree with this. The company indicates that the questions and their explanations are frequently updated based on the feedback from students. The questions in the Prepcast PMP simulator were referring to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) for the majority of the questions, as it is done in the real exam.

Live feedback:

While checking the answers of the exam, sometimes we do not agree with the correct answer, or the given explanation is insufficient for us. With the Live feedback feature, it is possible to forward your note, your escalation to the team who prepares the questions. The subject matter experts will review your record and reply to you in writing. I did really like this feature.

Unlimited repeats:

Well, I can hear the question of what will this feature do for me? Maybe you started the exam at a time when your mind is too busy with something else and that’s why you got a really low score on your test exam. Unlimited repetition means you can try the same exam again. Think that your PC restarted itself, or you run out of battery, or there is a problem with your internet connection. If you can quickly reactivate your computer, the PM Prepcast exam simulator allows you to continue the exam where you left off.

However, if your computer crashes or you do not have the opportunity to recharge your battery, it will still be possible to take the same test again, but this time from the beginning. In another case, you plan that a 3-hour period will only belong to you while solving the questions in the simulator, you may still have to leave the exam in an emergency. In this case, the simulator at least allows you to end the current exam and start again later. Time runs continuously in simulator exams and there is no pause option. This is deliberately done to make you feel like the real exam. In short, the PMP Prepcast exam simulator allows you to use 8 exams and 1600+ questions as often and as often as you want, during your active subscription period.

Detailed exam report:

The benefit of PMP prep exams is not only to get exam practice but also to see the mistakes you made, learn your shortcomings, and improve yourself. Prepcast Exam simulator provides detailed explanations of the answers after each exam. In this way, you get more detailed information about where you made the mistake, especially in the questions you made wrong. You will learn where the simple mistakes you did and so you don’t do it again in the future. A mistake you made because of a lack of information, also gives you detailed information about the correct answer and related references on the PMBOK.

Thus, you also get the opportunity to re-study the issues that you are not perfect yet. You can see this report on the screen after the exam. Together with it, the report is sent to your e-mail address. Thanks to this report, we have the opportunity to review all incorrectly answered questions and learn from our mistakes.

Statistics:

Using the information in the exam report, a statistics feature was presented to PMP candidates. By analyzing your Prepcast PMP simulator exam results according to the information area or process groups, you will easily see your progress in general, in which areas you perform well, in which you need to do a little more practice and repeat the subject.

Prepcast PMP Simulator Review: Questions

Prepcast simulator has one of the largest question pools in the market with more than 1600 questions. The questions are prepared to cover all knowledge areas, process groups, and formula. Not only PMBOK but also other sources recommended by PMI for the PMP exam were used as resources. The questions you will see in the Prepcast simulator has been developed with the same principle used by PMI while preparing the real exam questions. The principle is, one person prepares a question, and other people diversify and modifying these questions. So the question is revised many times. Hence it achieves the level of difficulty and unpredictability of the real PMP exam. Prepcast stated that 7 PMP certified people were working during the preparation of the PMP Prepcast exam simulator questions.

In the real PMP exam, you will be given 200 questions and you will be asked to answer them within 4 hours. The Prepcast PMP simulator offers 8 exams in alignment with this rule. It was also conveyed that all of the questions are aligned with the PMP Examination Content Outline. If outline updates, the unsuitable questions are deleted and new ones are added.

In addition, as I have mentioned in the previous sections of my Prepcast Simulator review, updates are frequently made according to participant/student feedback.

PM Prepcast Exam Simulator Review: Pricing

When you open the pricing screen on the PM Prepcast Exam Simulator’s website, 4 different options welcome you. Since we are dealing with the PMP Exam, we will not examine the PMI-ACP and CAPM options.

The first option is the PMP Exam 2020. If your exam is scheduled in 2020, this option will be the right choice for you. You will have 8 exams consisting of 1600 questions on the PMP exam simulator prepared according to the current PMP Exam Content Outline. There is a 90-day access limit. This period starts from the date you start taking the first exam, not the day you buy it. If you want to extend this 90-day period, you can choose the appropriate 30-day and 60-day paid extension options. The price of this package is 139 USD. After purchasing this package, an additional 30-day extension is available for 25 USD and a 60-days extension is available for 39 USD.

The second option is the PMP Exam 2022. If your exam is scheduled in 2022, this will be the right choice for you. The simulator provides access to over 2,100 realistic PMP exam questions. Unlike the option in the PMP Exam 2020, the Quiz Pool option has been added here. Quiz Pool allows you to focus on testing yourself on specific topics. Again, this package has an access limit of 90 days. This period starts from the date you start taking the first exam, not the day you buy it. If you want to extend this period, there are also a 30-days and a 60-days paid extension options. The price of this package is 149 USD. After purchasing this package, an additional 30-day extension is available for 25 USD and a 60-days extension is available for 39 USD.

I want to make a warning about a refund in this Prepcast Simulator review. You must not start more than 2 exams and 3 tests before requesting a refund. In these conditions, you can ask for a refund within 15 days from the date of purchase.

Prepcast PMP Simulator Review: Free Demo

I have good news for you… Before you make a buy decision, you can try out the simulator with all of the features for a week-long.

If you want to test the device compatibility of the simulator or see the question quality, a free demo version is available for you to try. If you register for the demo, you will receive an e-mail course in your inbox. Prepcast simulator shares strategies on multiple-choice test-taking and other PMP exam study materials recommendations. You can also subscribe to the weekly PMP Exam Tips Newsletter. This newsletter presents working approaches, best practices, articles, and recommended study materials.

To access the demo version, you need to apply: https://www.pm-exam-simulator.com/pmp-exam-simulator/free-pmp-exam-simulator

After you fill this form and send it, you will receive an e-mail. In this e-mail, there is the link for the online simulator, your username, and password information of your account. When you log in, you can access the demo version via the link in the image I shared below.

This free Prepcast simulator is limited to 3 exams and 60 questions. It will only be available for 7 days after you register, you will not have much time left. On the free demo version, you can use the extended features of the Prepcast simulator. There is a button named Show Grid. Pressing this allows you to see which questions you answered, which were left blank and which questions were marked, just like in the real exam. It creates a report for you after you have finished the exam. You can see your exam results and your domain-based status in this report. Moreover, this report shows you the correct answers for each question one by one. You can review the answer and detailed explanations easily. I strongly recommend you to use this feature to learn more.

Prepcast Simulator Review: Summary

The PMP Exam simulator is definitely a useful tool for practice and it is very close to the system you will use in the real exam, in terms of features and visuals. The Prepcast simulator exam gives the user the real exam experience. Additionally, the questions are truly similar to the real PMP exam. I really liked the application. However, there are even better options if you check our best PMP exam simulator post.

Overall, I think it is successful and its price is reasonable for its benefits. I do recommend the Prepcast Exam Simulator but for online training, you can find more affordable and appreciated online training on different websites.

The post Prepcast PMP Simulator Review – 100% Details appeared first on Project Hipo.

Velociteach PMP: An Andy Crowe Platform

Velociteach is a leading training provider with more than fifteen years of contribution to the advancement of the Project Management field. The company was incepted in the year 2002 when Andy Crowe, a leader in the IT project management industry, left his high-profile career to pursue his passion. His aim was to empower others to learn project management in a simple, dynamic way that also encouraged personal and professional growth. 

Velociteach Clientele

Since its inception, Velociteach has worked closely with organizations from a wide range of industries and delivered PMP training. Velociteach PMP programs highly aim to provide the companies with the best project management training available on the market.

Few of their clientele industries include Automotive, Construction, Consumer Products, e-Commerce, Education, Energy, Government Contractor, Pharmaceuticals, Professional Services, Manufacturing, Media, Financial, Food, and Health Care.

The huge clientele of Velociteach includes many well known and trusted companies. Some of these companies are Volvo, Nike, Pepsico, Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson, eBay Inc., Paypal, British Petroleum, Accenture, GE Healthcare, Adobe Consulting, Deloitte & Touche, US Air Force, US Navy, and US Army.

Velociteach Team

It will not be fair if I do not mention the Velociteach team especially the CEO’s recognition. Therefore before proceeding with the details of Velociteach PMP Certification Training Program. I must provide some highlights of Velociteach team and achievements.

One of the most interesting and distinguishing factors of Velociteach is their team with Andy Crowe the CEO and founder of Velociteach. I am quite motivated to share with you some glimpses of Andy’s profile and achievements. Andy has several publications under his flagship. He is the author of the top-selling textbook: “The PMP® Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try”. In addition to this Andy has publications including “Alpha Project Managers: What the Top 2% Know that Everyone Else Does Not” and “PMI-ACP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try”.

In 2004, Andy served on the Project Management Institute’s team for the 3rd edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) and the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3).

Next to Andy is Bill Yates, who is the Executive Vice President of Velociteach. Bill has served the Advisory Group for the PMI Registered Education Provider program.

In addition to this, Andy has hand-picked a team of PM authorities to build Velociteach into the premier project management education and certification company in the world. Every Velociteach team member is committed to going above and beyond for their customers. They believe in relationships and partnerships.

Velociteach PMP Training Programs

Velociteach offers several certification training programs with the main focus on project management. This is a long list of the Velociteach PMP programs being offered in various formats to cater to different requirements and objectives. However, for the certification exam preparation, the following are some of their main focus areas:

• Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam Prep
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Exam Prep
• Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Exam Prep

Velociteach PMP Exam Prep Course

They offer a live 4-day Velociteach PMP Exam Prep Course. This course is offered in in-person or virtual formats. Velociteach PMP Exam Prep course provides a comprehensive, accelerated training program that includes live instruction from subject matter experts, eLearning, step-by-step guidance, and all the study tools you will need to pass the PMP exam. This PMP training is based on the PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition.

Location Options

Velociteach PMP course provides instructor-led live training on the following locations:

• Virtual (Go To Webinar)
• Atlanta, GA
• Washington DC
• Philadelphia PA
• Houston, TX
• New York, NY
• Chicago, IL

You can choose one of the above-listed locations as well as you can choose the virtual option. When you choose the location, you can view the time slots and available sessions based on the location of your choice. Then you can enroll in the course. The price of the sessions is also displayed along with the option of sessions. The price of both these Velociteach PMP course formats is $2,447

Course Material

• e-learning Online Course
• Workbook with Mind maps
• Flashcards
• Audios
• PMBok Textbook
• Practice Questions
• Quick Reference Guide

What Are The Available Velociteach PMP Training Formats?

There is an increasing demand for certification exam prep classes and an expanding catalog of courses and ways to take them. So Velociteach is offering public and group classroom-style training for certification and continued education, also e-learning programs, comprehensive training kits, and licensing for outside trainers. Their main training formats can be classified as:

1. Live, instructor-led (In-person or Virtual)

Velociteach offers programs in in-person as well as virtual formats. The in-person courses are offered at limited locations within a couple of states of the USA. However, candidates from across the globe can opt for the virtual classes which are also conducted by the instructors but provides the flexibility of location. The virtual format of Velociteach PMP training is provided through GoToMeeting.

2. Onsite Group Training

Velociteach has specialization in private group training, both onsite face-to-face and virtually via GoToMeeting.

In case you have a number of employees needing training you can get customized training based on your goals. Based on these goals, Velociteach can help determine the right training plan for your group. Below are some of their offerings available for private group training:

• Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Prep(3 to 5 days)
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® Exam Prep
• Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Exam Prep
• ITIL Foundation Certification
• Agile Fundamentals
• Applied Project Management
• Fundamentals of Scheduling Using Microsoft Project 2016
• Earned Value Management
• Project Scheduling
• Leadership: Executing for Success
• Behaviors that Lead to Exceptional Performance
• Let’s Talk! Leadership, Accountability, and Professional Maturity
• Building and Leading High-Performance Dream Teams
• 17 Top Reasons Why Projects Fail

You can reach out to Velociteach to inquire about any topics not listed to acquire information on the courses of your choice.

What Is The Eligibility Criteria of PMP Certification?

The eligibility requirements for the PMP certificate are as follows:

When you complete the Velociteach PMP Program, you will receive a Certificate of Completion. This Certificate of Completion acknowledges that you have acquired the necessary 35 hours of professional development training. When applying for the PMP exam, you will need to provide PMI a copy of this certificate in case your application is selected for the Audit.

Remember this Velociteach PMP course completion certificate is just a step towards preparing for the PMP Exam. It is important to note that the PMP Certificate will be delivered only if you pass the exam. The average success rate for the PMP exam is just over 60%. In the past, the passing grade was declared as 61% by PMI. However, the PMI does not disclose the exact score or success percentage anymore. After updating the PMP certification exam, they made the grade different for each candidate and now it depends on the difficulty level of the questions.

Does Velociteach Offer Any Continuing Education Programs?

Andy’s vision for Velociteach led to the creation of InSite (Online Portal), a premiere e-learning portal which is now used by Project Managers on six continent. His licensed training tools are also being used in over thirty countries across the globe.

Andy founded Velociteach based on the philosophy that continuous improvement, both of working practices and self, is the cornerstone of quality management. This is a belief that he communicates in all of the Velociteach PMP classes, materials, and day-to-day operations.

PDU Passport program

They offer PDU passport program as a part of Velociteach PMP education. This program is available for 6 months as well as 12 months. Once you purchase the PDU Passport from Velociteach PMP, you will have unlimited access to all PDU courses. However, it does not include exam prep courses, live classes or other Velociteach products and services.

Unlimited access to all existing and new PDU courses, worth over 140 PDUs. The breakup of these PDUs within the project management skills triangle as 81 PDUs for leadership, 53 PDUs for technical and 27 PDUs for Strategic

The cost of PDU Passport 6 months is $ 549 and the cost of PDU Passport 12 months is $ 597.

Both these deals cover the PMI Talent Triangle. In other words, it satisfies requirements for PMI® approved Leadership, Technical and Strategic PDUs. These Velociteach PMP programs are accessible 24/7 and from anywhere with an Internet connection. You can access these online programs from computers and portable devices irrespective of time and location. So you get quite flexible self-paced learning option through this Velociteach PMP program offer.

PDU Passport Course Offerings

The list of courses offered by from Velociteach PMP is quite long. Furthermore, they are not only educational but also aligned with the PMI Talent Triangle™. This enables you to earn all PDUs while improving in your profession. Though they have a long list, however, I would like to share some of their enlisted courses as below:

• Introduction to Project Management Fundamentals
• Applied Risk Management
• Collecting Customer Requirements
• Communicating with Senior Management
• Communications Excellence: Driving Project Success
• Controlling the Project
• Developing and Applying Effective Work Breakdown Structures
• Fundamentals of Earned Value Management
• Fundamentals of Schedule Network Diagramming
• Overview of Lean Business Analysis
• Self-Assessing & Improving Your Performance Maturity
• What Makes a Team Member Valuable?
• Essential Tips for Effective Negotiation Skills
• How to Lead Successful Change Management
• The Introverted Leader: Leading a Team in Today’s Extroverted Workplace
• Fundamentals of Agile
• Drive Innovation with Disruptive Thinking

The Complete Velociteach PMP 6th Edition Exam Prep Bundle

This program fromVelociteach PMP offers a bundle of 4 PMP Exam Prep resources. This program covers all 49 Processes in line with Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide), 6th Edition. This bundle includes 47 contact hours. This bundle includes audio, video training along with exam practice. This Velociteach PMP course helps you fully understand and learn the concepts that are essential to crack the PMP exam.

This course is available online and you can choose one of the following access levels:

• 1 Month ($ 388)
• 3 Months ($ 580)
• 6 Months ($ 660)

The following 10 major topics (Knowledge Areas) in line with 6th Ed. PMBOK, are covered in this course.

• Integration Management
• Scope Management
• Schedule Management
• Cost Management
• Quality Management
• Resource Management
• Communications Management
• Risk Management
• Procurement Management
• Stakeholder Management

This bundle includes access to the following resources:

• PASS THE PMP® 6TH EDITION EXAM (35 contact hours)

This Velociteach PMP course gets you to earn 35 hour contact hours. You can take a quiz after every module to check your readiness within each knowledge area.

• PMP® 6TH EDITION EXAM – Three practice tests (12 contact hours)

These are three practice tests in this package. Each of these tests includes 200 questions. With these tests, you can fully rehearse and practice for the PMP Certification Exam.

Takeaways:

Following are the takeaways being offered by this course

• • 1100 Practice Test Questions and Answers
  • Interactive Process Explorer
  • Process Matrix Worksheets
  • Formula Sheets
  • Project Plan Stack Exercise
  • Earned Value Practice Exercises
  • Earned Value Formula Map
  • Course Progress Checklist
  • Certificate of Completion

Pass The PMP® 6th Edition Exam

This Velociteach PMP course includes 35 contact hours of audio & video training and also exam practice filled with vivid images that will help you fully understand the terms, definitions & concepts necessary to receive your PMP credential. The Testing Lab includes 500 unique questions, answers, and explanations. This course is ideal for proper PMP exam preparation.

The major topics (Knowledge Areas) which are in line with 6th Ed. PMBOK, are covered in this Velociteach PMP course. The course outline covers the aspects of Essential Terms, Project Roles and Project Context.

This course is available online and you can choose one of the following access levels:

• 3 Months ($ 219)
• 6 Months ($ 319)

Takeaways:

• Blank Process Matrix
• Course Progress Checklist
• Formula Sheet
• Project Plan Stack Exercise
• Earned Value Practice Exercises
• Earned Value Formula Map

Complete Your Talent Triangle With Velociteach PMP

If you are interested in purchasing one bundle with all the courses you need to fulfill your professional development units (PDUs). With this Velociteach PMP course, you will complete your PDU requirements under the PMI Talent Triangle. This course gets you to earn 26.5 PDUs. The breakup of the PDUS under the heads is:

• Leadership – 8 PDUS,
• Technical – 9 PDUS,
• Strategic – 9.5 PDUS.

The cost of this course is $ 449. Once you purchase this Velociteach PMP course, your access key will be added to your account. Your subscription period begins when you activate the key rather than when you purchase the access. This includes 6-months access to each of the following courses:

• Surveying Client Satisfaction(3 Strategic PDUs)
• The strategy of Project Selection(6 Strategic PDUs)
• Fundamentals of Earned Value Management(4.5 Technical PDUs and .5 Leadership PDUs)
• Risk Management Fundamentals(4.5 Technical PDUs and .5 Strategic PDUs)
• Lessons From Top PMs(5 Leadership PDUs)
• Achieving the Elusive Work-Life Balance(5 Leadership PDUs)
• Each course can be activated separately, with 6-months access upon activation (per course)

Through this course, you earn PDUs that can be claimed as follows:

• 5 Professional Development Units (PDUs) that can be applied towards the following certifications: PMP, PgMP, PMI-ACP.
• 22 PDUs that can be applied towards the PMI-BA certification.
• 21 PDUs that be applied towards the PMI-RMP certification.
• 5 PDUs that can be applied towards the PMI-SP certification.
• 18 PDUs that be applied towards the PfMP certification.

Guarantees and Policies

Guaranteed to Run Policy

Velociteach PMP courses guarantee to hold the class on the selected dates with a live instructor. If there is extremely low enrollment, Velociteach reserves the right to change a class to a virtual delivery (via GotoMeeting) rather than a face-to-face classroom setting. Students will receive the notification at least three weeks before.

Money-Back Guarantee

Velociteach offers 100 % refund of tuition if the candidate takes one of their Instructor-led, Live/Virtual Certification Prep courses and don’t pass the exam after 3 tries within 1 year of the original class date. One year is quite a reasonable time to re-appear in case of failure. So this brings a reasonable aspect of a money-back guarantee.

Re-sit Policy

Velociteach PMP also offers a reseat policy for the candidates. Like the money-back guarantee, if a candidate takes a Velociteach PMP or CAPM class and does not pass the exam within one year of the original class date, he/she may attend a virtual class free of charge. Velociteach will also create a personalized study plan based on the candidate’s exam results. 

No Show Policy

Upon completing registration, Velociteach will reserve a seat for the candidate in the requested class. Any rescheduling must be done in 30 days in advance.

In the event, that candidate does not show up for their scheduled class and they did not reschedule with Velociteach by the previous business day, they will charge the candidate $500 to transfer his/hers registration to another class date.

Class Changes

The candidate may request to reschedule or change their class location free of charge as long as they do so 15 or more calendar days prior to the scheduled class date. This request will be entertained based on the space available in the new requested slots.

If the candidate needs to make a class change within 14 days of the class start date, a change fee of $250 will be assessed. If a candidate requests a change on or after the first day of class, a $500 fee will apply

Class Cancellations/Refunds

Students often register over six months in advance to ensure that they have a seat. Velociteach PMP allows students to cancel their registration any time 30 or more calendar days prior to their originally scheduled class date and receive a full refund. But they won’t receive the cost of InSite ($499) and/or the All-in-One PMP® Exam Prep Kit ($129) if they received these materials previously.

Fewer than 30 days prior to the originally scheduled class date, the registration fee is non-refundable; however, students may still take advantage of Velociteach class change policy

Registration and Payment

Paid registration guarantees a candidate seat in a class. Candidates attending a PMP exam prep class will be eligible to receive an access key to InSite once tuition is paid in full.

What Are The Reviews of Velociteach PMP Training?

Velociteach PMP has bagged very good reviews which are good indicators of their effectiveness. There are many reviews available on their website that are pertinent to their success exam stories.

For reference, below are some of the snapshots:

Pros & Cons of Velociteach PMP Program

Everything has its pros and cons. So below are my findings for Velociteach PMP, please read it till the end.

Pros:

• Highly qualified team with project management experience and in-depth knowledge of PMP

The team working for Andy is quite instrumental and effective. The reason is that they are backed with vast exposure to top management. The expertise and knowledge of Andy and his team are evident from publications and PMI related services. So they know what to and how to mechanisms at level best.

• Money-back guarantee

Velociteach PMP offers 100 % refund of tuition fee if the candidate takes one of their Instructor-led, Live/Virtual Certification Prep courses and doesn’t pass the exam after 3 tries within 1 year of the original class date. This is a quite reasonable time to re-appear in case of failure. So this brings a reasonable aspect of the money-back guarantee.

Furthermore, if a candidate takes a Velociteach PMP or CAPM class and does not pass the exam within one year of the original class date, the candidate may attend a virtual class free of charge.

• Extensive course material

The course outline of Velociteach PMP Certification course is in line with the PMBoK. The Knowledge Areas addressed in PMBok are the driving factor of the course outline. They provide the following material to the course participants:

• • e-learning Online Course
  • Workbook with Mind maps
  • Flashcards
  • Audios
  • PMBok Textbook
  • Practice Questions
  • Quick Reference Guide

• Content includes sample exams to check your knowledge

The content of the Velociteach PMP course includes more than 2,000 PMP exam prep sample questions that help the candidates to assess their readiness and identify the gaps.

There are practice tests in the  PMP course package. Each of these tests includes 200 questions. With these tests, you can fully rehearsal and practice the PMP Certification Exam.

This helps you to assess how you would answer the questions you can see in real exams. Hence you can identify the areas of strength and weakness.

Cons:

• The courses are quite expensive

Velociteach offers a live 4-day PMP Exam Prep Course. They offer this course in in-person or virtual formats. The price of both these course formats is $2,447. Which makes it quite an expensive course. Not only for the virtual classroom but also for the in-person formats.

The complete PMP 6th Edition Exam Prep Bundle is available online and the cost is subject to the access duration. i.e,

• 1 Month ($ 388)
• 3 Months ($ 580)
• 6 Months ($ 660)

These costs with respect to e-learning are quite expensive and it seems like the slots are defined well to capture the audience to at least 3 months option. As opting for one month of access level may not be a reasonable shot. Considering the fact that project managers and related professionals are most of the time too busy to schedule the additional activities within a very short time period.

Likewise, the cost of PDU Passport 6 months is $ 549 and the cost of PDU Passport 12 months is $ 597. While there are more affordable and quality PMP training programs such as Master of Project Academy PMP offerings, I do not find to spend this much money reasonable.

• No Show Policy

Any rescheduling of classes must be done in 30 days in advance. In the event, that candidate does not show up for their scheduled class and they did not reschedule with Velociteach by the previous business day, the candidate will be charged $500 to transfer registration to another class date.

So if you just happen to miss the session based on emergencies or unavoidable situations, you are supposed to intimate 30 days in advance. There may be some situation where you can not anticipate upfront for what is going to happen and intimate 30 days prior to class. This policy seems a bit stringent and non-realistic. Even considering the fact that such no shows may impact Velociteach as well.

• Classroom training is available in limited locations

The instructor-led classroom training courses are mainly available in several states of the US. Hence the candidates who are looking for the classroom training with the flexibility of time and place, they should look for the appropriate course formats from other competitors.

• Cost – Performance Ratio

Cost – Performance refers to a product’s ability to deliver performance, for its price. Certainly, the products offered by Velociteach are higher in price, so the performance ratio with the higher price makes it average. Obviously, the products with a lower price/performance are more pleasing but only if you exclude other factors.

In my opinion, the provider with the best cost-performance ratio is Master of Project Academy. Master of Project Academy PMP Training is reasonably priced, additionally, they have several enrollment options which start from $67/month. Finally, Master of Project Academy PMP Training has a 99.6% first-attempt pass rate and they had more than 100,000 past students.

Alternatives for Velociteach PMP Training

After considering all the pros and cons of Velociteach PMP training programs, you may think that it is not a good fit for you.  In other words, you may like to explore other PMP training programs.  We have explored the other PMP training programs which can be a Velociteach PMP alternative for you.

You can read our Top 10 PMP Training post to see all PMP training options and ratings.

#1 Velociteach PMP Alternative: Master of Project Academy

Founded in 2012, Master of Project Academy helped more than 100,000 professionals in more than 180 countries. The biggest advantage of Master of Project Academy is providing you as many flexible plans as possible. Self-paced PMP training, in-person PMP Training, instructor-led PMP live sessions. Starting from $67/month, you can find comprehensive PMP training materials to get ready for the PMP exam. All you have to do is opting for the best option you would like to enroll.

You can see our complete review and details about Master of Project Academy PMP programs.

#2 Velociteach PMP Alternative: Project Management Prepcast

Another Velociteach  PMP alternative can be Project Management Prepcast PMP programs. Cornelius Fichtner, who is an experienced project management expert, is the founder of Project Management Prepcast platform. They have self-paced PMP options however they do not offer in-person or instructor-led PMP classes which is a big negative for this alternative.

#3 Velociteach PMP Alternative: Simplilearn

Simplilearn PMP programs can be considered as a Velociteach PMP alternative as well. Simplilearn offers self-paced and instructor-led PMP training programs. However, they have a very unfair pricing strategy. If you are visiting their page from India, you can enroll in training costs as low as $100 (they show pricing in INR, which is a local currency for India) while visitors from Europe or the United States can see more than $600 for the same self-paced content material. You can read all the pros and cons of Simplilearn PMP Programs.

#4 Velociteach PMP Alternative: Project Management Academy

Project Management Academy PMP Programs can be considered as a Velociteach PMP alternative as well.

Project Management Academy PMP course indeed provides a good course structure with good success rates. However, the cost is pretty high. The course formats include Instructor-led classroom and virtual classroom. You can read all the pros and cons of Project Management Academy PMP Programs.

#5 Velociteach PMP Alternative: Udemy

You might have heard of Udemy, which is a learning platform where several instructors place their content and students can purchase and enroll in their curriculum. You can consider Udemy PMP programs as a PMP training alternative. However, keep in mind that the instructors you see on Udemy may not be there after your purchase the next day. Moreover, their content may not be 35 contact hours. This is a very big problem for Udemy PMP programs. Even though many programs advertise that they suffice 35 contact hours requirement of PMP exam, their content is far below of 35 contact hours if you a little bit look on the training page. You can see our comprehensive review of Udemy PMP programs.

End of Review

In summary, PMP certification is a crucial business requirement for senior-level project leader roles in all globally. Thus, this course is the best for Project Leaders, Assistant Project Managers, Team leaders, Project Engineers, Software Developers or any professional wishing to become a project manager.

PMP credential gives you the knowledge of project management hence, it is an approval of your global professional experience. In short, the advantages of PMP include high market value, increased reliability, and in many cases higher wages.

Velociteach PMP course indeed provides a good course structure with good success rates. However, the cost is pretty high. The course formats include Instructor-led classroom and virtual classroom. In addition to this, you can opt for a group and online training. If you want to check the latest PMP course offerings, you can check on the website of Velociteach.

Velociteach is just one option so I strongly suggest you look at other options!

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