12 Tips to do well in PMP
Exam: PMI PMP - Project Management Professional
PMP certification is one of the best certifications for Project management. It is recognized worldwide due to its amazing curriculum and worth. Those who do this certification tend to receive great benefits. However, it is quite essential that one performs quite well in this certification in order to gain it. In this regard, each candidate has to clear an advanced level exam to get entitled to this certification. This is a 200-question exam which will assess the ability of the candidate from all aspects.
However, if you plan accordingly, you will surely do well in the PMP certification. Following are 12 tips for you which will enable you to ace the PMP certification.
1. Make a study Schedule
PMP certification comprises of a number of topics which lie in the technical domain. It is important to make a study calendar or schedule to allocate equal time to each topic which will be tested in the certification exam. The best way to do this certification is to carry out all of the steps in an organized manner. In this schedule, you should define all of the sources which you will be using for the preparation; whether they are books, websites or study guides. Moreover, it is quite important that you stick to this schedule.
2. Read Books
The best way to prepare and perform well in PMP is to read the “PMBOK” book thoroughly. This book contains all of the chapters in detail and all the essential material which will be tested in the PMP exam. It is important to read this book at least twice; read it thoroughly the first time and skim through it the second time. You should also try to solve the exercises given in the book to improve your concepts.
3. Make your Own Notes
There is a lot of study material which is available for you in order to study for PMP certification. However, you might not remember everything which you read and study during the course of preparation. In this regard, it is important that you make your own study notes along with your preparation. These notes are very useful in the end when you are revising for your certification exam.
4. Take a formal preparation course for PMP
You might think that you will do well enough in the certification by just studying books and other study materials; but you are wrong. What you do not realize is that there are many special techniques which are used in the PMP exam which you do not know about. In this regard, taking a professional course for PMP is always the best option. This course will comprehensively prepare you for the certification exam. According to the statistics, people who prepare with the help of course tend to score much higher in PMP exam.
5. Solve a lot of Sample tests
Even if you have prepared quite well for the PMP exam and studied all the topics thoroughly, it is still quite important to solve a number of sample questions to get an idea of how the real exam would be. In fact, your preparation will not be complete if you do not solve a number of sample tests in detail. It will provide you practice as well as strengthen your concepts.
6. Review all your answers
After you attempt a number of questions, your focus should be on checking your answers to see where you went wrong. This will help you identify your weak topics so you could work on them. In fact, reviewing all your answers is extremely important to ensure that you do not make that mistake again.
7. Join online PMP forums
There are a number of online forums which have been built for the purpose of discussing questions and issues related to PMP certification. If you have got any problem, you just need to enter it in the forum and you will get a solution to it. In fact, people have discussed a lot of issues on these forums which could be of great help to you in the process of preparation. One of the best forums in this regard is “PMZilla”.
8. Identify you mistakes
The best way to score well in PMP exam is to know your mistakes and try to correct them. Many people just solve loads of questions without even looking back at the mistakes they did. You should understand your mistake and try to avoid it in future.
9. Divide Large Chapters into smaller ones
There are some chapters and topics included in this certification which are quite lengthy than others. These topics need to be dealt accordingly. It is good to divide large topics into smaller ones according to the sub topics included in them. This will help you focus more on each aspect and eventually prepare well for the PMP exam.
10. Give more time to difficult topics
During the course of your preparation, you will be able to identify the topics you are good at and the ones which you find difficult. It is quite important that you give more time to the difficult topics to ensure that you can solve questions related to it. You should also try to solve more questions related to the difficult topics in order to strengthen your concepts.
11. Manage your time wisely
The PMP certification exam has been allotted a fixed time during which you have to solve all of the questions. In order to do well in it, it is extremely important that you solve the whole exam in the stipulated time frame. In this regard, it is recommended that you do a lot of practice to complete the exam within the given time.
12. Solve all the easy questions first
When you are attempting the test, you should ensure that you solve the easy questions first. This is important so that you do not waste much time on the difficult questions that you miss out the easy ones.