Hello. Very late to the post. Had my exam on 14th April. Passed!! This community had a very big hand in my achievement. Thank you all. Many of your stories were giving me hope. (And mildly stressed me out too).
I am a basic slightly hardworking guy. I procrastinate a lot. Have the desire to better myself but never put the effort into it. More than the PMP exam itself, the preparation helped me structure. And even more than that, the decision to take time and putting effort helped me more mentally. If you are feeling down or stressed, I want to say a few things which might help you before or during the exam.
First, I'll just talk about my experience. (Sorry if it is incoherent)
I started AR’s course like 4 months before my exam. First month I procrastinated. Then I started viewing the lessons whenever I found time. The only good thing I did was, I actively listened to the class. Looked at the screen. I did not play it in the background. 1.5x speed tho. I did the mock test provided and got 74%. I thought I was ready. (Still wasn’t aware of a concept called Study Hall. Yea.)
After the course completed I did my application for 3 days. I had 7 projects which have similar process. So, I had to find strong points in each project and highlight them. USE CHATGPT or GOOGLE AI. Really helped me structure. I first wrote a very raw 100-word input for each project. Then used tips from GPT to edit the application. I first used quite a bit of PMP terms but removed them later as it did not look genuine. The wait for the next 5 days was horrible. I did the ultra-hard questions by AR in YouTube and revised my wrong answers thoroughly. Then in the comments for that video, one person said something like “I came directly from Study Hall to this, this is nothing compared to that”. That was it. The sudden realization of that Study Hall was the closest representation of the test and it is HARD almost gave me a panic attack.
As soon as I got accepted, I booked my exam for 10 days later and Got. My. Study Hall. (Essential). Did the mock exam. 71%. Exam was damn hard but that was the moment I appreciated AR’s course. With the mindset in my veins, I studied hard. I took the week off. My family never saw me study that hard. Got 76% on the other mock test. With three days remaining I had to slow down because I started scoring 45% in the small exams. I stopped the exams and just studied. Ate good.
Exam: It was a long one. Used every second of it. It was difficult tbh. Did not get any calculations, no charts or graphs. 80% were just agile. Lot of questions had me stuck between 2 answers. Used all my breaks. The third section was the hardest. My mind was drifting away. Had to refocus.
Recommendations I can give to people like me,
Get the Essential Study Hall early if possible. Please. If I did that, I could have had more confidence and used my time effectively.
I feel there is no need to get multiple courses. Stick to one. Don’t waste your money. But watch their YouTube videos. David Mclachlan. Mohammed Rehman. All of these people are good. I say stick to one because each have their own style of explaining a subject. When you understand that subject, you create a mind map. And the map expands when new topics are introduced. Whatever knowledge point you learn, it follows the mind map. Then when I watched David’s video, I understood what he was saying but it did not follow my logic. So, I have to deconstruct and make a new map. I feel that is what many of us have trouble with. Fully invest yourself in one course. Maybe you can go through all the guide’s YouTube videos first, to see which one is compatible with you.
You are going to panic during the exam. As soon as the timer starts, I froze. Later during the start of my 3^(rd) section and before clicking submit at the end. Even during the mock test. So, I did some breathing exercises. Google them and learn whichever one helps you. Panicking is inevitable, so please prepare yourself for that and how to deal with it.
Surprisingly, just thinking “Which one is proactive? Next is it collaborative? Is it risk or issue? Is the risk / issue big enough to hand it over to the supervisor?” helped a lot more than I though.
After the mock tests, go through the entire exam. The wrong and the right ones too. For the right answers, understand the logic behind the questions you guessed to gain confidence the next time you come across similar tests.
Other than the mock exams in Study Hall, try to do 3 of the small mock tests together. Jump immediately to the next one without seeing what was wrong. This helps with getting used to the time limit.
I asked my wife to drive me to the exam center. I revised during the ride and slept off till we reached. Best sleep ever. I was so damn fresh.
Use the ear plugs. Be prepared to have disturbances during the exam. People walking. Foot tapping.
Use the time effectively. My way was to answer the questions as I go. That answer is final. Downside is this way I end up having only 5-10 mins left after each section. It works for me because I use approx. 1.30 mins for reading the question and answers slowly and putting together the solution. I have the habit of flagging many questions. Even if I answered it correctly, I keep wondering did I read the question wrong. So, understand your method first.
That’s it, I guess. Be calm. You can do it. Put that knowledge into the mindset and everything falls into place. I hope all your efforts answer. All the best and congratulations.
Edit: I forgot to mention a very good technique which worked for me, READ THE QUESTION LIKE A STORY. Ik it's silly but it is so easy to understand and not forget the key stuff by the time you read the last option. It is ridiculous but trust me... It helps.