r/pmp

Also

Feel like I’ve been checking this page damn near daily for the last few months, hoping I would get the chance to make my obligatory post. Yesterday I passed AT/T/T with an AT overall!!!

I started with AR’s Udemy course in October of last year. I work full time and have 2 young kids, so my free time is limited. I watched it at 1.5x on my train rides into work. I don’t know how much I actually absorbed. No fault of AR’s, I was half asleep most of the time.

I finally finished the course in January and bought SH and Third3rock. Started studying/practice exams 4-5 days a week, about an hour or so a day on the train, during lunch breaks, and a little at night. Wish I dove into SH even earlier because that was by far the best resource. Finished the practice questions first with a 63%. Took screenshots of the incorrect answers and had Gemini create notes focusing on the correct mindset. This was a huge help. Then moved onto the mini exams and first 2 full length mocks (65% and 76%).

Went back to the practice questions a few weeks later and got them up to 77%. Also retook any mini exam where I scored below 70%

I tried watching the AR mindset and 200 ultra hard videos, but all of those questions seemed too easy. The closest to the real thing is SH. There were multiple questions on the test that were actually in SH.

I decided to take the test at home since most of the locations by me were booked up and couldn’t have been happier with my decision. Everything was super smooth and felt way more relaxed in the comfort of my own home.

The first section was a breeze, I felt confident in just about every answer. 2nd and 3rd sections however did not feel that way. I don’t know if it was fatigue or what, but some questions had no answers that looked correct and there were some where all answers looked correct! I was just throwing darts at the end there.

I had about 10 drag and drop and no charts or formulas. I’d say about 75% of the test was agile or transitioning to agile.

Good luck to everyone prepping right now. You can do this! Just put in some time daily and do as many SH practice questions as possible! Then do them again!

Thank you to everyone on this page and all of the incredible resources. There is no way in hell I would have passed without it!

Hey guys .. looks like it’s my turn now . I am a long time active follower of this thread .

What i have done so far

1. AR 35 pdu course

2. SH plus - 5 mocks - 71%, 69%, 75%, 61%, 66%

3. DM 150 wf , 200 agile, some more you tube vids

4. Third rock notes.

Am i ready ?? I am kinda nervous and semi confident at the same time .

By this time tomorrow i’ll be done with my exam and have results announced.

And all the very best for people taking their tests soon.

Note: will update the same post tomorrow with my experience. Will keep you posted .

I saw a lot of posts on here asking if the PMP certification will actually land you a job. As many commenters pointed out, it just opens the doors to more interviews. Before I passed the exam, I was rarely selected to interview despite working in a PM position. After passing the exam, I noticed I was offered an interview at about 10-15% of the jobs to which I applied. In the end, I ended up taking an offer with a 27% increase in salary.

I’m interested in hearing about what other people have experienced now that they passed the exam.

Thank you to this community for all your help. I wouldn’t have been able to pass without you all. The exam was pretty tough but you will pass if you put in the work and know the mindset.

Like many folks have said on here, many of the exam questions had 2 or 3 answers that sounded correct but the mindset helped differentiate which answer was more correct than the others. I had two graphical questions regarding burn down charts and about 7 multiple answer questions. No formula questions.

I watched about 70% of Andrew Ramdayal’s prep course and watched his PMP mindset video and about 50 problems from his 200 hard PMP problems video on YouTube.

I did all practice problems on Study Hall and one of the two full exams. I didn’t do any mini quizzes. For the practice problems and exam, I got a 64% and 67% respectively. The Study Hall practice problems and exam had much more definition type questions on them whereas the test was mostly situational “what would you do if” type questions.

Just use others who have passed, I’m happy to answer any questions to try to help you all out. If anything, I just want to say this thing is definitely passable and if you prepare, you’ll do well! Good luck.

Like the title says, tomorrow at 3pm PST I take the test online for the first time.

I do not feel particularly confident. I am a bad test taker, and these last two weeks I meant to ramp up studying, were the busiest at work of the year.

Ive only taken 1 practice test and scored a 69%

Average on my 15 question mini quizzes on PMI have an average score of 74%.

I feel like best case scenario i have a 50/50 chance at this.

What would be some good, targeted reviews and strategies to prep for the next 19 hrs?

We reap what we sow, and I didnt sow as well as I should have.

🚨 NEW STUDY GROUP – LET’S ACE THIS TEST TOGETHER! 🚨

I’m forming a focused study group via Zoom, Google Meet, or similar. From everything I’ve learned, studying with others is incredibly valuable—especially for gaining different Project Management perspectives we each bring from our jobs.

WHO THIS IS FOR:

Anyone planning to take the exam before the July change.

PROPOSED SCHEDULE:

🗓 Wednesdays

⏰ 8:00 PM (to include West Coast participants)

⏱ 1.5 hours

🧑‍🏫 Rotating group leaders each week

If you’re interested, please DM me your contact info by Sunday, April 19 (firm cutoff). NO LATE ADDS.

First session: Wednesday, April 22.

⸻

There’s a ton of valuable information out there—prep tips, test experiences, advice—but it can also be overwhelming and make it hard to stay focused on your study plan. This group isn’t meant to discount that—just to help us stay laser-focused on what actually matters.

My vision for the group:

• Stay aligned on key study priorities

• Share insights without getting sidetracked

• Assign topics/posts so we benefit from shared knowledge efficiently

• Support each other and stay accountable

No pressure—if you join and need to drop out, that’s completely fine. The goal is to create a supportive, structured environment for those who want it.

I’ll also create a private Reddit group so we can share quick tips and insights between sessions.

Let’s stay focused, support each other, and pass this exam together. 💪

Looking forward to connecting::

https://preview.redd.it/31e0yajhcoug1.png?width=1153&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9858f30b5c73acbe0e59bdab7fda8b3e770a56c

Am I ready?

I have +13 years of experience in project/program/product management at a FAANG company. The company paid for the training for the 35 PDUs last year with a certified training company. I didn't pay too much attention to the training since it was virtual and I had to deal with work at the same time, but I still wanted to get the certification since it was fully paid by the company, including the exam fee. Right after finishing the training, I took all the content I received (including the PMBOK that came with it) and put everything into a knowledge base in an AI system (chatbot). I prompted the AI to only answer my questions using that content, so I could try to ensure its answers were grounded in the actual material. Finally, I got my act together in August 2025 for the exam application. I got the approval and failed my first attempt in October after watching the Joseph Phillips cram session and taking 2 full practice exams and some mini-exams. I must say I didn't prepare well; I thought I did, but I didn't. Also, I had no idea that retaking the exam came with a $275 fee, which was pretty depressing to find out — this time, my company wasn't going to cover it.

Fast forward to 2026: I planned to take the exam in late March/early April, so I started preparing in January. I think this time I was more aware of how hard this exam really is, and having sat for it once before gave me a lot more perspective. Below is the approach I took — but before I get into it, I want to say something I think is really important: please spend time figuring out what actually works for you before you dive in. The information on this sub is amazing, but for me it was becoming overwhelming because I started feeling like I had to do exactly what everyone else was doing (watching 200 ultra hard questions a lot of times, buying Third3Rock study notes, etc). So I tried to stay calm and trust that I know myself well enough to understand what kind of content works for me versus what doesn't. Studying and learning are personal. Please invest time on understanding what's the best FOR YOU.

My resources were:

• Study Hall — I bought the more expensive tier this time, honestly it didn't make a huge difference for me. I only did one full practice exam and leaned more on the mini-exams to avoid fatigue. Again, I was trusting myself and the process I built for myself.
• I built a solid Excel spreadsheet to track my results across domains, tasks, and difficulty levels. Fully automated with all the formulas so I just had to focus on logging the results. (Happy to share if anyone's interested, just let me know.)
• A podcast called "PMP Study Vault" on Spotify, which is AI-generated using NotebookLM. I'm guessing whoever created it used the PMBOK or something similar because the quality of the content is top-notch.
• My chatbot that I built a year ago.
• Andrew's Mindset Video.
• A notebook

My approach:

1. Podcast for whenever I was driving. I started from the first episode and worked through it. When I was done driving, I took notes on any concepts mentioned in the podcast that I wasn't fully clear on or needed better explanations for.
2. The concepts I didn't understand, I brought to my chatbot and asked the AI to explain them in as many different ways as needed until it clicked.
3. Study Hall mini-exams and one full exam. I tried to space them out so I could go back, study with my chatbot, and return with the knowledge I was missing. Just reading the answer explanations in Study Hall wasn't enough for me, sometimes they don't fully make sense and I needed more detail. So I would paste the full question into my chatbot and discuss with the AI why the correct answer was right, get further explanation, work through analogies, etc.
4. I watched the Andrew Mindset video once, but I made sure to take thorough notes on everything and reviewed those notes whenever I needed a reset.
5. A few months ago, someone posted a framework for exam questions here that I turned into a mental prompt I call "MPPP": M → Methodology, P → Phase, P → Problem statement, P → PM is asked to… Whenever I was in a practice exam or the real exam, I'd mentally run through "MPPP" and identify all four elements before answering.
6. The week before the exam, I was exhausted. I wasn't scoring well on the mini-exams and was getting frustrated and stressed, so I decided to stop doing them entirely. Instead, I focused on listening to the podcast and watched the "How to Tell if You're Ready for the PMP Exam" video on youtube from David McLachlan, taking notes on everything I wasn't 100% confident about, then going to my chatbot for explanations, which I wrote by hand in a notebook. I even drew diagrams, matrices, etc. I used this as a way to help my brain retain and recall things. All my notes from that final week were handwritten rather than typed, which felt very different from how I'd been studying before.

I took my second exam last Saturday (proctored from home) and finally passed. One tip for anyone taking the exam from home: make sure your Bluetooth mouse has fresh batteries, and if you're using any adapters to connect your laptop to a monitor or camera, test them beforehand. My Bluetooth mouse stopped working suddenly when I only had 40 questions left. I was displaying the exam on a monitor — I had to open the laptop, the exam ended automatically, the camera stopped working, and I panicked. Fortunately, the proctor was kind and helped me troubleshoot, but I was absolutely panicked and thought I was going to have to sit for the exam a third time.

I'm going through AR's 35 hour Udemy course and just taking notes as I watch. However, I'm noticing that there isn't that many quizzes throughout the course. Thus, I'm just consuming the content and not engaging with it and then confused as to what I'm supposed to be paying close attention to. He keeps saying you don't need to memorize, but I don't find that to be true. I didn't do so well on the first quiz because I forgot which PMOs had full time vs part time project managers.

Now I know to make flashcards about the different PMO models. Is there anything else throughout the course I should be regularly reviewing/making flashcards of?

Also, how long are most people taking on the 35 hour course? I'm trying to finish it within a month but I've seen some people say they are finishing it in 1-2 weeks, which makes me think that its less important to focus on the course and more important to get into study materials like StudyHall. Is that right?

Hi there- I have 2 PMP textbooks below. I took and passed my exam so I don't need them any longer and seeing if anyone here would like to make use of them? Ideally if you are located in the USA!

-PMI's PMBOK 7th

-Andrew Ramdayal's PMP Exam Prep Simplified

Happy studying & passing :)!

Hi everyone,

I’m new here and want to share my experience. I took a 40-hour PMP course last April, funded by my employer, a general contractor offering it to APMs and PMs seeking PMP certification. With my qualification expiring soon, I scheduled my exam for today, despite leading a $60M school project. I studied intensively over the past month.

I chose to take the exam in a conference room at work to avoid external pressure. Two minutes in, the proctor asked me to remove my watch, which I did, showing my hands on video. After the first 60 questions, I asked to use the bathroom during the break, and the proctor agreed. At the second break, there was a chat delay, but I informed him I was using the bathroom and returned within 5 minutes. Upon returning, I found the chat, video feed, and laptop camera light gone. I resumed and finished the exam, submitting the survey afterward.

Later, I saw Pearson called me four times, leaving messages about revoking my access due to lack of contact. However, the PMI website shows I took the exam. Should I be concerned? I adhered to the rules, focusing only on the screen and my water. Why didn’t they revoke my access and let me finish? I can’t control software issues.

Please share your thoughts!

Hi, 29F, i have been working in project management and process management department for total of 5 years. Should i get PMP certification? if yes, where do i start? like what are steps to take to get the certification? is it worth it?

https://preview.redd.it/88ii1pd67nug1.png?width=1163&format=png&auto=webp&s=47af11cc724f310c8ba9b1e1fd0fef32c3c90708

Please help understand this question.

Hi lovely PMP community,

I have had my PMI application approved on January 6, took AR's 35-hour course and completed it in a month following approval, and been admittedly slow-rolling through Study Hall Essentials, Third3Rock's notes, the YouTube exam prep starter park (MR and AR Mindset Principles, AR 200 Ultra Hard, DM 150 Scenario-Based, etc.). I experienced study burnout (having a disability) and am now getting back into it with the aim of writing my exam before the July 9 exam update (with a buffer for additional time in the event that I, hopefully not, don't pass on my first attempt). I plan on writing my exam online and have accommodations approved for additional time and breaks.

Question - Would it be wild if I booked my exam now? What are your experiences? Did you book once you felt ready? I plan on booking for the first week of May to serve as my working target and structure my studying and Study Hall prep accordingly. I was also informed that exam booking for those with accommodations can only be done via the Pearson VUE Accommodation Specialist Department (+1 800 466 0450). Would anyone be able to share any guidance and/or their experiences (particularly those who have booked exams w/ approved accommodations - but also for general guidance and your experience for when you decided to 'take the leap' and book). Thank you in advance!

Hi all! I'm scheduled for the test this coming Thursday (04/16/26). I've been using AR for the practice test, took the 35 hrs course, and book. I've been averaging 70-75% on my tests and bombed the extra hard questions at 63%.

Im pretty confident on knowing the material except im an overthinker and second guess myself. Would you recommend doing study hall as well? Or keep going as I am now and watch mindset videos?

I am constantly faced with contradicting question in Study Hall practice questions.
I got so pissed off that I finally gave in and payed for PMI Infinity "AI Coach" to try to learn and understand why I always picked the wrong answer... turns out - Infinity agrees with me!
I picked option A here... Look at this:

https://preview.redd.it/4bzz7qzxdmug1.png?width=1117&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3ec68571c057ba4faa131141481be7521dde139

When consulting PMI Infinity:

https://preview.redd.it/ucm60ad0emug1.png?width=972&format=png&auto=webp&s=18a435e00efd0f891614efad76102261a4d2ff77

How am I supposed to learn????!