https://www.project-management-prepcast.com/

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https://www.project-management-prepcast.com/

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Hello and welcome back to the PM PrepCast. We take you step by step by step by

step closer to the PMP exam. I am your instructor Cornelius Fichtner.

In this lesson, we want to explore the Key Exam Activities together. In particular, we

want to review the following 4 areas:

<read bullets>

In fact… each of these 4 areas is going to be a section of this presentation

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I am Cornelius Fichtner and I am the lead instructor. Thanks for your interest in our PMP exam preparation course. This free webinar will allow you to experience what the lessons in the course are like and will also help you on your road to becoming PMP certified.

The complete PM PrepCast has over 140 lessons that you can simply watch, learn from and then succeed on your PMP exam.

You can find all the details about the course and how it will make studying for your exam easier at https://www.project-management-prepcast.com/

And now... on with the show.

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If you remember… at the end of the very first lesson (the Welcome lesson) we had two Take

Action slides. On these slides I gave you a high-level overview of how to get started with

The PM PrepCast and then to make your way through the various lessons that we have. So

those recommendations were mostly aimed at finding your way through The PM PrepCast.

In this lesson here, we want to go a bit broader and talk about how to study for the exam in

general. We’ll give you additional ideas, more tools, our recommendations and places you

can go to if you think you need to go beyond our lessons.

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So as you saw two slides back, we want to discuss 4 main areas in this presentation. Here

in the first area, we present to you…: our recommended steps to get you exam ready. And

for that you have to

• Read the handbook,

• Create a study plan

• Join PMI

• And fill in your exam application

Let’s look at these 4 steps in detail

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Step 1 in getting ready for the exam is to simply

• Read the PMP Credential Handbook - You can find this on the pmi.org website in the

Certification section, where PMI has a detailed page for each of their credentials and

certifications, and then on the Details page you will see a link to the handbook.

• In particular read:

• the first 20 or so pages as well as the

• Code of Ethics section in the handbook. The Code is part of the exam and you

must accept the code in your online application.

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In step 2 you want to Create a Study Plan for your exam preparation. As a PM you know the importance of having a plan in place. So you want to Create your exam study plan, follow it, keep track of your progress and of course adjust your plan whenever you see that it’s necessary. (And just in case you hadn’t noticed… we’ve just applied the standard plan-do-check-act cycle to your study plan here…)

How do we create it? Well… a simple way is by using yet another PMI provided document called The Examination Content Outline.

You will find a link to this document on the same pmi.org website page where you found the credential handbook we talked about on the previous slide. This content outline contains all the knowledge that will be tested on the exam.

So what you can do is to simply read this document and

Based on what you learn from it identify your personal training needs and create your own personal study plan. As an added bonus, by reading this document you will also start to get familiar with all the concepts that will be on the exam. So it’s a good exercise in itself.

Every study plan is of course different. But one best practice that you must implement in your plan is to set aside a daily time for studies. Don’t think that you can simply study for 10 hours on Sunday. Plan on studying 1-2 hours every day. This way you will progress much faster in your studies.

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Become a PMI member ( www.pmprepcast.com/pmimember). You will receive a

discount on the exam fee that is greater than the cost of your membership

Join your local PMI Chapter ( www.pmprepcast.com/chapters). You may receive

discounts on exam preparation workshops that the chapter offers locally. So Check

out, what (KR ???)

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Prepare your online application:

o Read the paper-based Application Forms (Found at the back of the

PMP credential handbook) and organize all the required information.

o Gather documents to show that you have the required Contact Hours.

A bit of a problem is the fact that PMI keeps changing the location where this PDF

document of the paper-based form can be found. It used to be part of the handbook,

then it was available via secret link on their website and lately there was a public

link on the same page where you downloaded the 2 documents on the previous

slide. But who knows where it is today… so I’m afraid you’re just going to have to

search for a bit to find and print it.

In any case… the printed document is really just for you to prepare your application

and once you are ready, then you will go online

Apply online for your PMI Certification

Once approved, you will receive an exam eligibility letter / email.

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We are moving on to the 2nd main area of this presentation, because now that you have taken several large steps toward understanding the exam and application process, it’s time to start studying by

• First reading the PMP examination content outline

• Then studying the code of ethics

• Watching all lessons of The PM PrepCast

• And possibly even use a workbook or a in-classroom workshop in addition to The PM PrepCast

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Our recommended step 1 in your studies is basically a repetition of what I said a few slides back:

• Read the Examination Content Outline. By reading this outline…

• You’ll be introduced to the Domains & Tasks outlined for the exam.

• You will become familiar with the Knowledge & Skills that you need to know for the exam

• You will obtain an initial understanding of the Tools & Techniques that are going to be part of this exam

• Reading this document will also introduce you to all of the vocabulary that you need to be aware of for the exam

• And of course… we’ve looked at this a few slides back… by identifying and learning about what you need to know you can create a study plan for yourself.

• By the way… we have a complete module for you in which we look at this examination content outline. So please go ahead, print the Examination Content Outline, and then

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review all the presentations from Module 70 of The PM PrepCast. We will take you item

by item through the complete content outline.

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• Read the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional conduct that you can find in the PMP

Credential Handbook.

• The ethics part of the exam is not something that is tested separately. Instead,

ethics permeate every aspect of project management, whether you use agile or

traditional methods.

• So don’t expect to see any questions that directly reference the code of ethics.

Instead, questions that test your understanding of ethics will be scenario-based.

These might be situations where you have to make a decision and the correct

answer is the one that is ethically sound, according to the PMI Code of Ethics

and Professional Conduct.

• So for the exam you therefore still have a pretty good understanding in regards to

which standards in the code of ethics are mandatory and which ones are

aspirational. The PM PrepCast also contains and our separate lesson on the

code of ethics, which will describe these mandatory and aspirational standards in

detail.

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• Watch and Listen to The Project Management PrepCast™ during any and all of your

“down times” (e.g., as a passenger in a car pool going to or returning home from work,

when working out on a stationary bike, waiting in line at the post office, riding the bus

etc.)

The course was designed so that it will enable you to maximize your study time by turning

unproductive moments into productive exam preparation opportunities.

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• Systematically work your way through one of the recommended PMP Prep Workbooks

• Note… the Student workbook that you receive with The PM PrepCast is NOT

what we are talking about here.

• Know all the formulas and be able to apply them to mathematical problems.

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So area 1 of this presentation was all about getting you to a basic exam readiness. Just

now in area 2 we looked at how to study. And now that you have started your studies, it’s

time to look at the 3rd of our 4 areas and that is how to boost your exam studies.

• You can boost them in person

• Or you can boost them virtually

• But there is one very important boosting activity that you just cannot ignore

More about this last one in just a couple of slides after we’ve looked at the in-person and

virtual boost in detail

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Boosting your studies in person is rather simple. You just have to go meet and find others

who are like you preparing for the exam. That’s why a few slides back we recommended

that you join PMI and your local chapter.

• So I want you to Attend the dinner meeting of your local PMI chapter and ask around to

find others who are studying for the exam.

• With those new “friends” you can now Form a study group if there are multiple students.

• Or if you can just find one person you can simply become study partners. In both cases

you would meet the others regularly to share study experiences and keep each others

morale up.

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If you are unable to meet people in person where you are locally… then do it virtually

instead

• You can become a member in online PMP forums on Google groups and Yahoo groups

and also linkedin groups, where you will find hundreds just like you who are preparing for

their exam as well. Just do a search for PMP / PMP and you will find many active

groups. We even found a few on Facebook.

• But a much better idea is this… As a customer of The PM PrepCast you have access to

our Student Area where we also offer a number of discussion forums. Here you will be

able to find students like yourself. You can reach out through these forums to other

students who are using the same study materials as you are. Connect with them via our

forums to form an online study group and make the most of your PM PrepCast.

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And here is the one activity that will boost your exam preparation exponentially:

• You have to answer as many sample exam questions as you can and also take

complete sample exams. Let me explain why:

If you are a 110-meter hurdle athlete, you will practice this distance again and again

before going to the Olympics.

Your “PMP Olympic Sport” will be to take a 120-question, multiple-choice exam that lasts

for 3 hours. So you must practice this activity again and again.

• And… you have heard me say this before… as you take these exams, keep score of the

percent of questions that you answer correctly. As a general rule, if you consistently

answer 80% of questions you have never seen before correctly (for 2-3 exams in a row),

then you are ready to take and pass your exam.

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Let us now move on to the 4th and final area of this presentation. We want to take a look at

a few recommended study materials, in particular

• Recommended books

• Our recommended exam study guide

• The recommended simulator

• And other material that you may want to read

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1) The knowledge in the PMBOK Guide is the absolute “minimum” that a student needs to know to pass the PMP Exam. (Theoretically if they only used this they “could” pass but of course extra tools are highly recommended.

2) The Glossary represents the “”Official” definition of the terms that will be on the PMP Exam, which may be different than what they encounter in other study materials.

The “vocabulary” in the PMBOK is crucial to use when filling out the PMP Application, since each PMP Aspirant should be using “PMI Speak” (as in PMBOK Guide Terms) to intelligibly describe their Project Management Experience in those specific terms. This makes the application process much easier.

3.) Though there is no officially confirmed number, training companies estimate that about 60-75% of all PMP exam questions are strongly based on PMBOK Guide concepts. And frankly the number itself doesn’t matter all that much. It could even be as high as 80%. The fact is that it is a LARGE number coming from this one single source, so you definitely want to know it.

4) The PMBOK Guide represents the “Green Sky” (or “PMI” version of how a project should be conducted), as opposed to the “Blue Sky” (or “Real-Life version of how people currently run their projects). This is extremely important for those PMP Aspirants who have been practicing “Blue Sky” Project Management. They are actually at a disadvantage compared those individuals who are new to Project Management. It is imperative to get into the “PMI Mindset” in order to successfully pass the exam and know the “PMI Way”.

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Even though The PM PrepCast is a complete study approach for your PMP exam, many of

our students ask: Do you recommend any exam preparation study guide that I can read in

addition to watching the lessons? The answer is… yes we do.

• The team that developed The PM PrepCast recommends the ACP Exam Prep Plus

Desk Reference book written by John Stenbeck and two co-authors

• But don’t take our word for it…. Here is a short passage of what another PMP exam

instructor wrote about this book on amazon: Core Performance Concepts has done it again! Achieve PMP Exam Success is an indispensable tool for all PMP aspirants. It is easy to follow, written in plain English and covers everything you need to know to pass the PMP Exam. Not only is it a mandatory tool for students studying for the PMP Exam, but is also the most popular curriculum used by PMP Exam Prep instructors, such as myself. I wouldn't use anything less for my students. Keep up the stellar work! .

So if you are looking for a paper-based guide… this is the one and you can easily find it by

going to www.pm-prepcast.com/success

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When it comes to our recommendation for a good exam simulator, then we don’t have to

stray too far. Of course, we recommend our very own PM Exam Simuator.

• This is an online simulator, so there is nothing to download

• It has 1,800 questions, so you have 9 full exams you can take

• The questions were written by 8 authors (which is always important because you want to

see a variety of styles and questions, just like on the real exam)

• And most importantly, this is a full-featured simulator that gets you ready for your real

exam day

To learn more about this please go to pm-exam-simulator.com

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And finally, don’t forget that the internet provides a virtual never-ending source of material

that you can use to study for the PMP exam. The problem is being able to separate the

good, the bad and the really really ugly. That is why we are giving you only 2

recommendations

• First of all, we really recommend wikipedia and it’s associated wikibooks and wikiversity.

For some reason, wikipedia has a bad reputation, because theoretically everyone can

change its pages. However… we find that wiki pages on project management are well

written and useful for exam preparation.

• Secondly… and this is yet another reason why we say that you MUST become a PMI

member… is the PMI eReads section. In this section of the PMI.org website you have

access to hundreds of online reference books on project management. If you are unsure

about any topic, simply log in to PMI eReads and search for the term of interest. I’m sure

that you will find several books that discuss the topic you need in detail

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As you have probably already noticed… at the end of our presentations we like to either

summarize what you have learned or we give you a list of actions that you should follow.

Well… this presentation as a whole is really nothing but a long list of things you should do

as you prepare for your exam and you should really do everything that we talked about.

However, if I had to choose 3 things from this presentation that you really, really, REALLY

have to do… here they are:

• First of all.. You have to read the PMP Credential Handbook, the PMP Examination

Content Outline and the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

• Secondly… please sign up as a member of PMI. The benefits of your membership

outweigh the cost for your exam. And you can always choose not to renew next year. I

have been a member since 2004 and have never regretted a single penny of my

membership fee.

• And finally… spend the money for a good, reputable PMP exam simulator. It’s cheaper

than having to take the exam a second time.

And with that we have come to the end of this lesson. So it's time for Elizabeth to say "X"

and of course I say Until Next Time.

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https://www.project-management-prepcast.com/

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