My 100-day journey to PMP certification !

Forming
My 100-day journey began in March when I enrolled in weekend classes with Vidyesh alve. This was also the time COVID 19 began its journey in Melbourne. We continued face-to-face learning through March. Vidyesh’s class was interactive and had ‘user stories’.
I didn’t know how I would write the exams. But, things changed slowly. I started with Rita Mulcahy because PMBOK was Greek to my time. However, PMBOK was my main reference book at the end.
Vidyesh Alve added my name to the global Whatsapp group, which is managed by Vidhi Raj. Being part of this global group with like-minded PMP aspirants helped keep my study momentum alive.
Storming
One month passed. Vidyesh Alve encouraged me to create a study plan from the beginning. It did not work out well at times. I finished Rita Mulcahy’s book around the second week in April. I also took the time to take the tests at the end of each chapter. PMBOK was my first attempt at learning it.
Norming
This is where a friend of mine shared the details of his study plan. For the sake of understanding the concept, he used to practice questions on a platform similar Prep cast. He didn’t care about the timing or the percentage of correct answers. His sole goal was to learn and understand the explanations.
Performing
I started with a question bank that had a good selection of questions but no explanation. I found this illogical. I loved PMP and decided to give Prep cast a try. Prep cast is my favorite of the four question banks I tried, Rita’s included.
Lessons learned and followed:
A regular study schedule is important. Begin with 1-2 hours, but increase to 3-4 hours during the last three weeks.
Once the 35PDU requirement session is completed, fix an exam date. This will help you to set a goal and plan better for your strategies.
Read Rita and PMPBOK at minimum twice. Notes
Do Prep cast/ love the PMP questions 20-30 numbers at once and then review all answers, regardless of whether or not your answer was correct. Take the time to fully understand the explanations and logic provided, and even go back to relevant PMBOK pages.
Multiple question banks are a good idea. – The actual PMP question is different to the questions in all of the question banks I tried. It took me some time to get used to the first session of 90 questions.
I don’t think Rita should be masked about her planning sequence. This was discussed in the Whatsapp Group. Rita’s planning sequence is only her thought process, and not PMBOK.

Exam Day
To ensure I had enough energy to last at least 2 hours, I had 2 eggs and 2 slices of bread. (Check-in took 30 minutes and 90 minutes for me to complete the first 90 questions.
For a pick me up, I had strong black coffee!
I found the first 90 questions difficult for me probably because of three reasons:

a) Took longer to understand how questions were phrased and to get used to the format
b)Personally, it was quite difficult to convert the countdown clock (which ticks down from 244 min) to the time required to answer.
c) At least two options look very similar.
I did some stretching during the 10 minute break to ensure my muscles were ready for the second phase. It was very helpful.

Voila! It was worth all the hard work! I realized that it was my determination to get this prestigious certification that kept the wheels turning. My association with Vidyesh Alve, the global Whatsapp group managed ably Vidhi Raj, and daily discussions on PMP questions kept the journey a lot easier.
#winningplanforpmp
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