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Originally posted by Mishtar India

Thanks SS and Thinkingone.

SS have you completed your PMP certification. If yes, cna you share some experiences on preparation. Is there any study group in Toronto area as well?

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MI,

I'll answer 2 of your posts in one shot - this one and the earlier about attending seminars in GTA.

I do attend some of the seminars from time to time. Besides I also volunteered to teach the PMP Prep course offered by the Soutern Ontario Chapter of PMI in GTA. So if there's someone out there who attends these seminars let me know and we can meet up.

As regards PMP certification - Yes I'm a PMP certified.

Exam prep experiences & tips - I'll describe the way I approached it

Join one of the many group on yahoo. There are some interesting discussions that take place and you get to learn a lot from there. I'd personally recommend PM_Hub - simply 'cause it's the largest group with over 20,000 members. Check with group members - there may be some in your city and you could form a study group.

Read the PMBOK atleast 3-4 times. Do a couple of forward passes and a couple of backward passes. What I found that reading the PMBOK, a few times you pretty much understand the first few chapters well. It's the ones at the back (of the book) that you need to concentrate on

When reading the PMBOK, read Rita's book hand-in-hand. The combination of these two go very well.

Solve some question banks as you study. After every pass of the PMBOK, take a mock exam. There are tons of Q banks available on the net. After each chapter too solve some Q's. This will help you to narrow down on the areas where you need to spend more time.

On the day prior to the exam - DO NOT STUDY. Although I must admit I did that for around a couple of hours that morning (the day prior to the exam) (my exam was at 10 am the following day).

Keep a cheat sheet when you study. Review that at the start/end of each chapter. My cheat sheet was around 15 pages. 1 page/chapter + a couple of pages summarising all the processes. From time to time when you really get sick of studying review the cheat sheet and/or take a break.

Study time: around 4 hours every weekday & around 6-8 hours each weekend day, starting about 2-3 months prior to the exam.

Once you get your approval from PMI, go ahead and book your exam. Firstly it doesn't cost to reschedule (that doesn't mean you keep rescheduling) and secondly now you work towards a set target date. Work backwards and plan your actions and importantly track it.

Try to avoid social activities as much as possible during the study period.

At the exam centre you are given the option to go thru a 15 minute tutorial on how to use the computer. Try and finish that in about 4-5 minutes. Use the balance time to do a brain dump. You are given only 4 sheets of rough paper (that's 8 sides). I used almost 2 sides doing a brain dump. If you need more paper, you'll have to return one sheet.

If you get a network or any other diagram in the exam, draw it on the paper and then do the calculations, 'cause the next 2-3 questions will be based on the same diagram and may even use some of the calculations from the previous problem.

Once you clear the exam - go treat yourself, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.