PMP Certification

I’ve been focusing on studying for my PMP these last two weeks.  After attending a week long “PMP Boot Camp” and then studying in pretty much all my free time I finally took the exam on Thursday and ….. I PASSED!  I can’t remember the last time I was that nervous.  We are talking the kind of nervous that includes your whole body shaking and heart beating in your stomach kind of nervous.

So what’s a PMP you ask?  Project Management Professional (PMP)^®.

In any event this certification was something I’ve been thinking about getting for years … literally.  After planning a wedding and buying a home in the past year I figured I should probably check this certification off the to-do list before any other life things get in the way.  I’ve had this book “How to Pass the PMP on Your first Try” for the past two years, but I just never seemed to have made it through the book.  Sometimes I would read it in my downtime, but studying on my own was well just not working.

Here are some resources and my study process:

Week 1:

• Attended a 5 day – 40 hr – boot camp class

The next week and 1/2:

• Reviewed the notes from class
• Took Online Free 200 Question Test  – Have to register
• Took Online Free 75 Question Test
• Took Online Free 175 Question Test
• Retook the practices questions from the Boot Camp class
• Made copious amounts of flashcards
• If I got a question wrong on a practice test I would write out the correct answer and details on paper. I ended up with a large pile of papers with tons of little notes.
• Memorized page 43 in the PMBOK 

Our kitchen table became my own personal study center.  Computer open, books, flashcards and notes everywhere.

The night before the exam I was literally dreaming about the 42 processes!  After I clicked submit on the computer it took at least a minute until the results came up.  It was the longest minute EVER!  When it said Congratulations I wanted to scream, but I was in a testing center so that wasn’t really appropriate.  Needless to say I am thrilled I passed the exam.  Not only because it’s great for my career, but I put in a lot of work and it would have sucked to have failed.

When I posted on Facebook that I passed a few friends said they thought I wrote pimp not pmp … so I’m pimping as a pmp!!! LOL

In any even … I am back!  I apologize for my absence.  I have quite a few posts to write including, but not limited to our DIY wedding invitations and my first rodeo!

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