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PMP® and CAPM®

EXAM

PREP COURSE

STUDENT GUIDE

PMP and CAPM are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

The Course

The course will run over 5 days.

The course will be based on two books:

– Pass the PMP® Exam by Sean Whitaker

– The PMBOK® Guide, 5th Edition, Project Management

Institute

Tutors

You will be taught by PMP® certified tutors during this course

The tutor will bring a particular style of teaching and

particular experiences to share.

You will be expected to do approx. 1–4hours work between

sessions and come prepared to each session.

There will be plenty of practice exam situations during the

course.

Please come prepared to ask questions!

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

2

Process Groups and Knowledge Areas

3

Process

Groups

Knowledge

Areas

Process

Groups

Knowledge Areas

Initiating Planning ExecutingMonitoring and

ControllingClosing

Integration

• Develop

Project

Charter

• Develop Project

Management Plan

• Direct and

Manage Project

Execution

• Monitor and Control

Project Work

• Perform Integrated

Change Control

• Close Project

or Phase

Scope

• Plan Scope

management

• Collect

Requirements

• Define Scope

• Create WBS

• Validate Scope

• Control Scope

Time

• Plan Schedule

Management

• Define Activities

• Sequence Activities

• Estimate Activity

Resources

• Estimate Activity

Durations

• Develop Schedule

• Control Schedule

Cost

• Plan Cost

management

• Estimate Costs

• Determine Budget

• Control Costs

Quality• Plan Quality

management

• Perform Quality

Assurance

• Control Quality

Human Resource

• Plan Human

Resource

Management

• Acquire Project

Team

• Develop Project

Team

• Manage Project

Team

Communications

• Plan

Communications

Management

• Manage

Communications

• Control

Communications

Risk

• Plan Risk

Management

• Identify Risks

• Perform Qualitative

Analysis

• Perform

Quantitative

Analysis

• Plan Risk

Responses

• Control Risks

Procurement

• Plan Procurement

Management

• Conduct

Procurements

• Control

Procurements

• Close

Procurements

Stakeholder• Identify

Stakeholders

• Plan Stakeholder

Management

• Manage

Stakeholder

Engagement

• Control Stakeholder

Engagement

Process Groups and Knowledge Areas

1. Initiating

2. Planning

3. Executing

4. Monitoring

and Controlling

5. Closing

4

6. Human Resource management

7. Communications management

8. Risk management

9. Procurement management

10. Stakeholder management

1. Integration management

2. Scope management

3. Time management

4. Cost management

5. Quality management

Note: You will be also be tested on professional ethics and responsibility which is

not in PMBOK ® but is in the Pass the PMP® Exam book.

10 Knowledge Areas

5 Process Groups

Scope Management

Plan

Schedule Management

Plan

Cost Management

Plan

Quality Management

Plan

Process Improvement

Plan

Human Resource Plan

Staffing Management

Plan

Communications

Management Plan

Risk Management Plan

Requirements

Management Plan

Procurement

Management Plan

Change management

Plan

Configuration

management plan

Scope baseline

Project Scope

Statement

WBS

WBS Dictionary

Schedule baseline

Cost baseline

Stakeholder

Management Plan

5

What’s in the Project Management Plan?

Net Present Value (NPV)

NPV allows calculating the accurate value of the project.

If NPV calculation> 0, then accept the project.

If NPV calculation <0, then reject the project.

NPV equals the sum of the initial cash outlay (expressed

as a negative number) plus all calculated Present Values

NPV = -C0 + PV1 + PV2 + PV3 … etc

C0 = Initial Cash Outlay

PV = 𝐹𝑉

1 + r𝑛

FV = Future value,

R = Discount rate,

n = Time period

Example: If your project will cost $100 000, and generate

$50 000 in income in the first year, $37 000 income in

the 2nd year, and $43 000 income in the 3rd year, and the

discount rate is 10% then the formula for NPV would look

like this:

NPV = -$100 000 + $50 000

1 + 0.11 +

$37 000

1 + 0.12 +

$43 000

1 + 0.13

NPV = $8 339.59

6

Organizational Structure Influences on Projects

7

Weak

Matrix

Balanced

Matrix

Strong

Matrix

Matrix

Functional Projectized

Project Manager’s

Authority

Little or

NoneLimited

Low to

Moderate

Moderate

to High

High to

Almost Total

Organisation

Structure

Project

Characteristics

Resource

Availability

Little or

NoneLimited

Low to

Moderate

Moderate

to High

High to

Almost Total

Who controls the

project budget

Functional

Manager

Functional

ManagerMixed

Project

Manager

Project

Manager

Project Manager’s

RolePart-time Part-time Full-time Full-time Full-time

Project

Management

Administrative Staff

Part-time Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time

Sample WBS

8

Formulas You Must Know

9

PERT/Beta P= Pessimistic

R= Realistic

O = Optimistic

A weighted

average

calculation

Standard

deviation

(s)

P-O

6

Variance P-O

6

2

One sixth of the

total range of

values

The standard

deviation squared

O + (R x 4) + P

6

Triangular P= Pessimistic

R= Realistic

O = Optimistic

A basic

calculationO + R + P

3

Three-Point Estimating

How to Remember

Formulas

10

Communications How many people in a communications

network; n=number of people = 𝑛(𝑛−1)

2

PERT Weighted average of three estimates

(Optimistic, Realistic & Pessimistic) = (𝑂+ 4𝑅 +𝑃)

6

Standard Deviation

(SD)

A PMBOK® approach to calculating

standard deviation from the mean

1SD either side of the mean 68%

2SD either side of the mean 95%

3SD either side of the mean 99.7%

= (𝑃−𝑂)

6

Variance The standard deviation squared

= (𝑃−𝑂)

6

2

Planned Value (PV) How much you planned to spend on what

you planned to have achieved. The total

PV for the project is the Budget at

Completion (BAC)

= Planned % Complete

* BAC

Earned Value (EV) The value of the work performed expressed

in dollars

= Actual % complete

* BAC.

Actual Cost (AC) How much you actually spent on what you

actually achieved

Budget at

Completion (BAC)

How much you originally planned for the

project to cost and the total Planned Value

(PV) for the project

How to Remember Formulas Continued

11

Cost Variance

(CV)

The difference between what you have

earned and what it cost at a certain point in

time. Positive is good; negative is bad

= EV – AC

Cost Performance

Index

(CPI)

Cost Variance expressed as an index;

above 1 is good, below 1 is bad

= EV / AC

Schedule Variance

(SV)

The difference between what you have

earned and what you planned to have

achieved at a certain point in time. Positive

is good; negative is bad

= EV – PV

Schedule

Performance Index

(SPI)

Schedule Variance expressed as an index;

above 1 is good, below 1 is bad

= EV / PV

Estimate at

Completion

(EAC)

How much the project is forecast to cost at

completion.

= AC + ETC

= AC + (BAC – EV)

= BAC / CPI

= AC + [(BAC-EV) / (CPIxSPI)]

Estimate To Complete

(ETC)

How much more money will it cost to finish

the project

= EAC – AC

Variance at

Completion

(VAC)

Difference between what you thought the

project would cost and what you now

estimate it to cost.

Positive is good; negative is bad

= BAC – EAC

To Complete

Performance Index

(TCPI)

The rate at which you have to go to

achieve the desired outcome of either BAC

or EAC ; above 1 is bad, below 1 is good

=(BAC – EV / (BAC - AC)

=(BAC – EV / (EAC - AC)

Point of Total

Assumption

(PTA)

The point in a form of a fixed price contract

that the seller assumes total responsibility

for all cost increases

= 𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 +

(𝐶𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒 − 𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒)

buyers % share of cost overrun

Quality Management Charts and Diagrams

12

Time Machine Method Material

Major

Defect

Energy Measurement Personnel Environment

Potential Causes Effect

Cause & Effect / Ishikawa / Fishbone

The ‘Rule of Seven’

7 consecutive points on one

side of the mean must be

investigated to determine the

cause, as it threatens the

mean amount

Upper

Control

Limit

Lower

Control

Limit

X

Control Chart

Charts and Diagrams

13

No

YesNo

Yes Yes

No

12. Order

Materials

11. Specs Signed

(Package and QA)

10. Approved Proof

back to Vendor

9. QA

Review/

Approval

4. Artwork

Approved

2. Compliance

Copy

3. Develop

Artwork

1. Project

Request

6. Artwork

out for Proofs

5. Change

control for specs

7. Vendor

Makes Proofs

8.

Package

Dev’t Review/

Approval

Sample Process Flowchart

Frequency by Cause

Cumulative

Percentage

Pareto Diagram

# of

Defective

Cases

Car Problems

% of

Defective

Cases

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

14

PersonRACI Chart

Ann Ben Carlos Betty TedActivity

A R I I IDefine

I A R C CDesign

I A R C CDevelop

A I I R ITest

R = Responsible A = Accountable C = Consult I = Inform

A Model for Communication

15

Encode

Decode

Sender

Message

Medium

Feedback - Message

Noise

Noise

Decode

Encode

Receiver

Risk Breakdown Structure

16

Project

Requirements

Technology

Complexity

and interfaces

Performances

and reliability

Quality

Subcontractors

and suppliers

Regulatory

Market

Customer

Weather

Project

dependencies

Resources

Funding

Prioritisation

Estimating

Planning

Controlling

Communication

Technical External OrganisationalProject

management

Probability and Impact Matrix

17

0.90

0.70

0.50

0.30

0.10

0.045

0.035

0.025

0.015

0.005

0.05

0.09

0.07

0.05

0.03

0.01

0.10

0.18

.014

0.10

0.06

0.02

0.20

0.36

0.28

0.20

0.12

0.04

0.40

0.72

0.56

0.40

0.24

0.08

0.80

0.72

0.56

0.40

0.24

0.08

0.80

0.36

0.28

0.20

0.12

0.04

0.40

0.18

0.14

0.10

0.06

0.02

0.20

0.09

0.07

0.05

0.03

0.01

0.10

0.045

0.035

0.025

0.015

0.005

0.05Impact

Probability

Threats Opportunities

Example Decision Tree

18

Decision

Definition

Decision to be

made

Net Path Value

Computed:

(Payoffs minus

Costs)

along Path

Decision Node

Input: Cost of each option

Output: Decision made

(True, False)

Chance Node

Input: Scenario probability,

reward if it occurs

Output: Expected

monetary value (EMV)

Build or

upgrade?

Build new

plant

Upgrade

existing

plant

EMV of the Decision

Node

$49M

Strong

demand

Weak

demand

EMV of the Chance

Node $41.5M

Strong

demand

Weak

demand

EMV of the Chance

Node $49.0M

False

-$120

True

-$50

$10M

$70M

-$30M

$80M65%

$200

35%

$90

65%

$120

35%

$60

The organisation chooses to upgrade the existing plant because that

alternative has an Expected Monetary Value (EMV) of $49M vs. the

EMV of the build new plant option of $41.5M

Mind Maps

19

20

21

24

25

PMP® Domain Tasks

from the

PMP Examination Content Outline 2015

26

Instructions:

1. Photocopy the following 5 pages

2. Cut out all the individual domain tasks & headings

3. Throw them on the floor or desktop

4. Reassemble in the correct Domain group

5. Then reassemble exactly as shown

DOMAIN I - INITIATING THE PROJECT 13%

Perform project assessment based upon available information, lessons learned

from previous projects, and meetings with relevant stakeholders, in order to

support the evaluation of the feasibility of new products or services within the

given assumptions and/or constraints.

Identify key deliverables based on the business requirements, in order to manage

customer expectations and direct the achievement of project goals.

Perform stakeholder analysis using appropriate tools and techniques, in order to

align expectations and gain support for the project.

Identify high level risks, assumptions, and constraints based on the current

environment, organizational factors, historical data and expert judgment, in order

to propose an implementation strategy.

Participate in the development of the project charter by compiling and analyzing

gathered information, in order to ensure project stakeholders are in agreement on

its elements.

Obtain project charter approval from the sponsor, in order to formalize the

authority assigned to the project manager and gain commitment and acceptance

for the project.

Conduct benefit analysis with stakeholders (including sponsor, customer, subject

matter experts), in order to validate project alignment with organizational strategy

and expected business value.

Inform stakeholders of the approved project charter, in order to ensure common

understanding of the key deliverables, milestones, and their roles and

responsibilities.

27

DOMAIN II - PLANNING THE PROJECT 24%

Review and assess detailed project requirements, constraints, and assumptions

with stakeholders based on the project charter, lessons learned, and by using

requirement gathering techniques, in order to establish detailed project

deliverables.

Develop a scope management plan, based on the approved project scope and

using scope management techniques, in order to define, maintain, and manage

the scope of the project.

Develop the cost management plan based on the project scope, schedule,

resources, approved project charter and other information, using estimating

techniques, in order to manage project costs.

Develop the project schedule based on the approved project deliverables and

milestones, scope, and resource management plans, in order to manage timely

completion of the project.

Develop the human resource management plan by defining the roles and

responsibilities of the project team members, in order to create a project

organizational structure and provide guidance regarding how resources will be

assigned and managed.

Develop the communications management plan based on the project organization

structure and stakeholder requirements, in order to define and manage the flow of

project information.

Develop the procurement management plan based on the project scope, budget,

and schedule, in order to ensure that the required project resources will be

available.

Develop the quality management plan and define the quality standards for the

project and its products, based on the project scope, risks, and requirements, in

order to prevent the occurrence of defects and control the cost of quality.

Develop the change management plan by defining how changes will be

addressed and controlled, in order to track and manage change.

Develop the risk management plan by identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing

project risks, and defining risk response strategies, in order to manage

uncertainty and opportunity throughout the project life cycle.

Present the project management plan to the relevant stakeholders according to

applicable policies and procedures, in order to obtain approval to proceed with

project execution.

Conduct kick-off meeting, communicating the start of the project, key milestones,

and other relevant information, in order to inform and engage stakeholders and

gain commitment.

Develop the stakeholder management plan by analyzing needs, interests, and

potential impact, in order to effectively manage stakeholders' expectations and

engage them in project decisions.

28

DOMAIN III - EXECUTING THE PROJECT 30%

Acquire and manage project resources by following the human resource and

procurement management plans, in order to meet project requirements.

Manage task execution based on the project management plan by leading and

developing the project team, in order to achieve project deliverables.

Implement the quality management plan using the appropriate tools and

techniques, in order to ensure that work is performed in accordance with required

quality standards.

Implement approved changes and corrective actions by following the change

management plan, in order to meet project requirements.

Implement approved actions by following the risk management plan, in order to

minimize the impact of the risks and take advantage of opportunities on the

project.

Manage the flow of information by following the communications plan, in order to

keep stakeholders engaged and informed.

Maintain stakeholder relationships by following the stakeholder management

plan, in order to receive continued support and manage expectations.

29

DOMAIN IV - MONITORING AND

CONTROLLING THE PROJECT 25%

Measure project performance using appropriate tools and techniques, in order to

identify and quantify any variances and corrective actions.

Manage changes to the project by following the change management plan, in

order to ensure that project goals remain aligned with business needs.

Verify that project deliverables conform to the quality standards established in the

quality management plan by using appropriate tools and techniques, in order to

meet project requirements and business needs.

Monitor and assess risk by determining whether exposure has changed and

evaluating the effectiveness of response strategies, in order to manage the

impact of risks and opportunities on the project.

Review the issue log, and update if necessary, and determine corrective actions

by using appropriate tools and techniques, in order to minimize the impact on the

project.

Capture, analyze, and manage lessons learned using lessons learned

management techniques, in order to enable continuous improvement.

Monitor procurement activities according to the procurement plan, in order to

verify compliance with project objectives.

30

DOMAIN V - CLOSING THE PROJECT 8%

Obtain final acceptance of the project deliverables from relevant stakeholders, in

order to confirm that project scope and deliverables were achieved.

Transfer the ownership of deliverables to the assigned stakeholders in

accordance with the project plan, in order to facilitate project closure.

Obtain financial, legal, and administrative closure using generally accepted

practices and policies, in order to communicate formal project closure and ensure

transfer of liability.

Prepare and share the final project report according to the communications

management plan, in order to document and convey project performance and

assist in project evaluation.

Collate lessons learned that were documented throughout the project and

conduct a comprehensive project review, in order to update the organization’s

knowledge base.

Archive project documents and materials using generally accepted practices, in

order to comply with statutory requirements and for potential use in future

projects and audits.

Obtain feedback from relevant stakeholders, using appropriate tools and

techniques and based on the stakeholder management plan, in order to evaluate

their satisfaction.

31

Real PMP® Exam Candidate Feedback

32

1. Where there any short questions or were

they all long form?

The questions were good enough to pick an answer, it's the choosing of an answer that took my

time running.

More Long form questions

I felt there was a good mix on the length of questions. But I found some were lengthy and required

revisiting.

Yes, there were some short ones.

Mix of questions.

Some short ones and many medium to long ones

All long form questions

Mostly long form questions but there were some short form ones too.

About 90% of the questions were long form, there was a lot of unnecessary information in the long

form and this wasted precious time. You need to focus on the facts of the question and avoid the

noise.

Both short and long. Some long questions were just to confuse you as question was not related to

the whole story told in the question.

Very long form, I was nailed for time to the extent I had to randomly select approx. 5 answers at

the end that I didn’t get on my first pass through, even colouring in the bloody circle took time,

what is with that?

From what I can remember there are all long questions.

Most of them were long form.

Mostly long-form questions that took quite a bit of reading to decipher what the actual question

was. Some of the answers gave two strong potential answers depending on how you read the

question...tricky.

There were some short questions.

Mainly long form - none I would describe as short, but several medium.

Majority where in long form

Mainly long wordy questions with a small number of short questions

I would say that my exam had predominantly long form questions, there were a few easy short

ones but not many.

Pretty much all long form. A couple of EV graphs and one control chart.

All long - on the long side of long

There were several one line questions, on process groups and knowledge areas, with the correct

order needing to be chosen, and those were quick to answer, with the 42 processes written out

from my brain dump. Most questions were about three to five lines long, to a paragraph. Got a

couple of lengthy questions too (half page). Some questions had additional info not relevant to

the answer, ie real question was the last sentence.

Predominately long questions, averaging 3 to 4 lines of text. Two or three were in excess of 10,

but contained red herrings and waffle..…you just had to pick your way through it.

All longish, some had quick and easy answers but most needed more thought.

Little bit of both but all needed to be carefully considered

Mix of both mainly long form and situational.

A combination, although generally on the lengthy side.

Both

All long. A Scenario, then a separate sentence with the actual question. At times the waffle at the

start had little to do with the question.

Mostly long form.

Both, but mostly long and some with unnecessary detail to mess with your head. Nasty nasty

PMI people…

33

2. Was it easy to tell what the question was

about?Some are, but not too many, for me, the selection of answers dictates what is being asked.

It was not obvious, you had to read it very carefully

As expected, we had to filter out the useful information to make out what is being asked.

Some were quite straight forward while others you need to dig deep to understand what really was being

asked

Not all the questions. You may need to read more than once.

For some, yes. but for most, there has to be some reasonable to maximum use of your thinking caps to

visualize and determine the situations and relate it to the PMBOK processes and Knowledge areas

Not really, you have to read the question a few times to understand where you are in between the 47

process

Most of the time it was easy to tell what the question was about but there were a few where they gave you a

whole bunch of information and then asked you a completely unrelated question.

In most cases yes, there were a handful that I have to re-read more than once to get a good handle about

what they were asking.

As noted with the red herrings, all questions needed careful reading.

Some were there, there were some classic questions that I’d come across through reviewing previous

exams, so this justified doing practise exams for me. The questions types were all along the lines of if you

were a project manager and this happened, i.e. mystery stakeholder comes in the ruin your life, or the

product doesn’t meet the agreed requirements, what documents do you refer too, or you came in midway in

the project and you find that everyone hates themselves (this wasn’t a question). In future I think, it would

be of value to run through these scenarios, just simply what if this happens who should you talk too, what

should you reference, how do you act, what would be you best course of action type stuff.

I found about half were fairly straightforward. Others had a lot of non-critical information to plough through

Yes, although I read and re-read a lot of the questions.

Yes, mostly

No, bloody difficult, I skipped the first 10 and came back to them, they didn’t seem so bad the second time I

looked at them, though for some of them a translator would have been beneficial.

Most of them not easy

Not at all!! That was the hardest thing. I read the first 5 questions and thought they may as well be in

Chinese. By the 10th question I wanted to leave. By the 18th felt a bit better. Put into practise what Kaila had

said and just skipped questions and came back, as I found I was panicking myself by not understanding

them. Once I came across some questions I found I understood better I relaxed. I had about 40 questions I

needed to re look at. If I had to guess how I did… I would say there were on 30% of the questions I felt

confident with…. 50% 50/50 and 20% fingers crossed!! Had spent several hours on the Falcon questions

and was getting 88-89% but when it came to Saturdays exam it was so much worse than I anticipated, not

that I was expecting it to be easy or anything.

Yes, I found it relatively easy to understand what most questions were about.

Generally yes.

No

From a topic perspective yes. From an answer perspective no as I had a large number of questions that I

had to guess from 2 options. Getting to the 2 options from 4 was OK, but I had to re-read almost every

question, which was not the case with the multitude of practice exams. The cost questions were also a bit

indirect i.e. not a straight forward calculate X from the values provided.

I found it straight forward to understand what the questions were about, but I thought there seemed to be a

lot of questions relating to inputs and outputs that I don’t recall to much of in the practice work we did. What

I did find was that after doing the questions in Crowe and your exams in class, when I went back and did the

online exams I was breezing through them because I was very familiar with the questions as I had seen

them before. So whilst I could understand the questions in the exam they appeared harder, and also they

were different but it is hard to explain how.

Generally. I did not think there were any tricky questions. That is not to say I got them all right of course.

Relatively - a lot of tech stuff in some questions that wasn't required. i.e. the last sentence of the paragraph

asked the question the preceding stuff meant nothing.

Mostly the questions were clear, the exception I found was deriving cost data from the info given, I'm

ashamed to say some of these I guessed, as it was taking too long. I needed more practice on those. I had

brain dumped ALL the formula, that wasn't the issue.

In the majority, yes. But there were times I did question whether there was supposed to be a comma (or

other grammar requirements) inserted here or there, because the question required re-reading; not to get a

handle on the intent, but to understand how to read it.

34

3. What formula did you need to know?

I noticed that three-point estimating was the formula of the day.

CPI, SPI, 3-point estimating were prevalent.

CPI, SPI

CPI, SPI and basic 3-point estimating.

SV, CV (Knowing about progress of project – budget and schedule) and for risk P x I, Pert estimate,

CPI, SPI, others? not sure

PERT, SV, SPI, CV, CPI

There were only a few questions that required the use of formulas and they were fairly basic (I say that

now!). Communications formula and EV, no SP1 or CP1.

I recall using 3 point and the EV-related formulae

So very little formula required or referred to – I think I picked up my calculator twice, once just to be cool.

Just the standard SPI and CPI with a lot of questions asking about how a project is performing.

It pays to know all the formula and more importantly what they all mean, although there wasn’t a lot of need

hit the calculator.

CPI and SPI. outcome x probability of risks

PERT/Beta, CV, CPI, SV and SPI

Didn’t need much formula at all. CPI and SPI mainly and 3pE. Was a question that required 3pE but not

PERT based on not knowing the most likely price. Most of the questions were to do with concepts rather

than calculation. 1 random question that was purely maths but was straightforward.

EV, PV, SV, CV, SPI, CPI, not TCPI

PERT, CV, SPI

Not many. Less than 5 maybe

CV, CPI, SPI, Three point, ETC

The formulae needed were only the simple variety, no TCPI. The trick was that there were three questions

in one, i.e. you needed BAC/CPI but you had to find CPI, to do that you had to calculate EV. Might have

been an easier way...I'm sure you'll tell me. Regardless, very time consuming for one mark!

3 point estimating, number of communications channels, PV, and EV

Channels of communication, PERT, CV, SV, CPI and SPI

PERT, CV, SV, SPI, CPI

PERT – for time & cost; SPI, CPI, PV & EV, EAC I think; Comms channels

There were a few questions on Earned Value analysis, simple stuff like CV/CPI/SV/SPI but you had to work

out EV or AC from the question as you weren't given it directly. I did not need TCPI, nor ETC or EAC. Also

needed the Communications Model formula. I did need the PTA.

CV, SV, CPI, SPI, Comms channels, PERT.

All - I found most all of the calc questions involved figuring out what the values given actually where before

you could apply them in a formula i.e. it didn't blatantly tell you what the PV, EV or AC etc actually was (and

I had a heap of these questions).

Needed the 13 cost formula (many times), PERT, std dev, and communications formula several times.

I learnt all the formula, incl the 3 point; comms pathways, decision tree analysis. I believe I used most of

them however I didn't use the long form EAC formula.

Not very many, just a few (3 or 4) on Earned Value. One required a double calculation e.g. work out EV

first, then CPI.

All of them ………BASTARDS

All EV ones plus PERT. Need to know how to transpose formula as a number of questions required you to

calculate the input values before calculating the answer they were looking for. About 10 – 12 q’s needed

formula.

they did ask the TCPI equation, and lots of EV questions but not with easy ways of working it out often need

to know the other equations to derive EV.

I think pretty much all of them. There were quite a few questions which required two stages of number

crunching to get the final answer. So, in a question they might give you the BAC, Duration of the project,

SPI, and how many months through the project you were, and then ask, What is the EAC?

All except SD and variance

All, but std dev and variance – you need to know how to do calculus. Think about how to calculate PV

without a scientific calculator.

EV, EAC, PV,TCPI, Pert, Communication channels. The questions were not straight forward though. For

example we had to work out most likely duration rather than the duration, which was given. Even with the

Earned value questions based we had to go through a few more steps to work out the answer.

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4. Did you need to do, or comment on, a

network diagram?Yes.

Yes, network diagram was tested.

Yes.

One Question on network diagram

No network diagrams

There were a couple of network diagram questions, one was a basic question on determining

critical path, the other related to an incomplete network diagram

We had to draw one but you could stop once you realised it wasn’t going to work as there were

cyclic dependencies(I hope)

There were a few network diagram questions but not as many as I expected.

Yeah a couple.

Yes – several questions

No, not a single diagram came. One question was related to PDM but it was having loops in

activities so the answer was obvious.

Yes, I think I had two to comment on

Yes, but more complicate than the one we did in class, also due to the long question, I run out of

time to try to figure it out

Yes Comment on three from memory.

Network diagrams were present but not simple. Question asked about which areas you would

need to crash....No activity on arrow.

Yes, there were 3 or 4 questions on network diagrams.

Yes - 3 or 4

Yes

There were several network diagrams, but not with an obvious “what is the critical path” type

question. They were looking to identify where you would apply schedule compression etc. for a

certain scenario e.g. activity D goes from 2 to 4, so they were more involved questions and not

like the ones in Crowe

My exam did not mention Activity on Arrow, but I did need to draw out a couple of Network

Diagrams. The questions on those were like what is the effect of task B changing from 5 to 10

days. So you had to work out the Critical Path and then access.

Yes around 4-5 questions.

Yes a couple of questions involving comments

Yes, several network diagrams. Had to draw one from text, and two were provided drawn for me.

Critical path questions, I enjoy those.

Yes, several of these, and also involved instances where the diagram needed to be modified to

account for 'fast-tracking'.

Yes, 3 or 4

Yes, Yes and Yes and included working out slack with a lead component

Comment on and show effect of delaying one activity - about 4 questions on this.

Yes, a couple.

Yes had to draw three network diagram, one had a backward pass. And another question was

half a page of network diagram

Yes – my particular question was either poorly worded or some sick person at PMI just wanted to

have some fun.

Yes, not straight forward though, questions were on the float, lead etc

I had to draw one diagram to work out what effect the a change in node duration had on CP, I also

had to do another one the same but it was already drawn.

yes, about 3-4? questions, some about float, free float, critical path, a question about lead time

Around 3 or 4

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5. Any topics on the exam that we didn’t cover

in the course?

There were questions that really crashed my brain, but I think it's just because I am not so familiar

with the terminologies being used.

We had a good coverage of the topics. I personally devoted more attention to Time, Cost and

Quality. But in the exam, Stakeholder and Risk related questions were prevalent.

I think there were 2-3 questions I felt I never came across – can’t exactly remember what they

were

I noticed a few questions that I did not understand

No, all topics were covered. Exam had a lot of questions on stakeholders, communication,

procurement, Risk, Quality and how to deal with stakeholder management issues, importance of

project charter and SOW. e.g. Previously unknown stakeholder makes a change to the

deliverables, how will the PM deal with it, the next best action. Subcontractor Workers going on

strike – what would be the PM’s response. Failure of Supplier to delivery concrete on time – delay

in supply – what is PM first step, Stakeholder complains that Pilot product has issues – remains

unresolved after repairs are done – how will the PM deal with this, etc.

Not sure, maybe a few questions quite tricky and unfamiliar makes us think so

One question on Agile or Scrum

Generally ok coverage. Many of the questions were based around IT projects but the principles

still apply

So yes a lot around stakeholders, some quality but only some reference to quality tools and

techniques. There seemed to be a focus on tools and techniques over and above inputs and

outputs. What wasn’t covered in the course (when I was there) as noted above is was the

scenario type questions to really get you thinking how you should do the PM job within PMBOK.

My feeling on leaving the exam room was that day one to day four of the course covered about

50% of the content and the other 50% - mostly around stakeholder management and the

situational and “PMI value-based judgements” - we were too thin on, and didn’t cover in sufficient

depth. For a few of the situational questions, I had to set aside the response that I would give and

think about the “PMI way of doing things”. Then I would realise “Actually, I don’t absolutely know

what that view would be”. It would have helped to have been able to talk and work through a few

more of these examples in the course , rather than going over the formula, which were actually

pretty simple.

Not from memory

Nope all were covered.

There were a few terminologies that we didn’t cover but generally I could figure out by process of

elimination. And they seem to be asking more programming related situational questions.

Everything was predominantly covered

I guess mostly was covered.

I had one financial question that I hadn’t seen before, I could work out that it was something to do

with payback periods given certain time frames but that was about it, each investment had a

different interest rate applied to it, I think I took option C on that.

There was one point of total assumption question from what I remember. Good to understand the

basic principle, no overly difficult calculation needed as it gave you the split as 80/20.

There was one question on ranking new products for launch by applying weighted criteria –

unless this was the week I missed?

No

No

Not really. There were several questions on the Tuckman 5 stage model, but none of the other

theories. Seemed to be a lot on change management, which would be one area I could have done

with some more guidance on – in the case of changes and whether to add to the scope through

change control or reject, even when requested by the key stakeholder / sponsor.

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6. Did the brain dump at the beginning help?

I did not opt to dump my brain.

NPV, EAC, ETC, TCPI & PTA formulae. Didn’t help at all as these were not used.

I did for cost related formulae but there were very few formula based questions so it didn’t matter

I BD the process and KA table, was useful in remembering the sequence of process and related

inputs and outputs. Did help in few questions.

The summary of the Knowledge areas and PMBOK processes. All Cost formulas and PTA, Yes

because there were questions on ORDER / sequence of actions to be done.

No.

I did a brain dump, but I don’t think it is necessary

I brain dumped the processes in the planning section of Scope, Time, Cost and Risk and also the

TCPI and PTA formula. The planning processes on paper helped me quite a bit as a lot of the

questions were to do with the order that you would normally do things.

Brain dumped all the formulas at the beginning but it wasn't required.

Chose not to brain dump. Glad I didn’t as it wouldn’t have been much use

I drew out the knowledge area process group grid. I did refer to it for about 4 or 5 questions and it

helped. I didn’t brain dump the formula and as we only used a few of them I was pleased I hadn’t.

I just dumped the formulas which I didn’t really refer too.

I didn’t do one. I had formulae loaded in my head if needed. I didn’t do enough on your A1 sheet

Yes I wrote out the table and majority of the formulas. I really didn’t refer back to them that often

and it took about 9 minutes to get it all written down. Was a good way though to kick start the

brain before diving into the questions.

I did a brain dump at start but honestly PMP exam did not have many formula questions and few

which came I could do those without the dump.

Yes

Yes stopped me having to re think of the basis for CV, SV, CPI, SPI etc

Brain dump helped. Practicing it helped consolidate memory of formula!

Yes, especially when you need to remember the order of the processes and EV calcs.

Yes

Did not do this.

I did a brain dump of the formulae and the Process Group/Knowledge Area table and I referred to

it once or twice. It took about 10-12 mins for the brain dump and I had no time at the end to check

any questions so in hindsight I would have just dumped the more tricky formula e.g. EAC, TCPI

and not the process table

I did a brain dump, but I did not need to refer back to it during the exam, but I was quite confident

with my formula anyway. My biggest weakness was the inputs and outputs. I probably should

have spent more time trying to memorise these.

Yes. I wrote out the table in Chap 3 and found that very useful as well as the formulae.

Absolutely, formulas etc. fell on to the page at the start of the exam, by the end of the exam I was

finding it hard to recall formulas and was constantly using the brain dump.

The brain dump at the beginning certainly helped me! I spent 15 min before the exam doing this,

using the tutorial time. The tutorial has a timer countdown in the top right of the screen. The

scratch paper given was yellow A3, about three sheets, and that was enough, folded in half to A4.

I used one side A4 for formulas, and one side A4 wrote out the process chart from P36 in the

Crow book. Practicing with those flashcards with 81 processes from your Falcon training also

helped, I made sure I could scramble those and get them in order. The only calculator was a pop

up on screen, and used keyboard numbers or click on screen with mouse - a bit slow and

awkward.

I dumped formulae only, and that helped, because some questions involved manipulation of those

formulae. I never got around to memorising all 42 processes. That may have hurt me, but I don't

know.

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7. What advice would you give to others

studying for and sitting the exam?Work on time management, you will find that when you are running out of time, you cannot really

concentrate on analysing further the questions that are being asked. Finally, you'll find yourself guessing. Do

not spend too much time reading on the very obvious questions. First picks gives you extra time for the

questions that are more complicated.

Very important to know the processes, inputs and outputs.

Practice lots of situational questions they are not easy, also study inputs, outputs

Understand the Processes and particularly the inputs ,T/techniques and outputs in all knowledge areas and

their applications to real project situations. Most of the questions relate to you as a PM and how you will

deal with the situation at hand based on based on knowledge you have attained.

Need to focus on what action you need to do as a PM. Usually question will say what the PM needs to do

next or first. A lot of situation questions.

Take the time given during the course to familiarize with the PMBOK as much as you can and try to

understand the processes and just be good with the inputs, tools and techniques as well as the outputs. No

joke

Do a lot of situational questions from different sources. And practice 4 hours exam

Sit lots of practice exams from different sources. The closest to the actual exam was the headfirst exam.

Don’t rush through reading the question – underline key points. Both Chris and I noticed that we were

unsure on about 30% of questions in the first quarter of the exam but had enough time to review them at the

end. The last ¾ of the exam seemed much more straightforward (maybe we just got into the swing of the

questions a bit though).

Focus on the inputs and outputs from Knowledge Areas as this helped when determining answers to a lot of

the questions. Don't invest more time than required in formulas.

The exam was very situational. 2/3 to 3/4 of the questions were “you are the PM on a project, x happens,

then; what should you do or who is responsible for or what document would you refer to or what did you not

do in the planning phase etc” so be sure to learn what PMBOK define as as the best course of action when

dealing with risks or issues or stakeholders etc.

Spend time working through situational questions especially manging and controlling stakeholder

engagement. I ended up having to guess the answer to a lot more of these types of questions than I was

comfortable with. Find as many of these types of these situational questions as you can, in books and on

the internet, work through them, do the background reading on these thoroughly and have discussions and

ensure you get a full understanding of the PMI-based “logic” behind the correct answer.

Do scenario questions and understand key documents and what tools and techniques.

Memorise the A1 sheet and understand the linkages

This exam was mostly situational. Input, tools techniques and output diagrams will help. Many questions

asking which to be done before or after a certain planning or executing task. Responsibilities or PM,

Sponsor need to be clearly understood. Please sit the exam earlier as it become difficult to maintain the

motivation. My exam was on 19th April and I finished studying few days earlier than that. Those last few

days were really frustrating because I did not feel like studying anymore and I was worried about forgetting

some of the concepts if I don’t practice.

Advice for future candidates, know your formula, know your processes and know your inputs/outputs.

Learn the 42 processes by understanding the process groups and knowledge areas. Get a feel for the

general process flow and key inputs and outputs. Study each area and then do the questions. Find the

answers to why you got it wrong. Do some mock exams and again find out what you got wrong and

why. Learn the formulae and know how to apply them. Take the time to memorise the table in Chapter 3.

Do as many of the practice exams as you can, memorise the formulas and processes if you can, brain dump

them then you can refer to the brain dump and not second guess yourself on a processes location or

formula. i.e which comes first quality assurance or quality control?

My advice, on-line test yourself, and thoroughly review answers. 4 hr practice test needs 3 hr revision -

there goes one day!

I wore the provided earmuffs, as the noise initially in the testing room was distracting. Also just because we

learnt the terms "tools and techniques; Processes; Outputs:, doesn't mean the questions will use those

terms. E.g. "what results from creating a WBS structure ?"

Practice filling in the optically-read exam paper, they take some time to fill in. Questions are much harder

than in Crowe (or at least take longer to read and interpret), so allow for more time to complete.

Don’t take it lightly and make sure you understand all the knowledge areas and how they fit together

Put the time in – if you don’t know it and feel confident you won’t pass. 5 week course + 1 – 2 hrs per night +

4 – 6 hrs over weekend, don’t underestimate the amount of material you need to know.

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7. And general comments on the exam

questions wording and styleI encountered questions that are somehow not related to my work and it added up to my difficulties in

choosing my answers. Candidates should really put extra effort during the preparations and study sessions

because last minute studies might not really be a good idea.

As expected, most question narratives had a lot of information. It is necessary to know what the question

requires and then filter out the information that is needed to get/calculate the answer. Also ensure you have

10-12 minutes spare towards the end of the exam to revisit the doubtful answers.

Practice Situational questions – I feel Sean’s questions were on the easier side when compared to the

exam. Please practice from other sources and V imp to do full 4hours mock exam

Most of the questions were situationalised, so it was more than and understanding the PMBOK and other

study guides but how it was practised and interpreted in a PM’s world. I thought Sean’s exercise and

questions were useful but you need to practice more practical and situational questions from other sources.

There were quite a number of questions on Initiating and Closing Groups ( eg Business case, Project

Charter, lessons learned etc)

Tended to be very wordy.. Sometimes a lot of issues in one question. Need to read carefully on what was

required from the question in the end. Need to keep track of time.

Quite demanding in terms of understanding the concepts and reality of the PMP and the real everyday

situations that will be experienced on a project that is being guided by the PMBOK.. just makes us think and

try to think PMBOK

All situational questions where you are a PM of something and there is a situation/problem what should you

do.

The questions are direct they don’t use double negatives, they’re not super long, but there is usually two

answers that’ll be about right, you need to know enough to discern the best option.

Be ready to think carefully to strip off the “noise” and get to the key issues. Ethics may be threaded through

a few questions. Know how to identify and manage all stakeholders

Learn the inputs and outputs and tools and techniques well. There were about 5 questions that directly

asked “what are the inputs to x process” but many more that having a knowledge of the inputs and outputs

would have helped a lot.

Exam questions related to a lot of "something happened, what should you have done so it wouldn't happen"

kind of questions.

Some of the questions were very very sneaky with double negatives and small changes to a sentence which

completely changed the question – make sure the question is read thoroughly. I only finished with about 15

minutes to spare and used the time to go through the questions I was unsure of at the end. I think I found 3

or 4 errors which I did change although I don’t know if they were changed to the right question or not. Allow

for a bit of time at the end because by the last 15 or 20 questions I was a bit brain dead so I needed to slow

down and underline the key words on each of them to make sure I was understanding the question

completely.

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