Exam Preparation Tips

How I Passed the PMP Exam I didn’t pass the PMP exam because I’m a genius. I passed because I treated it like a real project. I set a deadline, built a plan, and added contingency buffers. Here’s exactly what I did: → I gave myself 60 days → Broke the PMBOK guide into weekly sprints → Took over 1,200 practice questions → Reviewed my wrong answers more than my right ones → Simulated the 4-hour exam environment twice → Used weekends for deep dives, weekdays for review → Focused heavily on mindset, not just memorization But the biggest shift? I stopped studying to pass a test. I started preparing to think like a project leader. It wasn't about definitions. It was about decisions. Scenario after scenario, I practiced choosing what a calm, confident PM would do under pressure. The result? A passing grade and way more confidence at work. If you're studying for the PMP now, here's my advice: 🎯 Treat it like a project 🧠 Focus on how to think, not what to memorize 🪫 Don’t wait until you feel ready. You’ll never be. What helped you most when studying for your PMP?

In my 10+ years as a PMP mentor, I’ve seen brilliant people fail the PMP exam despite extensive prep.  Why?  They underestimated key aspects beyond just memorizing the PMBOK. I vividly remember one of the most competent PMs, I know (let's say Dan).  He had managed complex projects for years but failed his PMP exam twice before finally passing on the third try. Dan admitted he focused too much on memorization and not enough on advanced topics like situational questions, math calculations, and analyzing tradeoffs.  He also struggled with properly pacing himself during the grueling 4-hour exam. Here are 3 insider tips I wish I knew before I took the PMP exam: Master situational questions - Know how to analyze scenarios, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best decisions. This tests your real-world judgment. Get comfortable with math calculations - Surprisingly, around 10-15% of the exam is math-based. Be able to do EVM, float, CPI, SPI quickly. Pace yourself - It's a marathon, not a sprint. Don't burn yourself out or get bogged down.  Budget time wisely and stay calm under pressure. The PMP exam is tough but passable if you prepare smartly.  Understand the hidden complexities beyond just memorization.  And leverage tips from those who have been in the trenches before. I’m happy to help others avoid common pitfalls on their journey. Let me know if you need any specific PMP tips! 

**Shifting Beliefs: Are You Really Ready, Willing, and Able?** How many times have you blamed your lack of progress on external factors like horoscopes, personality tests, or even fate? What if the real obstacle isn't cosmic but rather something within you? It's time to shift our focus from external excuses to internal solutions. Pause and rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5: Are you Ready, Willing, and Able? Let's break down what each term truly means: **Ready**: This is your mental, emotional, physical, and resourceful preparedness. But are you truly available in these areas? Being mentally ready but emotionally unavailable can create a disconnect that hinders progress. Ask yourself: "Am I emotionally available to take on this challenge?" **Able**: This is your tactical preparedness. It's your skill set, your toolbox for action. But remember, being able doesn't mean you're automatically ready or willing. Ask yourself: "Do I have the skills needed to achieve my goal?" **Willing**: This is your emotional commitment, your drive to prioritize this goal above all else. Saying something is important doesn't necessarily make it urgent for you. Ask yourself: "Is this goal a priority or just another item on my to-do list?" The challenge arises when you're strong in one or two areas but weak in another. You might find yourself overcompensating, piling on motivational courses or extra degrees, neglecting the real gap in your readiness or willingness. Missing two? You're likely in a perpetual search mode, looking for answers you can't even articulate. I specialize in getting those who are Ready and Willing to an Able state. I can't change your readiness or your willingness, but I can equip you with the mindset, resources, and support to tackle any mission, task, or goal. For those who are R.A.W. (Ready, Able, Willing), the challenge is that the Willingness comes last. I can do very little for you if you're not willing to prioritize your goals. So, are you R.A.W. or W.A.R. (Willing, Able, Ready)? Your answer could be the key to unlocking your potential. What personal barriers have you noticed that limit your success? Share your thoughts in the comments or DM me. Together, we can break those barriers and set you on a path to success. Engage, reflect, and let's journey to success together. Your next step? Reach out. I'm here to guide you through this transformative process. #BreakingBarriers #SelfReflection #SuccessMindset #PersonalGrowth #SmallBusiness

If the IT cert you're working on for 2025 is starting to overwhelm you, take a step back and recalibrate. One of my cert instructors from back in the day made a point that helped me with that "overwhelmed" feeling. Plan the work. Work the plan. What's a cert study plan look like? First, recognize that a cert isn't one big thing you have to ingest all at once. You're not guzzling 2 liters of water. You're pouring a small glass of water and drinking it. When you're ready for more, you pour another glass. Your plan is an outline of what you're going to pour into the glass & drink today. The cert blueprint should be the foundation of that plan. Each point on the blueprint is a glass of water. On any given day, that's all you have to drink. For example... 1️⃣ Monday 13-Jan - read chapter 1 from the official exam guide. 2️⃣ Tuesday 14-Jan - answer all the chapter 1 review questions. Write a blog post that summarizes the key points. 3️⃣ Wednesday 15-Jan - lab day. Do three exercises recommended by the book (or your instructor, etc.). 4️⃣ Thursday 16-Jan - make a list of everything that was hard about chapter 1, where you still lack confidence. Research & review until you're comfortable. 5️⃣ Friday 17-Jan - take a day off. (Yes, you need to schedule those!) 6️⃣ You get the idea... You might or might not like the approach I took above. No worries--the specifics aren't the point here. The point is to come up with a weekly structure that works for you. Then iterate week by week until you've planned your entire study path. Plan the work. The plan becomes the task list that you know you must follow to get through your studies. Work the plan. As each day comes up, all you have to do is see what's on the plan for today, and do that. Nothing more. Also...nothing less, or else you never get through the work. You can't skip leg day every week and expect your back squat to increase. So, how does a study plan help with feeling overwhelmed? A plan means you're *in control*. Using a plan, you've defined exactly what you need to do, and a realistic timeframe in which you can do it. A plan is a visualization of exactly how you're going to get from where you are to where you want to be. A plan isn't vague. A plan isn't..."Oh, I guess I should hammer through some of the book on Saturday." A plan is methodical, specific, and targeted. A plan is intention. Control. You don't have to guzzle all the water at once. One glass at a time is enough. #certification #ccent #ccna

How I personalized my study plan for the PMP exam; passing AT/AT/AT with under 30 days of prep! 🤔 I received a lot of questions about how I studied for the PMP exam. 🤩 To simplify things I made a visual with some tips you can use to make your own study plan! Here are some more details and materials I used: 1️⃣ Limited studying & made it achievable. ➡ 2-4 hours per day ➡ 6 days a week ➡ 15-20 hours total each week. 2️⃣ Studied iteratively. ➡ Repeated and adjusted as needed. ➡ Used data and feedback to inform decisions. ➡ Repeated phases to develop the end result. 3️⃣ Tailored my learning. ➡ Holistic learning took place when I studied the PMBOK or took mock exams that cover all topics. ➡ Incremental learning took place when I focused on one area until mastery before moving onto a new topic. ➡ I was solid on Agile, so focused on Waterfall and the Process Groups. ➡ I made visual study guides. You can check them out here: https://lnkd.in/gCp7tvFA 4️⃣ Used feedback loops & data analysis. ➡ I reached out to others, talked with mentors, and analyzed my results. ➡ I adjusted my plan based on feedback, data analysis, or if life got busy. ➡ I experimented, tracked the metrics, and adjusted as needed. 5️⃣ Adjusted my materials based on needs. ➡ Julia Ode, PMP®, CSM® was an amazing mentor and support throughout. She has a fantastic PMP study guide and resources you can check out here: https://lnkd.in/ggDidkup ➡ David McLachlan YouTube videos. Week 1: listened to PMBOK and PGPG overviews. Week 2-4: listened to 20 practice Q&A daily (~30 min. at 1.75X). ➡ Used PMI membership to access Project Management Institute publication for free. Used them as a search tool to find particular topics. ➡ Attended 2-3 study groups per week. PMI Finland Chapter has one on Tuesday and Sunday. Gabor Stramb and Anna Lung'aho have groups on Thursdays. ➡ Used PMI Study Hall Essentials. Took 1 full exam week one to establish a baseline. Took practice questions on focus areas week 2-3. Then took the second mock exam mid-week 3. ➡ The day before my exam I relaxed and listened to Andrew Ramdayal's PMP mindset videos. 💪 I hope these tips help you make your own study plan to prepare for the PMP! ❓ Please let me know if you have questions, something to add, or feedback in the comments! Happy studying my friends! 🙌 _____ ♻ Like this post? Please react, comment, or repost! Hi, I'm Melissa- a Project Management Professional (#PMP), Certified Scrum Master (#CSM), and Certified Scrum Product Owner (#CSPO). I'm actively looking for a great team to join- feel free to reach out if you think I'd be a great fit or to collab on something! I post about #ProjectManagement, #Agile, #education, #motivation, tips for #transitioningteachers, and everything in between. Follow or connect with me for more! 🙌 #PMP #PMPprep #PMPexam #Study #Studyresources

“Don’t waste your time.” “You’ll never pass PMP.” “You’re not smart enough.” That’s what my professor told me When I first talked about PMP. And for a moment… I believed him. But deep down I knew— This was something I wanted. > To learn. > To grow. > To challenge myself. But Was I confident before the exam? Not at all. just scored 60% in my mocks Thought I would fail Still, I pushed through. And I PASSED. Above Target. On my first attempt. Here’s what worked for me 👇 > Took a good PMP course > Watched every recording carefully > Solved 1000+ mock questions > Identified weak areas > Practiced daily My Final mock score? 70% That gave me the courage To schedule my exam — with fear in my heart Test day: Only 2 hours of sleep But I stayed calm Completed the exam in 3 hours Clicked “End Exam” Screen changed... PASS That moment? I almost cried. All the effort had paid off. Today, I proudly hold my PMP Certification. Here are my takeaways: > Pick a solid course > Don’t jump between resources > Focus, be consistent > Analyze your mistakes > 30 days + 3 hrs/day is enough > Understand concepts, don’t memorize > Sleep well before test day If you’re planning for PMP — Or confused about how to start — Reach out to me. I’m happy to help. Just connect with me and comment PMP And I’ll share all the resources I used. Let your success story begin.

What's my advice for passing the PMP? I passed the PMP exam on the first try recently, scoring Above Target in all three domains, and want to share my tips for success in case you are considering the certification. The PMP is 180 multiple choice questions and it is dry, dry, dry. You want to set yourself up for cognitive success, so rest well, hydrate, and try to calm your nervous system before the exam starts through some slow breathing or meditating. Choose the testing center option. Trust me, I opted for the at-home Pearson software and it was a nightmare. I should have listened to Reddit! Everything went wrong: my house’s air conditioning broke, my laptop wouldn’t charge, my dog kept barking, I got a white screen of death for the first 30 minutes and had to sit on the phone with customer service trying to work it out. By the time exam started, I was not in a good head space. Plus, I had to wait a full 24 hours to get the results, but if you take it in a testing center you get your score immediately. As far as studying goes, the most useless tools were the official PMBOK guides (6 and 7 have relevant content). Don’t get me wrong, these are informative for learning about the field and useful as a reference when you are taking a course. But they aren’t set up to help you study for the PMP, in my experience. Here are the resources that were worth every penny: • Third3Rock’s Cheat Sheet. This is a compact PDF that has all the content you need. The mindsets at the beginning are probable the most important part of this document. • David McLachlan’s YouTube channel. This is the only free resource, and I like that you can control the speed. The big videos with 150 or 200 questions are the best. I paused the video before he revealed the answer to test myself. • The TIA Exam Simulator. There are 6 mock exams. My scores gradually went up from 58% to 78%. Watching the video explanations was helpful, but one piece of advice to NEVER escalate isn’t really true once you get to the actual PMP exam. • PMI’s Study Hall. This is the gold standard. You could probably get by with only this resource because it comes from the official source. I only used the Practice Questions and Practice Exams but there were a lot of other resources. If you are scoring in the high 60s on the practice questions and exams, you are ready to go! The two biggest pieces of advice I have: pay for the PMI Study Hall, and take the exam in a testing center. #PMP #ProjectManagement #StudySkills Image Description: A testing room with individuals in computer booths and a proctor watching on.

I recently took, and PASSED, my AWS Solutions Architect Professional re-certification. I couldn’t be happier with my recent recertification journey and now I want to share some tips with you to help you prepare for your exam. Keep reading… 👇 I’ve been working with AWS for almost nine years, and the hands on experience really paid off. I can say with certainty that a combination of factors helped me pass the SA Pro exam. First, my hands on experience really helped me understand use cases for certain services and features based on the scenarios presented. Second, my ability to read the question and digest the information to understand the MOST important bits of the scenario/responses being asked and presented... and select the CORRECT answer. Now, here’s where the fun begins and how I can help YOU prepare to for your AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam. I’m hosting a six week AWS Power Hour series live on Twitch with Trevor Spires and Darko Mesaroš Mesaros. During this series we will break down each domain of the exam guide, walk through practice questions, and perform demos to help you feel confident. You can find more about the full series and each episode on the landing page https://bit.ly/3ueH9tp BEFORE joining us for the first episode (date and time a bit further in this post), I ask that you do the following… 🔸 READ the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Landing Page ↳ https://bit.ly/3SOH5sC 🔸 OPEN the exam guide. Don’t worry about going into too much detail, we’ll cover it with you live on the first episode. ↳ https://bit.ly/49i5aPj 🔸 START the Solutions Architect - Knowledge Badge Readiness Path. You don't need to finish, just start. But... if you DO finish, let me know before the first episode and I'll highlight your win on the first episode 🙌 ↳ https://bit.ly/42DRSdz 🔸 ENROLL in the Compute - Knowledge Badge Readiness Path ↳ https://bit.ly/3T2NTUN 🔸 ENROLL in the Migration Foundations Knowledge Badge Readiness Path ↳ https://bit.ly/3QtomCP Ok, I look forward to seeing you live in the chat for six weeks starting Friday, February 23, 2024 at 11:00am - 12:30pm PT. Let’s all support each other and help prepare in the best way possible. LEAVE A COMMENT if you’re taking this exam for the first time, or if you’re going to recertify like I did. Either way, you got this 💪 BONUS POINTS if you respond to someone’s comment cheering them on. Let’s see the comments go WILD with support 🎉👏🎉👏🎉👏 ##### ♻ LIKE and REPOST this to help others learn AWS 🏷 TAG someone who needs to see this ✨ FOLLOW Aaron Hunter and AWS Training & Certification for more news, tips, and tricks to help you advance your skills and career. ##### #aws #awstraining #awsexamprep #awstraininglive #awsskillbuilder #AWSPowerHour

I called my wife as soon as I walked out of the bar exam in 2012. I told her I had no idea whether I passed or not. If you're beginning to prepare for the bar exam soon, here are four pieces of advice— 1. Learn how to take this test.    The bar exam is not like any exam you took in law school, in undergraduate, or anywhere else. 2. Put in your time.    The range of material covered is vast. Know that it's going to take a lot of time. Divide and conquer. 3. Mimic the uncomfortable environment that the bar examiners put you in.    Take practice exams under timed conditions. Find different locations and environments to test yourself in. Get used to that pressure.     4. Take care of yourself leading up to the exam.    Take care of your physical health and mental health. Get some sleep.    You want to be in prime condition come test time. 5. And most of all, remember that the bar exam is not a measure of your ability or potential as a lawyer. If you're struggling to retain all the information as you prepare, it doesn't mean you won't be a good lawyer. It means you're a human being. For me, the worst part of taking the bar exam was not knowing how I did while waiting weeks to get the results. You may walk out with confidence, no confidence, or somewhere in the middle. Put in the time to learn the test. Prepare as well as you can. And you'll be ready to leave it all out on the field on game day.

271 on Step 2 isn’t luck—it’s strategy. Here are 5 techniques that made the impossible possible. ✍️ I didn't just study for Step 2. I trained like my match depended on it. And these 5 techniques? They transformed my prep—no burnout required. Why Study Techniques Matter: Studying without a strategy is like running on a treadmill You sweat, but you don't get far. For Step 2, you need more than effort You need efficiency. 1. Active Recall: The Brain's Weightlifting • What It Is: Actively retrieving information, not passively rereading • Why It Works: Strengthens memory by forcing your brain to retrieve data • How I Used It:  - Daily UWorld quizzes  - Created Anki flashcards for wrong answers Think of your brain like a muscle—active recall is its gym 2. Spaced Repetition: Timing Is Everything • What It Is: Reviewing material at increasing intervals • Why It Works: Prevents forgetting while solidifying long-term retention • How I Used It:  - Built and synced Anki deck for precise intervals  - Kept high-yield facts fresh without cramming Like planting seeds—you water them at just the right times 3. Practice Questions: The Real MVP • What It Is: Simulating test conditions with question banks • Why It Works: Builds stamina and sharpens reasoning skills • How I Used It:  - UWorld for pattern recognition  - Reviewed all explanations, even for correct answers Stat: 70% of my time was spent on practice questions 4. Feynman Technique: Teach to Master • What It Is: Explaining concepts at a 5th-grade level • Why It Works: Reveals knowledge gaps and deepens understanding • How I Used It:  - Taught topics aloud  - Practiced explanations in mirror If you can't teach it, you don't truly know it 5. Test-Like Conditions: No Surprises • What It Is: Mimicking exact test environment • Why It Works: Reduces anxiety through familiarity • How I Used It:  - Timed NBME self-assessments  - Limited breaks to build endurance Pro Tip: Turn off your phone. Test your focus, not your notifications The Secret Sauce: These techniques aren't hacks—they're habits • No shortcuts • No wasted effort • Just a system that works The Takeaway: Don't let your study hours go to waste. With the right tools and strategies, you're not just ready for Step 2—you're unstoppable. Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Manik Madaan, M.D. for more. #usmle #usmlestep1 #usmlestep2 #medicalstudent #mbbs