The Road To Becoming a Project Management Professional

The road to becoming a Project Management Professional (PMP) has so many directions (Information) you have to navigate in order for you to get a plan in place on how you want to accomplish getting your PMP. This is how I accomplished my DREAM of becoming the Few, the Proud a Project Management Professional.

I am a shamed to say that it took me 2 tries to pass the PMP exam because of no other reason than it was my own fault. I started to study for the PMP exam back in January 2014 and in that summer I had taken a PMP exam prep course on line though a Veterans program provided by Syracuse University. I did not start to study hard until Dec 2014 and that’s when I would read 4-5 times a week. I submitted my application to PMI in the last week of December and got approved to take the test in less than a week. That’s when I got in contact with Tim from Vets2pm.com because he was going to teach his first class of Veterans pursing the PMP by a virtual class room. I signed up, took the course and my last class was a couple of days before I was scheduled to take my exam on February 21st, 2015. The days before I was to take my test I would read, study my flash cards and answer practice questions. I was so worried about failing the test that I was studying in the waiting room of the testing site. During the exam I did what everybody does and that is do a brain dump before starting but I notice the information was not coming to me like how I had practiced before with writing down my brain dumps. During the exam the questions seem easy but then all my PM knowledge started to mush together and the questions didn’t make sense to me. I walked away that day ashamed of myself and felt really bad for letting down Tim and Vets2pm. I went home that day wondering to myself what had happen and why did it happen and how did it happen? The next week and a half I did not pick up a single PM book or study material because for one my wife said if I did she would punch me in my throat (she was kidding but wanted me to spend time with her) and second I needed to decompress from all the stress and anxiety of failing the test. I took a hard look at what I did wrong and the information I was using to study, with the conclusion that it was me that made myself fail and not the material.

So after the week of not studying at all and letting my brain rest I finally started by picking up my flash cards. I broke them up by knowledge area and placed them on my desk at work. So my plan was to study a knowledge area every chance I had, which turned out to be like every hour or so when taking a break. Next I downloaded a few apps on my phone where I could answer practice questions and time myself putting the 47 processes in the right areas. This was something that I was using to teach me to quickly think about the 47 process and write down for my brain dump. When I would go home I would relax for a while then I would study the areas that I would miss on my practice questions. My test was on a Monday, so the weekend before my test I did not cram study or anything. I would study for a few hours by reading flash cards or practice writing my brain dump within 10 minutes. I also did a full practice test the same time as my real test was scheduled just to see how I would do that time of day. The day before the test I relaxed, drank lots of water, ate good meals and tried not to think about the test (it was hard not to). The day of the test I slept in, ate a good breakfast and a good lunch. I did not do any cramming of knowledge except practicing my brain dump. On the way to the test site and while waiting before my test started I was listing to Bob Marley to get relaxed and the one song that stuck in my head was called “3 Little Birds” cause he kept saying “Everything is going to be alright” I just knew I was going to pass my PMP exam cause I was relaxed and had the confidence that this time I WAS going to pass. Sure enough after I finished the test, completed the survey I looked down waiting in agony for the results. When I looked up it said “Congratulations” right then in there I had this huge weight lifted off my shoulders and a huge smile from ear to ear. That was the day that I fulfilled one of my dreams of becoming a Project Management Professional and my hard work of studying paid off. Now that I am a PMP, I feel it’s my duty to pass on knowledge to aspiring Project Management Professionals and help them reach their goals.