people share what they have gone thru. Rocking and enthusiastic, how a newbie latch onto preparation just for the sake of fun..

1. Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
Disclaimer: All the below views and experience are purely mine. Due to this, if anybody is
hurt while reading and felt in any other ways is not completely my responsibility. The
objective of this document is to share the PMP experience and share few TIPS from the
experience. It is left with the Individual who should feel what’s best for him/her.
My PMP Journey
 Started with a hazy note whether to do it or not.
 Started collecting material from friends and web.
 Did not take formal training from one of the REPs available out there in the world but
there is something called PDUs that you have to earn before you can be certified. This is
based on the experience shared by Mumtaz Alam (Before PMP Certification) who was
sharing the PMP knowledge with me.
 Booked onto Simplilearn to earn the PDUs..Completed online course and there you are
ready for certification process.
 First, you have to apply, and there I made a silly mistake that I have to pay for. My
application selected for audit. Audit cleared, what next …
 This is about my admin front for PMI Membership and PMI organization.
 Objective was always to clear PMP certification. Its best to set your GOALS…
GOALS early can take make you take a leap ..else you feel that your goals are far away
and it will take ages to reach there. There is GOAL theory how you set and I will go into
that now.
 Fees is so high for the exams that scares you a lot and you think twice before taking any
decision and its true for every questions that you attempt in the exam.
 Coming back to my preparation, as I was doing MCQ objective types certification after a
period of 6-8 years, it actually took a little time to get into that groove.
 Once I gone thru and took mocks, I felt little comfortable.
 I was getting above 70-75 in the mocks but mocks are mocks. It’s repetitive. Hence, my
advise, you can guage yourself on the mocks but not completely be dependent on
the MOCK results.
 PMP asks to think think think think think think think and think. There is no other
alternative thru which you can do this. Every situation is different and the naming

2. Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
conventions are so similar that a person with less hands on experience (real life) of
handling situation in crisis as per the methodology tends to make mistakes.
 PMI wants the practitioner and the certified professional to think ALWAYS the ways PMI
is structured. For most of the Indian organization, businesses are programmed in little
different way and most of them run as their households. While taking exams, you will
have to change that mentality. PMP advises you THE RIGHT way to execute a project or
a program and act in situations in the best possible manner. You can always debate the
best possible under the situation, keeping in mind views from all over ( not only yours ).
Most of the time, we tend to think that our view is the best view. There you fell miserably.
 My advice, Forget what you do to manage your project, program in your organization and
concentrate fully on what PMI says.
 From concentration perspective, Its really difficult to manage when you have office for 9
hrs and at home you have 3-4 months second baby. I must pat myself and thanks my
family and they really deserve it. I have said it before and will say it again and again.
 About the exam prep, everybody is qualified enough to do their preparation. As I
told earlier, its test about situations and how correct you are in what you do. A better
word would be concise, quick, precise and accurate. These terms you will find in Quality
Planning, Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
 My First preparation, I flunked. ( Honesty, one of the pillars of PMI Code of ethics) I
found out where the mistakes were and took it as a challenge that propelled me to keep
myself focused on the things in my hand. I had thoughts in my mind that I cannot be
wrong but gave up idea of reviewing after due diligence to my mind. Trust prevails and
you should lose FAITH in self. PMI is that TRUST.
 I did not take the printouts of any handouts nor 600 page PMBOK as most of my friends
does. Its waste of paper. Please do not take those printouts. SAVE Earth by saving
printouts. This is one of the GIVE Back to the society that you follow GREEN
revolution.
 I am NOT going to tell you either that what PMI questions are while you do certify.
 I have prepared few DATA FLOW diagrams that tell me about ITTO used for that process
area. I did it for all of them. One thing I wanted to mention here that there are 600 odd
artifacts and PMI can ask you from any of the artifacts. The funny but intelligent part is
the Questions are not STRAIGHT Forward. Of these 600 artifacts, question can be
from any level, any place, any process area, any knowledge group and mix and match of
them.

3. Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
 In nutshell, You have to develop your own methodology of preparation for the certification
and I am sure everyone has their one. Not all methodologies suits everybody.
 I also did comparison of all the TOOLS and Techs, how they are similar and different in
perspective of usage. Eg: What are the tools used identically is more than one process
area.
 My preparatory book of 120 odd pages gave me full confidence that I will CRACK this
time. I trusted myself.
 Another thing I was doing in last 15 days of exam, while taking MOCKS, check which are
wrong, why they are wrong, what you were thinking that made it wrong. Following
DEMING CYCLE here PDCA.
 Few silly mistakes happen – Question asking NOT NOT twice which is affirmative.
Correctness, except, single NOT, NOT False. These terminology you should practice,
there is no other simple way to remember.
 Timing will help you a lot. If you have time in hand, you can stretch a little and think about
the solution for the bigger questions.
 Also formulate a strategy before going to EXAM, how do you want to go thru. All the 200
questions are given to you, you have to decide how you wanted to attack them.
 While preparation, I did two Simplilearn MOCKS in under two and half hours. That gave
me confidence that my methodology to go again for the certification is correct.
 DeStress yourself all the time. This is the MISTAKE I did in the first attempt and I paid for
that. Management itself is stressful and this examination helps you to manage it
effectively. Four hours, huge pressure, 200 questions are like dragons, they can attack
you at any time and the responses..two of them are so similar that you hold your lips in
your teeth thinking which one to choose. And this is the catch for time management.
 Day Prior, take good night sleep. That’s must. I cannot insist more on stress factor.
 I have referred PMBOK as many times I felt. There is no THUMB Rule or restriction that
says you should first read PMBOK and then start preparing. I would say it’s an Iterative
process to Refer PMBOK. Never read in one go. You tend to forget, lose concentration
as well feel repetitive. Head first is good for first reading. Post that you can latch on to
PMBOK.
 Don’t lose faith in you. Your attitude should always reflect positive feeling.
Nervous you would be at times, and you should be but with confidence, you can
convert that nervousness to positive result.

4. Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
Sandeep Sonkusale, PMP®
PMI member ID: 3152171
PMP # : 1749546
 I took first 190 mins out of 240 mins to complete first round of questions. Left with 50
mins, I did the other questions which were left unsolved. Post that I reviewed for almost
30 mins.
 It takes a while to read the questions itself, so you have to do careful time management
while actually taking the exam.
 Master all the Mathematical calculations & Graphical derivations in the PMBOK (EVM,
EMV, Channels, CPI/SPI,EAC, ETC, etc). Graphical are easy to solve but you should
master them else you are clueless.
 My preparation was so STRONG the second time that I did not find any new question.
 With this, I wish you all the best. Keep that tempo up and attitude positive!!
 You can do it and become distinguished.