PMP is a giant step in a project manager’s career. While the program certifies that you have the professional skills needed to lead project teams and deliver results, you must first pass a certification exam. If you want to earn a high-paying job abroad, you may need a PMP certificate.
Before the exam, there will be a short briefing, the beginning of readiness, and after the exam a little feedback. Your net time is 4 hours, and the amount of work is 200 questions.
This is not the exam that many are used to at school and university. You are not allowed to bring anything with you to the exam. Pencils, paper and calculators will be given to you in class. The exam is video monitored. In case of violation of an extensive list of prohibitions, the exam is terminated.
200 questions in 4 hours means you have to answer at a rate of 50 questions per hour. In practice, this is the answer to 1 question per minute to have 10 minutes of each hour in reserve. You will need a reserve for solving problems that require calculations, checking answers that cause doubts and for a short rest. Do not neglect the rest: 2-3 minutes of relaxation after each hour of work right at the table with your eyes closed and thoughts about nothing will help you maintain high performance throughout the exam marathon. If you know the basic techniques of relaxation and meditation – use them, if not yet – learn in advance.
Try to keep mostly this pace, feel it and get used to it in the process of preparation. The pace is exemplary. This means that we answer simple questions faster, complex ones slower, but on average 1 question = 1 minute. If a question takes more than 1 minute on the first pass, so much the worse for him, just move on to the next one. You need the maximum number of correct answers, and you choose the order of their accumulation.
By the way, there are 25 test questions in the 200 questions. They do not stand out in any way and do not affect the result, but are used by PMI to develop the question base. If you come across a completely incomprehensible question, do not be discouraged, but simply tell yourself “Yes, this is one of the new questions, very few people can answer it, it will not pass the difficulty level test and it will not be included in test questions.”
An approximate distribution of time within a typical “question-minute” can be something like this:
- 25% of the time – initial reading of the question and the proposed answers;
- 50% of the time – analysis of the differences between the answer options, comparing them with the question;
- 25% of the time choosing the correct answer and self-checking.
Try to self-check most of the questions on the spot while you remember the question and other options. If there is no complete understanding of the correct choice of answer – trust your intuition, just choose the one that seems most appropriate and move on.
Question, answer, self-examination – and the mind is immediately cleared to process the next question. It is useful to link such cleaning to inhalation and exhalation with closed eyes. Use this micro pause to control the muscles of the face and body: do you have any clamps that create prolonged and unhealthy local tension in the muscular and nervous system.
Do not sit like an idol with a stone face. Regularly changing posture, relaxed moderate lively facial expressions, movements of the tongue and jaws, smoothing hair are not prohibited, they look quite natural even on video, but at the same time they contribute to the activation of blood circulation in the head and nutrition of brain cells.
If there is serious doubt about the correctness of the answer, write down the number of such a disturbing question, but still move on at the right pace.
Do not slow down, but do not speed it up too much, even if the number of questionable answers increases too quickly. As you progress through the test, the subconscious mind does its part. Once you have completed the entire test, estimate the time remaining and start processing your list of questionable answers. It is quite possible that for some issues doubts will disappear, and for some there will be ideas of a possible solution.
Solve the easiest questions first. It is possible that the most difficult questions are beyond your power at all, so do not waste time on them. Even a random answer gives a 25% chance of success in a selective 4-choice question, which is not zero!
Upon completion of the exam in computer form, the main result (passed or failed) will be announced to you immediately. Additionally, a printout of the generalized results for groups of questions is issued. Analysis on individual issues is not carried out.
If you successfully pass the exam, you become a valid PMP on the same day, although a confirmation letter will arrive in the mail a little later.
