Steps to Taking the PMP® Certification Exam

Steps to Taking the PMP® Certification Exam

by Nereda Haque, PMP

1. There's No Prior Prep: You are busy and have limited time. There is no prior reading requirements nor assignment exercises. No book purchases. You will get everything you need to pass in class. You already bring your experience to class. That's all you need. We suggest you bring a notebook so you don't need to write on your workbook. In class, you will receive everything you need to pass the PMP® Exam. If you took project management training before, then you may feel confident to take the Exam anytime after the last day of class! However, we recommend feeling rested. So taking a couple days extra is always good. Also, the training you took may have left you with some knowledge gaps for the Exam. Best heuristic is to make the Exam appointment within 7 to 10 days following days. If you are pre-approved and have lots of gaps in your project management experience, then take a few days extra to submerge yourself in the materials. We don't require anyone to take the Exam the next day, although people do it. We say, do it when you are comfortable! This way you can pass the first time! No need to do it twice! Best Exam plan is not to delay too much - 1-2 weeks max for Pros and 1 or 2 weeks extra if you have gaps or you have no time to study! Take the Exam while the information is "fresh" for you! If you have many gaps and just want to firm things up, then by all means take an extra week. In my experience, people get derailed when they leave it too long. For Example: new projects come up and now you're working six days per week and are totally slammed.

2. Exam Approvals & Your Experience Submission: (If you are already approved to take the Exam, you will skip this step.) In class we will go over the submission area and you will be encouraged to finish accumulating your projects before the training is over so you can "cut and paste" the information onto the PMI® website. What you need are the following:

(a) name of the project (b) name of your manager or colleague who will vouch for your training, along with their phone number and email (c) start and finish date of the project (d) your training dates (e) create a 350 to 500 character description of the project using proper terminology - use the terminology in the class Outline.

The Project Management Institute has made this application process so easy now.

3. Seek Understanding First and Foremost. There's only 4 or 5 Days of Class (All class work is the same - just different venues such has 4 or 5 days training, or sometimes we offer 10 evenings or two weekends.) The class work is 37.5 hours in all locations and includes an Exam Review which is a closed book practice exam at the end of class.

4. Combination of Memory & Understanding: As you understand the concepts, the memory work will seem much easier. You will do "memory work" in class because of the many reiterations. And if you have a lot of experience and understanding already, you will be able to "pick" out the correct answers on the Exam. We will teach you the "how." Look over the memory portion every evening after class. See where the outputs become inputs to other Knowledge Areas or other processes.

5. A. If you are not already approved to take the Exam, you will submit your experience, education, and report your Exam Prep training to the PMI®’s website to receive their approval for you to sit the Exam as soon as your training is finish. If you have the required experience and required education, and have fulfilled the 35 formal contact hours of training which we provide, then it usually takes 3 to 5 days for Exam approval.

B. If you are already approved, then take the Exam as soon as possible following the The PMP® Exam Prep Training. However allowing up to 10 days is okay too. Do what's right for you. Do not push yourself when you are tired. If you have mapped outputs to inputs and learned the tools and techniques you may want to allow yourself more time to learn those.

6. Then schedule your Exam 1 to 10 days out or less after class, depending on your comfort level. Suggested time frame is 3 to 7 days for Pros.

7. Take the Exam. And you are done!

Do we have guarantees? Yes indeed.

Guarantee # 1: Take one day of class. If you don’t like it, return your training materials at the end of the first day and receive a full refund minus $50 processing fee.

Guarantee # 2: You may continue our training for up to six months from the first day of your initial training class. Why would you use this if our training is so good? You allowed yourself to get derailed for any reason. It happens. Trainees get new projects and feel overwhelmed, someone in the family gets sick or any number of reasons. Or you had a lot of gaps in your project management experience and want to re-sit those areas. This is easier to do where SmartPath LLC is local to Tysons Corner and Bellevue, WA. Otherwise, seek our help through email, and send us your questions. Once you have sat in class, you should make any unfamiliar areas, familiar by practicing or analyzing them.