How I’ve passed at PMP exam — Part 1 of 2
Hello everyone!
In 2017, I’ve decided to use the carnival holiday to start studying for my own PMP certification. Carnival in Brazil is a bold holiday and a lot of my friends were travelling to another city to party, have fun and ‘meet’ other people. I have done this just once in 2015 when I moved from São Paulo to Minas Gerais where I lived for almost three years.
Therefore, I bought the PMBoK® 5th edition (PMI), the PMP® Exam Prep 8th edition from Rita Mulcahy (RMC) and the PM FASTrack® — PMP® Exam Simulator, consecutively with 589, 611 pages. So. I had a lot to read and learn.
With that in hands, I’ve studied for 4 months in a row, some days even for more than four hours.
On June 13th, 2017 I received an e-mail from PMI Customer Care informing that I’ve passed on PMP prerequisites. I felt so excited because I needed to submit all the projects that I had worked as a project manager since 2011, CPO (Chief Project Officer) contact, education information, etc. On the same day, I proceeded with the payment ($555 😱, almost 31% of my net income at the time) and I scheduled the exam for the end of next month, so I would have more time to study.
Your application has been accepted and you may proceed to the next step of the application process — payment.
PMI Customer Care e-mail
The exam was scheduled
From June 13th to July 28th, 2017 I’ve studied almost every day using the exam simulator and my score was below than the minimum required to be approved on the exam as it was shown in the software with the phrase: “You need more practice”.
Days passed by, the exam day was approaching, and my score in the simulator continued the same. Therefore, I’ve decided to look for help in my LinkedIn account.
Searching for people with the PMP® certification on my network, I found Jean Ribeiro, a guy that I met in the college in 2006, and who, at that time, had 18 certifications. I figured out that he had a company that prepared people for those kinds of tests, lucky me! 🍀
Just by curiosity, I just saw his LinkedIn profile and now he has 24 certifications so far 🤓.
He helped me especially with my mindset of large projects. Because at that moment I’ve had only worked with small ones, from 3 to 5 months length of duration. He told me that I needed to understand that for this certification I should think about large projects with more than 2 years duration, many resources around the world, and English as the official language. To strengthen this concept in my mind he shared the video: Megastructure Hong Kong International Airport Construction.
In addition, he analysed the outcome of my simulated exams and he understood that I was failing on easy questions and he helped me with that. For him, the complex questions I got well. Having this feedback, I felt so confident! 🤜🤛
Yes, I can — I told myself in the mirror
After his mentoring, and to watch the video he suggested, I decided one more time do the exam simulation. I really would not like to receive the same message from the simulator!
As usual, I cleaned my desk, had a good lunch, and decided to spend my next 4 hours to answer again 200 different questions on PMP® exam simulator.
After 4 hours I clicked on the “Process exam” button, and as always the software asked: “Are you sure?”. I remember that I answer to my computer as if it was a person (hahaha): Of course! Just one thing, now I will not receive the same message: “You need more practice”. Now, I want to receive the message: “You’re the best one! And now you’re prepared to be approved on PMP® exam next week! Thank you for your time, patience and work hard! You’re amazing! Congratulations!
And the winner is (or not)
I clicked on “Yes” button and after some time I received on my screen the message: “You need more practice!” 🤬.
I felt a twinge in my heart. I couldn’t believe in that result. Have I failed again? Really? After 4 hours, I was exhausted, all expectations going down, millions of thoughts were passing by my mind at the same time, and in the middle of it all, the message same message coming through and saying “You need more practice” several times. I took a deep breath and decided to bury my own feelings watching any series on Netflix. The next day I resolved to don’t martyr myself and think that I’ve worked hard and I’ve learned a lot of things with this process.
The exam day
One day before the exam, I remember that I caught my suitcase and all my friends and co-workers looked at me and said the same: Good luck man!
After a couple of hours, I got the aeroplane to São Paulo, where I would do the exam, and stayed in my parents’ house. Finally, the next day would be THE EXAM DAY.
The fateful day has come 😬. I woke up 06:00 am, had breakfast with my parents, and watched the news on the TV. As São Paulo has a big traffic jam, I decided to leave my parents’ house 2 hours before the exam that would start at 01:30 pm. Therefore, I caught the address on my Appointment confirmation e-mail. Moreover, I got an Uber and went to the Test Centre. At the meanwhile, some friends called me and wished good luck.
Your appointment for the computer-based Project Management Professional is confirmed. Please find the confirmation details that follow:
Prometric e-mail
After a detailed search, even with a metal detector, and to have all the restrictions explained by the staff, finally I got at the room.
I felt relaxed during the exam. For each hour I had to answer 50 questions, and I kept this in my mind. In the first hour, I’ve answered 10 questions less than expected. In the second one, I’ve answered 112 questions (over 12 than I’ve planned) and I felt confident. I finished the entire exam in 3 hours and a half hours, and I chose instead of click on the “Submit exam” button, review the maximum questions that I could in the remaining time and I did so. Obviously, I couldn’t pass to all 200 questions but I could double check some questions and change my answer if needed.
Time was out and I clicked at the “Submit exam” button. I did so and the message “Are you sure?” came to my screen. OMG, I thought. Again? I took a deep breathe and click at the “Yes” button. The system started to process all the answers and in this meantime, the software showed me feedback questions and I answered all of them.
4 hours and 200 questions later
Can you imagine what happened to me when I saw on the screen the message: “Your Overall Performance: FAIL”? 🤯 Yes, that’s it! My dark feelings that I had buried, it’s resurrected and one more time I felt a twinge in my heart. And my mind was wondering: “Why have you invested 4 months of your life working hard? Why haven’t you took time to enjoy the Carnival holidays with your friends? Why have you spent $550 on this exam? Take a look at this result. You failed again!
I deep breath, stand up, went to the Prometric assistant’s room and said: “I’ve finished”. Therefore, they printed the PMP Exam Result Report and gave it to me.
I sent some message to my friends informing them that I had failed. All of them said almost the same consolation words and I acknowledge the messages and calls.
The 2nd tentative
2 months later, I got fired 🔪😵. I worked at Thomson Reuters from 2011 to October 2017, and the company has decided to change its structure to attend a new Product department structure, and after some interviews for a new job as a Program Manager, I couldn’t pass on the English test 🤯. That is, I failed again! OMG! 😱
Therefore, I decided to solve two big deals in my life: 1) Studying again to get the PMP certification, for the reason that I would need it for my next job. 2) Learning English in another country.
The second part of this history will come soon.
