The Creative PMP in the Fast Lane

Excerpt from the personal blog of KnowledgeHut Faculty – Satya Narayan Dash, PMP

Aditi Jain committed to a final round of PMP study with 10 day deadline, triggered by a Chinese fortune cookie! And the fortune cookie foretell turned out to be true. More importantly, her hard work finally paid off. She is a proud PMP today.

Aditi was part of my class in February 2015. I asked – “What you want to do with your learning here”? I remember her telling that she wanted to apply them in real life. She is a fashion design and media professional and added diversity and depth into our discussions, which had banking, software, construction, networking and voice professionals.

One of her concerns was moving from one country to another – actually from one continent to another – and how it will impact her. She managed it quite well, as you can read below. Her experience is also unique as she comes from a different industry. Go on and know how she did it.

OMG!!! What an amazing ride to attain the PMP® Certification. Without knowing the PMI-isms, I was high gear into schedule compression techniques of ‘crashing’ and ‘fast tracking’ with pangs of ‘resource levelling’ right from initiating to closing.

The decision to get a PMP® certification was primarily due to the fact that I wanted to expand my knowledge base and have alternatives to my current Industry which is Fashion and Media. But after learning the PMI way it astounds me how much my Industry can benefit from these standards. To be able to apply these in creative domains can have astounding results.

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PMP Training Experience

I took my 35 PDUs of PMP training sessions with Knowledge Hut which were led by Mr Dash. The experience was compressed into informative, happy, and motivating sessions. We had lots of fun too.

Own Study

After moving to the US in March straight after the contact classes, I took the PMI membership as Mr Dash had recommended. Settling in the new country was my prime focus after moving in. Then my girls went on a long 2.6 month summer break. I had consciouly decided to start prepping by September end, after they resumed school.  By the beginning of October, when I fully committed to study, I had doubts on my ability to prepare and pass the exam due to the time that had elapsed. So one fine day after a delicous Chinese meal, my fortune cookie read “You will soon pass an important test”. This was the sign! This chance affirmation was what I was looking for. And it was what triggered me to schedule the exam right away for 10 days ahead.

My PMP Exam Experience

I was scheduled at the Lakeshore Parkway Prometric Center in SC, USA.

Preparation Strategy

• Phase 1: Read PMBOK by processes followed by knowledge areas seconded with HeadFirst PMP (not as specific as I would have liked). My key takeaway is to understand concepts by relating them to real life situations to retain them.
• Phase 2: All Knowledge Hut online materials – they are surprisingly really good.
• Phase 3: Online and mobile app Q&A’s, free test, where I focused on gaps and tried to know why I got them wrong.
• Phase 4: Daily Brain Dump practice including 47 Process Chart and Key Formulae and Earned value Management inferences.
• Phase 5: Take a Break the entire day before.

Exam Strategy

Time flies when you are sitting in that chair and giving the tests. Where I usually completed tests within 2 hours at home, it took me about 3hrs 10 mins on the actual exam with no breaks.

• First 1 hour to 3 hours: I answered 50 Questions per hour on an average and marked the unsure ones. The first hour is the longest and then answering is much quicker as time progresses. 
• Final 1 hour: Review all the marked/doubtful questions of which I had around 20 and use balance time to review the first 30 to 40 questions.

Conclusion

The PMP certification may be beneficial in itself. However, the learning of the standard is the key, which I intend to apply in my personal life as well. 
Brief Profile:
Aditi Jain: 
Certifications- PMP. Freelance Journalism. NSE. Fashion Design
A creative with over 12 years of varied work experience in industries of Fashion, Retail and Online Media. 

Aditi’s online PMP profile is available at PMI’s Online Credential Registry.

I am thankful to Aditi for volunteering to contribute and write her experience. Also she has her own family to look after, which has its own load.  Few people do that, though many get PMP certified.

I believe it will enrich you and will help you to prepare for your PMP exam.

This article was originally published on managementyogi.blogspot.in