PMP Lessons Learnt based on PMBOK 4th 10/17/09

Finally after a long summer studying for the PMP certification, I sat for the exam on Saturday 10/17 and I passed on my first try. This article is about my experience with the PMP exam which might help others starting the same path, but also telling my personal story, so it might be quite long for some people to read.
Background: IT lead developer, and project manager for ERP and E-Commerce implementations, for small sized projects. About beginning of this year I thought the best way to be prepared on this bad economic times was getting a certification and I found the PMP certification more valuable than technical courses I used to do in the past, which was my other option.
Study plan: I did not develop a study plan from the beginning, instead I did a progressive elaborated plan where I was completing one step and then planning the next one. I knew important family events were close like the birth of our first child, so I preferred not to plan in advance, and go one step at a time. At the end, all the study process took me about 4-5 months elapsed time, but I would say an effort of about 200+-40 hs. I have read LL's of people taking not more than a month, which that really is remarkable, but I personally think it takes some time for the brain to process such high volume of information, and also I feel lucky I have a life which does not let me spend that many hours studying per day. Here you have to find whatever plan works for you, and whatever worked for me might be probably a slow process for some people, and fast for others.
I started this journey on April 2009, at that moment I started browsing the internet for information and right away I decided I would shoot for the 4th edition exam. First issue: not enough study material for this edition was available on the market.
Step1 Contact hours: browsing the internet found Cornelius Fitchner Prepcast which seemed too good to be true, spent a weekend reading reviews which convinced me it was the product I was needing, decided to purchase it on that weekend but found out the 4th edition was not ready until the end of the month. So to gain some time purchased the PMBOK at $65 on ebay, and started reading it, to be honest I was not able to finish it. I found only scope and time management were understandable knowledge areas to me since were the only ones I had experience with. I realized that it was wasted time to keep reading it with no other source of information to understand what I was reading, so kept waiting for the prepcast. Finally in may it was released and since I subscribed to a waiting list, I got a discount and cost $70. Going thru the Prepcast took me elapsed time of 6 weeks, 2 hs on a daily basis after work. I passed the prepcast test on June 28th, which allowed me to print the 35 contact hours certificate and started planning the next phase.
Step 2 Fill application: After an alternatives analysis of paying the exam fee versus PMI membership+discounted exam fee, opted for the latter. Paid $129 for the PMI membership and started filling the PMP exam application (elapsed time about 3 days)
Step 3 slow reading of PMBOK, it seemed a total different book after completing the prepcast compared to the first useless reading. On this reading I focused on understanding concepts more than studying or memorizing, and the whole methodology started now to make sense to me (Elapsed time of 4 weeks)
Step 4 faster reading of PMBOK now on study mode, repeating thru what I thought were important concepts (Elapsed time 2 weeks)
After several weeks of reading, it was about time to get the feeling of exam questions. I found a highly recommended blog at deepfriedbrain.blogspot.com with tons of resources for passing the exam. In particular I used the 'Free mock exams' section, which I started working bottom up. Just after a few questions, I realized too many questions were referring to topics I ever read. Until that moment I thought the prepcast+PMBOK were all the resources I needed, it happened they were not enough and I was needing to issue a change request. So I started reviewing prep books, and the obvious option seemed to be Rita's book, by far the most recommended book.
Step 5 bought Rita Mulcahy 6th edition, at ebay for $60. Following the book recommendations, started by doing all chapter questions before reading the book, which averaged 75%. Then completed the reading of the book (elapsed time 4 weeks)
Step 6 fast reading of Ritas book emphasizing on charts and chapter exercises which I did not completed, I always went directly to the answers except the Rita's process game, time management and earned value exercises(elapsed time 1 week)
Step 7 memorizing by photocopying the 9 knowledge area ITTOS, formulas I got from the web, PMBOK and Rita's process charts on both pages 43, PMBOK summary on Appendix F, and various Rita's exercises like actions to complete each process group, roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder, etc.
Up to this point, I did all the study with no rush since: 1- I preferred to sit for the exam after our baby was born, and 2- did not schedule an exam date which would have put some pressure. I think this was a good approach, but also I have to agree that feeling the pressure of a schedule date helps to not over studying which I felt at some point. Break of 1 week when having a baby, if that is not a good reason for stopping what is it!!!
Step 8 After the break, analyzed the best possible date for the exam, and scheduled it for 10/17 at 1pm. Up to that moment I did not know it was possible to sit on a Saturday and it seemed to be a good option so I did not have to ask for the day off.
Step 9 In order to get in full exam mode, reviewed list of mock exam websites from the blog I recommended before, and discarded the ones from older editions, and others with inconsistent questions (more than 4 answers per question, duplicated answers, or empty answers), so finally collected a list of added value exams and planned to start with 2 hs duration exams and finish the preparation with full 4 hs exam. I planned to spend the following 5 days answering exams, until completing the list. The first few of them helped to understand the type of questions I may find, and also analyzed and learnt from failed answered questions. Some of the mock exams with their corresponding scores were: PM Educate 68%, IT World 58%, Prepare PM 84%, Tech FAQ 360 78%, PM Study 82%, Head First PMP 81%, Oliver Lehman online 72% and Oliver Lehman downloadable 75%. During this final phase, my confidence was boosted day by day and at the end I really felt confident about passing.
Finished with the exam taking phase, 4 days before the exam and then dedicated to review knowledge areas I scored poorly on the exams, like HR and social responsibility, also reviewed once again ITTOS and charts on Rita's book. Next day I did not study, and with 2 days left tried one exam more pretending I was on the examination room, doing things like not going to the restrooms or drinking anything for the 4 hs duration but not much luck with it. This was the only commercial exam I paid for, from PMStudy which I scored 85%. It seemed pretty easy and it really did not make much effort. Day before the exam took a final review, and already feeling nervousness and excitement for being so close. I skimmed thru as much as I could and managed to review everything I needed, anyway the dices were already rolling and I was not going to learn anything new at that point.
Day of the exam: slept alone in the bedroom and managed to sleep much needed 8 hs, played a little with the baby and had an omelet before leaving, I was feeling pretty relaxed. Took a banana and gatorade with me, in case I decided to take a break.
Environment: the place was crowded, most of the positions were in use, probably they were sitting for another exam since people were too young for PMP. Many of them fast typing on the keyboard and making too much noise. Tried the headsets and they were canceling most of the noise but I had to take them off a couple of times since they were not comfortable on my ears after using them for hours. I started with the tutorial, and the message was saying to start in 1 minute or the exam would end, oops better press the button quickly. I went thru the tutorial as fast as I could in about 3 minutes, and started the brain dump sheet as I read on other LL posts. I wrote the formulas first, and then the process chart from page 43, and managed to do it right on time.
The exam: It was way much difficult than any of the mock exams I did.Most of the questions were situational.I was hardly ever sure I was answering correctly, most of the time I had to pick between the 2 potential right answers.All this made me go extremely slow, comparing to the time it took me to answer on the mock exams. I Only took one break around the 3hs mark to go to the restrooms, but did not take the snack. After the break I focused on not making such a long thought process and just take a decision, even when I was not sure of the right answer because I was not going to be able to finish on time. I even had to drop the coin on 2 EVM questions I knew I had no time to go thru a math problem resolution. Finally I finished the 200 questions with 20 minutes left, having about 15 marked questions, and 7 unanswered questions, which I managed to finish on time. Along the 4 hs the nervousness got in crescendo, because I started pretty confident and taking the time to answer each question, and finished really worried to the point I was shaking. Getting the results was pretty disturbing. I knew there was going to be a survey at the end, but I thought that was going to be presented after showing the results. So after processing the results which took a few seconds, I thought I saw I message box flickering which I could not read anything and then right away the survey screen popped up, at that moment I thought I failed because I was expecting the Congratulations screen. So I canceled the survey screen and only after that the Congratulations screen popped up, so watch out the survey comes before the results. After that final take, I spent shaking for 15 minutes, but extremely happy and relieved.
It has been an atypical summer, no exercising, no spending time on hobbies, and no weekends, but finally I was rewarded with the PMP certification which I hope will help me on my personal and professional growth. I hope this story will help to others on the road of becoming a PMP, and any questions more than welcome.
My scores were:
Initiating - Moderately Proficient
Planning - Moderately Proficient
Executing - Moderately Proficient
Monitoring and Controlling - Moderately Proficient
Closing - Proficient
Professional and Social Responsibility - Moderately Proficient

Nacional campeon Uruguayo 2008/2009

Este es mi humilde homenaje a mi querido Club Nacional de Football, el cual recientemente se coronó campeon del futbol uruguayo temporada 2008/2009. Esta es la sexta vez que se apoderan del torneo uruguayo en la presente década, lo cual sería algo asi como un sexenio alternado, para los que siguen festejando quinquenios del siglo pasado. Aunque lejos en el exterior, tuve la dicha de poder ver muchos partidos de los distintos torneos ya que la copa Libertadores, donde el club llegó a semifinales, es televisada por Fox Sports en español, mientras que el torneo uruguayo se televisa, aunque en inglés, por la cadena Gol TV. Aconsejo a otros uruguayos en el exterior adquirir alguno de los paquetes en español de DirecTV el cual proporciona varios canales de habla hispana, entre los cuales los canales ya mencionados. Las fotos del festejo con copa en mano, muestran algunos de las figuras mas salientes de la temporada, veteranos como O.J. Morales, el 'hueso' Romero, el cacique 'Medina', que junto a jovenes figuras como Lodeiro, el 'Morro' García y Coates, y el aporte de los argentinos 'Matute' Morales y Dominguez, conformaron una excelente mezcla de experiencia, juventud y talento extranjero. Lamentablemente como ya es historia repetida en el futbol uruguayo, la mayoría de estos jugadores van a emigrar y por lo tanto va a existir una renovación del plantel, al igual que el DT, ya que Jorge Pelusso ha renunciado a la dirección técnica, afirmando que el proceso que lo ligó a Nacional y que ha durado aproximadamente 2 años y medio ha terminado. Que distinto fuera si esta misma estructura perteneciera a un club europeo donde los procesos puedieran ser más extensos, debido a que no existen tantos problemas económicos. Si con dos años de trabajo en conjunto, este equipo llegó a semifinales de la Libertadores, quien sabe adonde hubiera llegado si el mismo equipo continuara trabajando en la próxima temporada, lamentablemente esas son las condiciones del futbol Uruguayo.

Por todo lo logrado en esta temporada, felicidades Nacional y Salud campeones !!!

Claro que la alegría no sería completa, si al eterno rival Peñarol le fuera bien. Pues sucede exactamente lo contrario, este club atraviesa una inmensa crisis institucional, deportiva y económica. Ya vendrán tiempos mejores para el 'manya'. Este es sin duda el momento del 'bolso' y al 'manya' no le queda otra que aceptar las cargadas, para muestra solo falta un botón dicen:

Metallica - One - Cover by Mogul

Cover of Metallica's One off the ... And justice for all album. One of my first favourite songs from Metallica. I remember I used to play it when I started playing guitar, with my old Peavy strat and it was almost impossible to me. I thought I would never be able to play it decently, but now that I've been practicing for almost one year I could nail it. I had a hard time trying to download a decent tone for the clean part from the POD tones library, the one I finally decided to use is not very similar to the one played on the real song but it does the job. On the other side, this is my first experiment merging different guitar parts, which I did at 6:20. Played with my Ibanez RG5EX1, POD XT Live, and M-Audio Fast Track USB audio interface.

Metallica - Suicide And Redemption - Cover by Mogul

This is the instrumental song from Metallica's latest release Death Magnetic. As all Metallica's instrumentals, amazing song. It took me a few weeks to learn it, and probably I could have recorded a much better version, there are a few mistakes, but it is pretty decent. As usual I don't play solos, but this time I played one of them since it was in a slow pace. Enjoy !!!

Metallica - The Day That Never Comes cover 2nd try

After I recorded my first video, and got totally frustrated with the results, decided to do some research on home recording. Now 5 months later I am posting exactly the same song with my new equipment, I think the audio and video quality is about what I was expecting, but the video is not that good anyway because my playing has not improved much . The equipment I bought consists on a new guitar (actually this was my lovely wife's birthday gift), new guitar multi-effects, and an audio interface, I will try to detail all the equipment specs on anoher post. What is really cool is that I am posting this blog from Youtube, that is what I call Google integration.

2 day winter trip to Wisconsin 03/09

Almost ending the winter, and not being able to go snowboarding even once on this winter season, I knew this weekend on mid march was my last chance since temps were going up very soon. I have been to the Iowa resorts before but they were not having much snow, so I looked online for other resorts even norther. I found a few of them in Wisconsin, which looked the obvious choice, taking in account hours of driving. The one that picked my attention after reading some reviews, comparing number of trails, base snow, and distance from St Louis, was Cascade Mountain. So friday morning I left St Louis about 8:45 am, with an estimated time of driving of 6hs 20 mins according to Mapquest. I did 3 stops, and only because of the stops the trip took exactly what was estimated. Even going just myself it did not feel that long, but it never feels bad when going, the problem is the return. After checking in on the local Days Inn, I decided to take a rest before hitting the slopes. It was around 4pm, and at 5:30pm the ticket cost was reduced to only 24+tax. So at 5:15 I was already on line, but the computer did not let them sell the discount tickets until the computer clock marked the time. I started the session feeling lack of balance and confidence after 1 exact year not boarding, it took me about 3 runs to feel like I was in control of the board.

After that I was felling great, I think the 5-hour energy helped me to boost my energy and not feel tired at all. Regarding the trails, all the left side of the mountain was closed because there was no light posts on that side, so I would say a third of the resort was closed. I was
trying to avoid the black diamonds, since I don't get much fun by running on those. I really enjoy blues and greens for cruising. And that is why I enjoyed this mountain. I really liked the setup of the trails, I would break them down in 2 sections, the upper and the bottom section. The upper section was flatter, and the bottom was steeper and longer where I was really picking up speed. On this section all the blue trails were a lot of fun: Badger Bowl, J.J.,
Ptarminga, Manitou.

The staff were friendly, most of them latin americans working thru university programs, same thing I saw in Colorado, so I could even speak in my mother tongue with some of them. Regarding the waiting on the lines, it started from a couple of minutes to no waiting time after a couple of hours. I left the place at 9:30, even the lifts were closing at 10pm, I wanted to save energy for the next day.


Second day started at 7 am checking my possibilities, temps were going to be on mid 40s, and the night before got directions to Granite Peak. As I was not feeling as tired, decided it was good opportunity to go to a bigger resort, and left around 8:30 am. It took a little less than 2 hs to get to Wausau. I checked the resort's website online the night before, and it was claiming to be the biggest resort on the area, and it was. This place is very reminiscent to Colorado, on a smaller size. It really was a lot of fun, except the long lines taking a few minutes sometime , and I started to feel extremely tired and sore on my feet, since this was the first trip with my new
snowboots and I was still packing them out. I purchased the ticket to be used up to 4 pm for around $60 but could not keep up and preferred to stop at 2 pm, after visiting the double diamond trails on the left section of the mountain, at that time I already started to think how the return was going to be.

On Granite I was able to snowboard the 3
different sections. Started on the easy one which is the middle section having mostly greens. Then switched to the right section having mostly blues, and finally the left section having single and double black diamonds. Here is where I felt it was enough, after 2 day sessions of 4 hs. each.

Finally, the return on the next day, was long as hell as I expected, but at least I had fresh on my mind the moments of adrenaline cruising on the slopes. It took around 6 hs, and I had peaks driving at 110 mph, to not get so bored.

To sum up, I think the experience was excellent, and I would go again to Wisconsin to check out these or maybe other resorts , but based on the research I did, the ones I visited seem to be the best on the south-mid section of the state. Of course it would be much nicer to go during high season to snowboard on some fresh powder. I am already looking forward to next winter !!!

Sorry but no pics, did not have the camera with me, but I am posting the trails map so all this bla bla makes a little sense if anyone is interested on a similar trip.