Saturday, November 3, 2012

Risk Management Professional (RMP)


Hello RMP Aspirants,

I thought the RMP was a much harder. The PMP (which I took 8 months ago) seemed pretty easy to me perhaps because the broad range of material creates highly differentiated answer choices. It's always easy to throw away at least two on the PMP. This wasn't the case on the RMP. The answers were much closer together requiring greater knowledge of the material.
If you really want to be safe,
Know every single tool in detail and their pros and cons. memorize the risk ITTOs.
  • Get the Rita Risk Management Professional book to flesh out your knowledge, but know that it is definitely NOT definitive unlike their PMP material. You should be able to go through it pretty quick and just fill in the gaps if you already thoroughly studied the Rita PMP Prep Book. Read the Rita Risk Chart daily
  • You'll have to find something with distributions in it and understand how they relate to estimating (PERT).
  • Decision trees are more complex than what is in the Rita materials. You need to find something to help with that.
  • Understand concepts of checklists/Residuals/secondary risks/fallback plans/workarounds/contingency plans/Project Risk Scores/Risk Ranking e.t.c
  • Know all about management and contingency reserves, how to create, when to use, how to use, approval, etc.
  • Know Expected Monitory Value and basic Earned Value Analysis and calculations on Best Case/Worst case Scenario.
  • Understand risk Inputs Tools & Techniques Outputs. There are nitty, gritty questions about what tool or output falls under what process and so forth. They constitute at least half the questions, and all of the other choices will also be risk ITTOs.
  • Keep your 42 process chart & Formulas handy during the exam and Focus reading the questions..
  • Focus on last 4 Knowledge areas Human Resource, Communication, Risk & Procurement from PMBOK and “Risk Management Standards”
  • Duration for study, if your PMP concepts are fresh 10 days consecutive days are good enough …

Good Luck to all other RMP Aspirants
Mansoor – RMP, PMP

PMP Certification - Tricks of the Trade and Exam

Hello PMP Aspirants

Recently I have cleared my PMP Certification and below are the lessons learnt and PMP Prep Notes created during my study.

Tips for preparations (which worked out for me, could defer based on individuals):

For Preparations:


  • 8 - Weeks / 80 hours of focused preparation including week-ends.
  • Read PMBOK Version 5, Rita Mulchay Version 8, at least twice
  • Try and concentrate on the logic and not to memorize things (except for formulae and Page 43 from PMBOK Guide)
  • Read PMBOK at least once after reading Rita’s book, since PMBOK gives you very clear picture on inputs, tools & technologies & outputs for each process.
  • Take practice questions after each chapter (Rita’s book). This will help you to get the feeling of possible questions.
  • Take the sample tests from the attached test papers and also from the below listed sites:
  • http://www.pmstudy.com/memberLogin.asp
  • http://www.brainbok.com/
  • Rita Fast Track (2 full exams) and focus in Monitoring and Control & Professional and Social Responsibilities
  • PMTI full exam on the last day of Project Management Boot Camp conducted at EMC
  • Oliver Lehman 175 Questions
  • Take full length tests during weekends (don’t take them in part) so that you get the feel and practice of final exam. Be prepared to sit for 4 hours continuously and take the tests and monitor the time.
  • Evaluate your answers and make sure you consistently score more than 75% in the sample tests
  • Memorize the formulae.
  • Practice network diagrams, leads & lags, Float etc.
  • Make sure to understand various tools & technologies very clearly for all the processes (not just to memorize)
  • Practice taking breaks in between practice exams (probably after every 70 questions, if possible only one break after 100 questions depending on your capability to sit and concentrate for long hours)
  • Practice 1 question per minute approach
  • Most of the questions will be situational and you need to understand the concepts very well when you read.
  • Finally if possible take off from your work at least for 3 to 4 days before your scheduled exam date for preparation
During the Exam day:
  • Reach the test center at least an hour before. Sometimes, you may be offered to take exam before your scheduled time if the test center is free.
  • Ask the center protractor for a seat with less distraction (Corner preferred) as there will be other test taker.
  • As soon as you get the scrap paper, before actually starting the exam, write down all the formulae and Page 43 from PMBOK Guide you have memorized and keep them ready to use. This will help you to avoid wastage of time remembering these formulae in the middle. It is also stressful to remember these formulae while in the middle of the exam.
  • Start with slow pace to answer the questions. Don’t get panic if you cannot answer first few questions. Mark them to review later.
  • Try and answer 1 question a minute so that you get enough time in the end to review the marked questions.
  • Mark all the questions which you have answered in dilemma. Don’t mark the questions which you have confidently answered.
  • Don’t get frustrated and lose your concentration after answering 60 to 70 questions. Normally you will get exhausted          after answering 60 to 70 questions.

Finally review all the marked questions once again at the end.
“Play to win” and believe that you can clear the exam in first attempt, visualize that you will get a“CONGRATULATION SCREEN at the END of Exam”