PMP Lessons Learned: How Albert G. Passed His PMP On His First Try

How are you doing today? Thank you so much for jumping on this call with me.

No problem at all.

I just want to say congratulations on passing your PMP certification. That must be a huge accomplishment, so congratulations to you.

Thank you.

And just starting this call, do you mind just giving people a bit about your background? I know you work in the military.

Right.

Yeah, and how you came about wanting to get your PMP certification. PMP certification?

All right, so yes, as you correctly noticed that I was in the military. I was an officer in the United States Army for about 5 and a half years, and then I worked briefly as a contractor for an aerospace company. But the reason why I decided to go for the PMP was because my experience and, you know, the leadership, the management experience really lined up perfectly with what the project management core competencies and all those processes talk about. Basically, we were doing this during my time in the military as an officer. I was actually managing projects, leading projects, but I was not necessarily using the project management methodology. So it was really nice for me to read about it and to actually study for the test because Even though I was using all these practices, I didn't know the name, the proper names, and I didn't know the, you know, the proper methodology. But now that I know it, it really helps me understand the whole picture and, you know, the whole strategic approach, so to speak.

Right, right, right. So having kind of like the foundation, it helps you understand, you know, what the proper terminologies are and how things fit in your career. And then, you know, tell us a bit about your PMP journey, like your studying process, any lessons learned, and if you can remember.

Of course. Yeah, right. So, yeah, so my PMP journey was a pretty interesting one. I moved my family to New York from South Korea. That's where I was deployed and stationed with the military. And I knew I had to kind of hit the ground running because my family was relying on me to, you know, to get a good job and the obvious job was project management. And I did some research and I found out that a lot of people were saying that it takes about anywhere from 4 to 6 months to get that PMP certification. Obviously, I didn't have that long, so I had to do it much faster. So I set up a goal and I ended up actually accomplishing it in under 4 weeks. But it took a lot of studying. It took a lot of, I locked myself in the library for 12 hours and, but I was able to accomplish it. And a lot of— I do have a lot of interesting tips and interesting lessons learned. I mean, even when we start with the application process itself, it's a project in itself, you could say. And all these 4,500 hours that you have to record and describe what exactly you did. So I created an Excel spreadsheet that would calculate those hours for you. based on the start date and the end date of a certain project and based on your— you could put a percentage of time that you think you spent on certain process group, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling. You could put percentages there and it would automatically calculate for you how many hours you spend on that specific process group. So that was an interesting thing that really helped me. Also, I read a lot of tips as far as the application goes. You have to, yes, you do have to have the 4,500 hours, but you can't go over 40 a week, for example, right? Because, you know, that will be a red flag. Even though in the Army I worked, I would say, 80 hours a week managing projects, but, you know, I knew I couldn't go over 40 in the application. So that's another interesting fact that I learned while I was applying. And, you know, a lot of other interesting small things, but the biggest, the the biggest help that I got studying for the test was that chart mnemonic. And that was amazing because I started reading that book, the 600-page book, and it was so dry. And I didn't really— I guess I understood what I was reading, but it was so repetitive. And it didn't— at a certain point, after about 40 or 50 pages of reading it, it didn't add to my knowledge at all. So I was like, okay, how do I pass the test? How do I maximize my study time, maximize my efforts? And then I came across your chart and it was amazing. I mean, I knew that you had to remember all those 49 processes and the best way to remember it was using that chart. And it really helped me tremendously. So what I did, I studied the chart, I studied the mnemonics, and then every time before I took a test, A practice test, I would, you know, put a piece of paper in front of me and fill it out completely with that chart. And then, you know, a lot of questions I could answer just by looking at the chart. That was great.

Wow, thank you so much.

No problem.

And I'm so glad that the chart made a difference for you. And we'll include a link to the chart below that you can download for free, somewhere down there. Wherever we're posting this. Cool, so then on your actual exam date, how did you find the actual questions on the exam?

Okay, so the questions on the exam, what I found interesting was that when you look at the answers, right, it's a multiple choice test. And when you look at the answers specifically, 2 of them will jump out immediately as being like completely wrong and you know they're wrong. But then the other 2 answers, there's 4 of them, so the other 2 answers are so close to each other, like, and they could be, both of them be right and, you know, and one is just more right than the other or more applicable to this situation than the other. And that was— that's what was the most difficult thing for me, just to figure out which one of them, those seemingly right answers, is more correct, right? So, and I think a lot of people find it difficult to basically distinguish between the two, the two correct answers. That jumped out at me. Also, well, I mean, a lot of people that are practicing to take the test They know that it's a 4-hour test, but you can't take breaks. I mean, you can take a break, but the clock will continue ticking, right? So they're not gonna stop the clock for your break. So you have to manage your time, and that time management is super important.

Right, right.

Also, another thing that surprised me was, and I'm sure it's probably different depending on the specific place that you go to take the test, But in my case, I was given one piece of paper and it was not even the paper, it was laminated paper, right? And they gave me a, not a pen, but a marker, right? So I used the marker and if you know, like when you're using a marker on a laminated piece of paper, like you basically erasing what you wrote down if you touch it with your hand. And it was so difficult for me to create that table because I wrote it down, I wrote certain things down and then as I was writing other things, I was automatically erasing everything that I wrote down. So it was, it was a little weird, right? But then once I completely finished that, you know, the table, and I needed to use the paper for formulas, I raised my hand, you know, asking, hey, can I have another piece of paper? And they're like, no, you can only have one. And if we give you a new one, we will take the old one away.

Yeah.

And I was like, wow, really? I didn't— I was not prepared for that. So yeah.

They do do that. They take it back. Yeah, so you have to be careful. Use the space carefully. That's why I tell people to always practice drawing out their quote-unquote cheat sheet beforehand so they know how long it's going to take them and how much spacing they need on that chart because you're not gonna get rulers. You're not gonna get nice erasers and pencils and stuff. So you kind of just got one go at that. Was there anything that surprised you? What surprised you about the exam?

Well, that thing with the paper surprised me a little bit. Other than that, it was actually not a lot of surprises, and primarily because I took my time to take at least 8 practice exams before I went for the actual exam. And I think once you jump over that hump of about 1,000 questions, once you get 1,000 questions under your belt, it becomes, you know, you will recognize a lot of questions are similar. And normally there's not a lot of surprises after that. So yeah, that's my recommendation for the people that are studying. Get at least 1,000 questions under your belt, you know, preferably more. I had 1,600 questions that I did before I took the exam, and that really helped.

That's awesome. And if you could rewind time, if you could give yourself any other advice during the studying process, was there anything you would tell yourself?

I would probably say don't waste time reading more of the book. I mean, yes, there is an important thing in the beginning that you need to read, but I would say don't— yeah, you don't need to start to read the book. Just use the chart, do more practice questions. And these are the 2 things that really helped me, the chart and the practice questions.

Chart and practice questions. Yeah, those are really good. So like just understanding like how the big picture, like how—

Right.

The 49 processes work together to complete the project and then having the chart to help you memorize.

Exactly.

Yeah, perfect. Okay, so did you ever run into— like did you ever study with someone or run into problems where you wanted Like some accountability or anything like that where you were, you were like really focusing mostly studying by yourself?

Right. I mean, I understand that a lot of times studying with others helps you to be, you know, accountable, to hold yourself accountable. In my case, I just had a really different problem. I just had to do it as fast as I could, and it really helped me to just lock myself into the library, right? Because I do have a family, I have a little one, and You know, I knew that studying at home is probably not going to be an option for me, right? So I just— just consistency, discipline, that's what it takes.

Yeah. Wow. Okay. And were you able to get the time off of work or you just kind of—

Well, that was the time when I didn't work at that time. I took, like, specifically, like I said, 3 weeks off. So I didn't work at all. So I was just studying, studying, studying, studying.

Oh wow, so you took time off just for studying?

Right, exactly.

Okay, that's a, that's a very big commitment to take time off.

Yeah.

Now that you are certified, what's next in your career now?

Well, now I'm actively looking for opportunities in business management, specifically here in New York City. I'm looking at operations and finance. So yeah. Still looking right now.

Awesome. Awesome.

I'm looking— Mary, no, no, I'm just saying I'm looking forward to actually using all these skills and all the knowledge in action in the field. So yeah.

Right, for sure. And now you can put the PMP credential on your resume.

Exactly. And really, it really helps. I did some research. Apparently, not only do you get more, you know, potential job offers, But also the salary raises like by 20% if you have that certification. Yeah, wow.

And plus you have all your previous experiences in other places as well, so I think you will probably find a new opportunity very soon from now.

Thank you.

And just as we're wrapping this up, is there anything else that you want to share with anyone who's listening? Any other tips or about project management careers or PMP or anything at all that you want to share?

Well, just a little tip from my experience in the military and experience running the projects. I call it 3 C's. 3 C's is what makes any project a success. The first C is communication. 90% of what you do as a project manager is communicate. Second C is consistency. So you have to be consistent in what you do and disciplined. Third C is continuous improvement. Don't be stagnant. Always try to improve yourself, your processes, the people around you, the organization. So yeah, that's what I'd like to leave with.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, Albert, thank you so much for your time today and jumping on this call.

No problem. Thank you very much for inviting me.

And congratulations again on passing your PMP.

Appreciate it.

We will include a link to the to the chart that you're referring to throughout this presentation.

Awesome. Thank you. Have a great day. Bye-bye.

Okay. Bye, Albert. Thanks so much.