Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I took the PMP on December 12, 2018 and passed above target in all areas on my first try. I did not even open the PMBOK and used only two sources: Andy Crowe’s Book and Rita Mulcahy’s book. Andy Crowe has a website and I also purchased access to one of his 200 question practice tests. I purchased Andy Crowe’s book on Amazon and Rita’s book on the RMC website. I originally started studying right when the test switched to the new version which made things really difficult due to the fact no resources were available. When I bought Rita’s book it was $100. I studied for roughly 6 weeks and used Rita’s book for the first 3 weeks, Andy’s book for the next 2 weeks and then did just practice questions the last week. The test is 200 questions at took me all 4 hours to complete. The test is fairly difficult and the thing that I think helped me the most was doing hundreds of practice questions to help in understanding how the questions will be worded on the exam. The best questions were on Andy Crowe’s website (Velociteach Insite). The questions there helped me to understand the type of questions on the exam. I also like how Andy Crowe’s book is setup in the form of showing all process areas and the ITTO’s. I did not memorize the ITTO’s and don’t think it is necessary but I was able to memorize the process chart which I think is important in order to pass. If you are studying right, memorizing this chart is an outcome of studying. The majority of my 200 questions were situational asking what the PM would do next or asking about different tools. I had 1 question asking about a network diagram which was an easy question and maybe 5 asking about Earned Value. Rita’s book and Andy’s book are very different in how to study for some of the questions which was frustrating and confusing. For example, Andy teaches the critical path method for network diagrams and Rita does not use this as the main method. The other confusing point was whether to start a network diagram at day 1 or 0. Rita also has many different formulas for calculating EAC and Andy Crowe just said to memorize one. Before the test I was able to brain dump 19 different formulas and only needed two of them for the test. Overall, the test isn’t easy but if you study and do hundreds of practice questions, you can pass on your first try. Spend a few weeks studying and you’ll be just fine. If I had to choose only one source for studying, I would choose Andy Crowe’s book and his online practice tests. I don’t think you need more than one book. Andy Crowe’s questions in the book are closer to what is on the exam. Rita’s practice questions are easier than on the exam IMO.