Pmp in Depth: Project Management Professional Study Guide for Pmp and Capm Exams

I passed my PMP exam with flying colors after using only three resources: PMBOK Guide, this book (PMP in Depth), and the PMP Exam Quicklet (an eBook by the same author, Dr. Sanghera) that I downloaded from booksOnBoard, which has three practice exams and some very useful tips. I read this book before reading the PMBOK Guide, which made it a lot easier for me to understand the PMBOK Guide. I quickly went through this book again after reading the PMBOK Guide; and I was ready for the exam. I liked the fact that the exam objectives covered in each chapter are clearly listed and explained in the beginning of the chapter. That helped me to keep track where I was in my exam preparation. I guess the review questions at the end of each chapter are more to ensure that you understood the material in the chapter. The questions in the practice exam at the end of the book are more realistic from the exam¡¦s perspective. I found the questions in the PMP Exam Quicklet even more useful¡Kvery very useful. That said, this book is also very useful for just learning the basics of project management. I¡¦ve had a great deal of real project management experience, but I did not know much about the project management theory º. So, I was looking for a self contained book that I could use to quickly learn the basic concepts and that would also prepare me for the PMP exam. A friend of mine pointed me to this book; I¡¦m glad he did. The book defines and explains all the basic concepts, and I liked the organization and presentation of the material; it enabled me to connect what I read to my real world experience. Bottom Line: A must have book for the PMP exam preparation and for learning the basics of project management.

I started with PMBOK for my PMP preparation, after couple of chapters I realized that I need to look for another book to teach me PMBOK concepts in a simpler way. PMBOK is a reference, it's dry, boring and quite frustrating if you choose it to be your first book to read for PMP certification. Based on the reviews I considered two Books PMP in Depth by Paul Sanghera and The PMP Exam: How to Pass On Your First Try by Andy Crowe. I choose PMP in Depth mainly because it is a self-contained book with topics organized in the order of Process Groups. I am glad I did, I passed PMP at my First attempt. This book helped me to understand the concepts, Rita's book and CD helped with Knowledge gaps and questions. Positives 1. Self Contained 2. Topics are organized in the order of Process groups (same order in which projects are done) with adequate depth 3. Nice Flow, Easy and Interesting read 4. Exam Objectives in the beginning of the chapter 5. Summary, Key Terms and Things to Remember at the end of the chapter 6. It is not only PMP certification book but also a great Project Management Book 7. ITTO's are explained well with their importance for each process 8. Index, Book Quality and Writing Style Negatives 1. There are only few questions and the questions are very easy comparing to the actual exam. Couple of weeks before the exam I took the Full length exam at the end of the book and I scored 94% in my first attempt. Next week I took the full length test in Rita's Fast Track CD and I passed with only 76%. Apart from one negative mentioned above this is a great book, read this book before you read PMBOK/Rita, Especially if you are doing Self-Study.

I've just passed the PMP exam after preparing for it largely from this book. I agree with another reviewer that quality of the questions in the book's Final Exam is very close to that of the real exam. Other things that I particularly like about this book are: * Unlike all other PMP books, It explains the exam objectives covered in the chapter in the beginning of each chapter. * The material is organized along the exam domains and along the line of how the projects are run in real life. So, you can learn by association with your experience. * All the topics are covered in adequate detail within the scope of the exam. The author even warns you at several places when the further details of a topic are out of the scope. I find it helpful because this way I know that there is more to it; and I can go and get the information from other sources if I want to dig deeper. * The book is self-contained and all the concepts are clearly defined right in there. * Very easy and interesting read. I recommend this book, highly.

Although I have read quite a few PMP books, I was able to pass the PMP exam (the latest version) by just preparing from this book. Of course, like everyone else, I had studied PMBOK Guide too. But this book cleared many concepts that I was previously confused about. I was able to read this book without the help of any other reference because it is a self contained book and is very simple to understand. I have read a criticism that this book does not cover some topics in enough depth, for example, quality management. I found that every topic in the PMP exam is adequately covered in this book. However, unlike other PMP books, the coverage is organized along the process groups which is consistent with the way exam objectives are organized. I consider this a PLUS for this book. However, if you are not careful you may wrongfully conclude that a knowledge area is not adequately covered. For example, take quality management. All the three processes of quality management are fully covered in this book but not in one chapter. The quality planning process is covered in the chapter on planning, the quality assurance process is covered in the chapter on executing the project, and the quality control process is covered in the chapter on monitoring and controlling. So, make no mistake, all topics covered by the exam are adequately covered in this book, and even in more depth than in any other PMP book. Furthermore, this is the only PMP book that explains the exam objectives at the beginning of each chapter, so you know what exam objective you are working on. Some other books seem to blindly cover the knowledge areas without caring about the exam objectives. I cannot recommend this book enough.

I've just passed the PMP exam (with flying colors) and I want to share my experience regarding the PMP exam study books with my fellow project managers who are planning to prepare for the PMP exam. On one hand I was happy to see so many PMP books available to help me, and on the other hand I was disappointed to see that most of them were outrageously or unreasonably high priced. However, I ended up buying and reading quite a few of them from cover to cover. Here are short reviews for the top four (in my opinion) of them: 1. This book. PMP In Depth by Paul Sanghera, Thomson Course Technology. I found this book best among all the PMP books. It's a self contained, to the point, and yet very comprehensive: all the topics (within the scope of the exam) are covered with adequate depth. The material is presented in a perfect logical learning sequence, and there is no hopping from topic to topic: perfect flow. Unlike other books, this book presents the material in order of the process groups (initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing), which is consistent with the way the PMP exam objectives (domains) by PMI are organized. And this is the only PMP exam book that explains the exam objectives (covered in each chapter) in the beginning of the chapter. This way you are always sure which exam objective you are working on, and it makes the exam preparation much easier and free of confusion. This is also a good book for the CAPM exam because it's self contained, easy, and interesting read. All concepts are clearly defined and explained, and the definitions are also listed at the end of each chapter for easy reference. There is a complete practice exam at the end of the book with very detailed answers: why a correct answer is correct and an incorrect answer is incorrect. I found that the practice exam combined with the review questions (and their detailed answers) at the end of each chapter makes enough number of questions to prepare me for the actual exam. I found the tone and difficulty level of the questions very compatible with the actual exam. Unlike most of other PMP books, this book is very reasonably priced. I recommend this book to anyone who is planning to prepare for the PMP exam, CAPM exam, or just want to learn the basics of project management. 2. The PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy, RMC Publications. This is not a self contained book. There are lots of references to PMBOK Guide. Lots of empty pages for you to fill. That said, it is a very good book (or should I call it an excellent collection of lecture notes) if you are either taking a course from the author or from an instructor who is using this book as a text book. There are lots of exercises. I feel that the underlying assumption is that the gaps in the book will be filled either by PMBOK Guide or by the instructor in the course. So, Topics are not covered with enough depth. Also there is a poor flow and a lots of hopping from topic to topic. The presentation of the ma