The Pmp Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, Fifth Edition

After studying Rita Mulcahy's "PMP Exam Prep" book for months, I found myself so frustrated and confused that I started looking for other material. I went online and found the positive reviews of Andy Crowe's "The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try" and bought the book, and I am SO glad I did! What took months to understand reading the overly-complex RMC book became crystal clear when I read Crowe's book. Crowe organizes his material well, and at the beginning of each chapter he conveniently defines the material's difficulty, memorization level and importance on the exam in terms of "High, Medium or Low". Each page has a tab on the edge that identifies what process you are in, so if you find yourself deep in concentration and suddenly wondering, "Hey am I reading about Quality Assurance or Quality Control?" there's a large indicator right in front of you to help. On a purely mechanical level, Crowe went out of his way to make sure this book was organized to help you study. I really appreciated that. The material itself is excellent. As some have pointed out, it is a little slim in some areas, but the book's purpose is to help you pass the exam and in this regard, Crowe admits that he glosses over some items that tend to appear less than others. I recommend you read this book and refer back to the PMBOK and one additional study guide whenever you are confused or need additional detail. I did find that PTA (Point of Total Assumption) was covered here, where it wasn't covered in the other material I used. I didn't find any major shortcomings in the coverage of the book. I have read criticisms of the book's grammar and spelling. I did find a few (under 5) spelling errors, but I honestly appreciated the "big print" type and simplistic words. The material covered on the PMP Exam is pretty complex and tough. And too many PMP education providers seem to think they have to mimic that complexity and difficulty to teach the material. It was incredibly refreshing to find a book that actually went out of its way to make the material simple. The book was also an easy and fast read, unlike all of the other materials I found. I read the first half of the book (up through the end of the "Time" chapter) in one day, and the second half in another day. I then went through the book with a highlighter and re-read it, in 2 days time again, highlighting all the key points. During each of these passes, I took the questions at the end of each chapter. Finally I skimmed the material several times, only glossing over the highlighted points. Doing this I could flip through the entire book in a day. I did that twice. Finally, two days before the exam I took the entire 200 question test at the end of the book, scoring 90%. The only suggestion I have to improve this book would be to make the exam questions more difficult, so that they more closely mimic the tough, brutal questions I encountered on the PMP exam. The free material at the Velociteach website was great

I cleared my pmp exam on my first try yesterday. As you know, PMBOK is a reference instead of a textbook. It is very useful, but definitely not a good starting point to learn about the PMI methodology. I knew I have to turn to other sources, which eventually lead to a procurement process. My requirement is very clear, I need some materials which can enable me to clear the exam ASAP (i.e. a short payback period). The specifications of the materials are as follows: 1. Explain everything straight-forward, so that I can capture the key points immediately 2. Light in weight, so that I can carry it around 3. Without lengthy-case to confuse me, so that I can focus on PMI methodology and principles, not the background information of other companies According to the comments (expert judgements) here, I "procured" two text books, one by Andy Crowe and another by Rita Mulcahy, the two most popular reference books about PMP. Two books were studied instead of one as I'm not sure whether one book is adequate or not, two books can mitigate the risk, the "unknown-unknown". I finished both within one month and was fully satisfied with their contents. Their only drawback is, the exercises provided are much easier than the actual exam. But I don't blame on the authors because the objective of these questions is let you verify your understanding (inspection). I checked the questions I missed and clarified my misunderstandings steadily (progressive elaboration). PMBOK is helpful in this stage to provide the official definition of key items. We all know that PMP means Project Management Professional, but it also means Practice Make Perfect. I passed my PMP exam (objectives achieved) as promised by Andy :) Based on the score sheet, I understand that I have some weak areas where I need "continuous improvement". Unlike PMI methodology, there is no closing process in learning. We have many similar idioms in Chinese. I've cleared the PMP exam on first try with both books. But I still believe that, the critical success factor to pass the exam does not lie on the tools only, but also the methodology how you prepared the exam. There should be many other textbooks available which can help. I am just lucky enough to use some of them.

I passed the PMP exam this morning on my first try. Thanks to this book and Rita Mulcahy's Exam Prep, I passed it with a wide margin. This is my favorite of the two as it gets to the point and really focuses on the key concepts in each knowlege area. I would recommend that you start out with this book as it gives you a good foundation without drowning you with minutia! Then switch to Rita's book to add the polish and finer details. The questions at the end of each chapter and the Final Exam in the book was a good representation of the actual exam. I really like the fact that Andy added a totally different final exam and didn't reuse any questions from the chapters. In this regard, this book was far above Rita's book. Summary: No regrets at all about buying this book. Will keep it as a quick reference at work.

Until you have actually sat for the PMP examination (a grueling 4 hour 200 question computer administered examination), it is really not possible to gauge the value of this book. After taking the test, I can say categorically, that it would not be possible for even the most experienced project manager to pass the test without having read Andy Crowe's book. The Project Management Institute (PMI) has defined a very robust set of processes and knowledge that comprises their view of project management. Often, however, this view is different than the experiences of many long time project managers. Andy's book logically lays open PMI's view of project management and provides the reader with the understanding of PMI's approach and how it also relates to many of our actual real world experiences. In a carefully planned order, the book covers each process group explaining the key elements and important items that the reader must remember in order to do their very best on the examination. The reader learns the why of PMI's approach so that they (the reader) can apply the "why" to answering the test questions. So, instead of having to memorize answers, the reader understands the underlying philosophy and, therefore, can deduce the correct answer by applying the PMI approach to each question. Although titled as a how to pass book, it really provides a useful guide to applying the PMI processes to any project. Andy gives the reader more than a guide to passing the test - this book is a great reference that will be useful long after the reader takes and passes the PMP examination. To help the reader with test preparation, the each chapter has review questions as well as a final examination. These questions are very similar to the kinds of questions and subject matter found in the examination that they really help to both assess the reader's readiness for the test as well as to provide an excellent practice tool. The book also provides insight as to the level of difficulty and approximate percentages of coverage each process group will represent in the actual exam. This helps the reader to focus their study time in order to maximize their study effectiveness. Having never used a "pass the test" book in the past, I was a bit skeptical. This book certainly demonstrated that it is possible to create a book that can actually come through a promise to pass on the first try. I have and will recommend this book as a must to anyone that is planning on taking the PMP examination.

PASS. First time out. Any questions?Seriously, I read the PMBOK cover to cover. DENSE. All the information is there, but it lacks several things that are crucial to a successful PMP exam preparation: intuitive organization, practice questions, and real-world applications.Andy Crowe's book fills the gap. It presents the information in a structured, easy-to-understand format that guides you through the 39 discrete processes, their interaction, and most importantly, what you need to know about each one to pass the exam.The final exam takes the concepts presented in the book and makes you think about them from yet another angle, and the fact that all the answers are there provides the last step in cementing the information in your head. My score on Andy's final and my score on the PMP exam were within 5 points of each other, so he obviously got it right.The PMP exam is extremely situational. Some questions have four correct answers! What they want from you is the BEST answer. Many others focus on order of operations and ask what you, as the project manager, should do FIRST. These real-world situations are covered clinically in the PMBOK, but stressed in detail in this book.Buy it. Read it. And Pass the PMP. I did.