Thiago França, working as a product development engineer at General Motors, recently passed the PMP exam. We asked for his PMP Exam Prep tips for the PMP aspirants and he gave us great tips to pass the PMP exam successfully.
PMP Exam Prep Tips from Thiago, from Brazil
Thiago studied for the exam with our online PMP training and he got PMP certified in his first attempt. Check out his recently received PMP certification!
And before deep diving into his PMP exam prep tips here is Thiago’s PMP exam result:
1- ) How long did you study for the PMP exam?
I never had contact with PMBOK before signing up for the 35 hr PMP preparatory course here at the Master of Project Academy. That means I didn’t do an MBA in project management at a university here in Brazil (which most people do here before to get PMP). I decided to learn by myself, in a self-taught methodology, using online resources and books.
My first step was to take Master of Project Academy’s PMP course. In the course, I learned in a very didactic way, with videos and very practical examples. This facilitated my understanding of project management. All my doubts were quickly answered by the support team. Thank you! I also used PMBOK a lot to learn more. Only with the course did I become a much better professional at General Motors South America, generating more positive results in my projects. So, attending in PMP training of Master of Project Academy can be one of the first PMP exam prep tips I could give.
So, I believe that the foundation of my “project to pass the PMP” comes from here from the Master of Project Academy. So I am very grateful for the work of the Master of Project Academy team. Well done, guys!
In addition, I am Brazilian and my native language is Portuguese. I chose to take the entire course in English, and study all the materials in English. This helped me to improve my language and at the same time acquire the title PMP. But also, it made my journey much more difficult. You should believe that! But hard work pays off!
So, I consider that it took about 6 months for me to pass the PMP exam after starting my studies. As I have a job, I dedicated myself to during lunch, free time, and weekends. Due to COVID-19 and the quarantine, I was able to intensify my efforts.
2- ) What was the biggest struggle when preparing for the PMP exam?
My biggest initial difficulty was the issue of the English language. I had to check the dictionary frequently. It was not an easy thing during my PMP exam prep.
Another struggle is that after you understand all the PMBOK processes, ins, outs, tools & techniques, etc. You need to dedicate yourself to understanding the questions and choosing the best answer. I found this quite challenging.
But the most challenging was making decisions extremely quickly. In the exam, we need to answer each question in a maximum of 1.2 minutes. This is too hard! It’s like a marathon, you won’t be the finalist if you only train for 1 week. You need to train a lot! Sweat your shirt to stand out and have a chance to win. This analogy is amongst my most important PMP Exam Prep Tips.
3- ) How was the quality of PMP training materials?
I felt the PMP course materials of Master of Project Academy was excellent. I have led a number of projects and I realized over the course of my PMP study efforts, that I was missing some valuable knowledge capital and terminology that the training from the material that Master of Project Academy provided. Their PMP training is the foundation of my PMP pass success.
4- ) How much similar were the questions in the real PMP exam when you considered?
They are similar, but not identical. It means that phrases or wording used on the real PMP exam may be different, but the concepts used or the root of the question was the same. At some points during the exam, I had to re-read the question and think about what the question was really asking. Therefore, as part of my PMP exam prep tips, I would recommend you to re-read the questions if you did not clearly understand what is asked.
Another advice is to seek to answer the maximum amount of simulations possible. The questions here are great, but you should go after other sources, books, websites, etc. Remember that the more questions you answer, the more likely you are to pass in PMP. Because answering the questions with quality demonstrates that you have mastered the subject.
A success indicator is your score, if you score above 75% it means you have a good chance of approval.
5- ) How many sample PMP exam questions did you practice before the exam?
Besides the 125 PMP sample questions and 200 questions PMP sample exam provided as a part of the Master of Project Academy PMP course, I took ten other sample exams with 200 questions of 4 hours duration.
But I answered hundreds of questions separately from other books and websites without worrying about the time. Initially, you take a long time to understand the question and decide the answer.
6- ) How was the support you received throughout the PMP training?
I found that if I had any questions about the material, I could search the comments where I would usually find my question already addressed.
I sent several queries by email or posted them in the comments. They answered all of them with great quality and clarity.
Also, other PMP pass stories and recommendations in the discussion forum of the course are very inspiring. These gave me the information needed to adjust my study plan and to get the need motivation to “run the marathon” and pass the PMP.
7- ) Do you have any PMP exam prep tips for future PMP candidates?
Just five things:
1. Do not be overwhelmed by the material. Break it down into smaller digestible pieces that you can understand and retain. Similar to the decomposition technique used for WBS creation.
2. Work your emotional intelligence, because the anxiety will appear with intensity. You need to understand that the journey is long, and you need to be very determined and dedicated to overcoming all challenges.
3. Answer as many questions as you can. For the ones that you make a mistake, reflect and understand in detail why you made this mistake and which answer is the correct one. For questions that you are not 100% sure of the answer, spend time reviewing, and understand why you had this doubt and how you should have thought.
4. Take advantage of all the content here in the course, and make a summary in a mind map format for you to visit temporarily. This will facilitate memory retention of information. The PMP exam course has an incredible didactics and summary. I will use it my whole life. Thanks again, Master of Project Academy!
5. Get Certified! In today’s world, it does not matter how skilled you are in project management. If you do not have the certification, employers will not look at your resume.
8- ) Do you have any tips for the PMP exam day?
In relation to the formulas, I developed a methodology to carry them out. You just have to put it on your calendar an event to “write the formulas on a sheet” for every two days. When the time comes you go there and write all the PMBOK formulas on paper, the ones you miss, you can have a look at them. As the days go by, you will memorize it by default. This method worked 100% for me and I was able to remember everything during the PMP exam! I learned it from Renato Alves who is the Brazilian memorization champion.
- Be calm.
- Read each question carefully.
- Keep an eye on the race clock and always make an assessment if you are late and how late. If necessary, skip long questions or more difficult ones. You need to try to answer the 200 questions.
- Mark any question that you are not sure of for review. Come back to them later.
- Use the tools to emphasize the words, so that you can highlight the important points of the question. As the tool to cross out the answers so you can eliminate the wrong answers and focus on the correct ones and make a well-informed decision.
- Practice the tests with noises from your neighbors, streets, and dogs. In my simulations, everything was silent, because I used an earplug (this is allowed in the face-to-face test). However, due to COVID-19, PMI started offering online testing at home. Therefore, we were unable to use anything (since it could be understood as cheating). On the day of the exam, all the noises in the universe happened during my test 🙂 (neighbors singing, sound cars passing on the street, dogs barking, construction workers at work, etc.) that disturbed my concentration and reduced my performance a little.
- Utilize the four hours you are allotted for the test to double-check your answers.
9- ) If you would give 3 tips to your close friend about PMP certification, what would you recommend as part of your PMP exam prep tips?
1. Some memorization is important, but understanding is critical. In my point of view, the PMP exam tends to assess whether the candidate is able to solve with quality and technical basis all the main challenges of a large project, based on the best practices of project management given by the PMBOK 6th edition.
2. Carefully read an entire PMP preparation book of your choice. It will help you understand how to connect all processes, what types of knowledge are expected in the PMP exam.
3. Take lots of practice exams and most importantly, learn from your mistakes. Go up one step at a time that one day you get there to pass PMP!
10- ) Finally, how likely is it that you would recommend Master of Project Academy to a friend or colleague?
For me, the bottom line is “Did I receive the knowledge required to pass the exam?” The answer to that is “Yes!” I passed the PMP on my first attempt, taking the exam in English that is a language different than my native language (which increased the degree of difficulty further).
My performance was very good. I scored “Above the target” for Executing and Monitoring & controlling, “Target” for initiating and planning, and “Needs improvement” for closing.
In addition to doing a great job of preparing me for the PMP exam, this course is a tremendous value. I would whole-heartedly recommend the PMP course of Master of Project Academy to anyone seeking to pass the PMP certification exam.
About Thiago:
As only 32 years old, Thiago França has been working as a product development engineer at General Motors South America for the past 6 years and 6 months. He works with management, coordination, and execution of global projects for the development of active safety electronics, passive safety electronics, and electronic and chassis electronics for new vehicle design for the Chevrolet brand.
Thiago is a PMP electrical engineer who graduated from São Paulo State University with more than 9 years of experience in global product development in the global automotive industry. He is able to solve complex problems, and have deep experience in project management, coordination, management, and execution.
Thiago is currently studying the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a master’s degree in Management and Team Management in ENEB (European Business School of Barcelona) in Spain.
He has led projects on all 7 continents of the world and developed several electronic components and vehicle systems contributing to the launch and upgrades of the following vehicles: Chevrolet S10, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Chevrolet new Onix, Chevrolet Onix, Chevrolet new Tracker, Chevrolet Prisma, Chevrolet Cobalt, Chevrolet Spin, Ford Ranger, Ford Focus and Ford Fusion Hybrid.