3 Tips to Get PMP Certified Before the End of the Year

This week, Ricardo will address a question he has been receiving in the past weeks: Should I sit my PMP Exam now, or should I wait until 2021? In this episode, Ricardo tries to answer this question and provide some last-minute tips for those who do not want to “procrastinate” and get the job done this year.

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Episode transcript

The transcript is generated automatically by Podscribe, Sonix, Otter and other electronic transcription services.

0 (4s):
Hello, everyone.

Ricardo (4s):
Welcome to the 5 Min podcast. Today I like to discuss the PMP exam. I have been receiving messages pretty much every day with people or asking questions about the PMP. Ah, should I do it, or do you have any tips and advice? So I decided to record this podcast, then also record the video that I just put on my YouTube channel so people can have access to what I really think. And I'm talking here on my behalf. Just remember, I don't know.., My PMP Exam was 21 years ago. So it was not yesterday. PMP was very different. It was a paper base at Exam. So it was different from what is it today, ok?

Ricardo (48s):
And I don't work directly with PMP preparation. I have no books on PMP preparation. I have no courses on that. The only thing I have that I did without this intention is I publish a YouTube video that became quite a popular explaining how to understand it. And I did that or not because of the PMP. However, I would say that 80% of the people that listen to that video, they are aiming to this day exam. And so I did that to help people to understand. So right now, let me try to answer one question for you and give you three tips for the exam. My first question, should I do the exam this year or wait for next year?

Ricardo (1m 33s):
This is probably the million-dollar question in my answer is: it depends. I know that none of you are. We don't want to hear that you would love that. I would say yes or no, but let me explain first, if you have not started if the PMP credential is something in your bucket, list, it something that you desired to do, but you are not yet doing them, preparing yourself. I believe you should wait. I would go straight to the new version of the PMBOK and do the Exam. All right. And then next year. However, if you'll have already started, or if you are doing an MBA that covers the PMBOK 6 Ed, or even if you have already started studying, or if you start your own process, your certification process, should you do?

Ricardo (2m 24s):
Yes, you are not only should do it, but you must do it. Why? Because next year the exam may be different and you may lose some of the leverage that you will already build. So this is why it's so important to do that in order to do this. Let me give you now the three tips. First one scandal Your Exam schedule your exam. And I know that many of you will say Ricardo, but I'm not ready. If you wait for you to be ready to schedule Your Exam your sitting on your seat for the Exam. You will do your Exam in 2030 or 50.

Ricardo (3m 6s):
Because always something that will happen that will require you to do something else to do something now. And you could just start deleting things. These days are technically called the Pearl crostini nation, or do you need to fight it? And the way you fight is by scheduling Your Exam. I do this for every single certification I did in my life. I start not by studying as soon as I know what is the content is about. And I know a little bit about what will be asked in the exam. I scheduled an Exam and then I start reading because if you schedule an exam with a, you know, no refund policy or something like that, you will make it.

Ricardo (3m 50s):
You will, you will find the time. You will move to a light time to get the job done. Or if you don't have this deadline, you will just delay, delay, delay. And then 10 years later, you are not done yet. My second tip it's understood that the Exam is not a memory test. It's not a memory test. As you see in this video, on YouTube about the PMBOK, I try hard to show and explain to people the logic of how things happen. I tried to use an analogy with a birth certificate. They are tweens at the process, and that tried to use that to make you understand it's not memory, because if you only memorize everything first, it will not help you too much on the exam because the Exam will ask you.

Ricardo (4m 44s):
There are things about understanding that concept, it will never help you in your professional life because of the problems we face in our life regarding our projects, they are not memory problems. They are logical problems. They are a connection so that you need to understand how the pieces to make the full picture of your project. And it's impossible to understand this just by memorizing. So try to understand, look at the flow, look at the process to try to understand why the plan quality and plan scope. They are similar, but they can do different approaches to the project.

Ricardo (5m 24s):
One related to the work. The other one is related to the requirements. Think about that. This is what really matters. It, it will show that you know and that you have the knowledge to pass. And this drives me too. The truth, the truth it's that the Exam is always an exam. And then Exam is a simplification of reality. Let me give you an analogy. You, for example, are doing a driving test. Okay? Do you get a driver's license and that three minutes, four minutes, five minutes of your test? It's a simplification, not the reality of your driving.

Ricardo (6m 4s):
This is the same for PMP. So PMI did the best possible. They fought to evaluate you in a time frame, your knowledge is on the subject, but it's fast and you need to be prepared for that test. So when you do classes to learn how to drive, your instructor tells you to do that, do that, put their hands here. It says exactly because you want to understand how the test is. In the same aspect, the only way for you to learn how to do an exam is by doing mock exempts, by doing simulate questions, using simulate test banks.

Ricardo (6m 46s):
There are hundreds on the web and you must do, trust me, at least a thousand questions before the Exam. A thousand is a magic number. Five tests. And then, you will consider yourself ready when you become so tired of the questions. Again, they look all similar to you. You take the questions on the 700th question, question number 700, and then you say: I already did this before. When you have this feeling, BINGO, you are on the right track. And when you start getting 90% of the mock Exam, 90 to 95, you are ready to do, because your score on the actual exam will be different, will be because the exam is different.

Ricardo (7m 35s):
You are nervous. It's a different circumstance. So you need to have this, you know, this little bit of reserve, to cut in the actual Exam and press me just make it. Don't overthink it. If you want to get by the end of the year with your PMP credential, just go for it. Just go scan up and go for it. There is no easy path to go for it. Okay. And I can tell you the only one thing if you want to do this and you do this, you finish your year with this credential and now, with your mind is clear for next year, it would be a big win for you on this challenging year of 2020.

Ricardo (8m 18s):
So I wish those who are doing this exam this year, all of the best, a lot of success for you, for all those who are thinking about doing this next year, don't let procrastination to dominate your life. So be mindful of that. Okay? Take care of folks and see you next week with another 5 Min Podcast.

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