Want to know how hard it is to get PMP certified? Approximately 50 to 60% of the candidates clear the PMP exam in their very first attempt which means that the failure rate ranges roughly between 40 to 50%. This itself tells us that getting PMP Certification is not as easy as many people think it to be.
The main reason behind the failure is underestimating the difficulty level of the exam or not getting enough time to prepare fully for the exam. This seems to be reasonable because project managers are usually quite busy with their work.
However, if you give enough to prepare yourself for this exam and go through the PMBOK and other study materials thoroughly there shouldn’t be any reason for you to not clear this exam. Let us now look at the reasons which make the PMP exam fairly difficult:
Lengthy study materials
- The first reference book or study material that you will have to go through and understand fully is the PMBOK (Project Management Book of Knowledge).
- It contains a lot of information as it covers all the five domains i.e. initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing.
- You not only have to go through all the concepts mentioned in this book but you also need to remember them. Moreover, this book will cover only up to 75% of the questions that are asked in the exam.
- To be able to answer the questions that are asked from outside this book, you will have to download some study materials from the internet to get a broader understanding of all the key points.
- These study materials are also quite lengthy and you will have to devote considerable time to grasp their key points perfectly.
Complex Structure of Exam
- The PMP Exam comprises 200 questions which are of MCQ (Multiple Choice Question) type. You get only 4 hours to answer all the 200 questions.
- Out of these 200, 175 questions will determine your marks and the 25 pretest questions will not contribute towards your final score.
- However, these 25 questions will appear randomly among the other questions and you will not have any clue whether you are answering a pretest question or a real one. These pretest questions are only asked to check whether a particular question is difficult or easy.
- If too many candidates can answer a pretest question easily then it will not be considered in the future PMP exams whereas if the majority of the candidates find a pretest question difficult then it may be used as a real question in the future exam.
- These pretest questions are also quite tricky sometimes and may waste too much of your time unnecessarily.
- Also, these questions may shatter the confidence of a candidate as too many tricky questions affect the confidence of the candidates because of which they may also fail to answer the real questions correctly.
Difficult level of questions
- The difficulty level of the questions is also quite high as its purpose is to validate your understanding of core concepts and even your skills to apply your knowledge in solving real-life problems will get tested while answering them.
- Apart from the study materials, you will also have to use the experience you have gained while working as a project manager to answer all the questions precisely. Some of the questions will be theoretical whereas some of them will be based on real-life situations.
- You will also need to calculate and draw graphs to figure out the answers to some of these questions. Therefore, answering the questions of the PMP exam is not a cakewalk at all.
- Also, it is not easy to answer the questions based on your interpretation of the concepts of PMBOK, and neither will it be easy to answer them based on your experience.
- Therefore, you will have to make a structure of PMBOK virtually in your mind and memorize the PMI’s Standard to be able to answer these questions.
How to pass a PMP certification exam in the first attempt?
- To solve the above-mentioned issues you need to prepare yourself mentally first and then you must also give enough time to go through all the important topics on which the questions are asked in a PMP exam.
- We recommend you to at least study 2 hours daily for a month or more so that you can devote at least 60 hours in total for the preparation of this exam.
- The 35-hour contact training program that is mandatory to complete before taking the exam will also shed some light on important topics.
- You should also take multiple simulation tests (mock tests) that are provided by many websites these days. Even if you find the questions of the simulation tests difficult, do not let it hamper your psychological state.
- These questions will only prepare your mind to understand the tricky words and how the questions are asked in a real exam.
- The more mock tests you clear the more comfortable you will get while answering them and you will be able to jump over the hurdles created by tricky words without any issues. This will ultimately help you clear the PMP exam with good marks!
It’s not that difficult to crack the PMP certification exam in first attempt. We offer 100% money back guarantee if you unfortunately fail the PMP exam in first go. To get started call us at 510-779-9040 or write to us at info@syncitlearning.com
