How to Pass Your PMI Examination

Published May 25, 2012

Project management certifications are hot. If PMI's PMP or CAPM credentials are on your career wish list, you need to read this down-to-earth advice on how to prepare for and pass PMI exams without breaking a sweat.

If you’re like most people, you dread taking exams. For some, the thought of an exam is enough to send them into a panic attack. Why do we dread exams? Okay, there’s the big bucks just to register for PMI’s exams. There’s the issue of what your peers and employers are going to say if you don’t pass. And there’s all the time you’ve invested when you could have been watching reruns of Fantasy Island. The real problem isn’t taking the exam, it’s preparing to pass the exam.

Prepare Yourself for Success

I’ve got a buddy who prepares himself for failure. He doesn’t believe it, but it’s true. How does he do it? He’ll tell himself over and over that he is not good at taking exams. By the time he starts an exam, his brain has been conditioned that it’s okay for him to fail because he’s not good at taking exams. The moral? Tell yourself that you are good at passing exams.

When you register, don’t register for an exam—register to pass an exam. I deeply believe that preparing yourself to pass an exam is different from preparing yourself to take an exam.

Your first step in preparing for success is to set a deadline. Not a wavering deadline either. Get online and get your application done. Once your application has been approved, pick up the phone, call the testing center, and set a concrete date to pass the exam. Even if the date is three months away, you know it’s there, it’s real, and you’re moving toward it.

How (and What) Do I Study?

PMI has published the exam objectives of the PMP examination and the CAPM examination. They are listed on PMI’s website and you can download them for free. Your cheat sheets will help you pass the exam by focusing on the core concepts and formulas, but you’ll need an understanding of these concepts in order to really pass the examination. I do recommend that people understand the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and I highly recommend my book The PMP Study Guide (ISBN: 0072262907). And yes, there are other great PMP study books available but I believe, of course, that my book is the best.

First off, study every single day at exactly the same time. When you prepare for your exam, study every day at the same time that coincides with the exam start time. Alternate the length of your study time: two hours one day, four hours the next. In the long sessions you should be reading and taking practice exams; in the short sessions, review your flashcards, practice with these cards and take notes.

One of the most effective tools you can use to learn new material is flashcards. I love flashcards. Get yourself five hundred or so three-by-five cards, and write a term on one side and the definition on the other. Don’t buy any manufactured cards; the process of creating the cards is part of the study method. Buzz through the cards daily, and you’ll be well on your way. Things you can do with flashcards: keep score, see how many cards you can get correct before you miss one, and play Jeopardy with them by using the definition instead of the term.

So many folks out there invest hundreds of dollars in books to prep for exams, but fail to use them properly. Huh? That’s right: They only read them; they don’t use them. To use a book to study for a PMI exam you need to create a lab so you can work with the product. Create a clean, clutter-free exam-passing environment to read, create notecards, study, and complete practice exams. If noise bothers you put on some headphone or earplugs - you’ll have this option in the testing center as well.