Alright, the suspense is over!
We knew that the PMBOK 6th edition based exam is going to kick in soon.
It was also clear that it would be better to get PMP certification before the new exam comes into force, for obvious reasons –
- Anything NEW has uncertainty (along with the opportunity) about it. The new exam could have surprises in type of questions, level of difficulty in questions, and possibly even the scoring method.
- Did you know that PMI changed the scoring scale from 3-point scale to 4-point scale recently?. Would there bye any other change with the new exam? Only time will tell.
- If one were to be certain about passing the new exam, one should probably put more efforts that with the current exam, to ensure that nothing is left to chance.
- The amount of training material will be quite limited with the new exam – this could be a good thing, or not-so-good thing – based on how you look at it.
- To be reasonably certain about passing the new exam, expectations need to be understood – based on the experience of candidates that have taken the new exam. This would take some time, for the ‘dust to settle’, so to speak. Which means you’ll probably need to wait for 3-4 months after the new exam to know what to expect with some certainty.
Well, there are brighter side too with the new exam, most prominent of which is that –
- You are certified on the latest PMBOK version – which means you are certified on latest Project Management practices. This increases your value in the market.
If you chose to get yourself PMP certified on the current PMBOK 5th version of the exam, there was only one unknown which created havoc with PMP prep planning..
When is the NEW exam coming into play?
Without really knowing when the PMBOK 6th edition based exam kicks in, it would be hard to plan.
PMI did say that it would be sometime in Q1 of 2018.
And that was the problem.
You still had a 3 month window of uncertainty. It could be 1 January 2018 or 31 March 2018!
So the best bet was to plan was considering that the new exam could start from 1 January 2018 and plan accordingly.
Which meant that you needed to get your PMP in 2017 itself!
There was another problem.
Prometric exam slots were being grabbed in hurry.
Exam slots are a limited ‘commodity’ and with limited supply, the demand would increase.
Which further reduced your exam prep duration, based on the availability of exam slots!
So much of uncertainty. I’m sure if you were preparing for PMP exam, your head was spinning!
Well, things are clear now.
PMI announced that PMP exam will change to align with PMBOK 6th version on 26th March 2018.
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 6th version was released 0n 6th September, 2017 (it was released to REPs much earlier). And PMI decided to give some time for the certification aspirants to prepare for the new exam.
What does this mean to me?
The first thing is that if you are aiming for PMBOK-5 based current version to get your PMP certification, go hit the pub and celebrate!
Just kidding 🙂 – but there IS a reason to feel good – you have, from the date of this article, a little over 6 months to prepare and get your PMP!
That is a relief!
Even if you took your PMP exam on 25 March 2018, you would be tested against PMBOK-5 based concepts (well, we know that PMBOK alone is NOT the reference guide for PMP exam, it is just one of the primary study resources. PMP Examination Content Outline document is the syllabus of PMP exam. 🙂 )
By knowing the exact date till which you can take up PMBOK-5 based PMP exam, now you can plan better!
How should I go ahead for my planning?
Here are the suggested resources that thelp you with not just planning but also preparation –
- Planning Guide: How to Pass PMP before PMBOK-6 Exam Kicks-in
- PMP Study kick-start course: Top-down approach based 11-day email course (FREE) – PMP Study Blueprint
- Primary resource #1: PMBOK Guide (you’ll get for free soft-copy if you are a PMI member)
- Primary resource #2: PM PrepCast OR Simplilearn video course
- Primary resource #3: A good PMP Simulator
- To keep daily study momentum: even if all you have is 2 minutes: PMESN Facebook daily sample questions
- Supplementary resource #1: The Complete ‘Ace Your PMP® Exam’ Series: Essential PMP® Concepts Simplified – a 13-book series, including Kindle #1 Best Seller Book “Crack the New PMP Exam In 4 Weeks”, and PMP Cheatsheets
- Supplementary resource #2: PMP ‘Last Mile’ prep resources – Flashcards, Sample questions, Question types and specific strategies to attack them, PMP Mnemonics to remember difficult concepts, and more. Click here for limited time special discount.
- Leverage others’ exam experience (Free) : PMP Lessons Learned repository
- More suggested resources are here.
- A FREE PMP Simulator, to get a sense of how the real exam feels.
That’s it! It’s time to buckle up and crack that exam.
If you need any help, either write to me.
Good luck!
Shiv Shenoy
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