Congratulations Brian!
Brian recently achieved the PMP® certification after taking Solarity’s PMP® / CAPM® Exam Preparation with Coaching course.
Brian is a Project Manager with Tenmast Software, based in Lexington, KY. He is a member of both the global & local chapters of the Project Management Institute (PMI)®. His experience includes project management, sales management & organizational leadership in the software, public safety, & food industries.
Brian has a degree in Marketing from Morehead State University. He is happily married and has two grown sons.
Lessons Learned from taking the Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam
1) Be SURE and schedule your exam as soon as possible AFTER taking the Prep Class. I took the class in the Spring and had every intention to have my certification by July 4th. Unfortunately, I did NOT have my test scheduled and “Life” began happening. Projects at work started piling up and I started moving my date later and later. When I saw that the test would be changing in January, I knew I had to act. I pulled out my notes and books and after about a week of studying, realized that I needed another shot of motivation and a refresher over the course material to get me back on track………so I took the Prep Class again! This was exactly what I needed to get me going again.
2) Tests – NOBODY wants to sit for a 4 hour test! However, having been away from formal study for a number of years, I found it very helpful to sit for the practice tests in order to get used to focusing for a long period of time again. I took 3 practice tests over my prep time. I found the actual test more difficult that any of the ones in the practice. It seemed that the language they used was very ambiguous and I found I had to read questions twice because there was a lot of inference that had to be caught in order to get the question correct.
3) Study Time – For the past 3 weeks, I have studied at least 2 hours every evening (except maybe 3) as well as 6 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. The constant emersion in the material really brought it home. However, I do think you can over study! I found that on Monday I was ready for the test, however, on Wednesday, the day before my test, I was starting to lock up on some information that I had learned.
The class time at Solarity was essential to my successfully passing the exam.
“The interactive training style between the instructors and the class helped to focus my learning, especially in some of the more difficult areas. I found that as the trainers and my classmates shared from their “real life” experiences, it helped to clarify the concepts that were unfamiliar to me because they were not a part of my present job responsibilities. I highly recommend Solarity and their staff and will use them for all of my professional development training.” – Brian McBrayer