PMP Exam Prep, Eighth Edition - Updated: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam Eighth Edition

This is hands-down the best book on the market for PMP exam prep. I've gone through SEVEN exam prep books (I have 5 of them on my desk right now...) and this is the only one I recommend. Andy Crowe's book is great and so is Kim Heldman's prep guide. Head-First PMP is great (and very visual) and PMP for Dummies is surprisingly well written. I still recommend Rita's over all of them.**Exam Prep Recommendations**This assumes you have already gone to PMI.org and verified you meet the criteria. You need to document and submit all of your PM experience/hours/info on their website before you can even pay for the exam. You may also be randomly selected for an audit RIGHT after you pay! Before you can submit your experience, you also need to obtain 35 hrs of formal PM education (aka a Boot Camp or an online class) at some point. I recommend taking a 35 hr online or in-person "PMP Boot Camp" session RIGHT before you take the test and after all of your own self-study. If you take a live boot camp class first, it will be VERY overwhelming (think: drinking water from a fire hose) and you will NOT retain a lot of what the instructor is saying!Read Rita's PMP Exam Prep! Take each of the chapter tests (on separate paper!), review your answers and figure out why you got the answer wrong AND right (you may average in the 50s-70s score-wise the first time). Download the PMP Examination Content Guide (google it - its on PMI.org) and understand the different tasks and ORDER of those tasks for each of the Process Groups. Then read the entire PMBOK. Yes, you need to read it! This is expensive and time-consuming exam. Don't mess up being lazy, even if you know a guy who knows a guy who said they didn't read the PMBOK! Once you finish the PMBOK (or you can do this part chapter by chapter as well), take all of the chapters tests again (you should now be in the high 80s to 100% range now).Go online and use good quality free mock 4-hour PMP exam resources, like PM Study, SimpliLearn, Edwel HeadFirstLabs and (if you want to cry...) Oliver Lehmann. Study each question you get wrong (or accidentally right!) through the PMBOK (and Rita it you'd like) before you take a different test. Don't bother re-taking these mock exams. If you can score 80%+ on the mock exams (the first time - repeats don't count!) then you are good (Olivers Lehmann test? 70% is good as his test may be slightly harder than the real one).You can easily memorize the Knowledge Areas, Process Groups and processes. You definitely do NOT need to memorize the ITTOs (unless your just wired for memorization) but you should UNDERSTAND them. It you understand each process, you can recall what Input/Tool/Technique/Output would be used. I could 'logic' my way into 75% of the ITTOs when I took my test but I never practiced rote memorization of them. You also want to understand them well enough that if a technique is 'described' you can identify it and possible understand what process you are in, thus answer what your next step should be. Oh, and you definitely need to know the formulas! All the Earned Value and Forecasting formulas, Communication Channels, Expected Monetary Value, etc.Be careful if you have a decade or more of PM experience. You'll need to LET IT GO in most cases to accept and absorb the PMBOK's best practices. Don't argue with the source materials! The exam is based off of the PMBOK NOT your experience at your companies! If you have little to no project management experience, please move along! This is for those that already have experience and want to certify it. Not only do you not qualify for the exam without quite a few years/hours of verifiable PM experience, you will have serious struggles even grasping the context of the materials! Most of my students with a good mid-range of experience (5-10 years professional PM) took 2-4 months to study for, take and successfully pass the exam.These tips from someone with 15 years PM experience and 5 years of PMP Boot Camp/Exam Prep Instructing experience and a high student passing percentage. Oh, and when I had to prep for and take the test in 4 weeks due to our original instructor bailing on us (and I didn't have a the cert yet) I developed method. Then I had my students apply it with great success over the years. All you need is PMBOK, 4-5 quality free online mock exams and RITA'S PMP PREP!Good Luck and Happy Studying! :)

I just successfully passed my PMP Exam on the first attempt. It took me four months to achieve this goal once I set my mind to seriously preparing for it. Keep in mind, that I was randomly selected for PMI's 20% Audit of my application, so this added about 2 months to my prep time. I cleared the audit with no issues, but it did take time due to the process. This book is the single biggest reason that I was able to pass on the first try, and I strongly recommend using it as your primary source for preparation. Each chapter corresponds to a chapter in the PMBOK 5th Edition, so I would read each chapter in Rita followed by the PMBOK Chapter. Once I completed each set of chapters in the 2 books, then I would move onto the next chapter. I would highlight key concepts in both books as I read them. Once I made the first run through each book, I went back through Rita again, and answered each of the review questions at the end of each chapter. I also reviewed each corresponding chapter of the PMBOK, but focused on the key concepts' that I previously highlighted only in both sets of books. I also purchased the corresponding Rita Flash Cards and reviewed these when I had a few minutes of down time at my Kids' soccer practices or on my lunch hour. This reinforced the concepts in the Rita Book and PMBOK. Finally, I took 4 x full length practice tests and answered a total of about 2,000 practice questions (using PMP apps on IOS that you can purchase at a reasonable price) prior to the exam. 4 days prior to the exam I went through my highlighted areas in each Rita Chapter again. 2 x days before the test, I took a full length practice test (one of the 4 I previously mentioned). The day before the test, I went through the flash cards again. All of this helped me successfully pass. I spent no more than 2 hours per day studying due to job and Family constraints. Plus, after 2 hours, i would lose focus. The bottom-line is that this is a very difficult test, and you must thoroughly prepare or you will fail. However, this book is great focal point for your preparation, and if you follow it and thoroughly prepare, then you should be able to pass on the first try. I use this book regularly in my job as a good reference.