Degree and Graduation Seminar

The Tests

Test breakdown• The questions on the PMP certification test, as well

as the questions on the final and graduation tests, are as follows:– Project Initiation 13%– Project Planning 24%– Project Execution 30%– Project Monitoring and Control 25%– Project Closing 8%

There are different types of questions

• You receive notification that a major item you are purchasing for a project will be delayed. What is the best thing to do? (Mulcahy, 2013)A. Ignore it; it will go awayB. Notify your bossC. Let the customer know about it, and talk over optionsD. Meet with the team and identify alternatives

Situational…

Go back and check the previous question and answers. Wouldn’t it also be right to let the customer know?.

That is correct, but notice that the question is what is the BEST thing to do.

Questions with several correct answers…

Experience shows that each time you double the the production of doors, unit costs decrease by 10%. Based on this, the company determines that production of 3000 doors should cost $21000. This case illustrates: (Mulcahy, 2013)

A. Learning cycle.B. Parametric cost estimating.C. Law of diminishing resources.D. 80/20 rule.

Questions with irrelevant information, meant to confuse…

Questions with made-up termsQuestions where understanding is importantQuestions with a new approach to known topicQuestions with more than one item in each choiceExcessively wordy questionsQuestions where you definitely don’t know the answer

And so forth….

• Answer according to the PMBOK®, not your experience.• Read the 4 options before you answer.• Quickly eliminate the wrong answers.• Be fast, you have in average 1 minute and 12 seconds to

answer each question.• When answering think of big projects.• In excessively wordy questions, quickly identify the real

question.• Notice that a gramatically incorrect sentence in an answer

doesn’t disqualify it as the right answer.

Tips for the test

• Don’t be upset with impossible questions, if you definitely don’t know the answer, mark any of them. Do not leave questions unanswered.

• If you study well, you will most likely only have doubts in about 20% of the questions. Just continue, and after you finish the ones you know, go back to review the 20% where you had doubts.

• Take the night before the exam off, in order to be fully rested.

Tips for the test

10 Important things according to the PMI (Adapted from Lledó, 2013)

1. The company has defined and uses policies and processes for project management

2. There is always historical information on similar projects available for reference in planning a future project

3. The Project Manager (PM) is assigned during the project initiation, he/she has power, authority and his/her role is to prevent problems, not to deal with them

4. All work and stakeholders are identified before the project starts5. The WBS is the basis for all project planning6. Time and cost estimates aren’t final until a risk analysis is completed

10 Important things according to the PMI (Adapted from Lledó, 2013)

7. The PM defines metrics to measure quality before the project starts8. Each knowledge area has its own plan: scope, time, cost, quality, human

resources, communications, risk, procurement and stakeholders9. The project plan must be approved by all stakeholders, realistic, and

everybody must be convinced that it is doable10. Every project closes with a statement of the lessons learned