Books I referred

To begin with, I found PMBOK very dull and sleep inducing. I could never read more than 5 pages at a stretch. My problem was solved when I had an encounter with HeadFirst PMP and I fell in love with this book. It's approach took me completely and I found it very interesting to read. I stopped reading the book only to get back to it quickly and finished reading the entire book in less than a month. The concepts settled in easily with the examples used in the book. The exercises kept me busy and hooked.They reinforced all the learning quite successfully.

The next book that I referred was Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep. This book follows a completely different approach but it takes one's attention towards important aspects of PMP exam. I didn't follow Rita's process chart at all as I thought it would confuse me but the tips and tricks, PMIisms helped a lot. The questions at the end of chapters were good but I wasn't convinced with a lot of answers. Their explanations were debatable wherever I got them wrong. In such questions, two answer options were either too close or both were correct. In the actual exam, I hardly saw such confusing choices. Overall, the book and questions help a lot as they help you aim higher and they get you out of your over-confidence if you have it. ;-)

I started reading PMBOK after finishing Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep. This time, everything in PMBOK made a lot of sense. I could find a lot of points which could make up questions. One reason why this happened could be because of the practice tests that I took before reading PMBOK. I read PMBOK very carefully - paying attention to each and every sentence. At times, i used to read some paragraphs more than once. The interpersonal skills appendix and the glossary helps a lot.

So, that was about the books that helped me Earn my PMP.

~ Qais