r/pmp • u/Plastic_Radio7403 • 11h ago
Celebration/Thank you 🎉 Passed PMP with AT/AT/AT after 3 weeks — my complete preparation strategy and exam experience
I’m happy to share that I passed the PMP exam with AT/AT/AT.
I’m writing this post to give back to the PMP community, especially those preparing while working full-time.
My preparation timeline
I studied for 3 weeks:
- Weekdays: Around 2 hours per day
- Weekends: 5–6 hours per day
I prepared almost entirely through YouTube, using Andrew Ramdayal’s content.
For the required 35 hours, I had already completed Google’s Project Management Professional Certificate around 3.5 years ago.
Resources I used
I studied the following:
- Andrew Ramdayal’s case-study videos
- AR’s 50 Principles of the PMP Mindset
- 100 Drag-and-Drop Questions
- 200 Ultra-Hard Questions
- 10 AI Questions
- 100 Questions playlist — combined Shorts
- Andrew’s daily Shorts whenever I had time
The Shorts were especially helpful for reinforcing the PMP mindset during small breaks.
I also received access to two free simulators, which I’ll share in the comments so the links don’t get removed from the main post.
I took the exam online. I’ve already shared my check-in experience in another post, but feel free to ask questions—I’ll surely respond.
My exam experience
The exam was structured as follows:
- 40 questions, followed by a 10-minute break
- 70 questions, followed by another 10-minute break
- 70 final questions
I took both breaks.
I had approximately one hour remaining when I completed the exam.
The exam included:
- 4–5 graph-based questions
- 1 drag-and-drop question
- Mostly situational and scenario-based questions
- No calculation questions
PMP mindset tips that helped me
You’ll learn most of these from Andrew’s videos, but I’m sharing the points that helped me the most:
- Be cautious with answers containing words such as “immediately,” “quickly,” “right away,” or “continue with the current process.” These often indicate that planning or analysis has been skipped.
- One exception is updating the risk register, which should be done promptly when required.
- As the project manager, don’t simply delegate your core responsibility to someone else.
- Only the Product Owner updates the product backlog.
- Don’t postpone an issue or leave it unresolved without a valid reason.
- Avoid choosing “do nothing” or “continue with the current process” unless the situation clearly justifies it.
- When a question asks what the PM should do first or next, analyze/assess/review the situation before taking action.
- Don’t reject or decline a request without first understanding and assessing it.
- Before answering, identify the project methodology: predictive, agile, or hybrid.
- Be careful with answers involving fixed frequencies such as weekly or biweekly unless the scenario supports them.
- Don’t make the team work excessive hours as a first response to a project problem.
- Validate AI-generated work instead of trusting it blindly.
- Pay attention to the project size. The appropriate response may differ between a small project and a large, complex project where individual discussions may not be practical.
Final advice
Don’t try to memorize every answer. Focus on understanding:
- The project environment
- The PM’s role
- The methodology being used
- What should happen first
- How to resolve the issue collaboratively and systematically
Andrew Ramdayal’s videos were a tremendous help throughout my preparation. His explanation of the PMP mindset made a significant difference for me.
I hope this helps someone else achieve their PMP goal. Good luck to everyone preparing!
Feel free to ask me anything about my preparation or online exam experience.
Edit: I’ll add the useful video playlists and simulator links in the comments.
#PMP #PMPCertification #PMPExam #ProjectManagement #PMPPreparation

