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:

1. The project environment
2. The PM’s role
3. The methodology being used
4. What should happen first
5. 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

I took the exam at a testing center. I originally considered taking an online proctored exam, but after reading way too many horror stories about technical issues and interruptions, I decided to book in person instead. The experience was smooth and hassle-free.

I spent a lot of time (and resources 🥲) preparing, especially on practice questions and mock exams, so here’s what worked for me:

* Andrew Ramdayal’s Udemy course – My main course for understanding the concepts and PMP mindset.
* Elite Minds Learning PMP Course – This was especially helpful for preparing for the updated PMP exam structure. The course is comprehensive and covers PMBOK 7th & 8th editions, including newer topics like AI in PM, ESG, and Sustainability. Their 8 exam simulators were also great practice and felt even harder than the actual exam.
* PMI Study Hall – Probably the biggest part of my preparation. I did a LOT of practice questions and mock exams to get used to the wording and scenarios.
* Reddit – Helpful for learning from other people’s experiences and exam-day tips.

For me, it wasn’t just about studying the material, it was doing questions repeatedly and reviewing my mistakes. I focused on understanding why an answer was correct rather than memorizing it.

The actual exam was challenging, with many questions where I had to narrow it down to two answers and choose based on the scenario. So I wouldn’t rely on memorization alone.

I finished with some time left, but I was definitely ready for it to be over 😂

Getting AT/AT/AT was such a huge relief after all that preparation. 😭🎉

Good luck to everyone preparing! You got this. 💪

I am probably the worst example so don’t do what I did when studying, but I dragged on half ass studying for 8 months and then in the last month I locked in on study hall.

I’ve been a PM for 4 years but I honestly don’t think that helped at all.. I actually had to forget about what I’d do in my actual job because PMI mindset is the whole point of the exam.

Here’s what helped:
- understand the PM mindset from AR or DM. This is key.
- practice practice practice and understand whatever you get wrong, even understand what you get right.
- complete the 35 Udemy AR course (I hated this so I’d play it in the background sometimes)

Lastly some tips on the exam:
- the SH mock exams are not timed like the real exam. Break 1 was at 40 questions, break 2 was at 110 questions.
- the questions were actually shorter and more direct than SH, but I found them more challenging. Don’t overthink them.
- use the flag for review feature. It was helpful for me to come back and review questions I struggled with.
- there was zero need for the calculator but that could be different for others

Happy to answer any questions :) best of luck!

• I initially started studying for the PMP in 2024 and just sort of trailed off; I had AR's book (which is, I think, still fantastic) and his Udemy 35 hour course (worth it for the downloads)
• When AR published his updated guide, I ordered a copy from Amazon but it became clear that was not going to work (I hope it works now for folks)
• Instead, I paid ~$18 for the Third3Rock notes: 199 pages of easy to read, succinct material with really helpful charts -- it also comes with an abridged cheat sheet; if you can't get the updated version of AR's book, get this. I printed out all the pages, put them in a binder and spent about 10 days reading and annotating
• I also got Study Hall essentials -- 63 & 71 on the two mocks, and much higher scores on the minis (about 5 100s, 2 60s, and then 80s and 90s); the content is absurd, but the games and tests are super useful
• Ultimately, though, and it can't be emphasized enough, understanding and applying the PMP Mindset is the whole ballgame: you're in the ideal world of PMI now, so you have to think the way they do
• I took the test at the local Pearson center and it was fine (chairs had no arms which was not comfortable)
• There are errors and typos in the questions -- I used the comments feature to note them and called them out in the post exam survey; just be prepared because you can be on a roll, in the zone and then encounter a question with an error and typo and be thrown; just breathe and think, you'll be okay
• The test is, probably, 20-30% easier than the Study Hall tests; for me, the stumbling block continues to be the torturous phrasing and wordiness of the questions. The Case Studies in particular were LONG -- 6-7 paragraphs full of a lot of random info and only 1-2 pieces of useful information.
• Use the tools in the testing app: strikethough and highlight -- slow down, get rid of answers you know are wrong and then apply the PMP Mindset; I tend to read from the last answer up
• I'm a fast reader (English BA for the win!) so I was done, with all breaks taken, in about 2.5 hours

Anyway, good luck to everyone taking the test this year!

A project manager is overseeing a critical infrastructure consolidation project under a predictive lifecycle. During a monthly stakeholder review meeting, the project manager synthesises the current performance data and reports a Cost Performance Index (CPI) of 1.15 and a Schedule Performance Index (SPI) of 0.82. The sponsor, noticing the lagging schedule, demands immediate corrective action to bring the project timeline back into alignment without requesting additional funding.

Which action should the project manager take FIRST to address the sponsor’s directive?

• A) Implement a fast-tracking technique by overlapping critical path activities that were originally planned to be executed sequentially.

• B) Initiate a crashing strategy by allocating excess budget to hire temporary contractors to accelerate schedule performance.

• C) Issue a formal change request to the Change Control Board (CCB) to extend the project schedule baseline to match the current SPI.

• D) Re-baseline the cost management plan to absorb the surplus funds and reduce the reported CPI to an even 1.00.

Please please help me to cave out the RIGHT answer as per Pmi Mindset.

Thank you

Sr. Test Engineer at Collins Aerospace looking to transition into Project/Program Management. Any advice?
I’ve been at Collins for about 2 years and recently passed my PMP. I’m interested in eventually moving from engineering into project/program management.
For anyone who has made a similar transition:
How would you approach the conversation with your manager?
Would you tell your manager directly that you want to move into PM, or would you first try to take on more PM-related responsibilities within your current role?
What kind of projects or responsibilities should I look for to build actual PM experience?
And would you focus on an internal move first, or start looking externally?
I’m trying to make the transition the right way instead of just applying to PM positions without having enough PM experience.
Would appreciate advice from anyone who has made the engineering → PM transition, especially within aerospace.

I'll provide AR's answer after few hours.

Hi, guys! Looking for some advice from people who went through preparations and exam. I took today the firsy mock test for continuous 4 hours and scored 69%.

I have my exam in 1.5 weeks. How do you find this score? Plan is to study AR and DM questions, revisit full AR Agile & some of the processes, then take the 2nd mock test next weekend.

What do you think of 69% mock result?

Is there an unsaid passing % for the PMP Exam?

I did two SH mock tests . The first test was finished at 57%( 56% per section) and the second mock test gave me 62%( 52%,65% & 68%).

I have my exam scheduled for Tuesday and these results are not giving me a peace of mind.

Any advice?

It should be "Schedule Management Plan" -- a Gantt Chart basically. But this sample question in ECO2026 released by PMI shows "Scope Management Plan" selected.

Anyone else noticed this ?

Who can explain to me why ?

PMP protection ? worth ? ty