Certified!!!

Iks So

1d (edited) • PMP Success Stories

Certified!!!

So, I dont really have a community apart from this, so I'm posting here to celebrate.

My full journey/experience:

I start out here and on various forums looking for tips and tricks so finally I can share how I made it through

Originally registered about 7-8 years ago, left it for some reason. Came back in 2023. Again left it. FInally in 2025, I had time off and decided to really commit.
I signed up to PMI, paid for full membership. Bought the PMI PDU 35 Hour Course. Took forever to complete.
3 Months Later, Submitted the full application after reading a LOT of others experiences. I used a prompt to complete it, using my full work experience. I did not get audited thankfully. I can share the prompt if requested if you're at that stage. DO NOT WING IT! HAVE FAITH, ignore some of the horror stories, this set me back but made me convinced I had to have a strong application. I took the course hoping to limit any friction with my application as they do "check" for courses.
Decided to timebox my exam studying to 3 months. Starting in August 2025. October came and went, Christmas came and went, by March 2026 I felt the pressure that I'm just overthinkign it and having it as a constant over my head was not acceptable. I thought to give up. But I promised this to myself years ago and gave up many times. What if I BELIEVE instead? I doubled down in March 2026. Weekends, I took additional courses from Andrew's and the british guy on UDEMY since I have a subscription. I bought sample exams questions years ago, I reviewed them. I paid twice for Study Hall over the year. I used the ChatGPT PMI bot for Questions (really beat that up a bit lol) and I finally switched to a better AI and poured all my notes in to get better questions. Finally, Also bought Andrew's TIA Simulator. I still deferred. Finally after missing my April deadline, I just booked a date in May... Cleaned my office. Spent 48 hours straight on AI questions.
Exam Day. Webcam died randomly, lost 10-15 minutes of exam time. Lost 10 questions because I was so flustered. Mentally started imagining having to do it again. REFOCUSED. All of the questions were in klingon, I understood nada. Was this the right exam? Seemed so.... by 60 minute mark I nearly collapsed. Almost pulled the plug. 10 minute break. Went back... eyes glazed over by 120... I had about 65 minutes left. I'd really used a LOT of time. I said, dont over think go with your gut, God still loves you LOL I clicked my heart out... I finished with about 3 minutes to spare. Zero review time.
Exam ended, no results. I took it from home and had to wait "48 Hours"... nearly cried. I felt violated and exhausted and ran through from the questions.. My forehead ached.
Refreshed every 15 minutes until finally... Today. FINALLY...

PASSED.... 👏👏👏

I write this to say, every journey is different. And if yours is anything like mine it was a REAL test of commitment, discipline, memorization, interpretation, overcoming self-doubt and sabotaging the very thing you say you want.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS, if it works it works, if not... so what.. take the pressure off and TRY...

So... what NOT to do

I fell asleep in all of the UDEMY courses, never made it past 3 minutes of any of the YouTube questions either... too many voices/pronunciation/explanations.. I'd let it run hoping to "learn" by osmosis but it was a beautiful lullaby.. fell asleep like a baby
Best thing is to TEST and TEST and TEST... use something interactive to ASK it what you missed and why.... the videos can only repeat the same thing. A live test is the key to feel confident and inquire, like a real lecture/class. I was getting 95-99% on those tests.. and slightly lower on the couple I did in StudyHall. Also did well on the TIA Simulator.. but honestly, my own self-test was the best for me (since I could design it for any weak areas and go on and on and on)
Do not waste time reading PMBOK. Luckily it's exactly in the same place as the day I downloaded it, never touched.
Again repetition did it for me... but GOOD questions, tests of all kinds, backward and forward.
Do not study terminology, techniques.. study the processes, and scenarios. Driving Value, Conflict, People management.. that was 100% of my test. Not one single calculation.

GOOD LUCK. I made this long because I was LOOKING for this when I was on the journey, hate when people just say "AT/AT/AT... watched video, did TIA simulator, eating cake now" lol lucky you.. but some of us really had a journey to get to that AT/AT/AT haha.. so let's share a toast to surviving this process 🥂🍾, and of course.. a piece of cake too 🍰

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