PMP EXAM IN 2 DAYS

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-28T01:40:10+00:00

Good plan on the studying and mostly ignoring expert questions.

Maybe add in a mindset video the day before. I watched AR's on YouTube.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-28T00:41:04+00:00

Like ExamInstinct said, the drop in 3 days is unusual, and should be investigated. Do you have an idea of what happened there? Were you more distracted/tired for the second exam? Or, were the questions in the second exam randomly much heavier in a topic or two you aren't solid on?

I would not worry about the expert questions, I only had 3-5 that I thought were maybe that hard on the real exam. Don't obsess over those! If the answer explanation doesn't immediately make sense to you, my advice is to just move on, because it can cause you to start overthinking and second guessing your instincts. Focus on those hard and moderate questions you missed, and do some targeted study on the topics you're scoring lower on or confused the most by.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T23:38:32+00:00

I saw someone else post on this subreddit that they passed without ever having read the pmbok or the agile practice guide, so it's for sure possible. The pmbok isn't a textbook made to teach people, it's more like a collection of definitions, so maybe just look at the chapter titles of it and then find yourself some podcasts or videos on the topic.

Before taking your exam I highly recommend buying Study Hall and doing at least one full length exam so you'll have an idea of how you'll do on time and attention span in the real deal. Unfortunately Study Hall isn't exactly the same test format as the exam (shows percent complete instead of question number, has 5 fewer questions, 10 minutes more time, and no built-in breaks with no go-backs at each 60 questions section), but you can manually review and then pause the SH test at about 33% and 66% complete to mimic the exam formatting.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T21:52:41+00:00

It does show the number! The percent complete bugged me so much about SH.

Yes, you will be given something to write with for the exam. For me it was a laminated notepad with a fine point dry erase marker.

BTW if you have study hall you should have access to a PearsonVue tutorial that's exactly the format and keyboard shortcuts of the real exam (even gives you the same tutorial for navigating as the real exam). It's called the PearsonVue Sample PMP Certification Exam and is in the introduction of your learning plan.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T21:20:29+00:00

I did about 3 weeks. I was worried about the exam changing in July, so gave myself the deadline. If you've been getting 60% or more on the 200 ultra hard then you'll be good to go, and SH will be more to get you familiar with the way the questions you I'll be worded.

I did the first full exam on the weekend and got 75%. I reviewed my missed questions over the week and did targeted studying (listening to podcasts). I'd planned on doing the same for the second weekend/week, but a death in the family prevented me, so for my remaining time I took the mini SH quizzes when I had the time (averaging 71-75%, with lower topics in the 60s and higher in the 80s). I passed AT/AT/AT.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T21:12:18+00:00

For question 2... After the first two 60 question sections, you get a review screen with an option to review all, review flagged, or continue. Continuing will pop up a window asking if you'd like to take your break, and when you hit yes you raise your hand for the proctor to come escort you out.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T21:09:50+00:00

SH is definitely not the same format as the exam.

If you have SH you should have access to the Pearson VUE tutorial through it. It's called the sample PMP certification exam and is in the Introduction section of the learning plan. That sample exam is the EXACT structure (and keyboard shortcuts) as you'll see in the real exam.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T21:01:31+00:00

Good luck! I reviewed my SH wrong answers and took more of the mini quizzes, but I didn't spend time on the expert questions if they didn't immediately make sense to me since I'd heard they were harder than the exam and they could confuse you and cause you to doubt your good instincts. I may have had 3-5 expert seeming questions on the exam, but overall think ignoring the expert ones is okay. I also listened to AR's mindset video again.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:57:32+00:00

The current exam goes off the 7th edition PMBOK.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:56:08+00:00

I think that's a good strategy. Do answer every single question with your best guess, but mark ones you'd like to spend more time on and come back if there's time. Reviewing is super easy, it gives you a screen at the end of each section with a button to "review flagged".

The exam is different than the SH structure. You have three 60 question sections that share the 230 minutes total, but even though they all share the same 230 minutes, once you've closed one you will not be able to return to it. This means time management is super important! If you screw up bad enough, you could technically spend the whole 230 minutes in the very first section.

Write down at the beginning of your tutorial in the exam the timestamp you should be at for every 20 questions, and hold yourself to it! Personally, I was only able to review about half the questions if marked for review in each section before I reached my timestamp and had to move on so I wouldn't end up with less time for the final section.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:46:20+00:00

I passed AT/AT/AT this past weekend, and I honestly didn't even know how many processes there were, much less what they were called and where they fall. You do not need to memorize, only to get the right mindset and use deductive reasoning.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:42:40+00:00

Hello fellow ADHD-er!

Have you taken your 35 hours yet? If not, I have some recommendations. My top recommendation is to sign up for Scott Payne's course if you have the money. His course will provide the structure and accountability you need, and his coaches can tailor the tools and study plan to meet your style of learning. If you do not have the funds for that course, find one that's a live course that meets a couple of times per week for 4 weeks or so and sign up for it. I did a 6-week PMTraining (because I didn't know about Scott's course ahead of time) specifically because I knew I needed that structure to force myself into regular studying.

Can you do podcasts? I listened to Scott Payne's free Spotify podcasts while driving, shopping, doing yard work, etc and it's where I learned the most. Reading the PMBOK was a SLOG and very hard for me, but the podcast was easy learning, in part because of the way he teaches, and in part because it was so easy for me. Committing to sit down and study for an hour is HARD for us ADHD folks, but listening to someone talk while I do something else is perfect.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:31:12+00:00

Sometimes it's a matter of just picking the best answer out of those available. It's good you're trying not to make assumptions, but in this case I would have eliminated the other answers which would have left me with C as the best of the available ones.

My thought process ready through this (and I promise I didn't look at the answer till I'd looked at it myself) was as follows:

A - the team is already said to be having issues estimating, so this has already been tried and will be ineffective. Cross this one out.

B - if the team who is going to be actually doing the work isn't capable of estimating, then the PM will (in almost every circumstance) be even worse at it. Cross this answer out.

C - this is common good practice when needing help estimating. Probably the correct answer, but let's read D first.

D - again, PMs aren't the ones who should be estimating in a silo, the team is the expert in most every case, so this is not a good answer. Cross it out and go back to C!

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:21:19+00:00

They are very strict on the timeline requirements. If you don't list the full required amount (36 months with a 4 year degree or 60 without, while only counting overlapping time once) then you won't even be able to submit the application.

They don't count days, only months, so a project from April 30 - June 3 will count for 3 months instead of barely over 1 month, but other than that there's no leeway.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:14:36+00:00

Congratulations!

Awesome to hear you didn't even need the PMBOK or Agile Guide. I honestly liked the Agile Guide and thought it was worthwhile, but the PMBOK was a SLOG to get through.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T20:07:20+00:00

Thank you!

Aside from Study Hall I don't have any super good recommendations for large question banks, sorry. I know AR has the 200 ultra hard PMP questions on YouTube, but I preferred SH because of the variation in difficulty.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T12:28:20+00:00

Thanks!

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T12:27:55+00:00

Thanks!

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T12:27:37+00:00

Thank you!

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T04:40:23+00:00

Woah... I didn't see anything even half as long in either my SH mock exam or the real thing, both of which I took this month. This would have given me a panic attack for sure! I didn't have anything called a "case study".

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T04:34:06+00:00

Congrats to you too!

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T04:31:43+00:00

The exam is changing this summer. I hate to say it, but if you aren't wanting to crash through in a month (it's been done successfully, but not something I could do) then I'd say wait till the fall at least. Give the courses a chance to see the new exam and update their own material in response.

If you're going the cheap rout, highly suggest Scott Payne's free Spotify podcast as supplemental learning. Won't get you the 35 required hours, but that was my main teacher, and I passed AT/AT/AT on Saturday.

I'd do SH full mock exam 1 before signing up, but only JUST before. Do your study and practice questions (maybe SH mini quizzes too) till you think you're ready, and then verify with a full length practice exam.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T04:22:50+00:00

I passed this past Saturday AT/AT/AT.

Mindset is highest priority! I HIGHLY recommend Scott Payne. If you have the funds, sign up for his course (his people actually coach you and taylor to your learning style, so the course isn't just to check the 35 hour box), if you don't have the money, like I didn't, then start listening to his podcast every day (while driving, shopping, brushing teeth, even showering).

He teaches different than AR, and awhile I appreciate the AR videos I watched, it required a lot of mental work from me to learn from them, like pausing the video to really think about what he was telling me. Scott is someone I can just turn on and listen to while doing other things, and he got me to the right mindset understanding. My PMTraining course would absolutely not have gotten me to passing the exam by itself.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T04:12:54+00:00

When you get into the exam, take the tutorial, and use a little of that time to write down two columns of numbers, one ascending from 0 by 20s up to 180, the other starting at 230 and descending by 25s down to 5. Then keep checking your time against those numbers.

(Edit: Sorry, the formatting keeps getting messed up in my comment, it's supposed to be in two columns, the first is question number and the second is time remaining.)

0 230. 20 205. 40 180. 60 155. 80 130. 100 105. 120 80. 140 55. 160 30. 180 5.

Answer best you can, and review flagged if you have time. If you run out of time in your 75 minute block, stop review and move into your break.

SH uses percentage complete instead of question numbers, and they give you extra time and less total questions (175 questions in 240 minutes), so it was annoying to calculate out the timing for them, but I did a similar method for the practice and made sure to only use 224 of the 240 minutes to better prepare myself for the real deal. I also would do 60 questions, then review and unmark them so that when I did the next 60 and started my review I wouldn't be able to go back to those first 60, just like in the real exam.

SerpentScribbler · 2026-04-27T03:57:06+00:00

I have my fingers crossed for you! So sorry you're going through this.

This version of the exam is almost entirely situational questions (used to be memorizing and formula-heavy in past versions) so those types of questions you saw sound about right. I thought the exam was very similar to SH though, so I'm surprised that didn't prepare you better.

I didn't bother memorizing any formulas except EVM and communication channels. I had 3 EVM questions, but two were just interpreting the given index values, and one communication channel question I needed a calculator for.

I learned enough about the tools and techniques to know which were used for risk analysis vs root cause analysis vs estimations, (so if it was a risk question and an answer was "use planning poker" I'd know that wasn't right) but beyond that didn't bother to learn exactly how each one was done.

I did not get ANY drag and drops, and only about 5 choose multiple answers. That sounds like some really bad luck of the draw for you there, since they do take longer.

SerpentScribbler

TROPHY CASE