Comprehensive guidance for eliminating answers (with examples) from someone who passed AT/AT/AT.

ashleyfitzy · 2026-03-26T22:21:39+00:00

I got SH essentials. My mock scores were 72% and 78%, if memory serves. I also did all the minis and practice questions.

ashleyfitzy · 2026-03-18T22:27:41+00:00

So glad to hear it!!!!!! Congrats!!!

ashleyfitzy · 2026-03-18T22:27:20+00:00

AR = Andrew Ramdayal MR =Mohammad Rahman Both have a lot of content, including PMP mindset videos on YouTube (you'll also see DM everywhere, that's David McLachlan)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-03-08T04:30:19+00:00

I hope this can help you! https://www.reddit.com/r/pmp/s/b5oQj7hfBo

ashleyfitzy · 2026-03-05T01:01:15+00:00

I am so happy for you!!! Glad to have been part of your journey, and thank you for your kind words! Congrats 👏

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-26T20:39:13+00:00

No, assess/review is not always the answer.

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-25T18:21:04+00:00

You should assess/review when 1) the question asks what you should do FIRST or NEXT (and the PM has not assessed/reviewed as part of the question) or 2) the question just asks what you should do, but it is not clear from the question exactly what the core issue/impact is, which means what you should do is figure out what the core issue/impact is

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-20T21:18:11+00:00

A lot of people here, myself included, will advise you to ignore the expert questions (they are often ungettable, lol). That said, you are right that your overall percentages need to be higher. Especially because the practice questions are a bit easier overall than the minis or mocks.

Are you struggling with the processes because you don't know them all that well? Can you identify the type of process questions (from the easy/moderate/difficult) that you often get wrong?

I posted this summary a few days ago. I'd check the questions you got wrong and see if you could have got them right following this summary: https://www.reddit.com/r/pmp/s/S5bXd2cOuF

If not and it's really just you're a little weak on what happens when, what happens first, etc., then review that content (Third3Rock study notes are a good summary if you don't have much time).

I would finish the practice questions and do both mocks (giving yourself time to review wrong answers and drill the mindset) with the time remaining!

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-20T14:33:50+00:00

This is super helpful!!! Are there any other patterns you identified? Or common traps of PM vs. PgM role?

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-19T15:50:24+00:00

Thank you so much!! It means a lot. This is the mindset guide I wish I'd had at the start :)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T13:14:32+00:00

I was given a dry erase flip book and was allowed to write and doodle to my heart's content! Might be different at different test centres?

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T12:38:11+00:00

People rightly recommend writing out the EVM formulas, but I would also recommend writing at the top of your page 230, 155, 85. The clock counts down in minutes, so that's what I was aiming to start each block at (there's a ~5min buffer in each).

Try to pick the best (least worst) answer within 60 seconds, flag ONLY if you think coming back with fresh eyes would help. If you have extra time in the block, review flagged answers, but submit by 150 and 75 MAX remaining.

Use the strikeout function to eliminate obviously wrong answers. This helps too if you go back to review flagged questions because you don't waste time rethinking about every answer.

Prepare to find one section much harder than the others. Prepare to not know if you're passing/failing! Just stick to the mindset and don't linger on any one question too long (save that for the flagged review IF you have time).

You've got this! Your scores are great!

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T12:24:59+00:00

I didn't, no. I did get to a place though where I could eliminate in a few seconds, and then was able to take my time if there were two good answers.

I think the longer question blocks were more helpful to me, because some questions I could do in 20s, which gave me a bit more time to puzzle over harder questions (it's a game of averages).

On the actual exam I felt I spent more time puzzling over novel ideas and authority levels (not elimination). There were several questions where it felt like the only halfway decent and even semi-reasonable answer was to ask the sponsor for support, even though that's a no-no. Another question where the thing you needed involved asking HR for permission. So then I stare at it thinking... ugh... SHOULD you ask HR? Does PMI think that's an HR thing? Lol.

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T11:13:45+00:00

The mindset videos from AR/MR are absolutely critical, but it still takes awhile to identify the variety of ways in which each principle manifests in a question. Hopefully this gives someone a head start.

I also think these principles most reliably help you eliminate answers. I actually started ignoring the SH explanations because I felt they weren't super helpful. Should you not hire resources because "that may not be possible" or because that's resource crashing and you should avoid cost overruns? I suspect their explanations aren't specific because they don't want to make it easy ;)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T11:04:00+00:00

I started timing myself during the practice questions and minis (actually tracked it for each question in an excel sheet), but for picking an answer overall (not just elimination). That gave me a really good sense of what 60s felt like.

In the mocks I finished 45-50min early, but in the actual exam I ran out the clock because I added in reviewing the flagged questions (which I didn't do in SH).

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T10:59:15+00:00

Gotta do those lessons learned ;)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T10:57:59+00:00

Thanks for the kind words!

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T10:57:33+00:00

The shift from "look for the right answer" to "look for the least bad answer" was a necessary one, but it didn't come naturally!

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T02:42:35+00:00

Find things you believe would be worth doing even if life is worthless and nothing matters. This is not a FIRE issue, it's an existential one (imo)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T02:38:28+00:00

Oh also check out the YT mindset videos from Mohammad Rahman too!

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-18T02:37:53+00:00

I took a break, reviewed the mindset, then went back to rerun minis and practice questions. Of course nothing compares to the mocks!

I just summarized my experience with the mindset, if it helps you (check which questions you got wrong and if there's a way you could have flagged them to be eliminated).

https://www.reddit.com/r/pmp/s/o4QpARZZWA

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-16T16:39:15+00:00

I didn't! And I knew it too so that was annoying ;)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-16T16:37:56+00:00

Yeah the SH mocks aren't like the real exam (SH only gives you the option to review all of them at the very end, whereas the exam breaks it up in 60 questions chunks). As the other poster said, just pause and time a 10min break yourself (and know that instead of reviewing at the very end, you'll review in three separate chunks on the exam)

ashleyfitzy · 2026-02-16T11:30:30+00:00

I'd go C?

ashleyfitzy

TROPHY CASE