ISBN: 0972967311
List Price: $79.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 4
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Summary: Easy Read, but NOT a One Stop Shop.
This book is overall a good book. Easy read. However, it can give you a false sense of security that you know enough when you don't because many topics are not covered with enough depth. Also the coverage for many processes is inclomplete. Some inputs, some outputs, or some tools and techniques are missing all over the map.
Bottom line: It's a useful book, but do not count on it alone.
Summary: This is what a PMP Prep Book Should Be!
After studying Rita Mulcahy's "PMP Exam Prep" book for months, I found myself so frustrated and confused that I started looking for other material. I went online and found the positive reviews of Andy Crowe's "The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try" and bought the book, and I am SO glad I did!
What took months to understand reading the overly-complex RMC book became crystal clear when I read Crowe's book. Crowe organizes his material well, and at the beginning of each chapter he conveniently defines the material's difficulty, memorization level and importance on the exam in terms of "High, Medium or Low". Each page has a tab on the edge that identifies what process you are in, so if you find yourself deep in concentration and suddenly wondering, "Hey am I reading about Quality Assurance or Quality Control?" there's a large indicator right in front of you to help.
On a purely mechanical level, Crowe went out of his way to make sure this book was organized to help you study. I really appreciated that.
The material itself is excellent. As some have pointed out, it is a little slim in some areas, but the book's purpose is to help you pass the exam and in this regard, Crowe admits that he glosses over some items that tend to appear less than others. I recommend you read this book and refer back to the PMBOK and one additional study guide whenever you are confused or need additional detail.
I did find that PTA (Point of Total Assumption) was covered here, where it wasn't covered in the other material I used. I didn't find any major shortcomings in the coverage of the book.
I have read criticisms of the book's grammar and spelling. I did find a few (under 5) spelling errors, but I honestly appreciated the "big print" type and simplistic words. The material covered on the PMP Exam is pretty complex and tough. And too many PMP education providers seem to think they have to mimic that complexity and difficulty to teach the material. It was incredibly refreshing to find a book that actually went out of its way to make the material simple.
The book was also an easy and fast read, unlike all of the other materials I found. I read the first half of the book (up through the end of the "Time" chapter) in one day, and the second half in another day. I then went through the book with a highlighter and re-read it, in 2 days time again, highlighting all the key points. During each of these passes, I took the questions at the end of each chapter. Finally I skimmed the material several times, only glossing over the highlighted points. Doing this I could flip through the entire book in a day. I did that twice. Finally, two days before the exam I took the entire 200 question test at the end of the book, scoring 90%.
The only suggestion I have to improve this book would be to make the exam questions more difficult, so that they more closely mimic the tough, brutal questions I encountered on the PMP exam.
The free material at the Velociteach website was great. I signed up for the online site two weeks prior to sitting for the exam. The online quizzes were good, but limited. The real benefit for me was the classroom slides which presented the material very well. Even though it was mostly a rehash of what was found in the book, it was slightly different material, presented very well, using repetitive images and phrases that really helped key concepts stick in my head. (After going online, I easily memorized word for word the definition of a "Baseline" as they always referred back to the same images and the same words on certain key points. I found this GREAT for learning!)
I took the PMP Exam a few days ago and passed fairly well, thanks completely to Andy Crowe's book. Crowe explains early on in the book how much weight each process group carries on the exam. Calculating my scores in each process group (Initiation, Planning, Executing, M+C, Closing and Professional Responsibility) x the weight each group carries on the exam, I arrived at an estimate of 75% for my score on the overall exam, passing is approximately 61%. My weakest area was in Initiating by the way, which surprised me. Note that I took the final exam in the book shortly before the exam and scored 90%. I would recommend that you get to an 85% or 95% level on this particular book's questions prior to taking the exam.
I am very pleased with my score on the exam and with this book and Velociteach in general. This is my PMP preparation book of choice and I highly recommend it to anyone who is studying for their PMP credential.
Summary: Thanks Andy
This book is a valuable guide to PMBOK. I Passed after reading it along with the PMBOK. The PMBOK is of course the bible of PMP exam, but this book is extremely pleasing to read, concise, and geared to highlight important concepts from an exam view, and also relate to the overall highlevel "architecture" of the processes.
The only thing to be aware is that, in certain areas, I felt topics were inadequately covered, and that is where the PMBOK comes in.
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