The new PMBOK and You
January 7th, 2009
PMI released the new PMBOK in December and announced that the PMP exam will change in line with it on the 30th of June 2009.
The changes in the PMBOK include renaming certain 30 odd processes and reducing the processes from 44 to 42. For all aspiring PMP’s, whether you have attained the required 35 contact hours from training or you are planning to do it the changes are not so important as the consequences.
The last time there was change in the editions of the PMBOK, the score required to pass the exam was actually increased by 12 marks. So while the exam didn’t necessarily get harder in itself, it was suddenly harder to pass it. Although it was subsequently reduced(3 months later), it is fair to say that a lot more people failed the exam in those three months and had to pay for the exam again. The PMI has not indicated that the same will happen in June 2009, but the fact that it’s happened before cannot be ignored.
Whenever the PMBOK Guide is updated, all the authors of exam study material update their material as well. However most resellers (smaller bookshops and sites like eBay) will still keep on selling the old material. This is not necessarily on purpose, as a lot of them will not even know the difference. If you are buying your material from ebay, amazon etc the risk is even higher as it is a case of ‘caveat emptor’: let the buyer beware. If not you could spend all your time reading a text book based on the third edition when you are sitting an exam on the 4th edition (post June 2009)
In a nutshell, history says there is a lot of attendant confusion that accompanies updating the PMBOK Guide. Considering it currently costs $550 to sit the exam as well as the cost of training and study material , it will be wise to get it done before the changeover so as to reduce the need for a resit.
While there are various exam prep material, we currently recommend and use Crosswinds material by Tony Johnson. On average, it takes 3 hrs to read through a chapter of the crosswinds textbook. It has 15 chapters. This equates to 45 hours to finish the text book. With dedication and discipline, this means you can finish the text in a month by studying for two hours a day. This is excluding weekends. Another popular product from the same author is the exam simulation CD Rom which has 3,500 exam style questions. That is about 17 practice PMP exams. You will need to commit another 45 hours to practicing the questions on this CD. That is 90 hours, which is 3 hours a day for a month or 2 hours a day for 45 days or an hour a day for 3 months. Yes, I hear you say you spend five hours a day in Traffic Lagos, the answer or risk response plan to that is the audio CD’s from crosswinds or any other reputable author. As Brian Tracy said, ‘Make your car a university on wheels’. On these audio CD’s, read by Tony Johnson himself, is most of what you need to sit and pass the exam. So if you spend 3 to 5 hours a day in traffic, then that is at least 3 hours of listening to Tony Johnson himself, if you don’t have a car, then you can play these in your ipod/mp3 player. Remember you still have the weekends to read as well. So whatever your circumstances, time will not be one of the hurdles on you way to achieving this much desired qualification. I know people who leave home at 5am so they get work by 6.00am and read till 7.30am.
Thus, if you read slower than average or ‘live in traffic’ and you start preparing now, (for those of you who have attended our classes), you will be ready to sit for the exam in March. For those of you who will attend our classes in the next two months. As long as you are disciplined with your reading, you will be able to sit the exam in April/May. We anticipate an increased demand for PMP trainig programme prior to the exam changeover in June. As such we will be starting one-on-one trainings, watch our website for more details. DISCIPLNE, or a lack of it as regards exam preparation is the main obstacle you will have to scale. And I read somewhere;
‘Discipline weights ounces while regret weighs tonnes’
See it as a sacrifice, see it as an investment, it is 3 months or less of intensive preparation to conquer the exam in its current state before it is realigned with the new PMBOK. After that you will start to reap the rewards of having the valuable initials ‘PMP’ after your name. These rewards will also grow over time.
Ayo Sanni, PMP