Project management is the sole determinant of any company’s success regardless of the funding received from stakeholders and partners. The professionals who deliver these services need to be skilled with utmost project management techniques. CAPM is the perfect certification to validate professionals with the preeminent knowledge that enhances project management sector of any industry. It demonstrates the professional’s understanding of the cardinal knowledge, nomenclature, and processes of productive project management. The research has shown that the companies that utilise normalised practices of project management perform 3 times better.
The certification is awarded by doing CAPM exam. It encompasses 150 multiple-choice questions and 15 are termed to be pretest questions. This implies that you will be able to do 150 questions but the grading will be based on 135 remaining questions. In order to successfully complete this exam, the candidates are expected to take a maximum of 3 hours. However, CAPM certification exam is set based on the curriculum objectives which are:
- Understanding of the concepts learned in PMBOK
- Project management foundations
- Roles and responsibilities of a project manager
- Project scheduling techniques
- Cost and quality of project management
- Procurement process
- PMI ethics and professional ethos.
This exam is ideal for project managers who have gone through the training material for PMI-CAPM. However, they must meet the following conditions in order to be considered for this exam:
- Have a high school degree or any academic certification equivalent to a high school degree.
- Have 15,000 hours engaging in project management activities.
- 23 hours training on project management completed by the moment he/she sits for the exam.
Since project management is becoming the most sought skill in every field especially IT centered companies, the certification is not easy since it only certifies competent individuals who are able to optimize the companies’ goals. The secret of becoming one of the most demanded professionals in the market is passing CAPM exam. How do I pass? This question normally rings in the heads of many candidates who have the ambitions of being referred to as the competent project managers in future. Do not worry anymore. This article is the ideal guide to take you from one tip to the another. The tips that are utilized by the project managers need to be more advanced and real as they appear in this article.
- Start with PMBOK guide
Every CAPM candidate should be familiar with PMBOK because this is the sole component in project management. Any candidate who does not read the PMBOK is not prepared for the exam and I can advise not to attempt to do PMI-CAPM exam.
During your first encounter with this mighty guide, it is recommended for you to take very detailed notes on the main concepts. The notes usually help during revision since they are represented according to your understanding of concepts. The importance of this guide is that it gives you more understanding of the overview of the topics covered in the exam and you can easily tell how the exam looks like.
After you have gone through all the contents of PMBOK, summarize the knowledge you have understood without referring to the guide. This will help you to have a deep understanding of the objectives of the exam. Though this process might seem tiresome, it is the practice that should never be avoided by CAPM candidates.
- Use other training resources
PMBOK is a guideline and cannot be relied on for the whole understanding of all concepts. The trick is to look for other sources entrusted to provide the quality training for the future project managers. These materials have their own approach to project management concepts but the trainers are always qualified to give the best. It is a healthy practice for CAPM candidates to always utilize different training resources. As a matter of fact, project managers are known to opt for the best resources after considering the cost and effectiveness of a product. However, from my analysis as a certified project manager, I can strongly recommend you look at the ExamCollection CAPM Certification Practice Test Questions And Answers website as a cost-effective resource for training during your preparation for the exam. It’s worth having a look at it, still you have the freedom to choose the best for yourself.
- Study, study, and study
It is good to always study widely and wildly so that we manage to cover all the concepts effectively. The key factor that should be considered is the effectiveness of your study plan, does it have a target? The important thing is to develop a study guide that will dictate your time properly. All the key domains of CAPM exam should be distributed in your study guide. However, the time we allocate for each concept should not be too long. The study guides you use should always have regular breaks to avoid monotony. Avoid continuous studies that do not enhance your knowledge – download here!
- Ask the experts
There are experienced project managers who did CAPM exam and pass successfully. Learning from them is very crucial because they can relate what they learned and how they have applied them in the field. They are the engineers of the project management sector and they can tell the topics that need to be understood before we are delivered to a more engaging field. I once had a close associate who had score 95% in CAPM exam, my revision was based on his guidance which truly helped me score a high grade as he did!
- Use Exam Simulator
Exam simulator is a software designed by the professionals in the IT industry and helps in doing practice tests. The software can be used to do exam questions on a particular topic by limiting your time just as that of the main exam. The famous simulator used is VCE Player. The software demo can be downloaded fromAvanset website. It opens .vceCAPM premium files which you can easily find in the internet. Among those I can recommend are ExamCollection, PrepAway,ExamSnap. I’ve found VCE Player to be a great tool for exam preparation, as simulation of the real exam environment helps a lot at the exam itself.
So, these are the main sources to use during your preparation for CAPM certification exam.
Conclusion
If any candidate applies these tips, the performance cannot be compared with that of any candidate who did not use them. It is time to study smart and pass the exam with flying colors that is meant to draw a roadmap for your career. Wish you success!
