Bookpool: Passing the PMP Exam: How to Take It and Pass It

This book uses the PMBOK Guide, Third Edition, so that all information is up to date for the new PMP examination.

Don't just take the PMP exam: Pass it, the first time!

Less than 50% of PMP exam candidates actually pass the exam on their first attempt. But one group passes at an amazing 80+% rate: the students of Dr. Rudd McGary, PMP. McGary has spent years teaching the PMP certification exam and helping professional project managers prepare for it. Now, he's integrated all of these techniques and knowledge to assist you in one book: Passing the PMP Exam.

Dr. McGary shows you exactly what the Project Management Institute expects from you and exactly how to be prepared for the certification examination. Whatever your experience, he'll help you rapidly achieve deep mastery of PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Other books cover PMBOK, but this book is relentlessly focused on helping you ace your exam the first time.

Learn proven strategies, methods, and tips for passing your PMP exam
Master all five project phases: initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing
Use the book to become a project management professional in project integration, scoping, scheduling, costs, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement
Understand critical project management details, from Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) to change control systems
Review the professional conduct and ethics standards you will be tested on
Continue to use the book as a valuable resource of practical information after you are certified

The accompanying CD-ROM presents Rudd McGary's unique approach to passing the PMP exam. You'll find more valuable content than on any other PMP study guide CD-ROM -- including more than 400 sample exam questions and answers!

Preface

There is no profession more interesting or challenging than modern project management. Because of the nature of projects, the project manager will be working in environments where change is occurring, where there is uniqueness to the management, and where time constraints guide the work to be done. Project management has been used for thousands of years with almost all of the projects including some aspect of building. From the pyramids of Egypt to the great cathedrals of Europe, projects involving thousands of people, and sometimes hundreds of years, have been completed.

Although there were de facto project managers throughout history, the formalization of materials concerning project management did not really begin until the second half of the twentieth century. As large organizations, such as the U.S. military, began to run larger and more expensive projects, there was a need for the discipline and common knowledge base that is the hallmark of a profession. Some sort of passing on of best practices and common language that would make each successive generation of project managers be able to have much the same skill set and background information as the previous one was needed to make project management professional.

In 1969 a group was formed that was dedicated to making project management a profession. The Project Management Institute was formed in that year and later brought out a book, the Project Management Body of Knowledge , or PMBOK, that began to codify information concerning the various unique factors of project management.

A validation of the status of the PMBOK came in the year 2000 when the American National Standards Institute declared the PMBOK the official publication of project management and the work was set up as the standard for project management in this country.

PMI instituted a certification test so that there would be a standardization of information and knowledge base that could be transferred and used by people coming into the project management arena. Because of its very nature, project management is a job that is serendipitous. Most people come to it by chance, not by planned education or career path intention. So, the one place that all aspiring project managers can go that has been accepted by ANSI is the PMI certification test leading to the designation PMP, or project management professional.

The aim of this book is twofold. First, the book is written to help anyone taking the certification examination pass it. This is the driving force of the book. However, the manner in which the book is presented is also useful for information that can be used long after passing the exam. Anyone who has been a project manager will recognize the two uses of the book. It is both a primer for the exam and a textbook for project managers to use as they project manage.

I often get asked what the key to taking the exam is, and the best answer is "Know the material." Taking this exam is not about knowing answers to questions, it is about having the depth of knowledge that will be useful in future endeavors. If you have the knowledge base, you will pass the exam. I have enjoyed writing this book because of the dual nature of both passing the exam and then being a professional project manager. As you use the book, I hope it is helpful in both ways and that when you pass the exam you understand you are starting, not finishing, your education in project management. The project management profession is ongoing and can be fascinating, demanding a large range of skills for its practitioners. If this book helps people find new careers and challenges, then it will be worthwhile.

Dr. Rudd McGary, PMP, lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife Sharon and sons Clayton and Carter. As an educator, practitioner, and writer in project management, McGary has helped countless people as they have worked on and studied about project teams and project management. He continues that tradition with this book, which will aid people interested in passing the PMI certification examination to become familiar with the various areas of interest and study that make up project management.

Preface

Table of Contents