I’m happy to share that I passed the PMP exam with AT/AT/AT.

I’m writing this post to give back to the PMP community, especially those preparing while working full-time.

My preparation timeline

I studied for 3 weeks:

• Weekdays: Around 2 hours per day
• Weekends: 5–6 hours per day

I prepared almost entirely through YouTube, using Andrew Ramdayal’s content.

For the required 35 hours, I had already completed Google’s Project Management Professional Certificate around 3.5 years ago.

Resources I used

I studied the following:

• Andrew Ramdayal’s case-study videos
• AR’s 50 Principles of the PMP Mindset
• 100 Drag-and-Drop Questions
• 200 Ultra-Hard Questions
• 10 AI Questions
• 100 Questions playlist — combined Shorts
• Andrew’s daily Shorts whenever I had time

The Shorts were especially helpful for reinforcing the PMP mindset during small breaks.

I also received access to two free simulators, which I’ll share in the comments so the links don’t get removed from the main post.

I took the exam online. I’ve already shared my check-in experience in another post, but feel free to ask questions—I’ll surely respond.

My exam experience

The exam was structured as follows:

• 40 questions, followed by a 10-minute break
• 70 questions, followed by another 10-minute break
• 70 final questions

I took both breaks.

I had approximately one hour remaining when I completed the exam.

The exam included:

• 4–5 graph-based questions
• 1 drag-and-drop question
• Mostly situational and scenario-based questions
• No calculation questions

PMP mindset tips that helped me

You’ll learn most of these from Andrew’s videos, but I’m sharing the points that helped me the most:

• Be cautious with answers containing words such as “immediately,” “quickly,” “right away,” or “continue with the current process.” These often indicate that planning or analysis has been skipped.
• One exception is updating the risk register, which should be done promptly when required.
• As the project manager, don’t simply delegate your core responsibility to someone else.
• Only the Product Owner updates the product backlog.
• Don’t postpone an issue or leave it unresolved without a valid reason.
• Avoid choosing “do nothing” or “continue with the current process” unless the situation clearly justifies it.
• When a question asks what the PM should do first or next, analyze/assess/review the situation before taking action.
• Don’t reject or decline a request without first understanding and assessing it.
• Before answering, identify the project methodology: predictive, agile, or hybrid.
• Be careful with answers involving fixed frequencies such as weekly or biweekly unless the scenario supports them.
• Don’t make the team work excessive hours as a first response to a project problem.
• Validate AI-generated work instead of trusting it blindly.
• Pay attention to the project size. The appropriate response may differ between a small project and a large, complex project where individual discussions may not be practical.

Final advice

Don’t try to memorize every answer. Focus on understanding:

1. The project environment
2. The PM’s role
3. The methodology being used
4. What should happen first
5. How to resolve the issue collaboratively and systematically

Andrew Ramdayal’s videos were a tremendous help throughout my preparation. His explanation of the PMP mindset made a significant difference for me.

I hope this helps someone else achieve their PMP goal. Good luck to everyone preparing!

Feel free to ask me anything about my preparation or online exam experience.

Edit: I’ll add the useful video playlists and simulator links in the comments.

#PMP #PMPCertification #PMPExam #ProjectManagement #PMPPreparation