Going on a cruise to Alaska and am in charge of getting binoculars for my family. My family wants binoculars but doesn't understand that good ones are more than $20, so I'm looking at budget friendly options that will do the job without leaving us fogged up when we're trying to see wildlife.

I think I've settled on 10x42's for more portability after also originally considering 10x50's. Torn between the Vortex Triumph HD vs. Nikon Prostaff P3. Does anyone have any insights or details on these models that might be a deciding factor?

I'm not an expert on binoculars by any means, so if there's anything I am not considering (features or other models), I am all ears.

I passed my exam this week with AT/AT/AT. Now that I don't know what to do with myself with all of this free time, thought it would be fitting to create a lessons learned (lol) for everyone else to formally close out this endeavor.

The only materials I used throughout my PMP journey were:

• AR's 35 hour Udemy course
• Study Hall Plus
• This sub, of course

Preparing for the Exam

Once my application was approved, I scheduled my test for a month out. This was not by choice, I actually wanted to take my test 1-2 weeks out because I wanted to give myself time to re-take before the July 9 deadline in the event that I didn't pass. The only date available for an in-person exam was this week, otherwise I'd have to do it beyond July 9. I knew I wanted to do it in-person to avoid as much risk as possible after hearing horror stories of the virtual proctoring. One month out ended up being great timing for me and I'd recommend at least three weeks out for studying for anyone planning their exam date.

To start my preparation, I poked around in SH a bit and tried out some of the games (like the card matcher). I also took some of the mini exams just to gauge where I was at. I quickly realized that I needed to work on my terms, and that there are terms that I didn't have in my notes, and they weren't covered in AR's course. For reference, I scored a 73% on AR's mock exam that was included in the Udemy course, and I took it right after finishing the course to give myself a benchmark.

I decided I was going to make flashcards to study before really diving into SH more. I reviewed all of my notes from the Udemy course and made about a billion flashcards to try and get a better handle on terms, documents, and tools. Making the actual flashcards took a super long time (at least 2-3 hours/day for at least 7 days). I only actually used them to study twice, but it did help nail down terms for me + I'm sure the benefit of actually reviewing all of my notes and physically writing out the cards was helpful.

While I was in the process of making my flashcards, I was going into SH to occasionally do some practice questions here and there. I have to say that I didn't score well, or at least well enough to feel comfortable, on the practice questions. I was getting low 60s pretty regularly on them which made me dread the actual mock exams in SH. I was pleasantly surprised to get a 73 on the first one.

Five days out from my test is when I did my first mock. I did one each day after that leading up to exam day, so I took mocks 1-4. These were my scores:

• Mock 1: 73%
• Mock 2: 76%
• Mock 3: 74%
• Mock 4: 70%

I was honestly feeling pretty good after mock 2, I felt that I had a good handle on the questions and was really starting to understand the mindset. I had started only reading the last bit of the question (the part that ended in a question mark) and the answer choices. I could usually pin point the two answers I should be deciding between with just that, sometimes even just one choice.

One thing that helped me most was copying and pasting the questions I got wrong into Chat GPT and asking "Why is X correct using PMI mindset?". I found the SH explanations to be unclear, half-baked, or even seemingly mismatched to the question half the time. I made a post last week about this to see if anyone else had that problem, and it seems like SH is just like that. So highly recommend seeking out additional explanations elsewhere. Chat GPT did a great job of highlighting why the other answers were wrong, trigger words in the question to signal what they're actually asking, and related watch outs on the exam. I had seen what others had said in this sub about mocks 4 and 5 being harder, so when I got a 70% on mock 4, it really didn't shake me. If anything, it made me feel more confident that I was ready.

I was averaging 2-2.5 hours for each mock so timing wasn't a concern for me. I did struggle to sit for the mocks though in the sense that focusing for that long was horrible. I really struggled with this, so I do recommend taking the mocks in one sitting to prepare vs. doing an hour of one here when you can and then an hour there when you have more free time.

I did break the cardinal rule of not doing any studying the day before the exam. I took mock 4 the day before the exam because I weighed the pros and cons, and the pro of having the additional exposure to those questions ultimately decided that for me. The reason I did this is because I quickly saw redundancies across the SH mocks/similar style of questions. What I didn't get right on mock 1, I was able to get right on mock 2 because I had been exposed to it before. If I didn't pass, I didn't want to wonder if I would've passed if I had just been exposed to more types of questions.

Exam Day

I arrived to my testing center 10 minutes before their requested time (which was 30 minutes before the start time). I brought two forms of ID to be safe, but you only need one valid form. There were a ton of people there to take tests. I didn't know that the time slot you reserve is just that - a time slot. It's not specific to PMP, meaning there were people taking all kinds of tests. While I was waiting, the person running check-in told someone else in the waiting room that they couldn't be on their phone, and if they wanted to be on their phone, they would have to go outside of the testing center. They said the room was being recorded and that there is a strict zero tolerance policy for devices within the walls of the testing center, and they didn't want anyone to get flagged. This stressed me out because I turned my phone off while I was sitting there just a few minutes before. I wish they would have communicated that all phones and devices should be off before entering even the waiting room either in the instructions or have it posted on the entrance door. I don't think anyone ended up getting flagged but I can only imagine the devastation had an exam been terminated over something so stupid and poorly communicated.

Check-in was super easy and quick for PMP, just an ID check was required. They did take a photo of me. I was then told to put all belongings in a locker and take the key. I was told that I must keep my ID on me for the test. I knew that based off this sub and was sure to wear something that had secure pockets. Every time you leave the testing area for a break, you must have your ID on you. If you leave it in the testing area and come back without it, I think your exam is terminated. Because of that, I'd highly recommend wearing something with zippered pockets to mitigate the risk of it falling out somewhere or you forgetting it. My proctor did direct me to take it with me for breaks each time though, so I imagine they give the reminder to everyone.

The lockers were bigger than I expected, I'd guess they were about 14 inches deep, 14 inches tall, and 10-12 inches wide. Big enough to store a small backpack.

In order to get into the testing area, they do a property check which included checking my sleeves, the back of my shirt, my hair/behind my ears (I think this is only if hair is a certain length) and my ankles. I saw people with glasses taking them off and getting them scanned. They gave me an erasable note pad, two markers for it, and asked if I wanted a calculator. They also asked if I wanted foam ear plugs or noise cancelling over ear headphones. I asked for both and they said that was fine. They sat me down and I started the exam.

Once I started, I realized quickly that the questions were very similar to SH and that I was having a really hard time focusing even with the ear buds. This was a concern of mine, but it was especially frustrating and I was getting a headache early on in the exam. It felt like my brain couldn't comprehend reading words at times. I was near the door, and could feel/hear people shuffling around and the door opening every time. I didn't end up using the over ear headphones, and maybe I should have. All of these are personal problems, but something to note if you're also sensitive in test environments. I'm also not a morning person, so that was probably a factor since my exam was very, very early.

I was having so much trouble focusing that I could not wait to take my first break. To take a break, you raise your hand and wait for the proctor. They come get you, have you take your ID and locker key, and then check your ID outside of the testing room to formally sign you out of the testing area. Then you have 10 minutes to do whatever. I went to the bathroom during both breaks. I think you're allowed to get into your locker to get a drink or a snack if you brought them. I did bring a snack, and was hungry, but honestly I was so paranoid about my exam being terminated for a stupid reason that I decided I wouldn't even go anywhere near my locker. The 10 minutes goes by very fast, and it is timed on your screen. I thought it was funny that they tell you what time to be back by because nobody has a device to actually track the time.

When you come back after a break, they repeat the same property search and check your ID to sign you in again. Then they walk you back into the testing area to your computer. My focusing issues did not get better and I just hoped for the best. I also gladly took my 2nd break.

When I was done, I raised my hand and the computer took a minute or two to finalize the test. You know it's done when it returns back to an admin login screen. You do not get your initial results on the computer screen like I thought. Instead, you get a printout before you leave at the front check-in desk so don't freak out when your computer doesn't say anything about passing or failing. I finished my exam with about 58 minutes left on the timer (crazy how much extra time the focusing issues had taken up with rereading and zoning out).

My exam had about five formula questions (all SPI, CPI, and EAC I think). One of those was a calculation, and the others were interpretation/knowing how or when to use. My exam also had one or two questions where the answers didn't seem to match the question, so really mirroring SH here lol. I just picked whatever answer seemed to align with the mindset most and hoped for the best. The questions I got also all seemed repetitive. While taking the exam, I frequently thought that this test could have half the questions and be just as effective. I'd say my exam difficulty was on par with what I experienced in the SH mocks (1-3 with a sprinkle of 4 maybe). I'd say my questions were mostly focused on agile/hybrid. I had no drag and drops.

Parting Thoughts/Summary

• Jump into SH questions as soon as you can. The basic SH is not optional. SH Plus is good to have if you want to expose yourself to the max number of questions.
• SH explanations are sub-par, copy and paste incorrect questions into your AI of choice and ask "Why is C correct using PMI mindset?". You can also give it several questions you get wrong to analyze if there's recurring themes or triggers you're missing.
• AR's course is good enough to satisfy the 35 hour requirement, but I wouldn't have passed the exam if it were my only tool or exposure to PMP. SH has terms/concepts that he doesn't explicitly cover. Know that you might have to do some additional research into those when you see them in SH. Some of them did appear on the exam, and there were even terms on the exam that I still hadn't seen before.
• I found that some of AR's tips did not always ring true (i.e. the answer is always training for agile projects) so take them with a grain of salt. The patterns that I learned from SH and AI analysis were way more helpful on the exam.
• Generally, if a question is asking what action you should take and an answer has "review" "assess" or "understand" in it, that's at least a signal to you that it's one of the answers you should be considering. Exceptions to this might be questions where there's high urgency or you need to immediately address/solve an issue.
• Practice sitting for the whole mock exam instead of breaking it up.
• The mindset is the most important part of preparing and feeling ready. When I first heard AR talk about answering the question without even reading it, I thought he was crazy. I ended up doing it regularly, it's the key.
• I'm so glad this is over with.

This sub was a huge help in managing my expectations and anxiety. So hopefully this helps someone or at least adds more data points.

Does anyone else notice that SH's explanations are not always written well or match the question? I've seen multiple practice questions now where the responses are missing words that make it critical to understand the explanation, and some that don't reference the question or answer choices at all. Is there somewhere I can flag these to PMI?

All of the issues on SH are making me super nervous for my exam in a week since I can't always understand why they're wrong.