I am curious to know if there is value in buying Andrew Ramdayal's PMP Exam Prep Simplified: Covers the Current PMP Exam and Includes a 35 Hours of Project Management E-Learning Course. Is it helpful in preparing you for PMP exam in 2026. If not, what exam prep book would you recommend?
Hi all,
Huge shoutout to this community. I followed the guidance of the popular posts and succeeded on my first shot. I'll add my two cents.
Like many others, I did my 35 hours throught the AR Udemi course. Personally, I liked it. I listened to the whole thing on 1.5 speed, and gained a good understanding of the terminology being used by PMI. Having done project management for 10 years, it was useful to get myself using the language PMI expects.
AR's video on the application, when I watched it, was a bit outdated (they modified their system a bit) but still very useful. No audit. Got approved in three days.
I then studied my butt off for two weeks. I got the Study Hall subscription and committed about 3 hours a day on average for 14 days. I had planned to take my exam virtually, but experienced system issues (see my other post).
Based on feedback from this community, I booked a test in a neighboring city. Going to the testing site was much less stressful. Highly recommend. I managed to book it about three weeks after my original virtual date. I was a bit nervous because I didn't have time to review the material much before the exam, but I guess the info was still in my brain from my intense study sessions.
Like others have said. The exam is hard, it's long, but WAY less wordy than the mock exams. I wasn't confident answering the questions, but I also wasn't discouraged while doing it.
Mock Exams: 1 - 73 2 - 70 3 - 69
I think my mock scores went down because I did them three days in a row between 5am and 9am. Mini Exams I scored pretty much between 8 - 10 across them all.
Once again, thank you to everyone. I've pasted a messy copy/paste of my detailed study material.
Best of luck to everyone!
1 Application Prep PMP Udemy Course 2 Application Prep Submit application to PMI for eligibility to take exam 3 Purchase Register for Exam 4 Exam Prep AR Study Tips 4.5 Exam Prep Vargas 6th Edition 5 Exam Prep PMBOK 7th Edition Full Review on Principles 6 Exam Prep PMBOK 6th Edition Full Review on Process Flow 7 Exam Prep PMP Process Mapping Game 8 Exam Prep Purchase Third3Rock Notes 8.5 Exam Prep Review Third3Rock Main Notes 8.6 Exam Prep Review Third3Rock Cheat Sheet 9 Exam Prep David Mclachlan's 200 agile quesitons 10 Purchase Get PMI Study Hall Plus 11 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Practice Questions 1 - 3 11.1 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 1 - 2 11.2 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mock 1 11.2 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 3 - 4 11.3 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mock 2 11.3 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 5 - 6 11.4 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mock 3 11.4 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 7 - 8 11.5 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 9 - 10 11.6 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 11 - 12 11.7 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 13 - 14 11.8 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 15 - 16 11.9 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 17 - 18 11.95 Exam Prep PMI Study Hall Essentials - Mini Exam 19 - 20 12 Exam Prep Udemi PMP Mock 21 Exam Prep AR 200 Extra Hard Questio 25 Shutdown Cancel PMI Study Hall 26 Shutdown Cancel PMI subscription
i am genuinely getting so sick of studying for the pmp.. because at this point is it even worth it? Does it really help you with your career, even if i decide to move away from project management into something else? Project management jobs are so hard to find. I am in the healthcare sector of project management
Took the exam today at a Pearson test center and passed AT/AT/AT! Thankful for AR and the mindset videos. They most definitely still apply to the new exam. I took my 35-hour course in March 2025 (yes, 2025), had some family health issues and job hunting delay my studying until a month ago because my 1-year period ends next week. To “cram” I used AR’s TIA testing simulator and PMI SH+. Can’t recommend either of these enough. I was using PocketPrep but when I found out SH+ has a mobile app, I switched to that full time so I could answer the questions at home and on the go.
Feel free to ask questions about my prep, if you’d like.
———
Anyway, my biggest takeaway today was the timing of the two breaks.
As expected, my exam started with case studies. I had 2 narrative case studies with 4 questions each, and 1 “case study” that had very little narrative and a few charts/graphs that had 2 questions to answer. They kinda skipped back and forth between case studies for the questions, so I definitely recommend highlighting important info when reading them as the highlights remain for the next question.
So I finished the 10th question at around the 15 minute mark and hit “Next”, and it takes me to my first review screen. For 10 questions…I was very confused. I had essentially just sat down and didn’t really want one of my breaks yet.
When the break screen started I literally put my arms up and was like “wtf??”. The proctor came over to me when she saw and she was confused, too. I just got up to get a sip of water and went back to it.
My next break was after question 95 where I had about 113 minutes left. I answered the 180th question with about 45 seconds left. I recommend writing the your goal time remaining per Question number during the warm-up portion. I wrote: Q1=240 min left, Q31=200, Q61=160, Q91=120, Q121=80, Q151=40, Q166=20, Q173=10
They ended up asking a few more questions on the narrative case studies later on but I only had 12 CS questions total. 1 drag and drop. Maybe 10 “choose 2/3”. The rest were scenario questions much like SH+, with most of them in the “moderate” range of difficulty.
Has anyone else had a break this early with the new exam??? Just wondering if mine was normal.
I sat through the whole test thinking I'd definitely failed. This is such a boost to my self-esteem!
DETAILS:
EDIT: For anyone comparing Study Hall scores, I went into the exam with a 71% average on practice questions and 69% average on practice exams. My final 180-question mock was 68%. Study Hall rated me Advanced in People and Process and Proficient in Business Environment. I passed the actual PMP AT/AT/AT.
Hallo PMP community,
ich stecke mitten in der PMP-Vorbereitung.
Den Kurs von Andrew Ramdayal habe ich zu 25 % durch, empfinde ihn aber als zu vorlesungslastig.
Heute Morgen bin ich auf David McLachlan gestoßen: Sein stark visueller Stil und die vielen Templates haben mich sofort überzeugt, weshalb ich den Kurs auch direkt gekauft habe.
Da ich den Stoff nicht nur für die Prüfung lernen, sondern wirklich für die Praxis beherrschen möchte, überlege ich nun zu wechseln.
Welche Erfahrungen habt ihr mit den beiden Instructors gemacht? Würdet ihr komplett wechseln oder beide kombinieren?
Danke für euren Input!
Did anyone attempt for old format after 9th July (affected candidates)
If yes what was experience,how tough exam was?
And ofcourse results and confidence level
Hello,
based on the screenshot, do you think I am ready for the real exam?
My plan is do to both remaining full-length practice exams and then go for the real one.
First full practice exam was a downer: 56% (but 70,4% without expert questions).
Can I purchase the PMP exam retake protection if I have already paid for the exam a while ago but haven't scheduled the exam.
It would ease my anxiety and help me prepare for the exam better as I failed my first attempt back in July
So, I have been reviewing my SH Mock paper and there are around 3 questions where the answers mentioned in the SH is different that what I ticked. When I am putting the questions in ChatGPT it also agrees to the one I marked.
One of the questions is above. Can you look and confirm what the answer should be?
As per SH it is >!Conducting interviews and surveys for insight into stakeholders' behaviors to ensure they align with the company's strategic goals presents the most straightforward way to implement better change strategies!<
The ChatGPT answer is >!Develop workgroups to assess past performance and identify strategies so key stakeholders can make informed decisions.!<
How to deal with such questions?
Guys honestly, I personally feel the whole PMP thing is somewhat overrated.
Not saying the framework is useless — but how many workplaces can actually execute all these PMP principles properly in the real world? Can anyone confidently guarantee that?
Managing a project in Europe, America and Asia can be completely different.
In many Asian workplaces, hierarchy is a huge factor. Sometimes what the boss says effectively overrides whatever beautiful stakeholder-management framework you learnt. Then try managing a multinational project team — different attitudes towards hierarchy, deadlines, working hours, gender, communication, holidays and decision-making.
I've worked with teams where certain people disappear for tea breaks at 3pm, environments where a female PM may have a much harder time getting some workers to take instructions from her, and projects where you have to plan around a large number of different religious/public holidays.
These are REAL project-management problems.
PMP can teach you stakeholder engagement, risk management, communication plans, conflict resolution, etc.
But a textbook saying "manage stakeholder engagement" and actually getting 15 people from completely different working cultures to cooperate are two very different things 😂
So I sometimes wonder: is PMP really proof that someone is a good Project Manager, or mainly proof that they understand PMI's framework and passed the exam?
Curious to hear from PMs who have actually managed multinational teams across different countries.
perhaps can introduce simply, eg:
Current Role / YOE / Country or Region / Industry / PMP Status:
Example: Senior Project Manager / 15 YOE / India / IT / PMP Certified
Thanks Much!
Hello folks, is this décent préparation to appear for pmp exam? Only did minis so far . Thank you
I passed my PMP yesterday with above target in all 3 domains!! I wanted to share my timeline because reading other people's score progressions on here really helped calm my nerves leading up to test day, so hopefully this helps someone else too.
Background
I started my 35 PDUs mid-July using Andrew's course on Udemy, mostly just trying to get familiar with everything. It took me about a week and a half to get through it. Once I finished, I applied for the exam, and as soon as my application got accepted I grabbed the nearest available date, which ended up being a little under two weeks out.
Once I actually had a date on the calendar, that's when I really started studying. First thing I did was take the pretest that comes with Andrew's course and got a 77%, which honestly made me feel pretty good since up to that point, I'd mostly just been focused on finishing the course and getting the main concepts down.
Then I made the mistake (or, well, good decision in hindsight) of reading this sub, where everyone kept saying to get PMI Study Hall because it actually represents the real exam. So, I got the premium version, took my first full length practice exam, and got a 66%. Genuinely discouraging. Here's what I did from there.
Score progression (Study Hall full length exams)
-Exam 1: 66%. Rough one. Ran out of time and missed a ton of situational judgment questions.
-Exam 2: 72%. This came after two really focused study days on Process (EVM, contracts, charts) and Business Environment.
-Exam 3 (the day before my actual exam): 79%, with People at 81%, Process at 79%, and BE at 77%.
I also knocked out a ton of the Study Hall mini exams (10 questions each) along the way. Started rocky, like 50 to 70%, but was averaging around 90% by the end. My percentile rank went from about 70th up to 94th, and all three domains ended up rated Advanced even though my raw score kind of plateaued in the high 70s. Worth knowing that raw percentage and the difficulty weighted proficiency rating are not the same thing at all, and Study Hall exams are pretty widely considered harder than the actual test.
What actually moved the needle
Stopped treating wrong answers as "I don't know this" and started treating them as patterns. Almost every miss traced back to the same handful of traps: jumping straight to action before verifying or diagnosing first, picking the most "formal sounding" answer instead of the proportionate one, or having the PM decide unilaterally instead of facilitating and routing to the right authority (especially on Agile questions). Once I actually named these patterns, I started catching myself doing them in real time.
Deep reviewed literally every wrong answer, even on the tiny 10 question mini exams, not just the big final exam. Stuff like CPI/SPI direction, QA vs QC, benefits management plan vs change management, and contract risk allocation, those specific misses taught me way more than rereading notes ever did.
Did not cram the night before. Just light review, old notes, a few flashcards, plus a logistics check (ID, testing center info), and then actually let myself rest.
Started taking real breaks during practice exams once I noticed my focus completely tanking in the back half of a 180 question run. Trained myself to actually use both scheduled breaks instead of just pushing through on autopilot.
If you're mid-prep right now
One bad score on a practice exam, especially a Study Hall one, doesn't mean you're not ready. Look at the percentile and proficiency rating too, and check whether your misses are clustering around one specific pattern instead of being totally random. Fixing 2 or 3 repeatable traps moved my score way more than any amount of extra content review did.
Good luck to everyone still grinding through this, it's very doable. You got this!! Happy to answer questions if anyone has them :)
Hey everyone,
Did you know PMI rolled out a new $45 Exam Retake Protection option at checkout? (If you fail, it covers a free retake instead of paying the usual $275 member fee). Andrew Ramdayal just broke it down in this video: https://youtu.be/y54RBYct8VI?si=mJDrCkOoP0uMFA0s
Here is my situation: I paid for my PMP exam a couple of months ago before this feature went live, and my exam is scheduled for September 12. Because the option didn't exist at the time of my payment, I didn't get the chance to opt in.
Has anyone in the same boat contacted PMI customer care to add the protection retroactively? Were they able to send you a payment link/invoice for the $45 difference without messing up your scheduled test date, or is it strictly locked to new checkouts only?
Would love to hear if anyone has tried this yet!
To people who took the exam- does highlight stay on case study when next question comes up?
I heard cases where case study queries come at the starting and after the break (after 10 question) same case study pops up with question and at that time can i see my highlights when doing exam?
Is there anyone with ADHD who has taken the PMP exam online?
I know a lot of people recommend taking it at home because it’s your own environment and it’s more comfortable but the problem is that I have ADHD. My eyes dart everywhere when I’m thinking and I often read while moving my lips. I’m very concerned that this would be a huge issue for the proctor and I’ll get disqualified.
Folks with ADHD I’d love to hear how you manage the test! Whether it’s at an exam centre or online
I have a PMP, software engineering exp, and a master's degree related to AI.
This was more difficult than my personal PMP experience. I have other certs as well but this one is the best to pair with the PMP. As a software engineer, I was very impressed how PMI was able to construct the syllabus and knowledge material. It's immensely relevant for tech-leaning orgs.
The knowledge is crucial for staying up to date with the tech industry and be competitive. This will be highly beneficial if you are considering to go into tech since you will still learn life-cycles that involves data, software, architecture, etc.
PMP study helps a lot but your experience as a PM in other industries may not help much. I'm not surprised this has a high failure rate as no other experience is required. I would expect a CAPM or few years of experience might help a little bit.
That might show how much of a gap you may have with these specialized projects - so then you can confidently say that you learned a lot from this course and exam. In my opinion, the point of these certs is to learn new things and challenge ourselves anyway.
I highly recommend the official PMI-CPMAI Study Hall that includes Mock/Practice Exams. The other source I had was PMI-CPMAI Udemy course to learn via audio.
What helped the most is official resources from PMI.
Does anyone know where to start to study for the new pmp exam ive seen a lot of resources as it relates to the old one any clue would love to take it within the next few months…
Hi everyone,
I'm planning to register for the PMP exam in India and wanted to check whether the pricing I'm seeing on the PMI website is correct.
My current cart shows:
When I previously tried to checkout, I remember the amount being around ₹37,572, so I'm confused about the difference.
For anyone in India who has recently registered for the PMP exam, does this pricing look correct to you? Is ₹27,406 for the exam + ₹11,580 for PMI membership the current price before GST?
I'm just trying to confirm whether PMI is showing me the correct current pricing before I proceed with the purchase.
Thanks!
I took the SH mock yesterday and it was divided into 3 sections of 80mins each and 60qns in each section.
I saw from the group that many have mentioned that in actual exam the first break comes after the 2 case study questions i.e. in about 10 questions within the exam.
Does each section have separate timing in actual exam as well? If so, what are the section wise timings?
Will I be able to go back to previous sections for review at the end of exam?
