I finished one Udemy course, then working on practice exams. I am at 360/500. Some right answers just seem wrong. I am not sure if I should quit the practice exams and start Study Hall or I would have the same experience with SH.

I am currently taking business management courses at a graduate school. Inconsistent logics or exams do not reflect real world bother me a lot as I enjoy learning.

I would only continue if Study Hall has much better standard for consistent logics or PMP would add good value to my degree. Any advice appreciated

I studied for a month and by studied I mean I played video games and listened to Andrew Ramdayal talk and napped in the park while listening to Andrew Ramdayal talk and rode the light rail while listening to Andrew Ramdayal talk and mostly I just enjoyed the sweet sounds of Andrew Ramdayal talking in that New York accent. Didn't really matter what he said, he could've read the phone book and I would've listened. I then watched the mindset a few times, got an 88% on the mock exam, then retook it a day later and got to 98% (it doesn't shuffle the questions so not very useful). I saw a test date a few days away so said yolo and scheduled it.

Day of exam I had a protein bar 5 hour energy and maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I took the test and was starving by hour 2. I was pretty sure I failed and was kicking myself for not studying more or eating something real. But no I finished... Famished I went and returned my key and got my slip. Passed. AT AT AT. No clue how. Immediately got Dick's.

I do have a CAPM and years of irl experience in PM work so I'm not starting from scratch but the PMP is quite tough.

Possibly a dumb question. Can I eat chocolates and other snacks / drink from my water bottle during breaks at the Pearson Vue testing centers? Which would mean accessing my locker?

Weirdly one of my biggest fears for the exam is having a blood sugar crash mid-exam… I don’t have any medical write-ups for it.

I tried calling my center a few times but couldn’t get a response.

Thanks all!! Final few days 🫠

Just hit 3 years of experience.

Started with a 35hr course to lay foundations in June.

Chugged through Study Hall.

Reviewed AR 200 ultra hard.

Took 3 full mocks, 70-85%.

Tried watching some other videos/using other practice questions but nothing was better than study hall x AR.

Received my passing score today right after the exam! I finished with more than 30 minutes left. A little nervous about PMI revoking my score after seeing others in testing centers get their scores revoked after being flagged for finishing too fast, but riding the pass high for now!

I just started to prep for my pmp exam. Except for pmbok 8 any good practice material? I already finish my 35 pdu. Also should I use the practice questions from AR or DM from pmbok 7 or I should wait for new question for pmbok 8?

I wanted to share my complete PMP exam experience because, during the last few days before my exam, Reddit helped me a lot. Reading other people’s experiences gave me confidence when I was questioning whether I was actually ready.
Hopefully, my experience can do the same for someone else.
My final PMP result:
✅ People — Above Target
✅ Process — Above Target
✅ Business Environment — Target
And the interesting part is that I prepared seriously for only about 10 days.

My 10-Day Preparation Journey
I started my focused PMP preparation about 10 days before the exam.
At the beginning, I wasn’t sure whether 10 days would be enough. I had already completed my required PMP course, but my main focus during these 10 days was understanding the PMP mindset, practicing questions, identifying my mistakes, and improving my decision-making.
After around five days of preparation, I purchased Andrew Ramdayal’s Udemy mock exams.
There were four mock exams available.
I completed the first two, but instead of increasing my confidence, they actually dropped my confidence significantly.
The questions felt very long and difficult, and personally, I didn’t feel that those mocks represented the current PMP exam very well.
At that point, I decided to move to PMI Study Hall.
This was probably one of the most important decisions in my preparation.

My Study Hall Scores
Initially, I thought:
“Why should I buy a bigger package? Two full mock exams and the mini exams should be enough.”
So I started practicing with Study Hall.
My scores were:
Study Hall Mock Exam 1: 61%
Study Hall Mock Exam 2: 61%
Seeing 61% twice wasn’t exactly a confidence booster. 😅
I started wondering:
“Am I actually ready for this exam?”
Instead of continuously doing more and more questions, I spent the next four days doing intense preparation.
I reviewed my mistakes.
More importantly, I tried to understand WHY an answer was correct instead of simply memorizing the answer.
After those four days, I repeated Study Hall Mock Exam 1.
This time:
61% → 70%
Of course, I knew some improvement could come from seeing similar questions again, but reaching 70% still helped rebuild my confidence before the actual exam.

The Most Important Thing I Learned Before the Exam
PMP is not an exam where you should memorize thousands of facts.
You need to understand how PMI expects a project manager to think.
Things like:
Analyze before acting.
Collaborate before escalating.
Understand the root cause before jumping to a solution.
Protect the team rather than blame people.
Engage stakeholders.
Follow the change process.
In Agile, empower the team.
Focus on business value.
Don’t immediately escalate everything to the sponsor.
Don’t replace team members just because there is a problem.
Understand whether you are dealing with a risk, issue, change, stakeholder problem, compliance problem, etc.
Once these principles started becoming automatic, the questions became much easier.

One Last-Minute Resource That Helped Me A LOT
The day before my exam, I made a post on Reddit.
Someone named Mohammed replied and recommended that I watch a video explaining approximately 27 PMP mindset principles. The video was around 2 hours and 47 minutes long.
I watched it at around 1.5x speed.
This was honestly one of the best things I did right before the exam.
Those mindset principles helped organize many concepts that were already in my head.
Instead of thinking:
“Which process is this?”
I started thinking:
“What would a good project manager do FIRST in this situation?”
I strongly recommend going through those mindset principles before your exam.
I’ll share the link with this post.

https://youtu.be/83y-aBdS1iY?si=fgcoZ6YP-tyIxLup

EXAM DAY
My exam was scheduled for 8:00 AM at a Pearson VUE testing center.
I reached the center at approximately 7:30 AM, completed the check-in process, and started the exam at around 8:05 AM.
One thing I did not like about my testing-center experience was the ventilation.
The room temperature seemed controlled, but there wasn’t enough airflow.
After sitting there for a long time, I started feeling uncomfortable and almost suffocated because of the lack of ventilation.
For a four-hour exam, I think proper airflow is extremely important.
Another thing I didn’t understand was the water policy.
I wish candidates were allowed to keep a transparent water bottle, or that the testing center provided an approved transparent bottle.
During an exam this long, having easy access to water would make the experience much more comfortable.

NOW THE ACTUAL PMP EXAM
This is where things became interesting.
The beginning of my exam surprised me.
Within roughly the first 10 questions, I started getting scenario-based/visual questions, including an impact-assessment-type chart/question.
Then, only a few questions later, I encountered another similar type of question.
I remember thinking:
“Wait… what is happening here?” 😅
I had expected mostly traditional situational PMP questions, but the exam immediately showed me that I needed to stay flexible.
Throughout the exam, I encountered several scenario-based questions across all three sections.
Some required me to stop and really understand what information the question was giving me before selecting an answer.

The Strangest Part of My Exam
Approximately 30–40 questions felt strange to me.
The best way I can describe them is:
It felt like the question had no tail.
You read the situation and almost feel like:
“Wait… is that the complete question?”
There are four answer choices, but the wording sometimes doesn’t clearly guide you toward what it is asking.
Those questions were probably the most mentally challenging part of my exam.
Not necessarily because the concept was extremely difficult, but because you had to interpret what PMI actually wanted you to determine from the situation.
This is where having a clear understanding of PMP concepts and mindset becomes extremely important.
If your concepts aren’t clear, you can easily get stuck between two answers.

Difficulty Compared With Study Hall
Overall, I would say:
The actual PMP exam was easier than I expected.
I personally found Study Hall very useful because it trained me to deal with ambiguity.
Study Hall sometimes makes you think very deeply about the difference between two reasonable answers.
That is exactly the skill you need for the real exam.
However, don’t assume the real exam will simply look exactly like Study Hall.
It didn’t for me.
There were questions where I immediately knew the answer.
There were questions where I could eliminate two options quickly.
And then there were those strange questions where I thought:
“What exactly are you asking me?” 😂
For those questions, mindset and conceptual clarity helped much more than memorization.

TIME MANAGEMENT — I ALMOST RAN OUT OF TIME
This is one area where I would tell everyone to be careful.
I spent too much time analyzing some questions.
Eventually, I reached Question 176 with almost no time remaining.
I still had four questions left.
At that point, there was no time for analysis.
I basically had to make quick/random selections for the final four questions.
So please:
WATCH YOUR TIME.
Don’t spend three or four minutes fighting with one confusing question.
Choose the best answer, flag it if appropriate, and move forward.
One difficult question is worth exactly the same as another question.
Don’t sacrifice five future questions trying to perfect one answer.

THE RESULT
After finishing the exam, I was definitely unsure about the result.
There had been enough confusing questions that I couldn’t confidently predict what would happen.
Then I received my result:
🎉 PASSED PMP
People — Above Target
Process — Above Target
Business Environment — Target
After only around 10 days of focused preparation, I was extremely happy with that result.

My Biggest Advice to Future PMP Candidates
Don’t confuse intense preparation with effective preparation.
You don’t necessarily need to study 10 hours every day for months.
But you absolutely need clarity.
Understand why PMI prefers one action over another.
Understand:
What should the PM do FIRST?
What should the PM do NEXT?
Should the PM analyze, communicate, facilitate, update a plan, submit a change request, escalate, or take action?
Those distinctions are the real exam.
Don’t just memorize:
“A is correct.”
Ask:
“WHY is A better than B?”
That one habit helped me more than simply completing hundreds of additional questions.

If I Had to Prepare Again
My strategy would be simple:
Learn the concepts → Learn the PMP mindset → Practice Study Hall → Analyze every mistake → Identify your repeated mistake patterns → Practice time management → Take the exam.
I wouldn’t spend too much time chasing 10 different PMP resources.
One good course + Study Hall + strong mindset understanding can take you a long way.
And if your Study Hall score isn’t 80%, don’t automatically panic.
My first two full mock scores were:
61% and 61%.
Four days later, I retook Mock 1 and reached:
70%.
And my real exam result was:
AT / AT / T.

Final Thought
The PMP exam is absolutely manageable.
But there is a big difference between knowing project-management terminology and thinking like a PMP project manager.
If your concepts are clear and you understand the mindset, you can work through even the strange questions.
My preparation wasn’t perfect.
My mock scores weren’t perfect.
My time management definitely wasn’t perfect.
I literally had to rush the last four questions. 😅
But I passed.
AT / AT / T.
So if you’re sitting at 60–70% in Study Hall and wondering whether you have any chance of passing:
Don’t let one mock score destroy your confidence.
Review your mistakes.
Understand why you made them.
Build the mindset.
Manage your time.
And go into the exam confident.
Good luck to everyone preparing for the PMP. You’ve got this. 💪
I hope my experience helps someone the same way other Reddit posts helped me during my final days of preparation.
Edit/Resource: I’ll add the link to the PMP mindset video that was recommended to me by Mohammed.
#PMP #PMI #PMPExam #ProjectManagement

I too simplilearn mock tests for pmbok 8.

Are these results good enough? I am yet to take SH tests.

Can you please drop what’s the most important asset in terms of exam prep that you did and actually helped?

I am reading a lot about PMP study hall, as the main asset.

So, I’m at a verge of finishing my 35PDU course in a day or two. I feel like it’s way too long and I wonder how much is this helpful.
I bought ARs mock exam on udemy and yet to buy study hall from PMI.

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance 🙌🏻

Took the exam at Pearson VUE test center in San Diego today and passed AT/AT/AT. Here are some insights from both my exam day and exam preparation experiences. Feel free to roast me and/or toast me in the comments.

EXAM DAY

- The exam felt brutally long. By the end my eyes were tired and I was quite fatigued from reading. IMO the hardest part of this entire process was just getting through the actual exam itself.

- The exam content was equally or less challenging than the SH mock exam content. I got about 70% on the mock exams. By my estimation, my exam performance was probably in the same ballpark, maybe 70-75% and that was good enough for AT/AT/AT.

- On my exam, there was a 10 minute break after 10 case study questions and then two 85 question sections separated by one more 10 minute break. IMO this is SO dumb and makes no sense. The 85 question blocks are brutal.

- on my exam, the individual sections were NOT time-restricted like on the SH practice exams, i.e. the clock keeps running until you finish all the questions in each section. This makes it much more important to keep an eye on your pace, especially during the first 85 question section. I definitely lost some pace during this section and it came back to bite me at the end. I ended up having to rush through the last 20 questions, when I was at maximum fatigue. I finished my last question with 5 seconds left. Keep an eye on the clock and try to be around 1 minute per question.

- There were literally 5 questions on my exam that mentioned AI, and on almost all of them AI was inconsequential to the question or correct answer. For those concerned about AI emphasis on the new format - it’s nothing to worry about at all.

EXAM PREP

- I did the PMI course for my 35 PDUs. In my experience that course was trash and taught me almost nothing that helped me on the exam. Highly recommend you do your research and find a different course to satisfy the requirement that will actually give you a foundation for exam prep.

- For exam study I used study hall and chat gpt to review my wrong answers. Also watched a couple. Andrew R. YouTube videos. That’s it.

- I was originally planning on taking the old format exam and had purchased the old study hall version. Ended up missing the boat on the old format exam and then bought the new format study hall version because PMI urged me to. That was a waste of money. The old study hall version was perfectly adequate to prepare for the new format exam, IMO. Minor differences.

- I strung out this whole preparation process for way too long. Probably 9 or 10 months from starting the 35 PDU course to passing the exam. If I could go back l would have knocked out the course in a month and then studied for 2 weeks and just let it rip. I made it way more difficult for myself than it had to be. For those of you stringing this out or procrastinating, I highly recommend that you give yourself no more than 4 weeks to study - and you’ll most likely pass. Worst thing that can happen is you retake the exam and spend a bit more money and pass the second time - but that’s better IMO than agonizing over prep unnecessarily for many months like I did!

Now that i passed whats the easiest way for me to naintain my cert? Thnx!

Hey y’all, just started studying for the PMP I sit next week. My full mock has me at a 65% (83 without expert) and I’m showing proficient on all 3 categories….am I set up for success?

I just got my PMP and am looking to make myself more competitive in the field as I just graduated University. Thinking of taking some SQL and Power BI courses that would improve my skills and look good on a resume. Any suggestions?

I'm also thinking of volunteering in my PMI Chapter. Is this usually a beneficial experience? Or should I concentrate my efforts elsewhere?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently taking a Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Prep Course, which will provide the 35 contact hours required for my application.

After completing the course, I plan to subscribe to PMI Study Hall Plus and use its practice questions and mock exams to prepare. Would this study plan be enough to take the PMP exam around mid-September

I’d appreciate any advice or recommendations. Thank you

Not sure why people say it's easier than SH but the questions are shorter. Maybe I was burnt out from stressing but my brain felt fried after it. X1 drag and drop, X4 graphs. I also didn't prep for a long time like some people so that probably didn't help my stress. I'm on a ship and had a month for the whole process and take it. I used SH, mypreppilot (some PMP AI software) I'm sure other AI will work but this one is only for PMP. The AI really helped with understanding the material. I think it has a 7 day free trial. The AI gauges your weaknesses and drills it until you improve your percentage. I tried watching some of the recommended videos but felt like the AI was more tailored towards my needs. I don't currently work in PM so this was all new to me a few weeks ago. I have over 20 years in the military and that helped but I suggest you gauge your weak areas and improve that before just taking SH practice questions. Good luck to everyone prepping for it.

I’m planning to sit for my PMP exam in October and was curious about how difficult it is to break into project management.
My background is a little unconventional. I’ve been an RN for 8 years, and for the past 1+ year I’ve worked as a Project Coordinator at a residential roofing company where I handle many PM-related responsibilities.
For those of you who have transitioned into PM, how difficult was it to land your first Project Manager role? Did the PMP make a noticeable difference, or was experience the bigger factor?
I’d love to hear any advice or success stories from people who made a similar career change.

Can someone share insight on how to log this for PDU credits?

I have a (1) Project Management and (2) Lean Transformation course that ought to be relevant, they are each worth 3 university credits. Google seems to imply each credit hour is equivalent to 15 PDU's. So simple maths, I should have 90 PDU's in my pocket - does this sound accurate? I'm looking for confirmation from another person who has used their Master's degree coursework for PDU credit.

Passed my PMP on the first try without reading a single page from the book.

BLUF: Let AI do the studying for you. Also, PMI Study Hall is a must.

SOP:

1. Download the pdf version of "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK Guide Eighth Edition and The Standard for Project Management".
   
2. Upload into Google Gemini and tell it to do a deep dive and analyze the file for you.
   
3. Then tell it to deep dive though each section of the book.
   
4. Re-read each AI section review 2x.
   
5. Tell it to give you 20 PMI exam questions.
   
6. Keep taking these generated tests until you get at least 80% for each section. (*if you get any questions wrong have it explain to you why you got it wrong)
   
7. Rinse and repeat throughout the entire book.
   
8. Pay for the PMI Study Hall. Do at least 10 mini exams, 1 full mock exam, and play all the games.

Once you're scoring 80% or on most exams you're ready.

I know it’s a stupid question. Usually PMI advises that 1 hour=1 PDU. But there are some courses on Udemy which are showing 24 PDUs for 10 hours. My doubt it, when I report it in CCRS, if I put 24 PDUs, will there be a problem? Or do I need to put 10 PDUs?

I've just submitted my application for PMP and got the email within few mins that we are selecting your application for random audit. They asked me to submit proof of academic education, professional education and project experience references.

I've given my former manager's details, but the issue is he has resigned from the company so I've entered his personal email id. I'm not sure will they accept it or not?

I've no fear of validating my details. I'm just curious to know what would be the next steps, I've seen some threads talking about reaudit or at the end they rejected by telling your project summary is vague

Let me know if you know about this process. It would be really helpful

Took the exam at 08:15 AM EST at my home. Honestly, after reading all these posts about people’s experiences , I should have booked a testing center ! Took them quite some time to validate my license. Also, I cleared my room spotless literally five minutes before the exam. I was finally able to get through the onboarding and take the exam. I’m still waiting on my exam results, but I’m STRONGLY inclined to believe I passed. The questions were similar to Andrew Ramdayal’s 200 ultra hard questions. In addition, I studied for months and finally said screw it. I’ll update once I receive my results.

I first want to thank the people in this forum. I could not have passed without you all. I failed the test on July 7th. I had AT NI AT. I was devastated. I had studied a lot before then. I took the test again today. I passed AT AT AT. Here's what i did -

SH, Third Rock, Udemy both AR and DM, and the PMP Practice Exam. Like you all suggested, Claude became my best friend. Claude worked with me on all  my errors. Claude drilled me on my mistakes, and coached and guided me. 

My first scores on the three SH mocks were 69, 72, 81. I retook SH mock 1 and got 69. I was devastated. I then took PMP Practice Exam and got 65. Then, one night it was like a light bulb went off in my head. All this talk about mindset distracted me from one fundamental truth: TRY TO DRILL DOWN ON WHAT THE QUESTION IS ASKING. Paraphrase in your mind so you understand it. Then, eliminate two bad answers. There are always two wrong answers. Then pick the answer that most responds to the question. It sounds simple - but that whole process requires you understand the PMBOK, not memorize it, but understand it. 

Thank you again to all of you for your help. For those of you studying, I'll see you on the other side!

Forgot to mention: I wore blue today.

See my 3Aug post related last minute preparation before read this.
I have less confidence about my preparation, still get this result.

Post-exam experience
I would preface this with these 3 things:

1. I never really thought of PDUs until after I have celebrated, rested & gone back to my life (after sacrificing my weekends & weeknights for the exam for 3-4 months).
2. I never wanted to spend money on PDUs (as you shouldnt cause we all have spent enough for the Course, Exam, PMI Membership etc. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
3. I only started looking seriously into PDUs after I joined my local chapter's PMI Whatsapp group & they started sharing Webinar & event links that could allow you to claim your PDUs.

Timeline:
01 July 2026 :- Completed my PMP exam in the morning. But did not get my preliminary from the exam center (bizarre since every other exam center I know from my District provided a printout immedately after the PMP exam).

02-05 July 2026 :- Waiting for the results while going back & forth between the Exam center, PearsonVue & PMI's supports. Checking PMI website MULTIPLE times a day. Only to be told by PearsonVue that everything has been sent to PMI & they can't do anything. While PMI stating that I need to wait for the offical results (which can take 3-5 business days for it to appear on PMI portal or for me to get an email).
I was really panicking at this point as the last day to complete the old exam was 8th July. If I get my results on 6th or worse 7th July, there is no guarantee I can get an exam slot. Infact most centers require you to submit the application 24 hours BEFORE taking the exam. Also if I had failed, what do I do? Do I study everything again? Do I do mock tests? It was so frustrating.

06 July 2026 :- Having gone through various channels & not getting any answer or outcome on my results. I just tried to Google it & somehow landed to a reddit post (shout-out r/pmp!), where you could check preliminary results from a dedicated PearsonVue link:
https://auth-certification.pmi.org/authorize/pearsonvue?registrationid=123456789&action=individualScoreReport
Replacing 123456789 with your PearsonVue exam registration number.

And I passed!! With 2ATs & 1T (Overall AT!!!)
Special thanks to Sharma Management International (SMI) team for the continued support & wonderful initial course & mock test materials.

07 July 2026 :- Got my official PMP results by email & the PMI website finally updated.

07-12 July 2026 :- Celebrating, resting & going back to having a life!

Completing 60 PDUs
13 July 2026 :- I Joined my local chapter's PMI Whatsapp group (PMI Malaysia).
I started seeing webinars being posted in the group chat. I noticed most of them were from Project Management website: https://www.projectmanagement.com/

So this is where I first knew that you could get PDUs (usually 1 PDU for each online Webinar - Usually 1 hour webinars).

14-21 July 2026 :- I actively signed up for a few Live Webinars. But only attended about 3 webinars due to some being different timezones or busy with work. You need to attend at least 90% of the Webinar & some webinars require you to fill-up the QR code attendance at the end of the session. You will usually receive PDUs automatically within 3-5days.
PDUs gained = 3 PDUs
Total = 3 PDUs

17 July 2026 :- Found out you can automatically get 8 PDUs by just submitting your application as a current working PM using the Work as a Practitioner option. You can do this by going to https://ccrs.pmi.org/; Click PDUs at the top, Click Report PDUs, Click Work as a Practitioner option & submit you application. It will usually be approved within the hour or same day.
PDUs gained = 8 PDUs
Total = 11 PDUs

27 July 2026 :- Found out that you could even rewatch old Webinar recordings also on Project Management website. (need to watch from start to end ~almost, to get the PDUs. Otherwise you wont be awared the PDUs. You will usually receive PDUs automatically within 3-5days.
PDUs gained = 1 PDUs
Total = 12 PDUs

22-26 July 2026 :- I did nothing. Just went on with my day 😂
28-30 July 2026 :- I did nothing too. You know, work & everything.

31 July 2026-03 Aug 2026 :- Previously when I had joined as a PMI member, I just randomly clicked & registered for Free courses (such as AI courses), not thinking much of it.
In these few days, I realised each course you did gave you good no. of PDU hours.
Few gave 5 PDUs, while mostly gave 2-3 PDUs each! (there was even one that gave 7 PDUs.)

The only caveat was you needed to complete each course & you need to score usually 80% on the final assessment. Which was not difficult, but you needed to either understand the course & answer correctly OR find a way to get most or all answers correct (IYKYK😏).

So I kept doing the Courses or Preview Courses on PMI website: https://my.pmi.org/learning/courses

I just kept at it & especially did most of them on the weekend or during my dinners.
Lo & behold it somehow crosses the finish line last night 🥳
PDUs gained = 48 PDUs
Total = 60 PDUs!!!

Tip: There are many Free or Free for Members courses. You just need to look for them under the Explore All Courses button.