Pass your PMP exam; the r/PMP way (50+ Success Stories analyzed)

5 min readOct 4, 2022

tl;dr I analyzed 57 posts on r/PMP on how to pass the Project Management Professional with 3xAT so you don’t have to.

What is r/PMP?
It’s the best place on the Internet to find information regarding the Project Management Professional exam. I managed to pass my exam thanks to this sub-reddit, and I hope you will too!

Disclaimer: I only considered posts that clearly stated that the passing grade was 3xAT.

The list of posts I analyzed with rough notes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17A91--d_xPhqDWPOLYNrI8en6LOEWvnePsMf1JxBC1I/edit?usp=sharing

Study Guide

Unfortunately, everybody’s different. It’s hard to create a cohesive study guide for everyone. However, I was able to distill a few general suggestions:

Although people claim they managed to prepare for the exam in 2 weeks, the general timeline based on the analyzed answers is 2–3 months.
A lot of members suggest studying daily for a set amount of time (i.e., 2 hours)
People who said they “crammed” their studying week before the exam were not happy with their decision and suggested taking more time to prepare
AGILE is the key to success. You must understand it.
ITTOs are irrelevant. There were almost no reported ITTO-based questions in the analyzed posts. However, everybody says that knowing that they exist helps in general.
Understanding 49 processes (and their flow) is critical for the predictive questions on the exam. Knowing them by heart is a must. Andrew suggests trying to re-create the process matrix in less than 5 minutes.
The courses are great, but mock exams are much better. Take as many mock tests as possible to work on your exam endurance and see how you respond to exam fatigue.

When to know if you’re ready for the test

Based on the analyzed posts, you are ready for the exam if:

You get at least 75%+ on TIA mocks (but 80%+ is better)
Around 70%+ on the PMI Study Hall mocks (if you have around 65%+ that’s also ok)
Around 70%+ on the PMPrepcast simulator

Study Materials selected by the r/PMP members

#1 Andrew Ramdayal PMP 35 PDU Course

The Reddit community here believes that this is THE best course available on the Internet. 80% of the analyzed success stories group used AR’s Course.

Multiple people suggest that this is the only course you need to pass the PMP exam (although only one person stated that they used AR’s course exclusively)

#2 YouTube

The majority of the community suggests watching the following videos as great additional resources on top of AR’s Udemy course:

David’s 200 agile questions: https://youtu.be/tNIHysh2ZW4
Ricardo’s PMBOK6: https://youtu.be/GC7pN8Mjot8
Ricardo’s PMBOK7: https://youtu.be/HVlrxOQoSUw

Also, both David Mclachlan and AR’s YouTube channels are highly recommended by the community.

#3 PMBOK & Agile Practice Guide

A lot of members suggest reading PMBOK 7 and the Agile Practice Guide, as well as skimming PMBOK6 for the processes.

However, the same people mention that it was never their core study material, and not everybody felt that it helped them pass the exam.

#4 Games & Online Tools

The following games and online tools are free and were mentioned by multiple members as great supplementary learning material:

#5 Everything else

Joseph Philips, Rita, and Prepcast courses are acknowledged by the community but not highly recommended.

Most of the users who mentioned PMPrepcast strongly advise NOT TO BUY IT.

There are other mentions (EduHubSpot, PMP Pocket Prep, and PMChallenge), but it’s hard to tell whether they would benefit everybody preparing for the PMP exam.

Mock Tests

#1 Andrew Ramdayal TIA Mocks

77% of the analyzed answers used AR’s mock exams and recommended it as their core practice test tool. Some people suggest that it is THE ONLY mock exam you will need while preparing for the PMP exam.

However, 99% of the analyzed answers use at least two or more sources of mock exams.

#2 PMI Study Hall

The community agrees that PMI SH is MUCH HARDER than the PMP exam itself.

Scoring above 80% is not impossible, but very hard for sure. Multiple people from the analyzed group had at least 60%+ in Study Hall mock tests, and they managed to pass the PMP with 3xAT.

40% of users bought PMI SH and used it to prepare for their exams.

Some of those users mentioned that a few of their PMI SH questions also appeared on the PMP exam.

#3 Free Mock Tests

Across all posts, there are multiple free resources suggested. Here’s the list:

#4 PMPrepcast Simulator

Less than ten people mentioned the PMPrepcast simulator; however, those who did consider it valuable.

Mindset

Your experience is irrelevant during the PMP exam.

The answers PMI expects from you are the ones that follow their process or their “agile” path. The best answer to every question is the one aligned with PMI’s ECO.

90% of Reddit users say that the “Mindset” part of the AR course was what helped them pass the exam.

Taking the actual exam

Similar to the Study Guide section, it’s hard to give a one-size-fits-all solution on how and where to take the exam. I made sure to distill all the conclusions here:

At-home vs. Test Center is heavily dependent on your personal preferences. Both options have pros and cons, and users in both groups report positive and negative experiences. You have to figure out what worked for you best in the past and apply it here.
Exam Fatigue exists. Taking breaks during the exam is a must, not an option.
Make sure to get a good sleep before the exam and eat a healthy breakfast.
The exam offers built-in tools such as highlighting or strikethrough. Users report them as helpful in crossing out incorrect answers.
Many users say to follow your instincts and avoid changing answers.

Reported Exam Questions

Reporting specific PMP questions is illegal and breaks the PMI Code of Ethics; however, mentioning themes was never an issue. So if you want to know what happens with the PMP 2021 exam, here’s a short list:

At least 60% (or more) is heavily agile/hybrid-related
There are at least five or more drag & drop questions on average.
MBTI is a thing, and people report having at least 1 or 2 of those on their exams
You must know what EVM does, but only 1 or 2 people reported having to calculate anything on their exam. The consensus is that you need to understand it, but you don’t have to worry about the formulas.
Conflict Management and Servant Leadership “categories” are big enough for people to mention them in their post-mortems. Users mention multiple Schedule Management and Risk Management questions as well.
Mostly situational questions throughout the entire exam
ITTOs barely appear on the test, but you should know they exist and what they are.
AR Mindset was the key to many successful 3xAT results.
Fill-in-the-blank questions appear on the exam.
Knowing all 49 processes by heart is critical to your success.

Good luck!