{"id":7464,"date":"2015-12-15T11:30:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/?p=7464"},"modified":"2024-09-06T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T14:41:46","slug":"pmp-boot-camp-overview-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/pmp-boot-camp-overview-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Management Professional (PMP)\u00ae Certification Boot Camp Overview Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AndreaPreparing for a certification can be a very stressful and confusing process.\u00a0On December 10, 2015, I hosted a webinar to help alleviate some of this stress by providing an overview on the exam and sharing tips on how to study and pass! Thank you to everyone that attended “Get Ready for PMP\u00ae Certification Boot Camp! Tips for Class and PMP Exam Success<\/strong>.” <\/span>If you missed it or would like to review,\u00a0check out the recording<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Below are the questions that came up in the webinar<\/strong>, as well as a few that came to me following the webinar.<\/p>\n

Q: Do prep classes count towards the 35 hours of PM education required to sit for the exam?<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: Yes, all project management training<\/a>, including certification preparation training, counts. The PMP Certification Boot Camp<\/a> counts for all 35 contact hours needed to qualify for the PMP Exam.<\/p>\n

Q: I work as a business analyst on a project currently, and I am expected to also act as a project manager; I am currently stuck on how to manage both processes.<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: Many project professionals find themselves filling the roles of both PM and BA. For purposes of applying for the PMP exam (or the PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)\u00ae exam), use the appropriate Exam Content Outline (ECO) to help you identify your work as either PM or BA. For example, Planning Task 1 of the PMP Certification ECO reads as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cReview and assess detailed project requirements, constraints, and assumptions with stakeholders based on the project charter, lessons learned, and by using requirement gathering techniques in order to establish detailed project deliverables.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, this is workaround project requirements, as opposed to product requirements, which would be the work of business analysis. Think of project requirements as the requirements around the 47 project management processes.<\/p>\n

Also, the ECO includes specific tasks, but there is a lot of work that can be included within each task. For example, Executing Task 1 reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cAcquire and manage project resources by following the human resource and procurement management plans in order to meet project requirements.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Acquire Project Team process includes Virtual Teams as a tool, so this would include project management effort working with virtual teams to get project work completed.<\/p>\n

Q: I took the two-day Use Case Modeling<\/a> course through Watermark. Would this count toward PM contact hours?<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: Yes, all of Watermark\u2019s classes<\/a> count as contact hours for the PMP certification exam.<\/p>\n

Q: I\u2019m working toward my Master\u2019s degree and am wondering whether a \u201cSoftware Engineering\u201d course would count toward PM contact hours.<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: Basically, time spent learning about techniques used while doing PM activities count.\u00a0So, if it\u2019s a 20-hour course, and 8 hours cover PM-related work, then it would count as 8 hours.\u00a0For example, you might spend time in a course learning about estimating techniques used to plan project work, so that part of the class would count. Time spent on the technical aspects of engineering would not count. It\u2019s not course-specific.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0I will be taking a graduate-level Project Management course next semester.\u00a0 Would this education count toward the required PDU credits (following PM certification)?<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Q: Is any BA work (e.g., requirements gathering, testing, system architecture, etc.) eligible toward the required 36 months of PM work?<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: Remember that it\u2019s not about your title.\u00a0It\u2019s about the work you do.\u00a0 PMs have project requirements they have to define, too, as described above.<\/p>\n

Q: You mentioned that the PMP exam content will change after 1\/11\/2016.\u00a0 What are the major changes?<\/span><\/h4>\n

A: The major changes pertain to the following themes:<\/p>\n