Ana Blanco
Posted by nfisherpmi on Aug. 6, 2020 / Volunteer Highlights / Subscribe 0
Celebrating Achievement – Ana Blanco
Shout out to a new PMP! The PMI Dallas Chapter wants to congratulate its member Ana Blanco for passing the test last month and becoming a certified Project Management Professional.
Ana had to use and grow her project management skills in every aspect of her career. Finally, she decided to learn more about formal project management and get certified.
We would like to thank Mrs.Blanco for sharing her experience with us. It was quite an adventure!
After a PMP bootcamp with Crosswind Learning, spending endless hours studying on her own, staying in sync with her coach, Tony Johnson (Crosswind Learning), and taking a one-day PMP summary course at PMI Dallas, Ana registered for the pilot PMP test. For those who do not know about this test, it is a completely new PMP test that will be effective in January 2021. PMI wanted volunteers to test it and Ana was one of them. She planned to take it in March 2020, but it was canceled due to COVID-19.
This cancelation added more stress to Ana’s preparations, forcing her to continue studying several hours a day in order to retain all her knowledge. Besides her professional life, Ana is a mother of 3 small kids, and of course it is hard to juggle between her study time and taking care of her family. She scheduled her next test as soon as she could.
Mrs. Blanco scheduled an online test in June 2020. She tested her system before the test, and everything worked fine. On the test day, she started having issues with the testing system and the system crashed when she was on the150th question. Ana opened up a case with Pearson VUE and a week and a half after, she received confirmation from them and PMI that she could reschedule it again.
This time Ana decided to take a test at the testing center. She decided to get a hotel room near the testing center to prevent any problems with traffic and to ensure she got a good night’s rest before the test. After having a good night's sleep, a final call with Mr. Johnson and a filling breakfast near the testing center, she headed to take her test.
After a routine check-in process, Ana was able to begin the test. The test itself went very easily with a 10-minute break after question #90. Ana successfully finished the 4-hour test 20 minutes early and scored “above target” in four out of five knowledge areas.
Below you can see some suggestions that helped Ana during preparation and testing time.
Study time
- Take a credible PMP boot camp to get your educational hours, validate current state of knowledge and isolate areas where more study is needed.
- Study 3-4 hours a day and practice exam questions.
- Use different sources to study including PMBOK, PM applications on your phones, videos, test questions, etc.
- If you take an online test, check your system in advance. Also, keep the Person VUE’s phone number handy.
- Also, if you are taking the test online, spend some time with the white board application (available Pearson VUE’s website) before the test to make sure you can draw schedule diagrams and formulas. If you never used it before, it could be challenging during the test.
- Memorize the table with processes and knowledge areas, so you don’t need a written paper anymore. If you take an online test, there isn’t room to write it on the white board.
- Make sure you understand ITTOs and not just memorize them. Understanding the integration of all processes is a key to the correct answers.
1-2 days before the test
- Drive to the testing center the day before the test to become familiar with the area.
- Get a good night's sleep the night before the test. If you can’t relax at home, you might consider getting a hotel room near the testing center.
- Do not eat unfamiliar food. You don’t want to have an upset stomach on the test day.
Test Day
- Stretch and take a nice relaxing shower in the morning before the test.
- If you like to use essential oils, Ana recommends applying several drops of rosemary oil near your face (ears & neck areas). Studies have shown it helps to concentrate and reduce test anxiety.
- While taking a test, don’t touch or move your mask from your face. Ana received a stern warning from a test-center worker when she lowered her mask slightly to get more air.
- Bring snacks and water with you (you can access it during the break).
- Review your answers to the first 90 questions before the break as you won’t have access to them after the break.
- At a testing center, you will have several single plastic dry-erase sheets for scratch work.
Writer: Natalia Fisher
0 Comments