It Took Me 6 Years to Come Back to It — But I Passed My PMP (ATx3)!

Six years ago, I started studying for my PMP, but a new role at a new company (and a lot of exciting projects) took priority. I kept meaning to come back to it, and after getting laid off in August of this year, I finally decided it was time to finish what I started: I’m proud to share that I passed the PMP Above Target in all domains yesterday! 🎉

My Background

I’ve never held the official title of Project Manager, but I’ve spent 10+ years unofficially leading and delivering (Agile) projects in SaaS across Support, Operations, and cross-functional technical teams. This certification wasn’t about “learning project management from scratch,” but validating and formalizing the skills I’ve used every day... except in a way that is "idealistically PMI." What I take from this is that I know Agile, so that came easy to me, it was the Traditional (Predictive) that took a bit to really learn.

My Study Approach

Total study time: ~1.5 months

Schedule: 1–5 hours per weekday, occasionally weekends

Main resources I used (and recommend):

🎓 Andrew Ramdayal’s PMP Udemy course (35h required hours)
🎥 Andrew Ramdayal’s “How to Correctly Complete the PMP Application” on YouTube (seriously, start here! Do not wait until you're done with the 35h course to dive into this.) Here's the workbook I made to brainstorm and identify the projects I used for the application: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uKZZ5euGzJGLk8pOjXQtoA-S_MLO-qZlp_4vUizALag/edit?usp=sharing
Andrew Ramdayal’s “Complete PMP Mindset” video -- I watched this and got 95% of the associated mindset questions correct, so this is just good at validating after you've already done the 35h course!
PMI Study Hall (standard version) — full-length exams, mini quizzes, and games (I skipped the Learning Path), I didn't feel the need to have any more full-length exams. Do ALL the mini-exams BEFORE the full-length exams to get the best value/test of your abilities. Here's the workbook I used to track my progress in SH, it helped me stay focused on what I was getting wrong: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12l3mjJZxuDgZOugUaKVjotZDC23_y4jlLvyUnkv6R0s/edit?usp=sharing
Third3Rock Notes + Cheat Sheet
David McLachlan’s “The PMP Cheat Sheet – How to Tell If You’re Ready” (confidence booster!)

Aside: I have an ITIL Foundations cert, but I wouldn’t say it helped much beyond process familiarity.

My Exam Experience

Location: In-person at Pearson VUE
Format: 180 questions, 2 breaks
Time: Finished with 13 minutes to spare
Breaks: TAKE THEM. They reset your brain.
No math or ITTOs — it was all situational and mindset-focused.
Lots of Agile/Hybrid team questions, leadership scenarios, and emotional intelligence.
The white background was harsh on the eyes, but worse was the guy coughing nonstop in the testing room. 😅 (Earplugs and noise-canceling didn’t help.)

What Worked (and What Didn’t)

✅ Mindset is everything. Understanding the PMI approach helped me eliminate AT LEAST 1, but typically 2–3 wrong answers easily!

✅ I tried, but ultimately skipped the formula memorization. Just know: <1 = bad, >1 = good

✅ Don’t overstudy ITTOs. I didn’t see any questions like “which process creates what doc”

✅ Use Study Hall full-length exams AFTER mini-exams, if you’re hitting 70%+, you’re very likely ready

✅ Schedule as soon as our application is approved and DO NOT reschedule. You’ll only build unnecessary doubt!

Final Thoughts

This exam doesn’t make you more capable, perhaps it expands your creativity and gives more options to address real-world complexity. It also is a nice opportunity to validate the years of real-world project work already done and the lessons learned along the way. If you’ve put your PMP on pause like I did six years ago, don’t beat yourself up. The timing just has to align, and when it does, it’s worth every bit of effort! It's done!

Happy to answer any questions about study strategy, mindset, or exam day... especially for anyone balancing work, layoffs, or self-paced study. You’ve got this!

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