Over the recent years, the demand for the project management profession has been drastically increasing, thus making the CAPM Certification provided by PMI more significant. Being an entry-level project management certification, passing the exam on the first attempt is not a piece of cake.
People who want to advance their career with CAPM intend to pass the exam on the first try, but it looks like 2 out of 5 participants fail the first try. Though challenging, it is not impossible to clear in the first attempt if you have solid CAPM exam preparation training and a good study guide.
Today, we will explore 10 tips that you need to know to succeed in the exam. So, let's begin.
What is CAPM Certification?
The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is an accreditation offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for individuals entering the project management profession or those seeking to obtain the fundamentals of project management knowledge.
CAPM is desirable for those who consider it a preliminary to obtain the appropriate skills and proficiency, which will assist them in working well in a project environment and acknowledge challenges in a more organized manner.
10 CAPM Exam Cracking Tips
Preparing well for the certification exam requires substantial effort, time, and money. When you start preparing for any high-level exams, a significant investment of money, effort and time is needed. The same goes for the CAPM certification exam. To avoid the pain and struggle of repeating the exam, it is always advisable to pass on the first attempt, but many wonder how?
Here are the following 10 needed tips to help you to pass the CAPM certification exam with flying colours:
#1: Understanding Exam Content & Structure
The initial step of preparing yourself for the exam is to understand the exam content, structure and various PMBoK chapter weightage. Project Management areas are all merged, and the examination objective is to offer opportunities in all the regions. The participants require a master plan for preparation and allot learning time to each area.
Since the 6th Edition of the PMBoK Guide is approx. 700 pages, it's quite a lot for beginners to grasp or start with, resulting in losing interest in learning. However, if you follow a methodical approach followed by a training course program, you will acquire a sound knowledge overview.
Most importantly, there is no prerequisite of memorizing each input and output of the processes; instead, understand its function. Once it's done, it will not be difficult to reach the correct answer through logic and elimination methods.
#2: Make a Plan
Once done with an essential preparation and understanding of the exam structure & content, the next major step is making a plan. In this way, you are learning how to imply project management for passing the CAPM exam on the first try.
Depending on your work routines and time available for studying, you can assign the time to prepare for the exam every week. At the initial stage, you might not be able to estimate how much time you require to cover the portion; hence attempt to read the sample book, check your subject comfort and then calculate the time needed.
Before starting CAPM exam training, you can test your existing knowledge by appearing for a complete exam simulation test. With the achieved score, you will know which area in the CAPM requires more focus.
Later, at the end of the training, take a full sample test and compare the result. You are sure to find an improved score, highlighting the effectiveness of the training and your dedication.
#3: Exam Scheduling
Without a proper reference plan, scheduling and booking examination slots can be a risky business. It is essential to self-assess where you stand and what has to be done to improve it before deciding the exam date, especially when you want to pass on the first attempt.
It is worthy of spending some quality time understanding the CAPM exam, your knowledge level and estimating available time for preparation before scheduling the exam.
This initial scheming will drastically increase your chance of getting through the exam on the very first try.
#4: Purpose of Pre-test Questions
The CAPM exam contains 150 questions that have to be completed within 180 minutes (3 hours). Out of these questions, 15 questions are pre-tests that will be randomly spread in the test and aren't scored. The thing is that there will be confusion regarding these types of questions as candidates won't know which question is scored and which isn't.
Thus, going with the thought that a particular type of question might be a pre-test can be challenging and cause wastage of quality time. Hence it is advisable to treat each question as scored.
Keep in mind that if a specific question is confusing, you need to have the best guess and swiftly move into another instead of sticking onto it, as you need to be aware that there is a 10 percent chance of it being a pre-test.
#5: Careful Reading of Questions
It is seen that candidates lose valuable scores, especially when answering easy questions out of rush. The exam is for 3 hours, which is a lot of time to read questions and choices completely carefully before answering. It is significant to prepare good practice right from the mock and sample exams during the test preparation phase.
#6: Depend on Your Strength
Depending on the experience, learning, potentials, and background, we tend to be relatively robust in particular areas. Therefore, during practice tests, note the strength and weaknesses areas. While it's good to practice hard on the topics, integrating your solid regions and scoring well in them is equally significant.
#7: Charting Down of Formulas
Before the exam begins, you can chart down the learnt formulas, and other essential topic-related information on exam center provided paper or electronic whiteboard. This will minimize the tension that many of us feel during an exam and help us refer to this charted information for successful scoring.
#8: Read PMBoK Guide
While CAPM preparation courses make it easier to understand the concepts methodically, it can't be talked enough about the significance of interpreting the PMBoK Guide. It is necessary to assign adequate time to read the guide as part of the exam preparation.
Since CAPM is for those starting their career in the project management profession, more weightage is provided on the candidate's knowledge of the guide. In contrast, in PMP, which is for expert project personnel, there is an extra weightage on the knowledge application.
#9: Reading CAPM Handbook
As part of test preparation, it is very prominent to read PMI'S CAPM handbook, which assists the participants in gaining insights related to various policies and rules. This can be downloaded free from the official website of PMI.
#10: Enhance Your Confidence
When you try to answer practice questions, sometimes it may appear more than one correct choice, and through the elimination process, you narrow down your guess to just one answer. This helps keep track of question types you scored right by guessing and revising that specific course area.
Typically, amid practice tests, it is suggested that you target achieving above 70 percent correct answers while reducing any guesswork. This will help you attain confidence during the CAPM preparation stage and significantly increase the chance of passing on the first attempt. Tracking your performance and progress will help you know the areas you lack and need more attention.
Concluding Thoughts
CAPM exam preparation training will help you attain your desired goal of CAPM certification. If you are a rookie in project management or job hunting, this certification with good training will advance your career growth. A certificate from globally-renowned organizations is career promoters.
People who contribute specialized skills to a team can benefit from this certification by setting their duties with project managers. The understanding a practitioner gains from earning the CAPM certification can be applied to on-the-job experiences, which help develop growing competence levels in project management.
Individuals who carry the CAPM designation after their name enjoy a high level of credibility from PMP credential holders, project managers, employers and peers.
Still confused about whether to go for CAPM certification or not, then don’t waste any time; this is definitely your call; pick it up.
About Us
iCert Global is a one-stop solution offering certification training courses in a wide variety of techniques that will give you a head start in this competitive world.
We offer a 2-day intensive full-time CAPM certification training course. Our course content includes two full-length exam practice test, 300 exam prep questions with solutions and complimentary e-learning access of 3-months, enabling you to achieve your learning objectives.
Visit our website to find out more about the course.
Our company conducts both Instructor-led Live Online Training sessions and Instructor-led Classroom training workshops for learners across the globe.
We also provide Corporate Training for enterprise workforce development
Data Science & BI courses
Quality Management Training
- Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (LSSYB) Certification Training Courses
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB) Certification Training Courses
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) Certification Training Courses
DevOps Training
Business Analysis Training by iCert Global:
Comments (0)
Write a Comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked (*)