PMP Exam Prep (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: This is an awesome prep tool for PMP certification!!!
Review: I took my PMP exam y'day. Got 85%. The reason - This book and only this book. I prepared for the exam for maybe 10 days in total. For the PDU's I read some other PM materials and then had a break for almost 6 months. I started preparing for the exam only 4 days before the exam. Just scanned the PMBOK guide for some chapters and then just read this book. I neither memorized nor had the time to go through this book for more than one time completely and i guess that was the reason i felt that lots of questions had more than one answer right.

If you are just going to read this book and take the exam, then each and every line in this book is important. You can call the material in this book as the crux of what you need to know to pass the exam. Plus you have to rely on your logical reasoning and your ability to fully comprehend what the question really implies. This is very important because a significant amount of questions in the exam are finely worded.

I have so far approximately prepared and passed 15 prometric technical exams in my career and can say that the material in the book is crisp and direct to the point. Really, there is no 'beating around the bush' in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good preparation material
Review: I find this book to be a good source of information for the PMP exam, which can make a difference and lead one to pass the exam. It worked well in my case, as I passed the exam on 17.02.2005 with a score of 183.
However, I have to say that I did not liked entirely the writing style and did not liked as well the fact that the book is exercise oriented. If you have time constraints while preparing for the exam and are looking for some knowledge injection, then you will be annoyed by the number of exercises in this book. I personally did not follow any of the exercises.
During the preparation I've also used Kim Heldman's book and for testing mainly the PMPFasTrack software.

Overall it's a book that gives you value, but I also recommend to combine your study with other books as well and to heavily test your knowledge using some software, of which PMPFastTrack is probably the best.

Rating:
Summary: Get it - Don't waste your time elsewhere
Review: Very good book - get's you 80% there - combine it with the Hot Topics CD and the PMBOK and you should do fine.

There are questions and issues that you may have questions on, that is not in the book, but that is no different any course in a box.

Get it! It cost Rita the $1200 I was goin got spend on taking her 2 day course.

Rating:
Summary: Best Material for PMP:
Review: 'PMP Exam Prep' is the best way to prepare for the PMP exam. She explains a lot of concepts that are not written in the PMBOK guide. A must read for any PMP aspirant.
-PK.Ganapathy, PMP


Rating:
Summary: Exam oriented book
Review: I recently passed my PMP exam with a score of 86%.
My personal opinion is this book is very exam oriented and is only useful if you have good base in project management. This should not be the first book you read. My suggestion is read whichever book you are comfortable with(there are few on PMI site) and then solve a lot of questions.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but lacking detail and overhyped...
Review: Disclaimer: Before buying the mulcahy book, I also enrolled in and completed a PMP Prep course offered by a University. My rationale for purchasing the Mulcahy book was (a) to get a different prespective on the exam, (b) to gain a bit more confidence prior to taking the exam (personal test anxieties, and (c) to make sure that I'd gotten the major material and brush up on anything else I might have missed. I have since passed the exam decently, but having said all of that, I felt that the Mulcahy book fell rather short in some key areas.

Mulcahy tends to use a "preachy" style of teaching in the book, such that when you reach an answer and have incorrectly responded to a question posed, you often see responses written like "You MUST KNOW THESE CONCEPTS". If you enjoy being preached at, definitely get this book. Otherwise, compared to the full instructional course (and perhaps this isn't a completely fair comparison, thus the disclaimer), the book tends to lack much of the detail you would find in other sources.

Also, after reading it and going through the review questions, I actually found that my confidence level decreased. If I missed one of the concepts, and I didn't find too many of them that were terribly well-explained, I was greeted by those preachy answers again, but more often than not I would see little or no explanation or background that would have been helpful to the student.

So on the points above -- (a) I got a different persepctive. Sort of. I did not get the detail I sought. (b) I lost confidence, and ended up going back to the othher material prior to the exam and quickly regained a lot of what I felt I'd lost by the mulcahy book. (c) I honestly didn't find much new ground that the book covered that wasn't in other, better written texts. Mulcahy's book is, at best, an average study guide, but doesn't draw on much new material or lend any great insight into the exam experience. Mulcahy's CD Courseware (PM FastTrack) is a better investment if you're seeking a good simulator that will provide an accurate barometer of your real-world test experience.

Rating:
Summary: A how-to primer on passing the PMP exam!
Review: This is an excellent study guide for PMI's PMP exam. Rita focuses on what you need to know for the exam. You can cover all the material in the book in about 2-3 days depending on your project management experience and familiarity with the PMBOK. In particular, the practice tests after each chapter are invaluable. They will help you understand the thought process required for the PMP exam. Many of the questions have more than one correct answer but the trick is to pick the most correct answer. Learning how to do that is crucial to passing and obtaining a good score.

In addition to this book, I also read Kim Heldman's PMP Study Guide. I recommend that highly as well. It follows more of a text book format and is an excellent supplement to the workbook-like PMP Exam Prep.

BTW., I passed the exam with ease and a lot of credit goes to Rita and Kim's study guides.