Head First PMP Guide

[adhikesava perumal]

I am a senior developer, 'm planning to do PMP. I need a study guide which will address my below concerns.

Does this book address the test first, the material second?

If the material was the only thing that was important, then every test taker that understood the material should get a perfect score - that doesn't happen because there's a difference between simply knowing what's on the test and test performance.

Does it motivate the test taker to actually study ?

If it's hard to read, studying is slow and painful, and will produce meager results.

[Paul Michael]

One thing I can guarantee you is that almost all the Head First Books I've browsed/read are easy to read. (HFEJB, Servelets and JSP, Design Patterns, OOAD, etc)
[ December 04, 2007: Message edited by: Paul Michael Laborte ]

[Arijit Ghosh]

The table of contents itself looks so 'friendly'!

[Andrew Stellman]

Does this book address the test first, the material second?

When Jenny and I started writing "Head First PMP", we made the decision that the best way to study for the PMP exam is to actually understand the material. We basically set a "no memorization" rule for ourselves: if we ask our readers to memorize any material that they don't understand, then we're basically doing them a disservice.

When I took the PMP exam myself, I was surprised by two things. First, I was surprised at how difficult it was -- it's not an easy exam. But second, I was surprised by the fact that the questions did a really good job of testing me on the actual material. For example, they rarely used the PMBOK(r) Guide process names; instead, the questions described processes, and asked you about the context in which they'd occur. So if you just memorized the order of the processes by cramming their names into your brain, you wouldn't pass the exam. But if you actually take the time to understand the material (like understanding why it doesn't make sense to create the work breakdown structure if you don't have a project scope statement yet, or why it's much cheaper to prevent defects than repair them), then you'll do much better on the exam.

Our goal with "Head First PMP" was to take that understanding approach with all of the material on the exam. We've been told by many people that our book is not boring, which I believe is the highest possible compliment for a PMP exam book.
[ December 04, 2007: Message edited by: Andrew Stellman ]

[Hong Anderson]

Originally posted by Andrew Stellman:


When Jenny and I started writing "Head First PMP", we made the decision that the best way to study for the PMP exam is to actually understand the material. We basically set a "no memorization" rule for ourselves: if we ask our readers to memorize any material that they don't understand, then we're basically doing them a disservice.

Very interesting.

[Ilja Preuss]

I would add that you are doing yourself a disservice if you are learning for PMP (or any other exam/certification) to pass the test instead of actually understanding the material. A test result is a just a shallow advantage for your r�sum�, understanding the material will help you for your whole life.