Obtaining your Project Management Processional (PMP)® Certification is a lot more than reading the PMBOK® Guide, it is also involves completing the PMP® Exam application, which can be a time consuming sometimes confusing process. In completing the education requirements section, you see that you need at least 35 contact hours. So, what exactly are contact hours, why do you need them, and what do you need to do to obtain them? Contact hours are not the same as a Professional Developmental Units (PDUs), you need to have at least 35 contact hours of prior to the completion of your application be eligible to take the PMP® Exam, whereas once you obtain our PMP® Certification, you will need 60 PDUs every three years to maintain the certification.

The Questions and Answers can be read here:

RECOMMENDED READINGS for aspirants:

Cornelius Fichtner, PMP: The PMP Exam Changes in 2013. Here is what you need to know

The new PMBOK 5 and PMP/CAPM Exam – when and what? Updated Feb 24, 2013

The Perennial Question: The New PMBOK is soon out – Should I write the Exam now or later?

PMBOK 5th edition: the future is here?

One of the more obscure terms that you need to know for the PMP Exam is the "Tornado Diagram". Basically, the tornado diagram is a typical display format of the sensitivity analysis.

Let's look at this in more detail. A Tornado diagram, also called tornado plot or tornado chart, is a special type of Bar chart, where the data categories are listed vertically instead of the standard horizontal presentation, and the categories are ordered so that the largest bar appears at the top of the chart, the second largest appears second from the top, and so on.

The PMP exam is a computer based exam with 200 multiple choice questions. This means that each question has exactly one correct answer. The exam will give you exactly four hours to answer these questions. If you prepared well, this should be a breeze. Most find four hours to be more than sufficient for the exam. (It took me 3 hours and 58 minutes because I wasn't feeling well on that day.) Out of these 200 questions, 25 questions are pretest questions. These are randomly places through out the exam and are used for research purposes. These questions will not count towards your final score. But even though you will only be evaluated on the basis of 175 questions you still must answer all 200 because you won't know which are the 25 pretest questions.

The PMP Exam is mainly based on A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). The most current version was published in 2008 and most people find a bit difficult to read. But due to the fact that the exam is based on this book, it is important that you actually read and understand all that it contains. As a supplement to studying the PMBOK Guide in preparing for the exam you need to get additional reference material.

Folks, if you download your PMP Handbooks (Which you SHOULD be doing as part of the application process, you will see that in the last 7-10 days PMI has made a SIGNIFICANT change in the qualifications to take the PMP exam.

You have studied the PMBOK® Guide; you have read numerous additional study materials; you believe you have a good handle on project management theories and the application of those theories; and you feel as if you are ready to take the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. There is just one thing that keeps lingering in the back of your mind…the PMP Exam consists of 200 multiple choice questions that must be answered in 4 hours.

If you are about to start studying for your Project Management Professional (PMP) exam, you’ll want to make sure your toolkit is bursting with things to help you on the journey to becoming a PMP. There are so many options to consider when looking at the study materials on the market that it can be difficult to know where to start.

Considered by PMP aspirants as the most easy to read study material: Head First PMP: A Brain-Friendly Guide to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam [Paperback] costing around $60, click here:  Head First 

PMBOK is the basic and should be read by all: this is the link to buy one for around $38 (original price $65):

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Project-Management-Body-Knowledge/dp/1933890517/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337287906&sr=1-1;tag=pmpcert-20

LATEST UPDATE July 22, 2011 - 38 days to go and this is the latest update

On Tuesday July 19th, REPs were informed by PMI that there are additional significant changes to the PMP exam and results measuring system after the new exam begins on August 31st, 2011.

Study tool - based on PMBOK 4th edition: Cherries ITTO Table in Excel format published Nov 2009 and now update June 6, 2011 by Chad

Good news for PMHUB members -  Free PMP Questions and its answers of more than 500 PMP Questions Bank

Want to be a PMP? First thing you should do is to treat this as a project. Today is your start date and setup a target date. Many managed to pass the exam within 2 months. Nobody can tell you what your target date, should be- so ponder on this and then analyze your strength and weakness - in studying and in meeting your target.

 Jim rewrites PMBOK 4th ed so that you do not fall asleep reading it!

The top CAPM & PMP Study Notes  used by PMHUB members.
JIMBOK 4th ed: PMBOK 4th edition based Exam Tips columns by Jim Owens

Free PMP Exam Questions (PMBOK 4th edition) list

All from the first  CAPM Forum and the  most active CAPM Forum (part of PMHUB Forums)
: CAPM Forum

This is an interesting conversation on critical path calculation methods - in particular ES and LS. Mahendran asked the questions and Mike Newell (noted PMP book author) and Dr PD Giammolvo provided the answers

3 Video Lectures to help you prepare for the PMP exam by explaining Earned Value Management.

This is a three part lesson. Part 1 covers basic concepts, i.e. how to derive PV (Planned Value), EV (Earned Value) and AC Actual Cost.

PMHUB is happy to broadcast these 4 video lessons - free for all PMHUB members. Below is the Video Lecture: - just click the links below or the arrow in the middle of the video:

From the experience from some PMHUB members, you do not need to do too much.

PMHUB Forums  archived  in-depth and informative discussions on CAPM and PgMP in its special CAPM and PgMP Forums.

In the PMP Exam each correct answer contribute to your overall score. The best way is get 100% correct in what i called here as "easy" questions. These include:

PMI now uses a rough 3 level indication of your performance in the exam:
1. Proficient - your performance is above average
2. Moderately Proficient: your performance is average
3. Below Proficient: your performance is below average

To successfully pass the exam you have to clean up your mind from all those exam myths that will burden you unnecessarily. Just for example, one of my boss told me to really memorize the PMBOK especially the  ITTO inside and out, backward and forward, right to left and left to right - upward and downward.

 PMHUB Forums has archived in its collective memory some strange questions that crop up in the PMP Exam. You might stumble into it or you might not, just watch and be prepared.