PMP!

Got my Project Management Professional certificate (PMP) yesterday (2/21/2011). What a relief! Just so that I dont forget the pain and learnings, i will keep some notes here. 

1. Filling up the application- Very painful
• For every project you have done in the last 3-4 years, you need to provide the number of hours spent on some 25 activities. A prep excel sheet that my trainer shared helped me keep my sanity. Such a template will definitely help
2. Submitting the application form- Not painful
• PMI takes about 5 days or lesser to get back. Husband and I both passed this without any issue so we must have given the correct information in the form!
3. Payment
• Two options are available. You can either pay $129 for membership and then $405 for the test OR you can pay only for the test and pay $555. Obviously its better to get the 1 yr membership. You get some membership benefits for other exams as well
• When you pay the test fee, PMI might pick you for audit. They pick 10% applicants randomly for audit purpose. This is not the end of the world, but it does put you back a couple of weeks in your schedule and you will have to do some work. I know because hubby got audited
4. Audit- Painful
• PMI will send you the list of documents they need you to submit. It normally includes proof of certification; proof of degree and proof of project work.
• Proof of project work has to be signed by the contact person you mentioned while filling the form. You can choose someone else if that person isnt available, but why take a chance. Once PMI receives all this information, they might take 5 days. In our case, they took 3.
5. Scheduling- 
• As soon as the audit is done, test can be scheduled. Seat availability changes every day, may be multiple times a day. So keep checking till you find a suitable date and time. It can be rescheduled free of cost if you do it 48 hrs prior to the test
6. Actual test
• Reach like 15 mins prior to test so you know where the rest rooms are, keep your stuff in the locker etc. They dont allow any personal item inside including watches, wallet, food, pen...anything. Everything has to be kept in the locker. Only your id (license) is allowed
• You can take a break during the test but the time doesnt stop running out. You have to sign out and sign back in every time.
• Empty sheets and pencils are provided for notes during the exams. There were 8 pages. Quite enough really. But if you need more, you can turn in the used ones and ask them for another set of 8. Weird rule but thats how it is
• There is a 15 min tutorial before the test time starts. This tutorial talks about general guidelines on how to use a mouse, how to navigate across the screen. This time can be used for jotting down the processes and formulae on the empty sheets that are provided
• Once the test starts, there is a timer of 4 hrs on top right of the screen. And the number of question you are on, is on the top left. So you will see 14 of 200 etc.
• One weird thing happened, hubby got 300 questions instead of 200 in the same time. He was prepared well and thought PMP might have changed something, so he didnt ask and completed all the questions on time. But thinking back now, I dont know why that happened. I havent checked PMI's site for details, do they say it will be 200 questions always?
• Once you have click on 'end exam', it takes around 15 secs to compute the results. It will be either Pass or fail, no scoring.
7. You dont get added to the certification registry immediately. I think I read on the result screen that they will send me something in 6 weeks. I didnt read completely, was too excited to just pass!