PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide 7th Edition

I really liked the overall experience with this amazing book. Kim starts by stating that the book is not only intended to be your guide for the exam but for your daily work as a Project Manager. I often found comments from Kim saying "in practice you will do it this way, but for the exam, remember that one" so by the end of the book you are not only ready to take the exam and pass it on the first try (like I did) but to practice the profession in a reliable way.I found every concept very clear and all subjects were not only explained but organized in the natural order of the project life for easy understanding. I only found a subject or two in the exam that were not covered in this book (less than 5 questions our of 400).Kim really nailed it; no wonder I've been told that the people who pay for the exam prep courses are taught by teachers using this as textbook.

This book helped me pass PMP exam on my first try. It is well organized and helps one think through PM processes and how they are related.This approach to PM helps tremendously on the exam - interrelationships is a big clue to success for passing the exam - especially for situational questions, of which there are many in the exam in all process areas. Using process flow to mind-map PM also mitigates the need to memorize all the gazillions of ITTOs, which I did not bother to memorize - and still passed. A suggestion for the book: the questions and answers in the Heldman text are much wordier than the actual exam that I took. Stated another way, the actual exam questions and answers were much shorter. An additional suggestion for the text is to include a few cost/schedule diagrams and how to interpret them (S-Curve diagrams with multiple variables plotted, etc.). I recommend this book and the price is right, especially with the online resources. Finally, concentrate on the simple/basic earned value equations, no need to go too deep there. Good luck.

Kim Heldman's guide was the one guide that clearly mapped out the knowledge areas and the project processes just as projects are performed in practice. I couldn't have passed the certification without this book. It helped me to truly understand and learn the material versus just memorizing. I continue to use this guide as a helpful tool to ensure I'm applying my knowledge to current projects. I highly recommend this guide over any other.

It has helped some of our Project Managers (at our company and courses delivered) to get the PMP as it is clear and the test engines look similar to the real exam.

It is a very user-friendly book, well structured and kept me motivated to study for my PMP and obtain it on first attempt.

Reading this book was like swimming in molasses. I found it extremely hard to get through and after reading a page or chapter, I felt like I hadn't retained anything.I took a prep class through University of California (Berkeley) and this was the supplemental text. This book made me want to give up on the whole process. I stuck with it because it was so highly recommended and ended up postponing my test twice because I couldn't get through the material. Finally got through the whole book and was still getting 55-60% on the exams so tried the Rita McCualey text and it was like night and day. Her chapters were easy to read and I could actually retain information and do well on the tests. After I got done with Rita I started taking the Chistopher Scordo practice tests. If I had to do it all over again, I would still take the prep class (make sure it's a good one or don't bother), supplement with Rita McCauley and then Christoper Scordo. I wasted so much time trying to make it through Heldman - I could have got my certificate (and my life back) a lot sooner if I had dumped this book and just moved on. Lesson to all - if somethings not working for you, try something else. What works for others might not work for you.

I purchased this book to prepare for the PMP exam as a companion to the PMBOK. I would highly recommend that as the way to view it. There is info in the PMBOK that is actually covered more succinctly than in this book. So in combination you should have what you need. It's written pretty well, and tries to apply real world examples to the concepts. Probably the most useful (for me) was the sample questions in the chapters and the sample test material that comes with the book (which is hard to find on the wiley/sybex website, but does exist).One word of caution and a major issue though, there are numerous errors in the sample tests so be careful of that.Between this book, the PMBOK, and lots of studying, I passed the PMP on the first try.

I read this book along with PMBOK guide and passed the exam. I found the practice test questions on this book were not as good and recommend an external source for exam questions. I took Rita's exam questions and practiced after reading this book and when I got close to 80% on the exam, I went ahead and took the exam. I did fail it the first time but after reading this book I passed it. I recommend taking a lot of practice exams. I took practice exams about 40-50 times, it does not have to be 200 questions all the time just take 30-50 questions a time.