PMP Prep & PMI-ACP Prep

If you are planning to earn your PMP® certification, then I’m sure you are aware that PMI® changed the PMP® Exam in a very significant way on January 2, 2021 to make the test align better with the new ECO (Examination Content Outline). (See https://www.pmi.org/certifications/project-management-pmp/earn-the-pmp/pmp-exam-preparation/pmp-exam-updates for more details about this change.)

The main change affecting students preparing for the exam is that a lot more work is going to be required to prepare than in the past! I would estimate that the new test covers at least 30% to 50% more material than the 2020 test. The main thing that has happened is that PMI is including much more on Agile concepts. PMI is saying for the new test, 50% of the questions will be based on Agile or Hybrid approaches, and 50% on the traditional predictive-planning approaches. The bottom line is that all the new Agile material, plus some other new concepts mostly involving Human Resource Management and Team Development, have caused this huge increase.

The ATP (Authorized Training Partner) student materials that have been blessed by PMI contain 646 slides to cover in the four days, but there are really 760 slides when you count all the “activities” slides. The ATP instructors tell their students that after class, the students need to take another 3 weeks or more to go through all these extra slides, and also read the 404 page PMI Authorized PMP Exam Prep Student Manual after class. So, a much higher level of commitment is needed by the students to prepare for the 2021 exam.

We are working diligently on updating our LMS (Learning Management System), and all the other supporting training materials, including slides, videos, exercises and quizzes for the new test. We will update our progress on this webpage for recreating the LMS and the videos. We hope to have these course materials ready sometime in the spring.

In the meantime, we are partnering with Edwel Programs – http://www.edwel.com – and we have created course materials (PowerPoint Slides and end-of-unit quizzes) so that Edwel can host “live” instructor led virtual classes. When our updates to the LMS are complete, we will start providing “Flipped PMP Prep classes” (or “Blended classes”), and “on-demand” virtual classes too.

We promise you that our program will be much less of an ordeal to handle than the ATP program, and it will also be much easier for students to follow and understand. We will provide guarantees that if you follow all the steps in the program, you will pass the PMP Exam!

Mark Tolbert, PMP, PMI-ACP

Open Enrollment - 60 days. (Standalone with no instructor or other personal assistance.) This is the “Version Six Project Management Professional (PMP®) Virtual Training” course. The key benefit for the on-demand public class is the lower price, the ease of use and access, and the fact that all training can be modularized to accommodate the student’s schedule.

Pricing for On-Demand Public Training:

The price for the on-demand public class per student is $199 for sixty days of access to the Moodle LMS.

Each student will be provided:
  • A PDF of the student manual with copies of all slides, and exercises and quizzes. (The manual is currently a bound 392-page book.)
  • A PDF of the “Key Input, Tools-Techniques, Outputs” document. (Many students have remarked this was one of their most useful documents for preparing for the exam.)
  • A PDF of the “Key Equation Sheet” (“Brain Dump” Sheet)
  • A three-month license to the web based PMTraining.com tests.
  • 60-day access to our “Moodle LMS” virtual training website. This contains videos of all course materials covered in our four-day classes. We have recorded YouTube videos for all 476 slides used in the class. This comprises more than 35 hours of recorded video, more than 750 quiz questions, and more than 500 flash cards. The videos can be viewed – (or listened to) – on laptops or smartphones. Students will be able to quickly navigate to specific presentations on processes in knowledge areas, and other course materials. Additionally, we are using a “Khan Academy” style approach, and the videos and audio presentations have been modularized to be 7-10-minute segments, and after every two to three segments, a short quiz is provided that covers the materials in the preceding segments.

We have also created MP3 Audio summaries of all the Knowledge Areas and sections for the course. Most of the summaries are 50 minutes to 1 hour in length. Students can listen to these on their smart phone.

Student responsibilities:
  • Each student will be responsible for completing their applications for the PMP® Prep class with PMI®. Best Practices Team will provide a document, “PMP® Application Help” that will provide excellent help for students filling out the application, and examples.
  • Students will be responsible for paying for the exam with PMI®, and scheduling the test.
On-Demand PMP Virtual Training
 
$199

 

Open Enrollment - 60 days. (Standalone with no instructor or other personal assistance.) This is the “Version Six Project Management Professional (PMP®) Virtual Training” course. The key benefit for the on-demand public class is the lower price, the ease of use and access, and the fact that all training can be modularized to accommodate the student’s schedule.

Pricing for On-Demand Public Training:

The price for the on-demand public class per student is $159 for sixty days of access to the Moodle LMS.

Key Benefits
  • The key benefit of this option is the lower price.
  • Students can modularize the training to suit their busy schedule.
  • This option provides all the benefits of the Moodle LMS (virtual training website) described above for the “blended training option.” For example, the MP3 audio files provide students the option for “PMP® Training on the Go!” Students will be able to listen to the audio portions of videos and summary audio MP3 files on their phones while in their cars on long drives, commutes, or other.
Each student will be provided:
  • A PDF of the student manual with copies of all slides, and exercises and quizzes. (The manual is currently a bound 392-page book.)
  • A PDF of the “Key Input, Tools-Techniques, Outputs” document. (Many students have remarked this was one of their most useful documents for preparing for the exam.)
  • A PDF of the “Key Equation Sheet” (“Brain Dump” Sheet)
  • A three-month license to the web based PMTraining.com tests.
  • 60-day access to our “Moodle LMS” virtual training website. This contains videos of all course materials covered in our four-day classes. We have recorded YouTube videos for all 476 slides used in the class. This comprises more than 35 hours of recorded video, more than 750 quiz questions, and more than 500 flash cards. The videos can be viewed – (or listened to) – on laptops or smartphones. Students will be able to quickly navigate to specific presentations on processes in knowledge areas, and other course materials. Additionally, we are using a “Khan Academy” style approach, and the videos and audio presentations have been modularized to be 7-10-minute segments, and after every two to three segments, a short quiz is provided that covers the materials in the preceding segments.

We have also created MP3 Audio summaries of all the Knowledge Areas and sections for the course. Most of the summaries are 50 minutes to 1 hour in length. Students can listen to these on their smart phone.

Student responsibilities:
  • Each student will be responsible for completing their applications for the PMP® Prep class with PMI®. Best Practices Team will provide a document, “PMP® Application Help” that will provide excellent help for students filling out the application, and examples.
  • Students will be responsible for paying for the exam with PMI®, and scheduling the test.
On-Demand PMI-ACP Virtual Training
 
$159