By John P S Oliver, RMP, PBA, PMP
Introduction
Being a Supply Chain Management professional handling various stakeholders in a highly regulated industry with strict compliance rules and involved in process improvement projects, risk management is one of the core areas of focus for my function and managing risks is one of the key objectives for my role.
While I gained knowledge on Risk Management processes as part of my preparation for PMP certification, I wanted to further improve my knowledge of Risk Management and decided to go for the PMI-RMP® certification.
My earlier PMP exam experience:
PMP Live Lessons Was Instrumental in Getting My PMP Credential
Own Study
Once I decided to take the PMI-RMP certification, I scouted for the PMI-RMP training class that would provide me with the mandatory 30 hours of risk management education.
I reached out to Satya Sir since he was my coach for the PMP certification. However, I found out that he was not conducting any class room training session for RMP in the near future. I also came to know that he had just published the second edition of his book - I Want To Be A RMP targeting aspirants for PMI-RMP exam. I then enrolled for the PMI-RMP online training session with a provider, completed it and earned the mandatory 30 PDUs. I then submitted my PMI-RMP application on 21-Oct-2019 and it was accepted by PMI on 28-Oct-2019.
Once my application was accepted, I bought Satya Sir’s Book I Want To Be A RMP, 2nd Edition. I also referenced 3 other books from PMI®, Practice Standard for Project Risk Management, The Standard for Risk Management in Portfolios, Programs and Projects and PMBOK® Guide – 6th Edition.
I began my preparation for the exam in the 1st week of February and completed reading Satya Sir’s Book fully once, taking up the chapter end questions as soon as I completed each chapter. I then referenced the 3 books from PMI mentioned above.
I then took up the two full question sets from Satya Sir’s RMP book. This gave me a good perspective of the areas for improvement. Next, I started my revision of Satya Sir’s Book.
Once I completed the revision, I again attempted all the chapter end questions as well as the two full set questions. I could see a marked improvement in my scores over my previous score. I also attempted Udemy’s simulation questions for PMI-RMP to improve my knowledge.
RMP Exam Experience
After the revision of Satya Sir’s Book, I scheduled my PMI-RMP exam for 23-Mar-2020 at the Pearson Professional Center at Chennai. However, my exam was cancelled by Pearson Vue due to the COVID-19 lockdown and I was asked to reschedule the exam to a later date.
I then rescheduled my exam multiple times for 7-Apr-2020, 8-May-2020, 11-May-2020, 18-May-2020, 27-May-2020 however the exams for these dates were cancelled by Pearson Vue due to the extension of COVID-19 lockdown in Chennai. Finally, I rescheduled the exam for 5-Jun-2020 at 9:00 AM, since Pearson Vue center at Chennai started functioning again from 03-Jun-2020.
I reached Pearson Vue Center by 7:45 AM on 05-Jun-2020 and completed my formalities including the screening and declaration procedures with regards to COVID-19 precautions. Due to COVID-19 precautions, I had to wear mask and gloves for the entire duration of the exam.
I was allowed to start my exam by 8:15 AM and completed the exam in one go without any breaks with 12 minutes of spare time. I reviewed 6 questions that I had marked for review.
Questions Faced:
Book Review - I Want To Be A RMP, 2nd Edition
As soon as I decided to go for the PMI-RMP certification, I reached out to Satya Sir since he was my coach for the PMP certification. It was at the same time that he had released the 2nd edition of his popular book: I Want To Be A RMP.
I had already known about his popular book for PMP aspirants, I Want To Be A PMP and had used his PMP Live Lessons which was in videos. Hence it was a no brainer and I decided to buy his book for RMP preparation.
The book is organized by chapters and it is easy to follow. In addition to ITTOs and the explanation of why it is an ITTO for the particular process, it has additional yogic vision and revision tips which make sure we do not miss the key concepts.
The fascinating aspect of the book is that Satya Sir uses real life situations and examples to drive home the risk management concepts. This helps us to easily understand and remember the concepts.
The book has a separate chapter for mathematical questions along with flash card for mathematical formulas. This helped in my preparation for the mathematical questions which are easy to score.
The book also covers Sensitivity Analysis, Decision Tree analysis, Contingency reserves, Simulations like Monte Carlo, LHS along with examples which is very important from the exam point of view.
Suggestions for RMP Aspirants
Dos:
Conclusion
I would like to thank the Almighty for his blessings, my reporting manager for his approval to take up this certification and Satya Sir for his book: I Want To Be A RMP. I am confident that with the knowledge gained, I would be able to apply the concept of risk management more effectively in my day to day operations and projects.
Brief Profile:
Name: John P S Oliver
Current Role: Supply Chain Manager
Experience: 22+ years of experience in Operations, Vendor Management and Project Management in ITES across SCM, Healthcare, Banking and Financial services, Telecom and Retail verticals.
Being a Supply Chain Management professional handling various stakeholders in a highly regulated industry with strict compliance rules and involved in process improvement projects, risk management is one of the core areas of focus for my function and managing risks is one of the key objectives for my role.
While I gained knowledge on Risk Management processes as part of my preparation for PMP certification, I wanted to further improve my knowledge of Risk Management and decided to go for the PMI-RMP® certification.
My earlier PMP exam experience:
PMP Live Lessons Was Instrumental in Getting My PMP Credential
Own Study
Once I decided to take the PMI-RMP certification, I scouted for the PMI-RMP training class that would provide me with the mandatory 30 hours of risk management education.
Once my application was accepted, I bought Satya Sir’s Book I Want To Be A RMP, 2nd Edition. I also referenced 3 other books from PMI®, Practice Standard for Project Risk Management, The Standard for Risk Management in Portfolios, Programs and Projects and PMBOK® Guide – 6th Edition.
I began my preparation for the exam in the 1st week of February and completed reading Satya Sir’s Book fully once, taking up the chapter end questions as soon as I completed each chapter. I then referenced the 3 books from PMI mentioned above.
I then took up the two full question sets from Satya Sir’s RMP book. This gave me a good perspective of the areas for improvement. Next, I started my revision of Satya Sir’s Book.
Once I completed the revision, I again attempted all the chapter end questions as well as the two full set questions. I could see a marked improvement in my scores over my previous score. I also attempted Udemy’s simulation questions for PMI-RMP to improve my knowledge.
RMP Exam Experience
After the revision of Satya Sir’s Book, I scheduled my PMI-RMP exam for 23-Mar-2020 at the Pearson Professional Center at Chennai. However, my exam was cancelled by Pearson Vue due to the COVID-19 lockdown and I was asked to reschedule the exam to a later date.
I then rescheduled my exam multiple times for 7-Apr-2020, 8-May-2020, 11-May-2020, 18-May-2020, 27-May-2020 however the exams for these dates were cancelled by Pearson Vue due to the extension of COVID-19 lockdown in Chennai. Finally, I rescheduled the exam for 5-Jun-2020 at 9:00 AM, since Pearson Vue center at Chennai started functioning again from 03-Jun-2020.
I reached Pearson Vue Center by 7:45 AM on 05-Jun-2020 and completed my formalities including the screening and declaration procedures with regards to COVID-19 precautions. Due to COVID-19 precautions, I had to wear mask and gloves for the entire duration of the exam.
I was allowed to start my exam by 8:15 AM and completed the exam in one go without any breaks with 12 minutes of spare time. I reviewed 6 questions that I had marked for review.
Questions Faced:
- Most of the questions were situational.
- There were few mathematical questions such as Monte Carlo Analysis, Sensitivity Analysis.
- I’ve also received questions on Contingency Reserve and Expected Monetary Value (EMV).
- There were questions on Latin Hypercube Simulation (LHS).
Book Review - I Want To Be A RMP, 2nd Edition
As soon as I decided to go for the PMI-RMP certification, I reached out to Satya Sir since he was my coach for the PMP certification. It was at the same time that he had released the 2nd edition of his popular book: I Want To Be A RMP.
I had already known about his popular book for PMP aspirants, I Want To Be A PMP and had used his PMP Live Lessons which was in videos. Hence it was a no brainer and I decided to buy his book for RMP preparation.
The book is organized by chapters and it is easy to follow. In addition to ITTOs and the explanation of why it is an ITTO for the particular process, it has additional yogic vision and revision tips which make sure we do not miss the key concepts.
The fascinating aspect of the book is that Satya Sir uses real life situations and examples to drive home the risk management concepts. This helps us to easily understand and remember the concepts.
The book has a separate chapter for mathematical questions along with flash card for mathematical formulas. This helped in my preparation for the mathematical questions which are easy to score.
The book also covers Sensitivity Analysis, Decision Tree analysis, Contingency reserves, Simulations like Monte Carlo, LHS along with examples which is very important from the exam point of view.
Suggestions for RMP Aspirants
Dos:
- Plan and schedule your exam well in advance.
- Prepare a realistic study schedule and follow it rigorously.
- In addition to PMI reference books, go for another study resource like “I Want To Be A RMP” or other published books to aid you in your studies.
- Review your answers both the right and the wrong ones to understand the reasoning and logic behind the answers. This will help you to get familiarized with the pattern behind the questions and answers.
- Spend at least 30% of your overall schedule to attempt practice questions.
- Do not attempt questions before you completely study the resources at least once.
- Do not use more than 2 or 3 study resources (PMI reference books + 1) – That may end up confusing you as well as take your time which can be spent on practicing Questions & Answers.
- Don’t panic during the exam if you do not know the answer for a particular question - mark it for review and go the next one – You can always come back to the marked question later.
Conclusion
I would like to thank the Almighty for his blessings, my reporting manager for his approval to take up this certification and Satya Sir for his book: I Want To Be A RMP. I am confident that with the knowledge gained, I would be able to apply the concept of risk management more effectively in my day to day operations and projects.
Brief Profile:
Name: John P S Oliver
Current Role: Supply Chain Manager
Experience: 22+ years of experience in Operations, Vendor Management and Project Management in ITES across SCM, Healthcare, Banking and Financial services, Telecom and Retail verticals.
New Book Available for RMP Exam:
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