Sensible Guide to Passing the PfMP SM Exam: Including 400 Practice Exams Questions

I started reviewing this book and I agree with most the reviews, both positive and negative. On the positive, the book is well organized with a heavy emphasis on exam preparation and strategy. On the content for the knowledge area, I thought the overview of portfolio management and the unique perspective of the author is refreshing. He simplified a complex discipline into a set of important questions for each of the knowledge areas. This was especially helpful for me as I did not necessarily have experiences in all the domain areas. The key questions were innovative and helpful. Also, the book provided some useful consulting frameworks that made portfolio management easier to understand. I also agree with some of them the negative comments, but I thought the one star was too critical as most were a matter of preference. Specifically, I thought it was convenient to repeat the question in the answer key, so I did not have to flip back and forth. The explanation in the answer key was suitable since that's the main book anyway (and the author said that much in the intro and on the back cover). There were many graphs and tables, but it's a b/w book (wonder if its color on Kindle). The materials was quite boring and dry, but that's the nature of the topic. I think the biggest negative in the book is a lack of alignment with the ECO. (I emailed the author and Wu mentioned that the ECO is used in their bootcamp and the changes may make it to the book. I also learned that they just receive PMI's REP certification. I may join their bootcamp.) Most importantly, as I compare this book with the others, it is comparably less expensive with considerably more content and frameworks and practice questions. I hope the author will make improvements based on some of the suggestions here, but I also think it's the best on the market and it deserves 5 stars for using an innovative format.

1) The introduction and game plan makes sense. 2) Some of the tables and elaborate break outs make the topic appear overly technically challenging and are unnecessary, in my opinion. The ITTO in Context, The Simplifying ITTO, and the degree of emphasis on mapping concepts in matrixes is overkill and obfuscates the goal, in my opinion. 3) the discussion of each process group and the introductory questions are a good barometer to baseline to see if you "have a clue" or are grossly in need of ramping up before going further. 4) perhaps the blank spreadsheet offered to the purchaser as one sheet within a study guide with the rationale that Dr. Wu, as a 'spatial thinker", prefers this, is not terribly helpful :) 5) The test questions are considerably easier than the exam. There are a couple of minor errors (some of them had multiple letters that had identical verbiage) but they were logical and provided a good starting point. Bottom line: This is a very helpful guide and helped me gain confidence. I prefer this guide to others but it is good to have a couple of sources.

This is not only the Sensible Guide, but the indispensable guide to passing the PfMP Exam on your first attempt. Te Wu suggests a very practical, proven, Socratic methodology designed for busy Portfolio Managers to prepare for this very challenging exam. The Sensible Guide prepares qualified individuals to think like a PMI Portfolio Manager. The Standard for Portfolio Management “represents generally recognized good practices, which are constantly evolving.” The Sensible Guide expands upon topics in each of the Knowledge Areas and Process Groups; which have a tendency to appear on the exams. It also provides invaluable study and exam aids. Lastly, there are 400 practice questions to test knowledge and preparedness. As a baseline, The PMO Advisory’s free PfMP Exam Readiness Assessment is a great resource before commencing your studies. These are both indispensable – Good Luck.

Thank you for the author for his efforts. Firstly I purchased this book to be more familiar with project portfolio management, but unfortunately does not meet my expectations. I have some notes to share with you and the author: 1) the book can not be considered a study book at all. it only gives a methodology to practice for the exam. 2) every chapter starts with 5 to 7 pages then only questions. 3) the number of pages can be reduced by almost 35% , the reason is that all questions are repeated twice in full (one for questioning and the other for selecting the right choice. 4) all answers (and I mean all) are not helpful by any means. The answer is typically phrased as: please refer to section ..... in the standard. 5) the printing and page formats need more care (no header or footer, no colourful graphs). 6) there are no explanations, examples, stories or case studies to make the book interesting. Finally, I do not recommend this book unless you need to solve some questions.

This may not be the best written book, but it is the best on the market today on passing the PfMP Exam! Compared with the only other book on the market, the author has placed much emphasis on the following: a. Exam strategy and preparation; b. Portfolio management theories and frameworks; c. Examples and additional tools and techniques. In many ways, this book is more than an exam preparation guide for the reasons above. It serves as a good companion guide to Project Portfolio Professionals! I am also impressed that the author and his company offers a range of additional tools including online exams and an accelerated bootcamp. I just wish they are free (there is a free webinar), but at least the book offers some great coupons for those other products.

Ouvrage de référence pour préparer l'examen de certification Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) du PMI peut être utilisé en complément du "Portfolio Management Standard" édition 3 du PMI et de l'ouvrage de référence de Ginger "Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide".

Excellent companion when proposing for the exam. Not a study guide, you'll need to be experienced and familiar with the standard, but includes nice highlights, discussions and add-ons. The core is two practise test which appeared to resemble the actual exam pretty good. Found a few errors on the tests, but nothing serious, and it allowed me to pass.

I used book to prep for the PfPM exam. I found the tests for each chapter and also two two full practice exams useful. On the other hand, the summary for each chapter that mirrors the PMI's standard not very helpful at all. There is nothing that those bring compared to the standard. The most useful from the book were the 3 exam aids that summarize the processes, inputs/outputs, etc. There are some quality issues with mistakes in the book: questions with the same options as choices, questions with different answer keys, questions with incorrect answers, etc. The book should have a bit more QA on it, especially given the high price. Unfortunately, there is not much out there for the PfMP exam prep, so this may still be the best option available. I also used the online practice exams (the 50 questions standalone flexible mode 90 days option) that the author has. I found those much more useful and much better value. Still some quality issues with those practice tests too.

Thanks so much to the author for creating a significant resource for the aspiring PfMP candidates and students of Portfolio Management. This well written book containing 400 exam questions provides a wide coverage based on PMI's "Standard of Portfolio Management Third Edition" is not commonly available in any manner in the world. The practice exam questions has stimulated my thinking and helped me think more clearly about the key concepts as outlined in the standard. The exam aid along with 30 days study plan is one of the wonderful tools provided along with the book that helps in remembering the ITTO's at a glance. This is a must read and a brilliant piece of work.

Last week I have successfully completed PfMP certification. Here are some notes: PfMP is more process oriented, and checks your posture as a portfolio manager, than the theoretical knowledge how much one has. I had completed the preparation approximately within two month by referring following study materials: - PMO Advisory’s Sensible Guide to Passing the PfMP, - PMO Advisory’s practice questions, and - Standard For Portfolio Management Third Ed Especially, the wonderful guidance of PMO Advisory’s CEO Te Wu. He is very professional, many thanks to him!