3-Day Preparation for CAPM Exam 2018
EXAM OUTLINE. 10 KNOWLEDGE AREAS, 49 PROCESSES,
5 PROCESS GROUPS
Any exam causes stress. The thicker a study book, the higher the anxiety. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (Sixth Edition) is big and thick. Any time I opened it, I had a very strong desire to close it immediately. To avoid the temptation, I started to read it ALOUD from Pages 696 and 698, namely from the Glossary of Common Acronyms and Definitions to expose myself at least to the terminology.
Tired of the Glossary, I switched to the CAPM Exam Content Outline to learn what knowledge exactly was required. There are 10 Knowledge Areas for every of which you have to understand or define 49 project management processes and identify inputs, tools/techniques, and outputs.
All right. Let's study.
Every phone number has 10 digits. Can I memorize a phone number? Well, let's see. (766) 436-3734 describes a number of processes in 10 Knowledge Areas: 7 in Integration, 6 in Scope, 6 in Schedule, then 4 in Cost, 3 in Quality and 6 in Resource, and finally, 3 in Communication, 7 in Risk, 3 in Procurement, and 4 in Stakeholder.
Meantime, I memorized all the Knowledge Areas too: (IntegrationScopeSchedule) CostQualityResource - CommunicationRiskProcurementStakeholder.
Every process belongs to one of the 5 groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring/Controlling, and Closing. I created the Excel Sheet where I entered processes next to every Knowledge Area in the Rows and highlighted them differently based on the group they belong to. You can see it on the image above.
All 10 areas have at least one process in Planning and Monitoring/Controlling Group.
Scope, Schedule, and Cost do NOT have any processes in Executing Group that differentiate them from other Knowledge Areas.
The only Knowledge Area that has processes in every group is Integration.
Every phone number has 10 digits. Can I memorize a phone number? Well, let's see. (766) 436-3734 describes a number of processes in 10 Knowledge Areas: 7 in Integration, 6 in Scope, 6 in Schedule, then 4 in Cost, 3 in Quality and 6 in Resource, and finally, 3 in Communication, 7 in Risk, 3 in Procurement, and 4 in Stakeholder.
Meantime, I memorized all the Knowledge Areas too: (IntegrationScopeSchedule) CostQualityResource - CommunicationRiskProcurementStakeholder.
Every process belongs to one of the 5 groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring/Controlling, and Closing. I created the Excel Sheet where I entered processes next to every Knowledge Area in the Rows and highlighted them differently based on the group they belong to. You can see it on the image above.
All 10 areas have at least one process in Planning and Monitoring/Controlling Group.
Scope, Schedule, and Cost do NOT have any processes in Executing Group that differentiate them from other Knowledge Areas.
The only Knowledge Area that has processes in every group is Integration.
It was a great start. Then, when I knew every Knowledge Area by name, I was ready to familiarize myself with its key concepts (Appendix X4) and tailoring considerations (Appendix X5) reading PMBOK Guide again... from Page 673 and 679.
DAY 2. INPUTS, 132 TOOLS & TECHNIQUES, OUTPUTS
DAY 2. INPUTS, 132 TOOLS & TECHNIQUES, OUTPUTS
Inputs, Tools/Techniques, and Outputs (ITTOs) is the most memory-consuming part of the exam. There are 132 individual tools and techniques that considered to be good practice on any project most of the time (Appendix X6, p. 685-694). 60 of them are ungrouped. As for the rest, 9 of them are Data Gathering Tools And Techniques, 27 Data Analysis ones, 15 Data Representation ones, 2 Decision-Making ones, 2 Communication Skills ones necessary for Communication and Stakeholder Knowledge Areas and 17 Interpersonal and Team Skills ones.
To memorize ITTOs for 49 processes I prepared colored cards for each Knowledge Area.
For example, I have orange 7 cards for Project Scope Management: one is generic, and 6 others with ITTOs information for every process, The generic one looks this way:
For example, I have orange 7 cards for Project Scope Management: one is generic, and 6 others with ITTOs information for every process, The generic one looks this way:
- Plan Scope Management 4-3-2
- Collect Requirements 7-8-2
- Define Scope 5-5-2 (understand Stakeholders Needs)
- Create WBS!!! 4-4-2
- Validate Scope 4-4-2
- Control Scope 4-1-4
DAY 3. 19 FORMULAE BY THE KNOWLEDGE AREAS
First, let's go back to the Glossary of Common Acronyms on Page 696-697. What do we need to know?
CPM (Critical Path Method), LS (Late Start Date), ES (Early Start Date), LF (Late Finish Date), EF (Early Finish Date), PV (Planned Value), EV (Earned Value), AC (Actual Cost), BAC (Budget at Completion), CV (Cost Variance), SV (Schedule Variance), VAC (Variance at Completion), CPI (Cost Performance Index), SPI (Schedule Performance Index), EAC (Estimate at Completion), ETC (Estimate to Complete), TCPI (To Complete Performance Index), EMV (Expected Monetary Value).
First, let's go back to the Glossary of Common Acronyms on Page 696-697. What do we need to know?
CPM (Critical Path Method), LS (Late Start Date), ES (Early Start Date), LF (Late Finish Date), EF (Early Finish Date), PV (Planned Value), EV (Earned Value), AC (Actual Cost), BAC (Budget at Completion), CV (Cost Variance), SV (Schedule Variance), VAC (Variance at Completion), CPI (Cost Performance Index), SPI (Schedule Performance Index), EAC (Estimate at Completion), ETC (Estimate to Complete), TCPI (To Complete Performance Index), EMV (Expected Monetary Value).
INTEGRATION - 0 formulaeSCOPE - 0 formulaeSCHEDULE - 3 formulae
tP (Pessimistic) where t stands for TIME
2-3. Critical Path Method (Page 210):CPM = LS - ES or CPM = LF - EF
COST - 14 formulae
cE (Expected Cost), cM (Most Likely), cO (Optimistic), cP (Pessimistic)Three Point Estimating (Page 245):
1. cE = (cO + cM + cP) / 3 - Triangular Distribution
2. cE = (c0 + 4cM + cP) / 6 - Beta Distribution
Earned Value Analysis (Page 267):
3. CV = EV - AC,
|if >0 (unfer planned cost), =0 (on planned cost), <0 (over planned cost)
4. SV = EV - PV, if >0 (ahead of schedule), =0 (on schedule), < 0 (behind schedule)
5. VAC = BAC - EAC, if >0 (under planned cost), =0 (on planned cost), <0 (over planned cost)
6. CPI = EV / AC, if >1 (under planned cost), =1 (on planned cost), <1 (over planned cost)
7. SPI = EV / PV, if >1 (ahead of schedule), =1 (on schedule), <1 (behind schedule)
8. EAC = BAC / CPI
9. EAC = AC + BAC - EV
10. EAC = AC + Bottom-up ETC
11. EAC = AC + ((BAC - EV)/(CPI x SPI))
12. ETC = EAC - AC
13. TCPI = (BAC - EV) / (BAC - AC), if >1 (harder to complete), =1 (same to complete), <1 (easier to complete)
14. TCPI = (BAC - EV) / (EAC - AC),
if >1 (harder to complete), =1 (same to complete), <1 (easier to complete)
QUALITY - 0 FormulaeRESOURCE - 0 FormulaeCOMMUNICATION - 1 Formula
- # of Communication Channels = n (n-1) /2,
where n is number of team members, including(!) the Project Manager
RISK - 1 Formula
E (Exposure), I (Impact), P (Probability)- E = P x I,
if >0 (positive risks or opportunities), <0 (negative risks or threats)
PROCUREMENT - 0 Formulae
STAKEHOLDER - 0 Formulae
Happy studying! Comments and suggestions are highly appreciated!
