I always remember the Australian, who attended one of my workshops at Abu Dhabi. He was elder to me, and had tremendous experience in project management. He was managing a project which had a funding close to a billion USD. He was in charge of fiber optic cabling of an entire country. Why should he learn from me, while he had all the knowledge and experience to teach me, that was my dilemma. This gentleman was trying for a job in USA or Canada and he could not get it without a PMP credential. That is how he landed up in my class. he took his PMP, and immediately got a job in Canada. PMP title has become the de-facto standard for getting into the league of professional project managers, globally. Especially when one does business with strangers, this is a minimum guarantee. PMP credential is like a hygiene factor. The presence of that credential  may not motivate you, where as it's absence can really hamper your progress as a project manager. I see tremendous value in the project management best practices explained in the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK), which is the foundation of the PMP credential, and the PMP credential is an acknowledgement of your mastery over project management as per PMBOK. While the PMP title will get you the acknowledgement as a professional project manager, the real benefits will come from really practicing the concepts explained in the nine knowledge areas of PMBOK like;

• Project integration management
  
• Project time management
  
• Project scope management
  
• Project cost management
  
• Project quality management
  
• Project human resources management
  
• Project risk management
  
• Project communications management
  
• Project procurement management 

If one does not know the concepts like work break down structures, activity definition, activity sequencing, stakeholder management, critical path, earned value management, fast tracking, crashing, she can not even claim to be a project manager despite the titles on the visiting card. A PMP credential, achieved with proper preparation will give you that edge. Professional project management is easier than adhoc project management.

There are multiple ways to coach someone for PMP credential. One way is through brain dumps and flash cards which will help the aspirant to mug up things without really understanding the underlying concepts and their application in real life. The method I found as easy and effective is to explain the concepts in the context of real  project management, so that the participants can never forget them during the rest of their career, and then prepare them for the exam through self study and practice tests. This approach has worked well for me in the past, and it will give tremendous value to the participant.

To summarize, adopt these steps, while preparing for PMP;

• Identify an instructor who has the knowledge, experience and aptitude to explain the key concepts explained in PMBOK in the context of real life project management scenarios. Do not decide on a course just because it is cheap. Look for clear, crisp reference material, not bulky documents. The course material I have designed is only 128 pages :-). When we started it was 300+ pages, and years of teaching experience helped us to remove all the unwanted things from the material and bring it down to 128 pages, which is easy to understand and remember. This along with PMBOK is suffcient material.
  
• Understand the key project management concepts explained in PMBOK and their logical sequencing. It is humanly impossible to by heart the logical sequences, and at the same time it will come to you naturally, once the concepts are clear.
  
• After the course, read PMBOK thrice. There is no substitute document for PMBOK. First reading can be a quick one, just to understand the structure of the document. The second reading should be to really understand the concepts (take notes). The third reading should be make notes of the key formulae and definitions as an easy last minute reference before entering the exam hall (making your own flash cards).
  
• While reading PMBOK, do the exam practice on a good sample of questions, Exam practice is inevitable for success. Initially you will go wrong on many, and it can be quite frustrating. The right answers could be different from what you are doing in real life. Do not loose sight of one key factor. We are doing all these to master professional project management as per the PMBOK, hence the answers must be in conformance to that, not just as per our past experiences. When you go wrong, be happy of the fact that you are learning something new, and come back with a vengeance to defeat the test.
  
• A never say die attitude is very important throughout the whole process. Especially while taking the 4 hours final exam, struggling with the online test in a cold room, there can be many moments of self doubt. Do not succumb to it. When the questions get tougher, be happy about it, because that is an indication that you are doing well in the exam. The internal intelligence built into the test engine is programmed to throw some tough questions when the test taker has answered a stream of questions correctly :-)

Wish you all the best. Keep coming back. I will be adding more insights here, as and when they happen to me. Please feel free to ask all your questions and suggestions as comments.