Review By: Manmeet Kalsi
Certified
Yes
Expiry Month
5
Expiry Year
2023
Time taken to Prepare
50 Days
Resources Used
- PMI-ACP Mike Griffiths
Detailed Review Of Preparation
I was always confused on what certification is good for Scrum. I started analyzing various option such as PSM-1 by Scrum.org or CSM by Scrum Alliance. I picked PSM-1 as this credential stay good for lifetime and doesn’t need any renewal. I started reading Scrum guide from Scrum.org and it helped me have a better understanding about scrum. I was able to pas PSM-1 in first attempt with 97%. After PSM I started looking for certification for Agile not just for Scrum, thats where I ended up thinking of PMI-ACP.
PMI-ACP have its own basic requirement to be eligible for exam. I am not going to talk about it here, I am going to about my journey from thinking of PMI-ACP and then passing the exam. I started with PMI-ACP book by Mike Griffiths. I read the complete book twice, but I had few life changing event and I dropped my plan to write exam.
After few months I attended a work shop in Hyderabad for PMI-ACP by Vijay Bandaru (http://www.vijaybandaru.com/) session was really great and cleared all my doubts. But again after session I had to switch Organisation and my plan to write exam again dropped.
After having my plan failed twice, I again decided to prepare for exam, but this time I paid for exam and booked the date prior and started preparing. Having a date in mind help me plan my study as I had money in stake. With proper planning for 4-6 weeks I was able to pass the exam easily.
Take away from my journey would be.
- Read Mike Griffiths book on PMI-ACP twice- thrice.
- If you can attend any workshop or seminar for ACP, please do that. Even real time project we might not do everything, but in workshops we learn lot of methods by practical examples. If you are at Hyderabad, then connect to Mr. Vijay Bandaru.
- Have a set goal, this means set a date when you want to give exam. And plan your study based on that. 6-8 weeks will be enough if you can spend 2-3 hours daily.
- Practice the questions behind each chapter of PMI-ACP Mike Griffiths book. Practice till you get the reasoning behind each answer and why other options are eliminated.
- Last but important point, you need to unlearn the Scrum specific knowledge and think from Agile perspective. Its all about Agile mindset and this comes with experience and not by learning definition or steps to perform.
Best of luck!
Benefits From Certification
- Pay Hike
- Promotion
- My Job Needed It
- Knowledge is Power
- I just did it for the giggles