It’s been a good few weeks since the last installment of this diary. I would like to be able to offer a good reason for that, but in all honesty I just wanted to concentrate on other things and have a break after what was a pretty intensive week. Now that the dust has settled however, I thought it would be good to tie things off in terms of providing an overview of my week-long course and exam.
Firstly, the team over at QA were fantastic! The working atmosphere was as relaxed as possible, not overly formal and they put a great deal of effort into making sure that all delegates were taken care of (the free lunches were a bonus ). Our course tutor, Helen, was really helpful and friendly and what was great was that no question was ever deemed as being ‘stupid or obvious,’ which really helped to free up the conversation.
When I walked in on the 1st day there was only one other candidate in the classroom. The first thought that sprang to mind was that I’d either got the wrong time or date but as it turned out there were only two of us signed up to the course that week (a group of delegates from a single organisation had to pull out at the last minute). This really turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the week effectively felt like we were receiving one-to-one training so we could really focus in on certain areas of strength or weakness. The added bonus of this was that the classroom wasn’t dominated by one or two characters making it their duty to give us their full-life experience in relation to every single area of the syllabus, thus slowing down everyone else’s progress (something I’ve certainly come across before).
The course was structured in a pretty logical pattern, firstly looking at Project Management in its overall context and then breaking it down via the various areas of the lifecycle as the days progressed. I won’t lie to you: There was a lot to work through in the four days running up to the exam, and the work during each day was supplemented by three hours of homework each evening.
As such, I was living and breathing project management by the end of the week, to the extent that I woke up on Thursday morning instantly thinking about the various elements that go into successful Scope Management! In terms of the pre-course work I undertook in the weeks building up to the exam, I think the course would have been a real struggle without it. That’s not to say I wasn’t familiar with the majority of the concepts and ideas on offer; rather, my experiences from project environments had to be re-aligned to the APM’s way of thinking.
So Friday arrived and the end of a busy week was drawing ever closer – just the three-hour exam to get over now! As previously discussed in prior installments, the real challenge for me on the day was simply getting everything down that I wanted to say. I have never written so much for an exam in my life, I think I counted around 30 pages of answers at the end. The key to the exam format however, as had been drummed into us throughout the week, was to make sure that no more than 15 minutes were spent on each answer. I managed this, just, and had 5 minutes to spare at the end.
In terms of questions, the homework and sample questions that we had worked on during the week really helped in terms of practicing how to answer the questions. I know that seems like an obvious thing to say, but I can’t stress enough for people thinking of taking the exam how important it is to bear in mind answer format and read each question thoroughly. There were a few occasions during the week building up to the exam when I admittedly got this wrong – here’s hoping I ironed out those errors for the exam.
In terms of how I felt I did, I’d rather not say as I’m still waiting for my results. Whatever my mark though, I learnt a great deal during the week that I have taken away with me for future use.
QA Training, with whom Gary undertook his preparations for the APMP exam, are a member of the Arras People Project Management Training Directory. Learn more about QA Training and the accredited courses they offer in the QA enhanced profile page.
