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.