Product Description
What do the Taj Mahal, the Internet, and this book have in common?
They are all products of projects! A well-managed project enables even
the most monumental, complex task to be completed effectively and
efficiently. With the worldwide surge in the demand for project
management skills, the PMP and CAPM are among the hottest
certifications today. To pass the PMP or CAPM exam, you need a
no-gimmicks, no-nonsense book on the exam objectives. PMP In Depth is
that book! Best-selling author Paul Sanghera offers concise yet
comprehensive coverage of each topic included in the PMP and CAPM
exams. With a laser sharp focus on the exam objectives, this study
guide goes beyond being a simple exam cram. It includes hundreds of
questions and detailed answers modeled after the actual exam and
contains a complete practice exam with fully explained answers. It is
100% compatible with the latest (3rd) edition of the Project Management
Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) by PMI. Appropriate for beginners, PMP In
Depth assumes no prior knowledge of project management and presents
material in a logical learning sequence: each section builds upon
previous sections and each chapter upon previous chapters. All concepts
- simple and complex - are well-defined and clearly explained the first
time they appear. There is no hopping from topic to topic and no
technical jargon without explanation. PMP In Depth is written to the
most current versions of the PMP and CAPM exams and also serves as a
great reference tool for project managers after the exam. Maximize your
learning and minimize your study time!
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #153833 in eBooks
- Published on: 2006-03-30
- Released on: 2006-03-30
- Format: Kindle eBook
- Number of items: 1
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
One of the world?s leading experts in project management, Dr. Paul
Sanghera is a manager, educator, technologist, and entrepreneur and has
more than 15 years of diverse project management experience in the
computer industry from Netscape to MP3 and at research labs from
Cornell to CERN. Having worked in various roles, including director of
project management, director of software development, software
developer, trainer, and scientist, he has a broad view of project
management. Expertise in multiple application areas, including physics,
computer science, RFID, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, has helped
him to master the global principles of project management that apply to
all application areas. Dr. Sanghera has several industry
certifications, including PMP, CAPM, Project+, Network+, Linux+, SCJP,
and SCBCD, and he has contributed to building world-class technologies,
such as Netscape Communicator and Novell?s NDS. As an engineering
manager, he has been at the ground floor of several startups and has
been a lecturer at San Jose State University and Brooks College. He has
authored or co-authored more than 100 technical papers published in
wellreputed European and American research journals. Dr. Sanghera is
the best-selling author of several books on science, technology, and
project management. He has a master?s degree in Computer Science from
Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Physics from Carleton University. He
currently lives in Silicon Valley, where he runs an information
company, Infonential Inc., that specializes in project management and
emerging technologies.
Customer Reviews
The Best PMP Exam Study Book: Self Contained and Comprehensive
I've just passed the PMP exam (with flying colors) and I want to
share my experience regarding the PMP exam study books with my fellow
project managers who are planning to prepare for the PMP exam. On one
hand I was happy to see so many PMP books available to help me, and on
the other hand I was disappointed to see that most of them were
outrageously or unreasonably high priced. However, I ended up buying
and reading quite a few of them from cover to cover. Here are short
reviews for the top four (in my opinion) of them:
1. This book. PMP In Depth by Paul Sanghera, Thomson Course Technology.
I found this book best among all the PMP books. It's a self
contained, to the point, and yet very comprehensive: all the topics
(within the scope of the exam) are covered with adequate depth. The
material is presented in a perfect logical learning sequence, and there
is no hopping from topic to topic: perfect flow. Unlike other books,
this book presents the material in order of the process groups
(initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing), which is
consistent with the way the PMP exam objectives (domains) by PMI are
organized. And this is the only PMP exam book that explains the exam
objectives (covered in each chapter) in the beginning of the chapter.
This way you are always sure which exam objective you are working on,
and it makes the exam preparation much easier and free of confusion.
This is also a good book for the CAPM exam because it's self contained,
easy, and interesting read. All concepts are clearly defined and
explained, and the definitions are also listed at the end of each
chapter for easy reference. There is a complete practice exam at the
end of the book with very detailed answers: why a correct answer is
correct and an incorrect answer is incorrect. I found that the practice
exam combined with the review questions (and their detailed answers) at
the end of each chapter makes enough number of questions to prepare me
for the actual exam. I found the tone and difficulty level of the
questions very compatible with the actual exam.
Unlike most of other PMP books, this book is very reasonably
priced. I recommend this book to anyone who is planning to prepare for
the PMP exam, CAPM exam, or just want to learn the basics of project
management.
2. The PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy, RMC Publications.
This is not a self contained book. There are lots of references to
PMBOK Guide. Lots of empty pages for you to fill. That said, it is a
very good book (or should I call it an excellent collection of lecture
notes) if you are either taking a course from the author or from an
instructor who is using this book as a text book. There are lots of
exercises. I feel that the underlying assumption is that the gaps in
the book will be filled either by PMBOK Guide or by the instructor in
the course. So, Topics are not covered with enough depth. Also there is
a poor flow and a lots of hopping from topic to topic. The presentation
of the material is organized around knowledge areas, whereas the exam
objectives are organized in order of the process groups. That breaks
the exam objective coverage into pieces, and may cause confusion. The
book is, in my opinion, outrageously high priced.
Overall, I recommend this book if you are taking a course that uses this book as a textbook.
3. The PMP Exam by Andy Crowe; Velociteach.
This is another good book by its own virtue. At first, it appears
like self contained, but then you find that there is not enough depth
to most of the topics covered in this book. This is easy to read, but
you cannot pass the exam just by reading this book. Also, there are
quite a few processes for which some input items, output items, or
tools and techniques are missing. This could be very serious if you are
only using this book. So, if you use this book, do not count on it
alone. The presentation of the material is organized around knowledge
areas, whereas the exam objectives are organized in order of the
process groups. That breaks the exam objective coverage into pieces,
and may cause confusion. The book, in my opinion, is unreasonably high
priced.
I recommend this book if you are looking for a quick and easy review of topics.
4. PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide by Joseph
Philips, McGraw-Hill Osborne. This is another good PMP book. It covers
almost all the topics and some topics in quite detail, actually.
However, at places, it is not very compatible with the PMBOK Guide.
This is not necessarily a bad thing if you are learning about project
management in general. But you need to be careful when you are
preparing for the PMP exam. So, do not begin with this book. This also
organizes the material along the knowledge areas and breaks the exam
objectives into pieces.
Rita's or Paul's book?
I passed the PMP test today achieving my 11th certification, the
most of them are IT related but PMP is a great knowledge asset for any
professional, IT or not. Now that I have everything fresh in my mind, I
want to share my experience with you: As a general rule for
certifications, I always get two books, I fully study one, complete all
the questions and then I take all the questions on the second book. In
that way, I know the first book gave me all the necessary knowledge.
For this journey I got "PMP In Depth: Project Management Professional
Study Guide for PMP and CAPM Exams - In Depth" (Paul Sanghera) as my
'primary book' and "PMP Exam Prep, Fifth Edition: Rita's Course in a
Book for Passing the PMP Exam" (Rita Mulcahy) as my 'questions book'.
If you don't know it yet, the whole PMP certification is organized
around 9 knowledge areas (scope, time, cost, hr, procurement, risk,
quality, integration and communication management. Each one has
multiple related processes that are applied at different stages of the
5 phases of the project lifecycle (initiation, planning, execution,
monitoring/controlling and closing). For example, you plan your costs
during the planning phase and you control your costs during the
monitoring and controlling phase of the project. Both cost processes
belong to the cost management area of knowledge. So Rita's book is
organized around this 9 knowledge areas while Paul's book is organize
around the 5 phases of a project lifecycle.
I started with Paul's book four months ago (4hs every weekday, 11hs
each weekend day). This book is fascinating! (please keep reading),
because its organization follows the natural life of projects
facilitating the learning process, it clearly shows inputs, processes
and outputs for each project task, but it doesn't give you always a
clear idea of where you are in reference to the knowledge areas. If the
other hand, Rita's book is a complex reference to previous and
subsequent page numbers, getting you to jump back and forth to
understand how a project actually occurs.
I carefully studied Paul's book, I review every single detail on
it, memorized every process (inputs, tools/techniques and outputs) and
completed every question as well the 175 questions of his final test. I
was confident of my knowledge, so I moved on to complete the questions
in Rita's book. Misery! Rita destroyed every single hope I had of
passing the test successfully! She made me feel that I have been
wasting my time with Paul's book: I failed almost all her questions! It
was probably the biggest book-related disappointment in my life,
although Paul's book is easy to read, and well organized, it doesn't
cover significant areas of the certification that are again and again
presented in the test! While going thru Rita's questions I discovered
that Paul has missed 2 absolutely essential areas required by the test.
Let me tell you which ones: Cost management and communication
management. The test has multiple questions related to these areas; if
you don't know then you will certainly fail! I can't believe that Paul
missed them, I consider that very irresponsible and not fair for
students trusting his book.
With this fiasco, I went thru Rita's book and learned the remaining
knowledge so my advice to you is: Study from Rita's book! Although it
is organized around the 9 knowledge areas and they don't really follow
the project lifecycle, but it is the way the test is organized and she
covers all the topics of the test. To prove it to you (if you are
skeptical and confused with so many light or emotional book reviews) I
carefully took notes of the areas that Paul missed (I hope he reads
this): Problem solving techniques (expectancy theory, motivation
theory, McGregor's XY theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's
theory and motivation agents), communication channels and formulas,
PERT and PERT related calculations, cost estimation (can you imagine
running a project without cost estimation?), project manager powers
(formal, reward, penalty/coercive, expert and referent), outputs of
contract administration, administrative close procedure applicability
to each project phase. Besides this Paul's questions are extremely
easy, the test questions are an extremely hard compared to them,
therefore Paul's give you an inaccurate sense of test preparation
level. I have also documented multiple important errata in his book and
spent significant amounts of time verifying that they are actual
errata. For instance: Paul's makes references to the cost baseline
countless times in his book, but cost baseline is nowhere to be found
(it is not even in the index), work performance is missed as an output
of the directing and managing the project execution in the process
chart, but is it cited two pages later; the administrative close
procedure is an output of the close project process, he points out what
the procedure should contain, but it never says when to execute it as
he does it with the contract closure procedure.
It is just a very unreliable book for the test. So my advice to
you, PMP student is, start with Rita's book and complete every single
one of their questions, they look "too demanding, I can't believe the
test is that hard" but the test is hard! Then if you have time and can
buy Paul's book go directly to his questions and final test. But
please, don't do it the other way around.
Read this book before PMBOK.....
I started with PMBOK for my PMP preparation, after couple of
chapters I realized that I need to look for another book to teach me
PMBOK concepts in a simpler way. PMBOK is a reference, it's dry, boring
and quite frustrating if you choose it to be your first book to read
for PMP certification.
Based on the reviews I considered two Books PMP in Depth by Paul
Sanghera and The PMP Exam: How to Pass On Your First Try by Andy Crowe.
I choose PMP in Depth mainly because it is a self-contained book with
topics organized in the order of Process Groups. I am glad I did, I
passed PMP at my First attempt. This book helped me to understand the
concepts, Rita's book and CD helped with Knowledge gaps and questions.
Positives
1. Self Contained
2. Topics are organized in the order of Process groups (same order in which projects are done) with adequate depth
3. Nice Flow, Easy and Interesting read
4. Exam Objectives in the beginning of the chapter
5. Summary, Key Terms and Things to Remember at the end of the chapter
6. It is not only PMP certification book but also a great Project Management Book
7. ITTO's are explained well with their importance for each process
8. Index, Book Quality and Writing Style
Negatives
1. There are only few questions and the questions are very easy comparing to the actual exam.
Couple of weeks before the exam I took the Full length exam at the
end of the book and I scored 94% in my first attempt. Next week I took
the full length test in Rita's Fast Track CD and I passed with only
76%.
Apart from one negative mentioned above this is a great book, read
this book before you read PMBOK/Rita, Especially if you are doing
Self-Study.
I bought this book specifically as a tertiary resource of practice
questions for my PMP exam preparation. What a waste. First of all, the
questions are taken, in some cases verbatim, in other cases rewritten
inaccurately, from another source: "PMBOK Q&A. A Pocket Guide of
Questions and Answers to Learn More About the Project Management Body
of Knowledge" published by PMI. Nowhere in this book does it credit the
PMI source material. Secondly, in at least 7 questions(pg 215 - #7, pg
217 - #19, pg 219 - #2, pg 233 - #12, pg 233 - #13, pg 235 - #20, pg
300 - #13) that I was able to document, the answers given are just
plain wrong as verified by cross-checking both the PMBOK itself, and
the "Pocket Guide" listed above. Thirdly, unlike the "Pocket Guide",
this book doesn't give references to the sources of correct answers
(which prabably explains why the answers are wrong) so that you can
look up and study missed questions. Although I didn't read any of the
preparatory materials in the front of this book, I would be very leery
of them, based on the inaccuracies I found in the test questions. I
would suggest to anyone who wants accurate and useful preparation
materials, to use PMI published sources, take practice tests with the
ESI materials, and take a good review course from your local PMI
chapter.
Better insight than the PMBOK
