If you do an online search for PMP training programme, you’ll find hundreds of options out there. Whether it is class room training programme or live online training programme or recorded online training sessions, you have so many choices available.
In this article, I am presenting the Online PMP Exam Preparation Course by Management Plaza. I go through the training programme in detail and will present the positives and negatives of the training programme.
Why should you consider the PMP exam preparation course by Management Plaza? At the end of this article, you should be able to understand why this highly engaging online PMP exam training might be the one you are actually looking for.
Table of Contents
About the Course
Management Plaza is a Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) with PMI and this course is registered with PMI. Completing this course will help you to fulfill the 35 contact hours requirement by PMI to apply for the PMP exam. The course content is in line with the latest edition of the PMBOK® Guide, that is the PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition.
Course specification
The following information is as displayed at the website of Management Plaza. Please confirm the details before signing up, as there could be changes since the time of posting this article.
- Accreditation: by PMI
- PMI contact hours: 48 – This course is formally approved by PMI as a PMP or CAPM preparation course and can be used to satisfy the prerequisite of those exams.
- Compatibility: PMBOK® Guide 6 (latest edition)
- Length: equivalent to a 7-day classroom course (20 hours of video)
- Number of lessons: 95
- Free lessons: first 30 lessons
- Time limit: 12 months after the purchase
- Certification of completion: issued automatically at the end of the course
Free Trial – The First 30% is FREE
You can evaluate the course before buying the course. The first 30% of this course is available for free, so that you can make sure it’s what you’re looking for before you buy it.
You can watch the free videos even without registering. But I suggest you to sign up and register. It enables you to save your progress.
In addition, they are also providing Pass Guarantee and Money-back Guarantee (both suhject to terms and conditions as specified in their web site).
PMP Online Training Programme by Management Plaza
The Trainer
Nader K. Rad is the trainer for this course. He is a project management author, trainer and advisor. He has about 20 years of experience in construction, process plant, and IT projects.
He has been an official reviewer or contributor for the PMBOK® Guide, PRINCE2® 2017, PRINCE2 Agile®, P3.express, and EXIN Agile Scrum Master.
The Interface and The Navigation
The interface is clean, simple and minimal. It contains the following details:
- A progress bar that shows how much you have progressed so far in the course
- The lesson number, title and the video
- Below the video is a list of activities
- A checkbox to flag the lesson for review later
- Navigation menu at the bottom (back button, link to table of contents and next button)
Once you finish watching a video, the table of contents updates the link to the lesson with a tick mark. The video you are currently watching is shown with a pointing finger. The videos flagged for review are shown with a flag next to it. The videos you are yet to watch are shown in black color font.
Presentation Style
The trainer makes the presentation very engaging and interesting, by citing several stories and sharing his personal project experience. This approach makes it easier for us to relate the concepts to real life projects.
Once in a while, during the presentation, he asks a question and pauses slightly. We quickly think about the question and search for the solution. It gives the feeling of being in a live training session.
He finishes each video with a question that lets us think. He starts the subsequent video by answering that question. This way, we can see whether our line of thinking matches with the standard project management approach. Interesting way to make the candidates retain the concepts better.
Generally, in most of the training programmes, the slides would be filled up with text after text; they will bore you with textual content. But it is completely different here.
Significant effort has gone into the preparation of the presentation slides. The slides were prepared to sustain the interest of the viewer. The trainer is not just reading/ explaining the sentences displayed on the slides. To understand what I am saying, take a look at the following snapshot taken from the Control Quality process.
PMP/ CAPM Exam Preparation Course
The Course Content
PMP® and CAPM® Exam Preparation Online Course by Management Plaza contains 95 videos. The entire course is divided into five sections as follows:
- The Big Picture (10 videos)
- Process Groups (7 videos)
- Knowledge Areas (60 videos, with each of the 49 processes covered under one video each)
- Agile (15 videos) and
- Miscellaneous (3 videos)
Let us see what is covered in each section below.
Section 1: The Big Picture
The Big Picture section contains 10 videos, that is equivalent to about 72 minutes of content.
The 10 videos under this topic are wonderful. It prepares you with the basics of project management.
The trainer quickly runs through the important concepts of project management, without going into the details of PMBOK Guide or the PMP exam. He does not go into each process, but touches on the knowledge areas.
I find this a great approach. It gives an overall view; the big picture is presented without dumping the audience with too much details. It prepares the candidates so that they are ready to receive more details later on in the course.
Section 2: Process Groups
This section is covered by seven videos. The content is equivalent to about 60 minutes of training.
The trainer goes through the processes, one by one, process group wise.
He explains what happens in each process, without going into the details of inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. It is just enough for you to get a feel of the 49 project management processes, and how they are grouped under the process groups.
Section 3: Knowledge Areas
The first two sections are more about giving you the overall picture, while section 3 is the main part of the training. It goes into the details and explains. each and every process.
There are totally 60 videos available under this section; and provides more than 15 hours of useful content.
Each process is covered in detail; one video is dedicated for each process. Having one dedicated video for each process has its own advantages. When you want to revise a particular process, you could just go to the Table of Contents, and then choose the video of the exact process you want to revise.
The trainer covers all the inputs, tools and techniques and the outputs of each process. His explanation for each of these ITTOs also might be very helpful for candidates to remember the ITTOs. I am always against memorizing the ITTOs; it does not help. Trying to understand the ITTOs is a better approach.
Section 4: Agile
The first video in section 4 starts with explaining the various development approaches. It explains clearly what is a predictive approach and what is an adaptive approach.
Surprisingly, the course has so much content on Agile. You may choose to watch the videos. Some of them may not be necessary from the perspective of the PMP exam; but, watching the videos once might help you understand how Agile practices and PMBOK processes align together.
Section 5: Miscellaneous
This section covers topics like Professional and Social Responsibility, History of PMI and the PMBOK Guide and The Exam.
The important concepts in Professional and Social Responsibility are very well covered.
This section also covers everything you should know about the PMP/ CAPM exam, the advantages of becoming a PMI member, the application process, eligibility requirements, etc.
PMP® and CAPM® Preparation Online Course by Management Plaza
Integrated Flash Cards
It is indeed a great idea to integrate the flash cards just below every video. The flash cards start to appear from lesson number 19.
I was inclined to try the flash cards, either before watching the video or after watching the video. It was a little bit addictive to keep playing the flash cards. It is also good to see some flash cards repeat once in a while. This helps me to reinforce my learning.
PMP Exam Simulator
You also get access to the PMP Exam Simulator as part of the online training programme. The simulator contains more than 1000 questions. Each time, you get a full length mock exam of 200 questions, with the questions being randomly generated from the pool of 1000+ questions.
PMP Exam Preparation Online Course by Management Plaza
Certificate of Completion
Do I get a certification upon completion of the PMP online training programme? Yes, the certificate will be available online once you complete all the videos available in the training programme. You can show it to PMI, if needed, to prove that you’ve had 35 contact hours of formal training in project management for your exam.
Suggestions/ Areas of Improvement
The overall course is excellent and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who is interested in taking up an online training programme for the PMP exam preparation. However, there are small areas I thought can be improved, which I have listed below:
1. One thing I found difficult to understand was the sequence of videos when it comes to each knowledge area (Section 3). I thought it was logical just to follow the sequence as stated in PMBOK Guide. For example, I would have preferred to cover the processes in Scope Management in the following sequence:
5.1 Plan Scope Management
5.2 Collect Requirements
5.3 Define Scope
5.4 Create WBS
5.5 Control Scope and
5.6 Validate Scope
However, the trainer has pushed the Plan Scope Management process to be the last video within the scope management knowledge area. He covers 5.2 to 5.6 and then moves on to 5.1. He, in fact, follows the same approach for all knowledge areas. The Plan xxx Management process is covered in the last video of each knowledge area. I am not sure why he has taken this approach. However, it is a small issue; and, some of you might like it this way. In case you like this approach, please leave a comment below.
2. While explaining the Sequence Activities process in Schedule management knowledge area, the trainer covers the following four types of relationships:
Finish to Start (FS), Start to Start (SS), Finish to Finish (FF) and Start to Finish (SF)
But I felt the explanation given for the four types of relationships is inadequate and not clear. He clearly explains FS relationship with an example. However, no practical examples were given to explain the other three relationships, namely SS, FF and SF. I hope the videos are updated with real project examples to explain them in detail for easier understanding.
3. I would have loved to have few exercises on the Critical Path Method (CPM), so that candidates can get some hands-on practice to understand the calculations. The video explains the CPM very well; but candidates cannot get better without getting their hands dirty. My suggestion to the trainer is to add few exercises below the video.
4. I could not find a way to jump straight to a particular video. For example, I wanted to have a quick look at the Section 4 (Agile), which starts from Video No. 78. I could not find a way. I have to watch the videos one by one, in the given sequence. However, after watching it for the first time, the interface allows to me jump to any video I wanted to. This approach makes sense for candidates who are going through the PMP training programme for the first time. But, if someone is using the course as a refresher, they may find it irritating. I suggest a navigation that allows candidates to jump to any video they like.
Conclusion
Overall, I should say it is a wonderfully crafted course for PMP Exam Preparation. The trainer has a good experience in project management; and, it is showing off in his effortless presentation. His examples and references to real life projects are good. It is a great online course if you don’t mind the slightly higher pricing.
Have you tried the PMP Exam Preparation Online Course by Management Plaza? What is your opinion about the course? Share your thoughts below.
Certified Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)®
An enthusiastic project management practitioner and trainer.
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