Among the most common questions asked by the aspirants for a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is if they really need to read the PMBOK Guide. Most of them do not like to read the book, which is an official resource from the PMI. To assist you in understanding the book better, you may read a PMBOK Study Guide.
Many aspirants who see just how thick the book is are usually discouraged to study the guide. However, it would be in your best interest to read the book at least once.
There are some good reasons why you should go through the PMBOK Guide:
All 42 Processes
It has a lot of inputs, outputs, and tools and techniques. It discusses all 42 project management processes, which are often neglected in other exam preparation books. It even provides in-depth explanation for each process so you can understand all of them better. You would also learn about the key aspects used in the project management approaches, which should also be found in your PMP Practice Exam.
Glossary to the Front
It would be better if you start reading from the back to the front of the book. If you read the Glossary first, you will be re-acquainted with more than 300 terms. These terms are likely to surface in the exam. They are also recognized by the PMBOK.
You can answer the questions better or at least guess what the closes answer would be if you understand the key terms in each question. The book can give you terms that may not make sense to you at first if you don’t know their meaning as well as terms that are absolutely new to you but used by the PMI in the exams. This is why it would be a good investment to read this PMP Study Guide.
Detailed Discussion
Anyone who has already passed the PMP certification exam would recommend that you read the PMBOK Guide. It can offer you more detailed discussions than other books. Even if you do read other exam preparation books, make sure that you allot time for the PMI resource book. It can also be used as a good reference, especially if you want to clarify things about a certain topic. You can easily look terms or topics up at the PMBOK Guide.
However, this book is not really designed to help you with the exam. You will only be given knowledge about the project management field and it is up to you how to recall whatever information you would need to answer the questions in the exam. You need to learn on your own how to adapt the concepts from the book to certain project situations. It can help you though when it comes to preparing yourself for difficult questions.
Although it is a must to read the book, you also need to complement it with other readings and a PMP Mock Exam. This method would allow you to have an exam centric approach to your preparation.