Exam tips from Bill Meacham
Earned Value
You need to know the theory behind earned value analysis as well as the formulas. You may be given some information from which you will have to figure out what is not given and how to calculate it. If you do not know the meaning of EV, PV, AC, etc., you will not know how to calculate it.
Some of the earned value questions were straightforward: given values for EV, PV and AC, calculate the cost variance or schedule variance.
Some of the questions say "EV (BCWP)," some say "EV" only and some say "BCWP" only. You need to know both sets of terminology.
I needed to know the formulas for calculating EAC.
Network Diagrams and Critical Path
Questions relating to critical path are straightforward. You just need to calculate correctly.
Rita Mulcahy had a good tip: List all the possible paths (e.g. A-B-C-D-E, A-B-H-G-E, etc.) in some logical order so you do not overlook a path. Then calculate the duration of each path.
The same example can appear in more than one question. For instance, you may be given a network diagram from which you have to calculate something. The same network diagram may appear in another question, where you are asked something different about it. On your scratch paper, write down the question number that pertains to your calculations, so you can go back and look it if the same example appears in another question. If you are sure that the examples are identical, you can reuse your calculations from the first question.
Situational Questions
Many of the questions are situational: given a certain situation, what should you as Project Manager do next? To answer them you need to know what the PMBOK says about the sequence of events, you need to have some actual PM experience so you know what they are talking about, and you need to know the code of ethics.
The same situation can appear in more than one question.
Professional Responsibility
I only had a few questions that obviously dealt with professional responsibility. Some of the situational questions required knowledge of the code of ethics as well as good project management practices.
PMBOK Taxonomy
There are questions about the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs of the various knowledge areas. The more you know, the better.