Cleared PMP- Credit goes to Knowledgewoods. Review on Knowledgewoods, Delhi

I was planning to get prepared for PMP for last 1 year but somehow I was not getting the right institute as well as training material that could uplift my knowledge at par the level of knowledge required to clear PMP. One can easily check level of knowledge by attempting appropriate question sets available on PMI site under e-Reads section.

I attended PMP training in my office in early 2012 and after that training I attempted 4-5 sample questions sets(200 questions in each set) but I couldn’t score more than 50% in any attempt. I have been told it is required to score 70%-80% in mock test if I have to pass PMP exam with good scores.

I was desperate to clear PMP with good score and I searched a lot then I landed at Knowledgewoods site. I called up Traun Nanda whose name was appearing for sales query on the website and he explained everything in great detail and answered my all queries very patiently. In conjunction to our discussion, he also shared an e-mail detailing all the required information to participate in the PMP training program. I paid the fee and book a seat on 6-7 Oct and 13-14 Oct(weekend classes). I received pre-training material that was covering broad level of PM knowledge and processes.

No one is perfect and Knowledgewoods is not an exception. So, I am going to explain both Pros and Cons related to training that might help readers to evaluate and judge this institute.

Let’s start with Pros

Reading Material- Knowledgewoods offers reading material that comprises- Head First PMP prep book, Knowledgewoods PMP guide, and PM processes brain mapping booklet. Head first is a known book so keep it aside. The USP of Knowledgewoods reading material, it was very well organized with the excerpts of PMBOK and in a very simple language. Numerical section of PMP guide was awesome. You could get all the formulae at one place and it was explained with very good examples. Process brain mapping guide is a true help to understand what all artefacts can be an input/output of a process.

Environment- Training environment was really professional. Training place was very neat and clean, ample space to sit, only 4 members on a large size round table, all writing instruments were placed on the table, and mike-speaker support was there at a decent volume.

Trainer- Trainer was well experienced and tried to explain and cover each and every process. Since PMBOK talks in a way that is bit different from real life scenarios and that caused lots of queries from trainees but trainer tried to explain most of them, I will say around 80%. And, whenever there was a situation of chaos, trainer handled it beautifully to maintain the pace of training program.

Support- Amazing support provided by Knowledgewoods after the training. I was not able to receive mock test link. I wrote to support and it was made available in an hour. I have been called to ensure that I was able to access the link. Best part, Trainer was available for you on mail and mobile for any queries even after completion of training. I had multiple chats with Trainer after the training and before exam, and this duration was more than 45 days.

Mock Tests- Knowledgwoods offers 10 mock tests(200 questions in each mock). These question sets are really helpful. Actual exam was close to these mock tests.

Now, time for some major Cons/Improvements

Batch Size - Batch size was 40+ and whenever there was a point of confusion there were 15-20 odd queries. Many of the times, situation became chaotic due to these relevant or irrelevant queries.

Coverage – Though the trainer tried to cover everything in detail but on the fourth day pace of training was very fast. We completed all the process till the first half of fourth day and left with sufficient idle time we were utilizing doing Head first mock test. Second half of fourth day could have been utilized better to cover the processes in detail discussed on last day.

On 30th November, I cleared PMP exam with 4P and 1 MP.  I understand that few people would have good experience few have bad but end of the day it is up to us how are we utilizing the training material and training at the level best and preparing for the exam.