The Bottom Line
Project management professionals and PMP candidates alike will unquestionably benefit from this book. Kim Heldman writes well and with experience. The book follows the lifecycle of the project and manages to successfully interpret some of the more difficult portions of the PMBOK.
Pros
- Organized by project sequence rather than Knowledge Management Area.
- Very good practice questions.
- Equally good content on the CD.
- Understandable, real-world IT scenarios.
Cons
- Not quite as complete as the PMBOK. You should use both to study.
Description
- Written with a focus on the project lifecycle rather than PMBOK objectives.
- Thoroughly covers all exam objectives.
- A detailed project case study is referred to and built on throughout the book.
- It's easy to follow and does a great job of covering real-life issues and scenarios.
- The book includes an assessment test, and chapter review questions.
- The CD-ROM offers an additional exams, flashcards, and the book in PDF.
- The Deluxe Edition includes six PMP Practice Exams and Two CAPM exams.
- The Deluxe Edition also includes a workbook section with more than 50 exercises.
- I have linked to the Deluxe Edition because I think it is worth the extra $$.
Guide Review - PMP®: Project Management Professional Study Guide, Deluxe Edition
This book is deep enough to thoroughly cover the PMP objectives, is organized logically from project beginning to project end, uses great case studies, and provides an extremely strong basis on which to rely for exam preparation. The case studies are excellent. Some of the best I have seen yet in a PMP study guide. They provide the catalyst that takes the dry terms and turns them into real situations and issues. The practice questions are also very good. They represent a difficult and honest test of your knowledge of the material. I particularly like the "Exam Spotlight" blurbs throughout the book. Heldman outright tells you to know 'x,y,z' for the exam and doesn't let you forget what topics are important. She also uses these areas to expand on or highlight differences between her material and the PMBOK.
When comparing this to the PMBOK, it is useful to know that they each have a slightly different objective. The PMBOK reads more like a hefty technical manual that presents the all of the necessary information extremely well but the organization of the topics can be difficult to understand. Heldman's book is more user-friendly and an easier read but neither should be used as your only tool to prepare. You should consider teaming the PMP Study Guide up with the PMBOK to get both perspectives and complete coverage of topics.
Good luck!
