Passing the NEW CAPM Exam Without Studying

Summary

In this video, Andrew Ramtrio, author of the best-selling PMP exam prep book and creator of top-rated PMP courses, shares his experience taking the CAPM exam on July 26, 2023, the day after its biggest update. Despite being a project management expert, he found the updated exam, which includes a significant focus on business analysis, to be more challenging than expected. He advises future test-takers to be well-versed in agile, predictive project management, and business analysis concepts and offers a comprehensive 26-hour CAPM course covering these areas, along with practice questions and a mock exam.

Takeaways

• 📅 Andrew Ramtrio took the CAPM exam on July 26, 2023, the day after its biggest update in history.
• 👨‍🏫 Andrew is an experienced PMP course creator and author of a best-selling PMP exam prep book, yet he took the CAPM exam for the first time.
• 🎓 The CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) is an entry-level certification by PMI, requiring no prior project management experience.
• 📚 To qualify for the CAPM exam, candidates need a secondary degree and must complete a 23-hour project management course.
• ⏱ The CAPM exam consists of 150 questions over three hours, covering project management fundamentals, agile, predictive, and business analysis.
• 📈 The updated CAPM exam emphasizes understanding over memorization, with a focus on scenario-based questions.
• 📊 Andrew found the exam to be unexpectedly challenging, particularly due to the inclusion of many business analysis questions.
• 🏡 The exam can be taken online or at a testing center, with Andrew recommending the online option for those with a reliable setup.
• 📊 The exam includes various question types, such as multiple-choice, multi-select, drag-and-drop, and a unique comic strip format.
• 🔗 Andrew offers a CAPM exam prep course that covers all necessary topics, including a significant focus on business analysis to align with the updated exam.

Q & A

What significant change occurred to the CAPM exam on July 25th, 2023?

The CAPM exam underwent the biggest update in its history, which was a vast change from previous versions of the exam.

Who is Andrew Ramtrio and what is his relevance to the CAPM exam?

Andrew Ramtrio is the author of the best-selling PMP exam prep book on Amazon and the creator of top PMP courses worldwide. He took the CAPM exam after the major update to understand the changes and to create a relevant course.

What is the CAPM certification and what is required to qualify for the exam?

CAPM stands for Certified Associate in Project Management, an entry-level project management certification offered by PMI. To qualify, one must have a secondary degree and complete a 23-hour project management course.

What was Andrew Ramtrio's experience like when he took the CAPM exam on July 26th, 2023?

Andrew found the updated CAPM exam to be more challenging than expected, with a significant number of business analysis questions and a focus on understanding rather than memorization.

What are the main topics covered in the updated CAPM exam?

The updated CAPM exam covers the fundamentals of project management, agile project management, predictive project management, and newly added business analysis.

How did the exam format change, according to Andrew's experience?

The exam format changed to be more scenario-based, requiring a deeper understanding of concepts rather than just memorization of processes and terms.

What type of questions can one expect in the updated CAPM exam?

The updated CAPM exam includes multiple-choice questions, select one or two options, drag and drop questions, and a new comic strip question format.

What advice does Andrew give for taking the CAPM exam at home versus at a testing center?

Andrew recommends taking the CAPM exam at home if one has a reliable computer and internet connection, as it offers convenience and comfort.

What resources does Andrew offer to help candidates prepare for the CAPM exam?

Andrew offers a 23-hour CAPM course that covers all the necessary topics for the exam, including practice questions and a full-length mock exam.

What unique feature does Andrew's CAPM course have that sets it apart from others?

Andrew's CAPM course is unique because he, the instructor, has personally taken the updated CAPM exam, providing firsthand experience and insights into the exam.

Outlines

00:00

📚 CAPM Exam Experience and Certification Journey

Andrew Ramtrio, the author of 'PMP Exam Prep Simplified' and creator of top PMP courses, shares his experience of taking the CAPM exam on July 26, 2023, just after its significant update. Despite being a seasoned project management educator, he found the exam to be unexpectedly challenging, particularly due to the inclusion of many business analysis questions. He emphasizes the importance of understanding project management fundamentals, agile and predictive methodologies, and the role of business analysts in project management. Andrew also discusses the exam's structure, which consists of 150 questions over three hours with a break in between, and his strategy for creating an updated CAPM course that includes extensive business analysis content to help candidates pass the exam.

05:01

💻 Insights into the Updated CAPM Exam Format and Content

The second paragraph delves into the changes in the CAPM exam format, which now focuses on scenario-based questions that require a deep understanding rather than mere memorization. Andrew highlights the importance of knowing when to apply agile versus predictive project management and the integration of business analysis in project management. He also shares his personal exam experience, noting the types of questions, including multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and a unique comic strip format. Andrew advises on the best preparation strategies, emphasizing the need to understand agile and predictive methodologies, business analysis processes, and the appropriate use of project management methods. He also suggests taking the exam online from home if possible and provides a brief critique of the comic strip question format.

10:04

🎓 Comprehensive CAPM Exam Preparation Course Overview

In the final paragraph, Andrew introduces his comprehensive CAPM exam preparation course, which covers over 26 hours of content on project management fundamentals, predictive and agile methodologies, and business analysis processes. He assures that the course includes practice questions and a full-length mock exam to help candidates prepare effectively. Andrew differentiates his course by mentioning his personal experience of taking the CAPM exam, which informs the course's content and structure. He invites viewers to check out his course, which is designed to meet the updated CAPM exam requirements, and expresses his optimism about its effectiveness based on the success of his students so far.

Keywords

💡CAPM

CAPM stands for Certified Associate in Project Management, which is an entry-level project management certification offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). It is designed for individuals who are new to project management and do not require any prior experience to take the exam. In the video, the speaker discusses his experience taking the CAPM exam and provides insights and tips for others preparing to take it.

💡PMP

PMP refers to the Project Management Professional certification, which is a globally recognized certification for project managers. The speaker mentions that he is the author of a best-selling PMP exam prep book and has created several top-ranked PMP courses, highlighting his expertise in the field. This establishes his credibility when discussing the CAPM exam.

💡Exam Update

The term 'exam update' refers to the significant changes made to the CAPM exam on July 25th, 2023, as mentioned in the script. These updates represent the biggest revision in the exam's history, which the speaker experienced firsthand when he took the exam the very next day without prior study, indicating the need for up-to-date preparation materials.

💡Agile Project Management

Agile project management is a flexible and iterative approach to project management that allows for changes and adjustments as a project progresses. The video script mentions that the CAPM exam now includes questions on agile concepts, emphasizing the importance of understanding agile methodologies in modern project management.

💡Predictive Project Management

Predictive project management, also known as the waterfall method, is a traditional approach where projects are executed in a sequential manner with predefined stages. The script highlights that the CAPM exam covers this approach, indicating that candidates must be familiar with both agile and predictive methodologies.

💡Business Analysis

Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context by defining needs and recommending solutions to meet those needs. The script notes that business analysis was a significant update to the CAPM exam, with many questions related to this area, emphasizing the growing importance of business analysis in project management.

💡Exam Format

The 'exam format' refers to the structure and types of questions in the CAPM exam. The script describes the exam as having 150 questions over three hours, with a mix of multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and even comic strip-style questions. Understanding the exam format is crucial for effective preparation.

💡Courseware

Courseware refers to the educational materials and resources used in a course, such as textbooks, lectures, and exercises. The speaker mentions creating courseware for the CAPM exam, which he later updated to reflect the new exam content, showing the importance of having current and relevant study materials.

💡Certification Renewal

Certification renewal is the process of maintaining a professional certification by meeting certain requirements, such as continuing education or re-taking an exam. The script mentions the speaker's next renewal date, indicating that certifications like CAPM have a validity period after which they need to be renewed.

💡Exam Simulator

An 'exam simulator' is a tool or software that mimics the actual exam environment to help candidates practice and prepare for the real exam. The speaker discusses creating a CAPM exam simulator, similar to his successful PMP exam simulator, to provide a realistic practice experience for test-takers.

Highlights

The CAPM exam underwent its biggest update in history on July 25th, 2023.

Andrew Ramtrio, author of 'PMP Exam Prep Simplified', took the CAPM exam on July 26th, 2023, without prior study.

CAPM stands for Certified Associate in Project Management, an entry-level certification by PMI.

No project management experience is required to take the CAPM exam.

Candidates must have a secondary degree and complete a 23-hour project management course.

Andrew created a 23-hour course to fulfill the CAPM exam's educational requirement.

The CAPM exam consists of 150 questions over three hours, covering project management fundamentals, agile, predictive, and business analysis.

Andrew was surprised by the number of business analysis questions on the exam.

The updated CAPM exam is scenario-based, requiring understanding rather than memorization.

The exam can be taken online, and Andrew recommends taking it at home if possible.

The exam is divided into two sections of 75 questions each, with a 10-minute break in between.

Study topics should include agile and predictive methodologies, as well as business analysis processes.

Andrew's course includes over 26 hours of content covering all aspects of the CAPM exam.

The course provides practice questions and a full-length mock exam.

Andrew's course is structured similarly to the exam, with sections on predictive, agile, and business analysis.

Andrew has created a CAPM exam simulator similar to his successful PMP exam simulator.

Andrew's course is unique because he, unlike many instructors, has personally taken the CAPM exam.

Andrew's students have a high pass rate on the CAPM exam using his course.

Transcripts

on July 25th 2023 the capm exam would

take the biggest update in the exam

history and I would take this exam on

July 26 the very next day without

studying for it now in this video I'm

going to explain to you my experience

taking this exam I'm going to give you

guys tips on how you can pass your capm

exam now let's get into it so I'm Andrew

ramtrio and I'm a little different than

most the APM folks that takes the exam

because I am the author of the book PMP

exam prep simplified which is Amazon's

best-selling book for the PMP I'm also

the course creator for many PMP courses

that are the top 10 courses in the world

right now I've been teaching project

management since 2008 to hundreds of

thousands of students oddly enough I've

never taken the capm exam until now now

I'm actually capm certified although

I've created courseware for it I've

never actually taking the test and with

this drastic change on the exam

I decided you know what before I make a

brand new capm course let me just take

the capm exam and see what this test is

like and what I encountered was not what

I was expecting it was a vastly

different exam than what I was going

into thinking that it would have been

let's get started before I get started

with my experience I want to talk a

little bit about the capm exam if you

don't know what it is if you don't know

maybe you want to fast forward a few

minutes so we can get this out the way

so the first thing up the capm stands

for certified associate in project

management it is an exam offered by PMI

or the project management Institute it

is considered an entry-level project

management certification you don't need

any experience to take it

for this I will show you guys the pmi's

website so let's go to pmi's website and

here I am at the pmi's website and under

certification you have the capm exam so

if I go here and I scroll down this will

tell me what it is certified associate

in project management now this exam date

notice it says my next I'm already

logged in you can see my name here it

says my next renewal date would be in

three years now

it says what is capm now I do want to

point out that what do you need to

qualify to take this exam I just

mentioned you do not need any experience

in project management to take this

certification but you must have a couple

of things number one you must have some

kind of secondary secondary degree such

as a high school diploma GED or any

degree would count setting minimum a

high school diploma you would also need

to take a 23 hour course in project

management uh you must complete this

before taking the exam now the thing is

that I will I have created a 23 hour

course to help you fulfill the second

requirement the links are in the

description below that's going to give

you everything you need to know to pass

your exam so we'll talk about the course

though more towards the end of the video

let's go back to see more about this

particular exam

so here's a 23 hours now the capm exam

is an exam that goes three hours

150 questions and it covers basically

three concepts you must have the

fundamentals of project management and

the three main Concepts is agile project

management predictive project management

and the new one that was added the

biggest update was the business analysis

now this would throw me off because

going into the exam I wasn't expecting a

lot of ba questions but I ended up

getting a ton of ba questions although

not complex there were more ba questions

or business analyst questions that that

I anticipate then more than I

anticipated

although I was very versed in ba I did

find the questions a little bit complex

so I had to go back to the drawing board

and when I made the capm course I

Incorporated tons of ba processes and

tools so you have a good understanding

what exactly does a business analyst do

so you can pass your exam if you are

taking a capm course right now that is

not mines I would give your word of

caution make sure the course has tons of

ba Concepts because when you show up to

take your exam

you're gonna see tons and tons of ba

questions it is not a joke it really

threw me off although I did get above

Target on everything I really felt that

this exam was much harder than I

anticipated so let's talk about my exam

experience type of questions

uh in taking the test first of all the

exam is much harder than it was

previously on previous capm exams it was

just more of memorization you just

memorized some processes memorize a

bunch of what's called ittos or inputs

tools and outputs in definition and just

like that you would pass in fact I've

never met a person that has ever failed

this test utilizing my coursework in the

history that I've been teaching it which

is going to go back more than 10 years

now

this particular one changed to change

the game this test was very much a

scenario based test it wasn't just about

memorizing stuff it was about

understanding stuff so you don't

memorize much but you have to understand

a lot of different things you really

have to understand when would you use

agile versus predictive project

management when we use an Adaptive

process versus a predictive process and

then you really have to understand how

does a ba fit into the world of project

management how does it be a contribute

to the world of project management how

does a ba elicit different kinds of

requirements was a lot of the topics

so that's really what you have to know

in order to pass now in my course I will

cover all of these topics for you

now the other thing that interesting

with this test is you can take it online

this is I took this course online in my

house uh

sitting at my own desk in my own

computer you could take this test in an

exam testing center I don't recommend

taking it in an exam testing center if

you have a reliable computer and a

reliable internet I would suggest taking

it at home if you live in a place of the

world where you don't have reliable

internet your computer isn't the best

thing going I would say go to a testing

center if not please take it at home

this exam is broken into it's 150

questions over three hours you're given

it's broken into two sections there's a

75 question and then you get a 10 minute

break and then you come back and you do

another 75 question so you're not

sitting there for an entire three hours

please take the break I did not take the

break one taking this exam I finished it

in a little over one hour and 20 minutes

but keep in mind guys I've been teaching

project management for a very very long

time

so that's my experience taking the

actual exam now what do you need what

type what do you need to study well the

exam was mostly about a lot of questions

one was on agile make sure you really

understand agile Concepts make sure you

understand the agile mindset agile

processes and agile ceremonies the exam

had quite a few questions on predictive

tools and predictive processes so make

sure you understand like what's a

project Charter and what's the purpose

of it make sure you understand that when

projects execute what are you actually

doing when it executes on predictive

sides what are some predictive documents

like a project management plan house

quality manage make sure you understand

things like critical path management

which we do cover in the course in depth

and make sure you know your formulas you

will be tested as there were multiple

questions on formulas now before PMI

crucifies me I can't tell you what the

formulas were and I really can't even

remember them but I know there was a lot

of evm formulas more than three

questions on it I just can't remember

what they are and even if I do I will

not tell you as PMI is probably watching

this video

when it comes to business analysts make

sure you understand all the process that

a business analyst will follow in order

to gather track and manage requirements

and make sure you understand the tools

that the ba will use to do those

particular things if you can do that

you're going to be okay and once again I

did mention this already make sure you

really understand the difference between

when you should use one type of project

manager method over the other for

example if we're building a piece of

software are we going to use a waterfall

method or are we going to use scrum for

example so you really need to understand

those Concepts it really know those

types of questions multiple choice

select one choice multi-choice in other

words you're going to I did have

questions we have to select they give

you like a question you have five

choices you got to select two of those

you're also gonna get drag and drops

those are relatively simple you just

gotta drag some things maybe put some

things in order

um

and one one type of question I've never

seen before was a comic strip they they

give you this giant comic strip that you

have to read like something out of a

Sunday newspaper Like A Garfield comic

strip that you have to read it was about

project management uh in general team

members talking you have to read the

comment script understand the scenario

and then answer a question although I

did felt this question was quite useless

because at the end of the day the

question was it was just a very

straightforward question with a bunch of

useless stories it took up a lot of time

to read I don't know if there's a point

of this particular question if PMI is

watching this video I would suggest

taking it out it didn't add any value to

the exam and it didn't really test

anything new I would highly suggest to

remove that question but it's pmi's exam

it's up to them what they want to do

with it now

my course

if you are interested in passing your

capm exam advance in your career in the

world of project management or getting

acquainted with project management I

would highly suggest to check out my

course I've been teaching PMP courses

since 2008 hundreds of thousands of

people have the best selling PMP course

here on udemy I'm also once again the

author of the best selling PMP study

guide on Amazon right now and maybe even

worldwide now in this particular course

it's a course that touches over nearly

26 hours of content where I cover

everything in foundations of project

management predictive project management

and all the processes agile project

management everything you need to know

exceed and even what you need to know

for your exam and I really go in depth

into the ba processes now I also give

you tons of practice questions you get a

full-length mock exam to test your

skills

this course will give you the 23 hours

of project management education you need

to apply to take your capm exam

the link to the the link to the course

will be in the description below I'm

also making acapm exam simulator

my PMP exam simulator

is one of the top PMP exam simulator

that has helped thousands of students

pass in fact if you watch my live

streams you can see how many people pass

with the simulator uh with my PMP

simulator so my cipm simulator would be

something very similar it's going to

look exactly like the test and it's

going to give you questions that are

very very similar now what makes my

course different if you're saying why

should I take your course well unlike

many of the instructors that teaches

this course they've never taken the test

before I actually took this test as you

can see from the certificate that was

showing I guess earlier in the video

editors make sure to add that in there

the action certificates these folks can

see that I took the test now

if you go through my course

you go through all the practice

questions I'm pretty sure you're going

to pass the test but it does take time

and effort one of the things with my

capm course is that it's well structured

it's structured the same way the exam is

structured it talks it has a whole

section of predictive whole section on

agile any whole section on business

analysts so please check that out okay I

I hope hopefully you guys enjoyed this

video if you do please subscribe to the

channel give me a like I'll add a lot

more capm content as we learn more about

this exam that's basically been out for

a month now I've had

about 80 students taking it with my

course and passed it as part of a focus

group we did when I created the course a

few weeks ago and I haven't had anybody

fail yet again the course just basically

came out

so in the next couple months we'll get

thousands of thousands of people to

actually take this uh take this exam

with my course anyway I wish you the

absolute best of luck taking your C8 PM

exam hopefully you find Value in my

course and I look forward to seeing you

in the next video