Exam #PK0-001: IT Project+ Vendor Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) Status Live Reviewer's Rating "A worthwhile credential...be sure to take it seriously." Test Price $190 U.S. (Will rise to $199 on Feb. 1, 2001. Discounts available to CompTIA members.) Who Should Take This Exam? IT professionals who want to gain marketable "soft skills," or just do their job better. Exam Details 85 questions, 2 hour time limit, multiple-choice and drag-and-drop questions. English only. Available at Prometric and Vue testing centers. Objectives Click here to download PDF from CompTIA's Web site.

In preparing for CompTIA's IT Project+ certification exam, I diligently studied two different project management books, drilled myself on time estimates and standard deviations until I could knock either one out on a four-function calculator in less than 30m seconds, drew practice Gantt charts, PERT charts and CPM diagrams, read CompTIA's exam blueprint, and did everything else I thought I needed to do in order to prepare. By now, you've probably guessed the end result: I missed it by that much. "That much," in my case, was two points.

Why IT Project+
The IT Project+ certification is a credential worth pursuing. While project management may appear at first glance to be subjective and descriptive in nature, it's not. Project management is an educational discipline, with very specific principles that successful project managers apply time and again to bring their projects in on time, on budget, and to specifications. The ability to do this, especially in a tight economy, is a valued trait. Passing the IT Project+ certification exam will help put you in a strongly competitive position, whether you're happy in your current job, or looking for a new one.

Measure for Measure
In order for this certification to be valuable to employers and as a result, to those who hold it, the exam must be able to distinguish between those candidates who really "know" project management, and those who think they know it. After all, a certification is meaningless if anyone could waltz in off of the street, take, and pass an exam. For the IT Project+ certification exam, the primary means by which CompTIA weeds out the certifiable from the non-certifiable, and indeed measures what it portends to measure, is by viewing them through the twin lenses of precision and thoroughness. For the majority of questions on this exam, there was more than one correct answer, and the successful candidate has to be able to identify all of them.

Without giving away exam content, let me show you what I mean. The first question on my test asked me to identify several characteristics of a particular facet of IT project management, five of them, to be exact. I had to find my five correct choices from among 10 possible answers, A-J. Even if I could eliminate two of the possible answers as obviously wrong, I was still left with choosing the correct five out of the remaining eight. There is no "partial credit" on this exam; you must have all of the correct answers selected in order to receive credit for the question.

Now factor in that the vast majority of distractors (incorrect choices) are quite plausible, and you can begin to see that one really needs to know their material well in order to pass this exam. True, I only had to choose from among 10 items this one time, but the other questions relied on similar devices to ensure a level of knowledge both deep and precise enough to merit designating an individual as certified. Most commonly, I was asked to select three correct answers, sometimes two, and rarely, one. The IT Project+ exam also uses a "drag and drop" interface for answering some questions. In this format, you see your question on the screen, then are instructed to click the "Exhibit" button. Doing so brings up a some sort of diagram, perhaps a Work Breakdown Structure or a flow chart, with the task being to put steps in the correct order. Or the diagram might be the equivalent of a grade-school matching test, where you drag and drop to match an item with its description. I found that this style of question actually provided some visual relief from the standard question-and-answer mode, and helped me to refocus on the questions that followed during the exam itself


What I Did Wrong
As far as I can tell, I didn't miss getting my certification, (I refuse to use the word "fail") because I don't know enough about the concepts of IT project management. Rather, I believe that I studied "wrong" -- wrong in that my error was sacrificing depth for breadth. I would have been better off identifying specific key topics from the blueprint, focusing on them, then mastering them. Instead, I painted with too broad a brush, and in doing so, didn't reach the requisite depth of knowledge necessary to pass. The IT Project+ exam seems to test concepts somewhat differently than other certification exams. And while the material may at first appear to be neither as rigorous nor as exacting as the material in, say, an MCSE exam, for example, this is an apples and oranges comparison. Here's why:

I said earlier that project management is best thought of as a discipline, and I mean that as opposed to being thought of as a skill set. There may indeed be only one correct way to configure a server, or install an operating system, but effective project management involves a myriad of variables, many of them unpredictable. Effective project management means making important strategic, make-or-break decisions under the pressure of multiple deadlines. Without a specific, reliable set of principles to use as guidelines for these decisions, chaos would reign. It's no wonder that the Project Management Institute, one of the most highly respected project management organizations in the country, requires 4,500 total hours of experience as a prerequisite for its Project Management Professional title. Project management is serious business. As a discipline, project management has its own axioms, principles, vocabulary, and other consistent characteristics that set it apart from any other discipline that you or I would study in school. It is exactly this distinction as a discipline that makes project management attractive to employers today. A Computerworld survey this past fall identified project management as one of the top four "in demand" certifications, showing the strongest potential for both growth and return on both the candidate's and the hiring company's investments. At the same time, this discipline-oriented mentality had a direct effect on my preparation.

An Unexpected Challenge
One large challenge for me -- one that will also effect other candidates considering the IT Project+ test -- is the lack of test-specific prep materials. I couldn't find a test prep book for this exam no matter where I looked: Publisher's Web sites, online bookstores, brick and mortar stores, or libraries. Because of the shortened time frame in which I was working, I settled on two project management books, one specifically geared toward IT project management. They were interesting and useful, but they were essentially textbooks. The IT project management book, especially, was better suited to a semester-long class than a two-week review. Looking back, I can see that I was really attempting something akin to passing a physics test just by reading a book, without ever actually taking physics. From that perspective, perhaps I overestimated my abilities.
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The New Game Plan
Yes, I'll be tackling it again, but this time, I've got more to go on. The following tips should help you too:

• Allot enough time for preparation. How much time is enough will of course vary, based on your background, but if you've had no formal PM training, I d give it a month, or more.
• Consider coursework over self-study. Given the lack of test-specific preparation materials, part two of your preparation plan should include some actual project management coursework, perhaps via CBT or distance learning. This is especially true if you've never received any sort of formal project management training. Remember, this is more like school subject. I've listed some potential sources in the sidebar. The main drawback is financial: the courses I've found are pretty expensive.
• Get PMBOKed. Incorporate the Project Management Body of Knowledge (commonly known as the PMBOK) into your studying, in addition to other books about project management you may be using. The PMBOK, published by the Project Management Institute, is the official repository for all generally accepted project management information, and is also the main reference for the PMI's own certification test. It's reasonable to expect that it should help you with the IT Project+ exam, too.
• Line 'Em Up! Match the topics covered in the PMBOK guide with the topics on the IT Project+ exam blueprint, available on CompTIA's Web site. Recall that PMI's certification requires a boatload of class time, so the PMBOK will most likely have a lot more information than you need. Use the exam blueprint as the winnowing tool to sift out the most relevant information.
• Take it seriously. This final strategy may seem obvious, but I am constantly amazed by colleagues who approach exams that aren't really "computer" exams with a cavalier attitude. Their mindset seems to be "If it's not technical, it's can't be too difficult." In my experience, that's a risky position to take. CompTIA, and Gartner before them, have reputations within the industry to uphold. They won't jeopardize those reputations by offering easy certifications that anyone could pass. You'll have to earn what you get on this exam.
  

Would You Believe&?
As for my plans, it's back to the drawing board, with a copy of the PMBOK close at hand. In the meantime, I'll be figuring out a way to finance some formal instruction, because I'm convinced that the investment will pay off. As I stated before, this is a certification worth having, and have it I shall.

More articles by Bob Potemski:

• A Complete i-Net Education
  
• Certification Success Stories
  
• An Inside Look at i-Net+
  
• The Value of Internet Certifications