Taking the PMP examination is one of the biggest steps you'll take in your career as a Project Manager and one of the most daunting. There seems to be an endless parade of information to stuff into your brain but don't be discouraged! By careful planning and structure, you can pass the exam with a minimum of stress and absorb more of the information you need to be a success in your chosen career.
The very first thing you need is a study plan. Assess your daily obligations; many people devote months to their studies and ignore the other things they need to do every day. Distraction sets in; catch-up becomes tedious and interferes with studies. List your normal schedule and then assign a daily time for study, usually 90-120 minutes. By establishing a routine, you have study time allotted and everything else that can distract you has already been taken care of.
Why assign a time limit for study? There are only so many hoops you can make your brain jump through before it tires and begins to stumble. Just like pushing yourself physically, after awhile pushing yourself mentally becomes redundant and you start to lose the progress you've made. By limiting your study time, you actually increase your retention and the amount of knowledge you can absorb!
If your goal is to be the best Project Manager you can be this may be one of the most important things you can do for your future. You'll only need sixty one percent to pass the exam but if you want to enjoy being the very best at what you've chosen to do, aim a lot higher.
Setting weekly goals and keeping track of your progress will not only encourage you as you study, you'll be able to make the most of your time and study more effectively. Instead of skipping around and perhaps missing an important area of study, you'll cover everything thoroughly.
It would be a good idea before you begin to make a chart of your objectives, week by week. This will help you to focus on daily goals but be sure not to cram too much into each session. You will retain much more by concentrating on one subject at a time. Since you need to learn so many things about so many subjects, it may be best to divide the subjects into categories that make sense to you. If there is something of particular interest to you that you really enjoy, you might place it in such a way that it "rewards" you after an especially difficult section of study.
Repetition is another good technique for solidifying your new knowledge. Believe it or not, repeating a fact to yourself creates a neural pathway that your memory can travel again. Rather than "burning" it into your memory, you're clearing a trail through the undergrowth with the important knowledge at the end of the path. By repeating something to yourself or writing it on paper, you're walking it home where it will stay as long as you visit it occasionally.
It's best to practice repetition every day for at least a month and ideally for two months. If possible, you should do your repetitive mental calisthenics when you first get up, as the brain is at its most receptive immediately upon awakening. Plus, relaxing in bed for ten minutes while you mentally repeat what you want to remember can be very pleasant and reinforce a positive outlook toward your PMP test!
You have undoubtedly heard of PMP boot camps, 2-5 day cram courses for the exam that can cost thousands of dollars and claim a 95% pass rate. Most boot camps base most of their class time on the PMBOK, which is available for much less than the cost of a boot camp. By reading through and highlighting the most important passages, you'll probably learn nearly as much for a fraction of the price of a boot camp. You would be better advised to make your plan, establish a routine, break your learning into small chunks and reinforce your learning through repetition.
A very important last suggestion--everyone needs a break. Even if you're enjoying your studies, you should take at least one full day a week to get completely away from it and do other things. It doesn't have to be a big production or cost a lot of money; a morning walk, reading, a movie, a play, or anything that truly relaxes and refreshes you is just as important as the work you do the rest of the week.
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is the host of The Project Management PrepCast, the first true PMP podcast. It's the easiest way to prepare for and pass the PMP exam at http://www.pm-prepcast.com
By Cornelius Fichtner
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Why Your Computer Gets Slow Over Time, & What to Do to Fix It
The Windows registry is your computer's nerve center. All important information about your computer is stored there. Inside the registry are all defined options and settings for Windows. Because the registry is so vital to the functionality of your computer, it is of essence that you keep it running properly, because if there are problems, your system could literally be brought to a standstill Or, you get weird messages like "system32 hal dll".
Why do problems arise in the registry? Let's look at some of the reasons:
• Uninstallation of Programs and Deletion of Files - When you uninstall programs and delete files, some keys are left behind inside the registry. Windows keeps referring to these invalid keys which wastes time and resources. This slows the whole computer down
• Tracking Programs - Some programs that install themselves on your computer through web pages have different registry keys in different folders using different program names. To get rid of these programs entirely from your computer would mean deleting all associated registry keys. Who has time for that???
• Viruses - Viruses can alter existing keys inside the registry and generate new keys that are irrelevant and can be harmful. But if you try to edit the registry yourself, you could cause even more problems. like re-installing the operating system or even having to take your computer to a repair shop.
The best way to repair a corrupt registry is to use a registry cleaner. It will scan your system for errors and fix them, and will also perform future scans to make sure the registry is working well on a regular basis.
Is your PC running like a slug? Do you get weird messages such as "system32 hal dll?" If so, the registry is corrupt. Click here for a FREE SCAN to see what problems are in your computer's registry.
By Jeff Farley
Why do problems arise in the registry? Let's look at some of the reasons:
• Uninstallation of Programs and Deletion of Files - When you uninstall programs and delete files, some keys are left behind inside the registry. Windows keeps referring to these invalid keys which wastes time and resources. This slows the whole computer down
• Tracking Programs - Some programs that install themselves on your computer through web pages have different registry keys in different folders using different program names. To get rid of these programs entirely from your computer would mean deleting all associated registry keys. Who has time for that???
• Viruses - Viruses can alter existing keys inside the registry and generate new keys that are irrelevant and can be harmful. But if you try to edit the registry yourself, you could cause even more problems. like re-installing the operating system or even having to take your computer to a repair shop.
The best way to repair a corrupt registry is to use a registry cleaner. It will scan your system for errors and fix them, and will also perform future scans to make sure the registry is working well on a regular basis.
Is your PC running like a slug? Do you get weird messages such as "system32 hal dll?" If so, the registry is corrupt. Click here for a FREE SCAN to see what problems are in your computer's registry.
By Jeff Farley
How to Speed Up Your Computer - 5 Things to Look For
One of the most annoying things I have experienced is when I clicked on a website link stored in My Favorites and the page seemed to take forever to load up. Then, when I went to my word processor it too, took an eternity to load! When I'm operating a computer acting in this way, I will type words and they will show up on the screen about ten minutes later! Have you ever had this experience?
Sometimes a computer will slow down so much the Web pages and word processor files never open up. There can be several reasons why a computer slows down. In this article, we're going to discuss 5 things that tend to make a computer lose speed. So, you can avoid or correct these things.
1. Don't Let Your System Tray Become Too Full
In the lower right hand corner on your computer screen is an area known as the system tray. In this area of the screen, there are usually several icons. Some of them may be hidden out of view, in which case you would have to click on a little arrow that points to the right to expose all of the icons in the system tray.
These icons represent programs that are running now or will run in a moment's notice when some move you make on the computer signals them into action. This means you may have several programs running without your knowledge. These programs are constantly running in the background and are stealing your computer's resources. Certainly, this could slow your computer down. Many times, these background operations can slow your computer down to a stop!
Right click on each of these icons. This should open a screen that will let you turn their corresponding programs off. Any program installed on your computer could be started from the start-all programs menu. So, you're not the deleting the program from your computer when you get it out of the systems tray, you're simply controlling the program instead of having the program control you and your system's resources.
2. Need More Ram?
t is possible a PC could slow down because it is in need of more RAM. However, for this to happen, you would have to have installed some program that needs more resources to run than the other programs on your computer. So, if all your other programs are running as quickly as they used to, but one program, recently installed is slow, you probably need more RAM.
3. Are Things Heating Up?
I have seen computers slow down because they were running too hot. This of course, could mean there's some sort of a hardware malfunction inside of the PC. However, don't overlook the fact a computer will heat up too much if a slot cover, or the computer cover itself is removed.
Also, all fans in the computer should be kept free of dust. Dust can slow down the fan speed to the point the fan will no longer effectively cool the computer parts. Dust covering I C's can keep heat trapped in them as well. So, periodically unplug your computer, take its cover off and then blow out the dust with a can of compressed air.
4. Stop Automatically Running Programs
There are programs on your computer, usually spyware programs, that start running automatically periodically throughout the day. Make sure you start these programs, get into their control panel and make sure they run at times when they won't be getting in your way.
5. Keep Registry Cleaned With A Good Registry Cleaner
Probably the most profound and overlooked thing you need to do periodically is clean your registry with a good commercial registry cleaner. Make sure the registry cleaner is kept up to date and that it is a highly reputable piece of software. Also, in order to get the top speed out of your computer make sure the registry cleaner comes with a registry optimizer.
When your computer's registry becomes corrupt or unclean, it will need to have this registry cleaner run. A registry cleaner removers entries in the registry which are no longer needed. These no longer needed entries tend to send the operating system looking through massive directories of files for one that no longer exists. So, you can see how a computer with a clean registry will operate at a far faster speed than one that has a registry with many unneeded entries.
If your computer's registry becomes corrupt, it is not because you've done anything wrong. Normal use will corrupt a registry. This corruption wasn't too much of a problem in older operating systems. However, with Vista and XP, it doesn't take long for corruption accumulate and slow down a computer very noticeably.
The author, Ed Lathrop is a comp TIA A+/Network+ certified computer technician familiar with the operation, repair and upkeep of today's PC's. His site, Registry Repair Review, rates the latest registry programs and tells which registry cleaners work and which ones might actually be dangerous to your computer. Also, Repair Slow Computer gives you step by step instructions on how to get your computer speed back.
Article Source:
EdwardLathrop
Sometimes a computer will slow down so much the Web pages and word processor files never open up. There can be several reasons why a computer slows down. In this article, we're going to discuss 5 things that tend to make a computer lose speed. So, you can avoid or correct these things.
1. Don't Let Your System Tray Become Too Full
In the lower right hand corner on your computer screen is an area known as the system tray. In this area of the screen, there are usually several icons. Some of them may be hidden out of view, in which case you would have to click on a little arrow that points to the right to expose all of the icons in the system tray.
These icons represent programs that are running now or will run in a moment's notice when some move you make on the computer signals them into action. This means you may have several programs running without your knowledge. These programs are constantly running in the background and are stealing your computer's resources. Certainly, this could slow your computer down. Many times, these background operations can slow your computer down to a stop!
Right click on each of these icons. This should open a screen that will let you turn their corresponding programs off. Any program installed on your computer could be started from the start-all programs menu. So, you're not the deleting the program from your computer when you get it out of the systems tray, you're simply controlling the program instead of having the program control you and your system's resources.
2. Need More Ram?
t is possible a PC could slow down because it is in need of more RAM. However, for this to happen, you would have to have installed some program that needs more resources to run than the other programs on your computer. So, if all your other programs are running as quickly as they used to, but one program, recently installed is slow, you probably need more RAM.
3. Are Things Heating Up?
I have seen computers slow down because they were running too hot. This of course, could mean there's some sort of a hardware malfunction inside of the PC. However, don't overlook the fact a computer will heat up too much if a slot cover, or the computer cover itself is removed.
Also, all fans in the computer should be kept free of dust. Dust can slow down the fan speed to the point the fan will no longer effectively cool the computer parts. Dust covering I C's can keep heat trapped in them as well. So, periodically unplug your computer, take its cover off and then blow out the dust with a can of compressed air.
4. Stop Automatically Running Programs
There are programs on your computer, usually spyware programs, that start running automatically periodically throughout the day. Make sure you start these programs, get into their control panel and make sure they run at times when they won't be getting in your way.
5. Keep Registry Cleaned With A Good Registry Cleaner
Probably the most profound and overlooked thing you need to do periodically is clean your registry with a good commercial registry cleaner. Make sure the registry cleaner is kept up to date and that it is a highly reputable piece of software. Also, in order to get the top speed out of your computer make sure the registry cleaner comes with a registry optimizer.
When your computer's registry becomes corrupt or unclean, it will need to have this registry cleaner run. A registry cleaner removers entries in the registry which are no longer needed. These no longer needed entries tend to send the operating system looking through massive directories of files for one that no longer exists. So, you can see how a computer with a clean registry will operate at a far faster speed than one that has a registry with many unneeded entries.
If your computer's registry becomes corrupt, it is not because you've done anything wrong. Normal use will corrupt a registry. This corruption wasn't too much of a problem in older operating systems. However, with Vista and XP, it doesn't take long for corruption accumulate and slow down a computer very noticeably.
The author, Ed Lathrop is a comp TIA A+/Network+ certified computer technician familiar with the operation, repair and upkeep of today's PC's. His site, Registry Repair Review, rates the latest registry programs and tells which registry cleaners work and which ones might actually be dangerous to your computer. Also, Repair Slow Computer gives you step by step instructions on how to get your computer speed back.
Article Source:
EdwardLathrop
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