APM
Project Management
Qualification (PMQ)

“I feel I have gained a good understanding of general project management through my work. Additionally, though, I wanted to learn recognised project management language and techniques so that I can operate within the Project Management Office (PMO) environment more effectively. I also wanted to get an official qualification to help me towards my Chartership submission.

“I like a challenge and decided to go straight to this course rather than take the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification course first. Given my age and that I have done a lot of project work, I felt it was the right level for me. I completed an MBA at Manchester Business School a few years ago, but I feel like I needed more academic learning in my career.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have a good career, I enjoy my work and Siemens are a great company that I’ve done well with. However, I haven’t taken a lot of external courses, they have mostly been Siemens’ internal courses. I am at a stage in my career when I need to invest some time in myself and acquire some skills to keep relevant. I was fortunate as Siemens funded the course and gave me the time to complete it.”

“I knew there was a lot of pre-reading on this course – I think the course materials say about 15 hours’ worth of pre-reading. I thought, ‘Well, 15 hours. That’s three hours a day for five days. Easy.’ But it’s more than that. There is a lot of new terminology and there are new acronyms to learn. I think 30 hours is more realistic.

“It’s a five-day course. I was originally going to take the course in London in December but with the reading and the normal pre-Christmas rush, I just didn’t have time to travel down to London. So, I delayed it until May and instead opted for the Warwick location, which was a lot easier.

“I had already completed a lot of prep work for the December course but, when the course started, there was still a lot of content to get through. You squeeze a lot into four days and then the exam is on the fifth day. It was an intense course – I was up early every day and I was working every night. By Friday afternoon when we came to take the exam, I was pretty tired.

“The venue was great and the food brilliant – you need that when you are so busy. I prefer the classroom and being there physically with people, rather than online learning. It was a great benefit to me that you could talk to others, share stories and bounce ideas off each other.

“Unfortunately, I was just a couple of percentage points under the pass mark. That was disappointing. Looking back, I think I should have given myself the weekend to recover and asked to take it as a remote exam and to be invigilated remotely.

“There were two graduates taking the course and, as they had just finished university, you could see they were still in the academic ‘learning’ mode, rather than thinking about work. I was relying more on my real-world experience and, in hindsight, that was the wrong approach. I now know what I need to do when I retake the exam.”

1 “It brings a real-world view to projects. As a technical engineer, I want everything – the greatest reliability, the highest goals and everything to be perfect. But what will that cost? The course has given me the ability to look at all the options, rationalise, compromise and think, ‘Does that do the job? Is that good enough?’”

2 “It helps you consider the team dynamics of a project: leadership, the right mix of skills, the characteristics of the team, how to manage conflict and so on.”

3 “There are a lot of little things that stay with me. One was the MoSCoW acronym for prioritising project requirements – must have, should have, could have and won’t have. I found it powerful because it gets you thinking about the costs and benefits of doing a project.”

“Of course, it was disappointing not to have passed first time, though lots of other colleagues I know have told me it is hard to pass first time. The standards to which APM holds you are high. It’s not a course you can just turn up to and get a certificate. The reason I took APM PMQ – and will go back and retake the exam – was to gain a bit more project acumen and I have still done that.

“I have a close link to the PMO officer who works in our team. I want to be able to rub shoulders with him and ensure I am in all conversations. I have been able to upskill and I can hold myself in front of PMO managers. It’s still business as usual.

“One of the areas that fascinated me was use of budgets and ensuring projects are cost effective. You can’t always have everything perfect and in rail, especially, it’s hard to put a price on peace of mind. Looking at the Quality-Cost-Time triangle, it’s a challenge to balance those three dimensions. And in rail we also have safety wrapping round it all, too. But you have to find your balance of Quality-Cost-Time or you are never going to deliver the project.”

1 “Do as much prep work as possible! You will be given the APM Body of Knowledge box when you start the course but, if you can get hold of one beforehand, start reading before the course. There’s a lot to get through.”

2 “Work on your revision technique. How do you learn? How do you take on new facts? What methods do you need to employ? You need to be able to take the course work on board quickly and then regurgitate it.”

3 “During the three-hour exam, you’ve got to put a lot of information in – I didn’t stop typing for three hours. Be aware of how much effort this course takes.”

“I don’t give up easily. I am going to re-sit the exam and I will pass this time! I know where I went wrong and I know I need to work on my revision technique. I will make sure I am more prepared by practising old exam questions under exam conditions. There is also a certain style your answers need to follow for APM, so I will practise that, too.

“After I have successfully completed the exam, I want to look at doing a course on safety – Risk Reduction and ALARP looks interesting. I have done a lot of work on safety throughout my career but it’s important to keep up to date and relevant.

“Over the years, I have tended to concentrate on the work and put my CPD to one side. I want to address that. So, I am now playing a bit of catch up and will be going for my Chartership using the experience criteria.”