Studying for the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) exam was a grind. Every evening after work, my desk was buried under practice test printouts, highlighter-streaked PMBOK pages, and a laptop queued up with the next project management tutorial on YouTube. With each practice test, my confidence ebbed and flowed, but the relentless routine continued until the calendar marked the day of reckoning: a Saturday afternoon exam slot. Sitting in the sterile quiet of my condo, constantly on camera to ensure the integrity of the exam process, I clicked through the questions with a growing knot in my stomach, unsure if my efforts had measured up.

When I finished the exam, I was stunned to see the screen flash “Congratulations”—though the detailed scores were not yet available. A few hours later, an email arrived confirming I’d passed—all scores 'Above Target.' All the stress and self-doubt from those endless study sessions melted away.

I’m proud of having accomplished this, as it certainly wasn’t easy. The CAPM exam, with its formidable array of 150 multiple-choice questions, is a rigorous assessment that tests a candidate's breadth and depth of understanding of project management principles. Candidates are allocated 3 hours to navigate through these questions, which not only cover the fundamental knowledge, terminology, and processes described in the PMBOK Guide but also delve into:

• Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts

• Agile Frameworks/Methodologies

• Business Analysis Frameworks

• Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies

Passing this exam was no small feat, and achieving scores 'Above Target' in every category was the icing on the cake.