In each issue, Cheetah News features an individual who shares his or her ideas, insight, and experience with Cheetah Learning's Methodology.

The Best-Laid Plans
Every project manager knows that even the best-laid plans can fall victim to unexpected circumstances. Just ask Jon Stevens, director of international programs for a provider of theft recovery and data protection solutions in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He’d been meaning to become PMP^® certified for many years but hadn’t quite gotten around to. The
nudge(s) he needed came earlier this year. He saw the increasing market demand for PMP professionals and knew that the arrival of their first baby was imminent – due date March 31, 2008. Jon decided it was time to become PMP certified, before home-study time disappeared.

“After researching PMP training courses, I finally enrolled in Cheetah Learning’s online PMP Exam Prep course in mid-January,” Jon explains. “An additional benefit with this course was that it included a free online pre-course that satisfied the 35-hour education prerequisite for PMI’s PMP application.”

Right from the start, Jon was impressed with the written and online course materials, and the way the key elements of each chapter of The PMBOK^® Guide – Third Edition were summarized and explained. “I also was impressed with the frequent, realistic exams against the clock that prepared me for the PMP exam itself,” Jon says. And Norma Ribich, his course instructor, was always there to answer his questions, usually within a few hours of asking them.

“By the time I finished the course, I was averaging just below 90% on the practice tests and feeling very confident for the exam, which I scheduled for Tuesday, March 4, four weeks before our baby was due,” he says. Jon thought that allowed plenty of time in case of an early arrival. “But as any good project manager knows, life happens – contingency plans or not.”

On Monday, March 3, Jon’s wife Kelly noticed the baby had stopped moving, so Jon rushed her to the hospital in a state of panic. The good news was that the baby’s heart was beating, but the bad news was it was beating very irregularly – and still the baby wasn’t moving.

“About 8 p.m. that evening, Kelly had an emergency Caesarian section, and Joshua Adam Stevens was born at 6 pounds 3 ounces, along with one of the most knotted umbilical cords the doctors had ever seen,” Jon says. Miraculously, both mother and son were healthy and are doing well.

“With all the worry, I was peripherally aware that I had a PMP exam scheduled for the next day, but I was resigned to the fact that I’d have to restudy the course materials and take the exam sometime later – not all that important compared to my wife and baby.”

But since Joshua and Kelly were both doing fine, Kelly encouraged Jon to go take the exam. “So on zero hours sleep and lots of adrenaline, I took the exam that Tuesday morning, and passed.

“I know the Cheetah course was instrumental in my ability to pass the exam under such adverse conditions. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Cheetah online PMP Exam Prep course to anyone.”