Teacher as a Coach – Why the Difference Matters when Preparing to Pass the PMP Exam
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT
Vikram Bala, PhD, PMP, CCPM – fifteen years of service as a Cheetah PMP coach. He has helped over 5000 people cross the PMP finish line and pass the PMP exam.
I realized just how significant Cheetah’s approach to passing the PMP exam is when I decided to participate in a sprint triathlon next May – 2018. I had no idea what is required to train for a triathlon. I initially thought I would have to sign up for working out several hours a day. But what I learned by getting expert coaching with my triathlon prep – that it was initially only a half hour a day in some very focused techniques that would help me gradually get ready for the triathlon in ten months. My efforts are now targeted specifically for achieving my unique goal.
This is the same thing that happens for Cheetah students. It is fairly universal, most people love to learn. Think about how much fun it is when you have a question, and you are able, through your own efforts, to succeed in finding the answer on google. You feel good about having success with your own efforts. This at it’s very fundamental level is considered “learning.”
Satisfying emerging curiosity on a topic by researching an initial question on google is the the first level of learning – Awareness. But to truly achieve mastery on any topic – you have to move through four levels of learning – shown in the image below. 
Just like my triathlon pursuit, there are more efficient ways of learning that can create significantly better results, that actually require less effort. At Cheetah Learning we create our curriculum to focus our students on effective, focused effort to have the most impact in the least amount of time. We have found through extensive research, this helps people quickly achieve a level of mastery in the new skills they wish to achieve.
There is an interesting phenomena that happens within a Cheetah Learning PMP programs online – the less teaching we do, the more learning our students get to enjoy. It is for this reason we prefer to see ourselves as coaches rather than teachers. Coaches are more guides on the stage than sages on the stage.
This differentiation between teaching and coaching is critically important when preparing to pass the PMP exam. Having a seasoned coach guiding you through the most efficient way to pass the PMP exam means for many people the difference between easily and comfortably passing the PMP exam vs. struggling and not achieving desired results from self-directed PMP study efforts. Passing the PMP exam is a significant personal career goal. Just like completing a sprint triathlon is a significant personal fitness goal. The more important the goal, the more important it is you get effective coaching to better assure your chances of success. Register for Cheetah Learning’s PMP exam prep online today.
“The first thing my boss said when I told him I was interested in getting my PMP certification was that if I was going to do it, he’d heard Cheetah Learning was the best.”