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PMP® Exam Prep Mastery with Dr. Charlene Parks
Fall 2026 Cohort
Cohort Dates: October 23–December 13, 2026
Duration: 8 Weeks
Schedule
- Orientation: Friday, October 23, 7:00–8:00 PM ET
- Live Sessions: Saturdays and Sundays, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM ET
- Class Dates: October 24–December 13, 2026
Format: Live online via Zoom
Cohort Size: Limited to 10 participants
Course Overview
This instructor-led PMP® exam-preparation program is aligned with PMI’s current PMP® Examination Content Outline and designed to strengthen exam readiness, practical decision-making, and long-term career growth.
The cohort is led personally by Dr. Charlene Parks, a dual-doctorate Fortune 500 transformation executive with more than 15 years of leadership experience and over $120 million in enterprise implementation oversight.
Your Enrollment Includes
- 35 contact hours
- 16 live, interactive learning sessions
- Two private 1:1 coaching sessions
- Baseline diagnostic assessment
- Targeted practice drills and assessments
- Midpoint readiness checkpoint
- Final go/no-go diagnostic
- Access to more than 1,000 practice questions
This high-touch cohort provides personalized instruction, structured accountability, and targeted support throughout your PMP® exam-preparation journey.
- 1Welcome to PMP® Exam Prep Mastery — March 2026 Founders Cohort.
Welcome to PMP® Exam Prep Mastery — March 2026 Founders Cohort
This orientation establishes the expectations, structure, and preparation strategy that will guide your PMP® certification journey. You will gain clarity on the exam framework, study cadence, application process, and the performance standard required to pass on your first attempt.
Please complete the Founders Cohort Intake Assessment prior to our first live session:
https://form.typeform.com/to/ZRAS3a7a
- 2Session 1: PMP Exam Overview & PMI Mindset
This session introduces the PMP® exam structure, domains, and PMI’s scenario-based testing philosophy. Learners gain clarity on how the exam is designed and how to think like PMI when answering questions.
- 3Overview & Mindset Quiz
- 4Session 2: Strategic Alignment, Benefits, Culture, Governance & Compliance
Session 2 completes Lesson 1 by covering the Business Environment concepts that shape every project decision — strategic alignment, benefits realization, organizational culture, project governance, and compliance. You'll learn why the Business Environment domain is the lens for the entire exam, not just 8% of it. Arrive ready to work through scenarios involving governance authority, compliance obligations, and organizational change.
- 5Business Environment: Strategy, Benefits, Governance & Compliance Quiz
- 6Session 3: Team Formation & Development
March 10, 2026 @7PM | Join Zoom Session: Zoom
Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 Passcode: 958630
Team Formation, Leadership & Performance
Lesson 2B | People Domain (42% of PMP® Exam)
ECO Tasks Covered: 1.4 · 1.11 · 2.16
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:
• Explain how team assembly differs in predictive vs. adaptive environments
• Apply Tuckman's five stages and identify the correct PM behavior at each stage
• Create and use a team charter as a living working agreement
• Distinguish between self-organizing teams and servant leadership — and what they are not
• Identify which motivation theory applies to a given exam scenario
• Select the appropriate conflict resolution mode for a given situation
• Match leadership style to team experience and situation
• Address the unique challenges of virtual and distributed team management
• Apply the assess → address → escalate sequence for team performance issues
- 7Team Quiz
- 8Session 4: Stakeholder Engagement & Communication
March 12, 2026 @7PM | Join Zoom Session: Zoom
Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 Passcode: 958630
Stakeholder Identification & Engagement
Lesson 2A | People Domain | Stakeholders span all three ECO domains
ECO Tasks Covered: 1.9 · 2.2 · 2.4
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:
• Apply the full PMI definition of a stakeholder — including the 'perceive themselves affected' dimension
• Identify stakeholders continuously across all project phases, not just at initiation
• Use the Power/Interest Grid to classify stakeholders and name the correct engagement strategy for each quadrant
• Build and maintain a stakeholder register with both profile and assessment information
• Apply the RACI chart correctly — including the single-A rule and the C vs. I distinction
• Map current vs. desired stakeholder engagement using the SEAM
• Calculate communication channels using the n(n-1)/2 formula
• Select the appropriate communication method (Interactive, Push, Pull) for a given scenario
• Distinguish between the stakeholder engagement plan and the communications management plan
- 9Stakeholder Quiz
- 10Session 5: Plan the Project — Integration, Scope & Schedule
March 17, 2026 @7PM | Join Zoom Session: Zoom
Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 Passcode: 958630
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:
- Distinguish between the project management plan and project documents — and explain why both matter
- Explain how scope planning differs fundamentally between predictive and adaptive approaches
- Use elicitation techniques to gather and prioritize requirements
- Build a WBS to define and decompose project scope in predictive environments
- Apply MoSCoW analysis and backlog management to prioritize scope in adaptive environments
- Define rolling wave planning and explain when it is used
- Sequence activities and identify dependencies using the precedence diagramming method
- Calculate the critical path and explain what float means for schedule flexibility
- Apply schedule compression techniques (fast-tracking, crashing) and state their trade-offs
- Compare predictive scheduling (Gantt/CPM) with adaptive scheduling (story points, velocity, sprint planning)
- 11Integration & Scope Quiz
- 12Session 6: Plan the Project — Resources, Budget, Risk & Quality
March 19, 2026 @7PM | Join Zoom Session: Zoom
Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 Passcode: 958630
Who Does the Work, How Much Will It Cost,
What Could Go Wrong, and How Good Is Good Enough?Session 6 completes your project management plan. Resources, budget, risk, and quality — the four subsidiary plans that turn scope and schedule into a fully integrated plan.
Click a domain to previewResourcesBudgetRiskQualityProcurementResource Planning- Resource management plan — what's needed, how it's acquired, how it's managed
- Predictive: PM assigns tasks. Adaptive: team pulls from the backlog
- Resource leveling vs. smoothing — only leveling can change the end date
- RACI: exactly ONE Accountable per activity; Consulted ≠ Informed
- T-shaped people reduce single points of failure in agile teams
Exam signalIf a PM is "assigning stories" in an agile context — that's a problem. Teams pull from the backlog. A stakeholder who "feels surprised" by decisions is marked I when they should be C.Where Session 6 sits in the planning arcS1–4 Foundations›S5 Scope + Schedule›S6 Resources, Budget, Risk, Quality ← you are here›S7 Integration›S9 Earned ValueBefore Tuesday — high priority- Complete the Planning Practice Set cold (45 min) at pmptrainingacademy.com/practice-planning-the-project/
- Draw the budget pyramid from memory: Activity → Work Package → Cost Baseline (with contingency) → BAC (add management reserve)
- Label which reserve the PM controls vs. the sponsor — this diagram feeds directly into Earned Value in Session 9
- 13Resources, Budget, Risk & Quality Quiz
- 14Session 7: Integrate the Plan — Then Lead the People
PMP Training Academy — Week 4 · Session 1
March 24, 2026 @7PM | Join Zoom Session: Zoom
Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 Passcode: 958630
Integrate the Plan — Then Lead the People
Now that planning is complete, we shift from artifacts to people.
Hour 1 — 7:00–8:00 PM — Integrate Plans (Lesson 3H)
- Where we are in the course arc — Lesson 3 is complete after tonight
- Why all subsidiary plans must integrate — your resource plan drives costs, costs become the baseline, risk shapes reserves
- Two things called “change management” — Integrated Change Control (baselines) vs. Organizational Change Management (people through transitions) — never confuse these on the exam
- Integrated change control end-to-end: change identified → change request → CCB review → approved/rejected → baselines updated
- No change to a baseline without a formal approved change request — even if the sponsor asks verbally
- Managing complexity: decouple, simulate, iterate
- Poll: Which of four PM actions requires a formal change request?
Exam signal If a question shows a PM adjusting the schedule baseline at the sponsor’s request without a change request — that is the problem, not the solution. All baseline changes require formal change control.— Break 8:00–8:10 — Reflection: Think of a leader who adapted their style to a difficult situation. What did they do differently? —
Hour 2 — 8:10–9:00 PM — Lead the Project Team (Lesson 4A, 4B, 4C)
- Leadership styles: Servant (remove blockers, enable the team — PMI default for agile), Situational (adapt to team maturity), Transformational (inspire vision)
- Emotional intelligence — four components: self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skill
- Leading vs. managing — People domain answers lean toward leading behaviors (listening, coaching, empowering)
- Psychological safety: teams that feel safe surface problems early — the PM creates this through transparency and consistent follow-through
- Team charter and ground rules — how the team formalizes how they work together
- Empowerment: bounded authority to the people closest to the work — does not mean no oversight
- Scenario: Ang Fen and a disengaged team member — what does the PM do first?
Exam signal A PM who “assigns the highest-priority story to the senior developer” is describing the problem in an agile context — the team pulls work, the PM does not assign it. A PM who “loses their temper when challenged” is showing low self-regulation — always wrong on the exam.Before the Next Session
HIGH PRIORITY
- Complete the People Domain Practice Set in the LMS — do it cold, 45 minutes
- Review the Leas conflict escalation model in your Study Guide — you will need it Session 8
MEDIUM PRIORITY
- Glossary: Servant Leadership · Situational Leadership · Psychological Safety · Team Charter · Integrated Change Control · Organizational Change Management · Empowerment · Emotional Intelligence
- Preview L4D (Support Team Performance) and L4G (Manage Conflict) in your Study Guide
- 15Session 7 Quiz
- 16Session 8: Performance Support, Coaching & Conflict Depth
March 26, 2026 @7PM | Join Zoom Session: Zoom
Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 Passcode: 958630
- 17Session 8 Quiz
- 27Session 13 - Closing the Project: Transition, Knowledge Transfer & Benefits Realization
Session 13 - Closing the Project: Transition, Knowledge Transfer & Benefits Realization
Live session via Zoom · Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 · Passcode: 958630
Questions between sessions: support@pmptrainingacademy.comThis is the last content lesson of the course. We cover everything PMI expects you to know about closing a project or phase: the closure types, the 8-step closure checklist, benefits realization and the benefits owner, and knowledge transfer, including lessons learned. We also apply each concept to the Shawpe Lifestyle Centre (SLC) project and work three exam-style practice questions.
- 28Session 13 Quiz
- 29Session 14: Exam Strategy: How to Think, Eliminate & Select the Best Answer
Exam Strategy: How to Think, Eliminate & Select the Best Answer
Live session via Zoom · Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 · Passcode: 958630
Questions between sessions: support@pmptrainingacademy.comThis session is pure exam strategy. No new course content — seven weeks of material are behind us. Today we focus on how to take this exam: how PMI constructs questions, how to deconstruct any scenario and isolate the right answer, which traps appear most frequently, and how to manage your time across 180 questions in 230 minutes. We close with two timed practice questions and a full debrief on your application status and next steps.
- 30Session 15: Full Scenario Simulation & Exam Execution Strategy
Session 15: Full Scenario Simulation & Exam Execution Strategy
Live session via Zoom · Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 · Passcode: 958630
Questions between sessions: support@pmptrainingacademy.com - 31Session 16: Final Q&A, Weak Area Coaching & Exam Readiness Check
Session 16: Final Q&A, Weak Area Coaching & Exam Readiness Check
Live session via Zoom · Meeting ID: 875 6602 9896 · Passcode: 958630
Questions between sessions: support@pmptrainingacademy.com


