Online PMP Course Review: 35 Contact Hours — PM PrepCast vs GreyCampus

Already updated/will be updated for PMP Exam in 2023.

One of the fastest and most convenient way to get the PMI required 35 Contact Hours for PMP Certification nowadays is to take an online courses.

Though the term “contact hours” may suggest “direct contact within a classroom with the instructor”, PMI does in fact allow PMP aspirants to obtain all the 35 contact hours through online means as PMI has endorsed a number of online training organizations with the designation of “PMI Authorized Training Partner (R.E.P.)”. Online courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partner are considered “pre-approved” by PMI to fulfil the requirements of the education for the PMP Certification (For your reference: I have first hand audit experience with PMI and I could pass my audit successfully by presenting a copy of the certificate issued by a PMI Authorized Training Partner — no questions asked from PMI.)

During my exam preparation, I have searched the internet for almost 2 months with a view to finding the best and most cost-effective online course. It was very time consuming as there are tons of online courses available with price tag ranging from US$35* to over US$1000.

The search turns out to be fruitful as I can pass my audit as well as exam in first try with 4 “proficient” ratings. The followings come out top of my ultimate research for the best online course:

• PM PrepCast™ by OSP International LLC (a PMI Authorized Training Partner)
• PMP Online Course by GreyCampus (a PMI Authorized Training Partner)

Below is my analysis of these two online courses and their comparisons. I have first hand experience using them. I confess that I was so nervous at that time that I tended to over-study for the exam.

It is hoped that the “lessons learned” for my “online PMP course selection project” can benefit fellow Aspirants!

* It was later found out that the PMP online course retailing for US$35 did NOT include the 35 Contact Hour certificate, one will have to pay an additional sum of money to get the required certificate.

What is PM PrepCast™?

PM PrepCast™ has been updated to be aligned with the new PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition beginning 26 March 2018.

The salient feature of PM PrepCast™ is that it a “downloadable” video course — student of PM PrepCast™ can download all the video files onto their mobile phones/computers to watch and learn the lessons anywhere without the need of internet connection. This is so far the only downloadable exam prep course available on the market. So far close to 40,000 students have chosen PM PrepCast™ as their study companion.

Pros

• [unique] downloadable, downloadable, downloadable
• the instructor, Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, CSM, is a seasoned exam trainer
• lessons are broken down into segments of 10 – 30 minutes, allowing students to make the best use of their ‘idle’ time
• 35 Contact Hours of project management education upon passing the Final Exam with only 25 questions
• no time limit for viewing the lessons can keep and re-watch the downloaded lecture videos forever (however, once the PM PrepCast™ has been updated to a new PMP Exam version, the access to the download area will cease)
• 90 days no-question full refund

Cons

• no full-length mock exams included (an extra exam simulator will need to be purchased separately)
• it takes over 50 hours to watch all the lesson videos
• the powerpoint slides used within the lessons are NOT included, students will need to write their own study notes from scratches during the lessons
• students will need to track their progress during the lessons manually
• requires a lot of discipline on the student

Read my first-hand review of PM PrepCast™ here

What is GreyCampus Online PMP Course?

GreyCampus PMP Online Self Learning Course has been updated to be aligned with the latest PMP Exam and PMBOK® Guide (6th edition) to prepare Aspirants for the updated PMP Exam after March 2018!

GreyCampus is one of the leading global online and classroom training institutes featuring certification preparation courses in PMP, PMI-ACP®, ITIL®, PRINCE2® and other professional certifications. Up till now, there are over 30,000 students around the world have attended training courses by GreyCampus with a documented passing rate of over 97%. GreyCampus is a PMI Authorized Training Partner.

Pros

• [unique] Likely the longest access period for the online course for 1 year — most other online courses offer 3-month or 6-month access period, to be extended with additional payment
• [unique] powerpoint files used in the video lectures can be downloaded so that students can develop their own study notes based on the powerpoint files
• 4 full-length mock exams included
• 35 Contact Hours of project management education upon completion of the course
• track your progress on the online course and chapter-end quizzes automatically with dashboard report so that students will be able to view their performance and progress for their exam prep study
• [unique] new online ITTO games to help aspirants to remember the ITTOs for all the project management processes
• [unique] sample project management forms (e.g. stakeholder register, WBS dictionary, change request form, etc.) mentioned in the PMBOK® Guide to help newbies to the PMBOK® Guide standards to understand the terminologies and vehicles for the PMP Exam
• full refund within 3 days of purchase

Cons

• course videos are not downloadable, students using the mobile phones for viewing will need to stay in an area with WIFI access (3g/4g wireless data connection is NOT recommended as the data charge would be enormous!)

Read my first-hand review of GreyCampus online PMP course here

Overview of Comparison between PM PrepCast™ vs GreyCampus Online Courses

* Please refer to the links here for the most updated discounts coupon codes for the PM PrepCast™ and GreyCampus online course.
# While students can keep the downloaded course lecture files forever, the access period to the download area for PM PrepCast™ will cease once the PM PrepCast™ has been updated to a new exam edition.

Conclusion:

I have personally gone through the PM PrepCast™ and GreyCampus online courses and found them to be very helpful to Aspirants in their preparation for the exam. (In fact, either one can help Aspirants to be well prepared for the exam.)

Which PMP online course for your PMP Exam prep? According to my experience:

• if you would like to view the online course on your mobile devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad, Android) everywhere, PM PrepCast™ is your best choice (get the latest PM PrepCast™ discount here);
• if you are a bit tight on budget and would like the online course to include almost everything for your exam study (e.g. e-Flashcard, mock exams, a dashboard for tracking your progress), the GreyCampus online course would be a better choice (get the latest GreyCampus online PMP course discount here).

If you are still not so sure about which one to choose for your online exam preparation, you are encouraged to read my first-hand review of these two online courses (beware they are pretty long with up to 2400 words):

my detailed first-hand PM PrepCast™ review

my detailed first-hand GreyCampus online PMP course review

Wish you PMP success!