I’ve been lurking in this sub for so long, reading a lot of your posts. I’m glad to announce I finally passed the AWS MLS certification last week with a 890, got my results around 5 hours after the exam.
My primary source to study for the exam was the AWS MLS Study Guide (available in O’Reilly), the AWS ML services docs and the Udemy course by Frank Kane and Stephane Maarek.
I took the section based practice exams in Tutorials Dojo and the quizzes in AWS exam preparedness course in SkillBuilder. I wasn’t really confident on the day before the exam ( I got several questions wrong in the practice tests) but somehow things went well.
For the ones planning to take up the cert, I strongly recommend going through practice exams in TD. The questions there were similar to the ones in the exam in terms of difficulty and relevance.
Some topics to study in detail: Kinesis Firehose vs Data Streams, AWS Glue, SageMaker built-in algorithms, metrics(Recall, Precision, RSME, AUC etc), A/B Deployment, NLP, RCF, SageMaker Debugger etc.
It took me about a month to study for the exam. I’ve worked with AWS services for around 6 months and have an academic background in ML, the only domain entirely new to me was the data engineering part and that’s what I spent most time studying for.
I was wondering how much of an overlap there is (data engineering) with the data engineer associate cert? I’m thinking of taking it up next, would help to know from someone who has an idea.
Thanks for reading and good luck!!

I have to take an exam and pass for this job I'm trying to get. If I pass they'll hire me. St. Cajetan helps the unemployed. St. Joseph helps with workers and test takers. Anyone with experience or suggestions that may help? Thank you

verse 1:
keep the mind flow like rain fall in Big Bog,
how i eat words is none your business, sick smog
spiral out like a Stereolab cover, the emperor hovers,
viral as smog from two bars ago, remember her color
tomato for ketchup, making dots and loops on his signature,
cash checks to catch up, taking shots to shoot for no ligature
marks on the wrists like Shinola glitter, ain’t fish scale,
singing that lovely figaro, hit her once, forget Ishmael
hail from the ash of the smog, no coughs for the sickness,
exhale the cash from Prague where i sought my richness
fitness for the hogs, seek to trash my name, send em running,
slick is the way i clog up their cache, could say i’m stuntin’
evil like knievel, flashy as his jumpsuit,
weasel out illegal lassies, he’ll stump soon
dump deliveries down, done decent dros,
dojo done dime a dozen, diesel dropped in dirty doses
hook:
dump that diesel in the tank,
pump the easel full of dank
make the word art pop like a magazine collage,
take a third off the track, save for the montage
jump over the needle covered in swank,
bump the eagle off his flank,
my words strike you like a verbal barrage,
making your peace with a good mirage
verse 2:
cloaked the dagger, i croaked your jagger,
then i toked the shwagger, cuz i smoked the blabber
choked the tagger, pressed his cannon to the wall,
blew a couple puffs out before he dropped the ball
lost his marbles while he struggled and gargled,
sloshed like the marshall, but he smuggled the cuadro
new coke, all interest lost, don’t tell the bank,
you broke, simplest cost, go to hell, thanks
shit sewed so simply, set sale so small,
tricked and towed, taught to tell tenacious tales tall
short attention spans, like Gen Alpha on 60 Seconds,
export pension grands to Valhalla, no shifty weapons
Odin puts rings on all the bitches’ fingers, infinite,
show them wings on all his riches, ringers intimate
wings like Hermes, don’t shoot the messenger,
don’t give him a Red Bull, remember the pensioner
hook:
verse 3:
i’ll paint your body with blood from your exit wounds,
faint for a John Doe from the hood, doc says it’s doomed
rained like a monsoon, Big Bog came back full force,
he trained the storms to hit hard, named them Bull Horse
hull of the ship cracked, sink deeper than your love life,
skull and ribs cracked by bones of leaders of strife
the structure more rigid than the beat, meat under heat,
puncture with the thermo probe, no repeat defeat
pleated Homme jacket, soaked in rain water,
heated in the placket, smoked the main talker
greeted thirty maggots, doped brain not stronger,
cheated curvy black chicks, revoked a million dollars
treat you like a junky at Thanksgiving, cold turkey,
i’ll leave you shook worse than methadone, lone journey
verses so cold, gotta give you the OJ, no gloves,
turkey noodle soup out of stock, okay, low doves
bridge:
hey blud, we need to liquidate our assets
no duds, the sweeper intimidate the brassets
lost my head, cost my friend, all alone,
dropped the bread, tossed the lead, call Ramone
i think it’s safe to say the story’s gone off the rail,
like the tall tale from bar thirty four, soft and frail
always wear a ski mask when the ugly mug rob the bank,
reclaim your assets, unless you wanna walk the plank
verse 4:
pirate my music, cuz i don’t give a fuck about my label,
irate, i’m too sick, i won’t live to duck another cable
tables turned like a lazy susan Marantz, food for thought,
cradle learned how to make my gats, screwed a lot
i’ll facetime ya momma, funeral’s closed casket,
no base line for commas, numeral’s composed tax cuts
can’t afford to bury ya, leave ya to the elements,
absurd to carry a beaver for no emphasis
no emphasis on your life, less worth than a common seven inch,
no nemesis is less than this, you’re nobody, don’t question this
the doctor said i’d die lit if i kept the spliff tucked ‘tween my lips,
hit the cherry in the pit til i’m fit to spit a crit, clean my rips
you puff the blunt like a one hit wonder, call you Afroman,
take me out cuz i swiped the lean back, call it my bad day, agro clan
plan to take my methods, i’ll make sure you’re threw aside,
cuz when i’m through with you, you’ll contemplate suicide

So I used the shitpost flair, but I really had this dream and it was weird. Would love your opinions on this. (It's Sunday where I'm posting from)
So I was supposed to go this place I went with an old couple, myself and one woman and one man. We saw an advertisement of an island, and decided to go there. There we saw that there's some sort of a very big UFO device, which is huge and in a ball shape but it is made as if you've taken a lot of strings and wrapped it around each other. We saw that and got curious to know more about the facility. There were some folks who saw us witness and when we said "Wait what that's a UFO, they said no one is supposed to know about it. So they projected a fake UFO kind of like seen in movies, it was shorter, but looked more like a stereotypical UFO We went back and for some reason we had this 80s TV and that old man who was with me was watching it. He saw the island's advert there were majestic creatures special to that island. And suddenly there was the UFO news, I said it's fake it's fake. Anyway we decided to go there after entering through the desert and forest, We were taken to a school building with stairs and strated by going upstairs in a queue and then putting our bags in locker. After going there was a very tall woman who was the head of the facility, let's say her name is 'Jen' who was taking us somewhere, but quickly we found out that the entire place is some sort of research facility - people were tortured, animals were tortured and mutants were created. We got very scared, and got hold off some laser guns. (that ran on battery, they didn't had enough power). So we took Jen and saw that in the main area of facility - kids and their parents are playing a sport event and we were not allowed to go in there. It was like a simulation, they were too deep in it to see what's going on. We saw one zombie like creature crawling I used the gun to hit him a few times and he died. It felt good. I put the gun to jen and moved ahead. It was a white alley, and we could see the parents and kids on the other side of the door. The left side of the alley was the research facility, it was mostly empty but big. She told me that they change the race by making them go through race transformation, but the problem is that it's so difficult that not many people survive that. We tried to burn some part of her with the gun and she kept begging that it doesn't have enough laser battery. I thought it was logical so I stopped. We took another stair and went up to see that there are small dirty rooms with no light and 4 chains in it. That was the place for experiment. We saw that some rooms were open, in one of the rooms there was a dead guy, tangled in the chains and 20 ft up in the air. It looked very scary and eerie. By that time we had a ghost following us too. (upon Jens request) But we still put her in the room and plugged the transform race button but we forgot to put on the chain because we were so worried and hurrdily closed the iron door. She seemed unfazed and was laughing. I thought she would come back with more superhuman powers and we'll die. Then we put her in and started looking for exits, the woman next to me said that she has to meet someone in the school and I said are you crazy focus on the mission to get out. Then the spirit started chasing us and we ended up near a river which was just next to the stairs that we took to go to the main experiment room. We could still see that dead guy chained up and dead, and Jens room was closed. We had our guns with us and we could sense the ghost. We saw in our mind or dream that it was a woman's ghost, with long hair and shabby clothes. She must be one of the subjects of the experiment here who died and then turned into a ghost. She tried to capture us in the water and I was convinced that I am dead now. Then suddenly we heard that old man with me started playing live TV on mobile and I understood immediately what was happening. He blew the cover of the facility online and military was about to come The TV still looked like it's from the 1980s Suddenly, the ghost disappeared and I could hear on love TV that everyone is shocked about the discovery of strange creatures and experiments Then we saw hordes of police and other people coming in, tourists coming in as well. We felt a sense of relief. We also saw some Indian women in saree who came to do prayer (puja) in the river. All while Jen's room was locked up and the other room with the dead guy was open. Then the river turned into beer, as soon as the beer ad was coming on TV. We stayed inside the river bank for sometime We went back, got rescued, but I still had my bag in the locker. So I went back again, and asked the old woman with me where is it, somehow she knew. I found it and then we were going back through the forest on a motor boat and we saw a UFO and everyone in the news said "UFO sighting" but I was sure it wasn't a real one. Then we all came back home to tell the tale. At the end, like it happens in movie credits, there was a file given to me and I wrote "Subject Name: My Name" Used in: Room 880, Room 001 880 was the initial room they kept me and 001 was the superhuman transformation one.

I took my exam today at home and when I am nervous, my ability to cognitively function is severely impaired- meaning words on the screen…. I can read them 10 times and they still won’t be digested. I guess I got too close to the computer screen to try and read the questions and the chat box popped up and said they need to see my whole face. I spoke out loud and exclaimed “I just need to finish” because I was in my last part and stresssssing.
I sincerely think if they’re going to have a chat box pop up while you’re in the middle of a test they should pause your timer.
My main question: Is it possible that my exam will be tossed because I spoke out loud ? I know I won’t get results for 48 hours and I’m just spiraling in panic mode.
I am a project manager in my regular day-to-day role and a people manager, and I’ve been managing projects for a long time. I’m just finally getting to the point of taking the test because I’m not a good taker. So now I’m worried that I won’t get my PMP because I freaked out. 😬😬😬😬

Hi Community, I need ya help to troubleshoot!
I have a desktop with an i9-13900K with RTX 3090, DDR4 3600MT/S CL18 ram. Motherboard is Gigabyte Z690 UD AX DDR4 with the latest BIOS, PSU is Corsair RM1000X.
The problem is when I exit BOINC Manager (project stops with exit) with GPUGRID running, I get following error message under event viewer:
The description for Event ID 0 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\Video3
Error occurred on GPUID: 100
The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table
Other than the above message, nothing abnormal happens to the computer, no sudden black screen, and I did not see this error message with other applications.
CPU's temperature is around 50C & GPU's core temperature is around 67C, memory 84C and hot spot 78C, looks normal.
The process responsible for utilizing the GPU is acemd.exe under "C:\ProgramData\BOINC\slots\2\bin" directory, and application name under BOINC manager is called ACEMD 3: molecular dynamics simulations for GPUs 2.27 (cuda1121)
Things I tried to troubleshoot:

• Set BIOS settings to default and limit power to 253W and set IccMax to 400A.
• Set RTX 3090's power limit and frequency to default.
• Remove GPU driver using DDU and clean install the driver.
• Turn off XMP.
• Use OCCT's GPU stress test to test stability
• Test CPU's stability using prime95 small fft.
• Install BOINC 8.0.0.

After I tried all those things, nothing has changed, still when I exit BOINC when GPU is utilized, same error message appears.
Please give some suggestions, thanks!

Hello everyone, I'm not a student yet, but I'm preparing myself to start an aggressive WGU path toward an accounting degree. Does anyone have experience using CLEP tests at their local community college, and how did that stack up against simply taking the classes as fast as possible with WGU? Is it fairly easy to take their final exam (or whatever they call it at WGU)? I'm looking for which is cheaper and/or faster for the relevant basic classes. Thank you in advance.

Throwaway account. Genuinely, this is my sibling's situation, not mine. Much of the 'story' of this is what the sibling related to me. Sibling has had financial issues in the past. This may belong in FinancialAdvice, but I sense things may beyond money fixing...
Sibling is in Alabama, I am in Georgia.
Sibling is self employed in a profession that involves taking many direct payments, and uses Square to accept those payments. Sibling purchased a home in August of last year. They claim that they [attempted] to use Square to make the mortgage payments, however apparently the mortgage company never actually accepted them. Sibling and their spouse apparently ignored many letters before realizing the situation and were months past due. Between them and the mortgage company, it was finally realized the failure to make/accept via Square, so Sibling began the process of getting the money back from Square and succeeded.
Sibling apparently also banks with a non-mainstream online-only bank, so then getting the funds from Square to that bank was a process. The mortgage company apparently told Sibling that they HAD to overnight a cashiers at the time she was finally in possession of the funds. They get online bank to increase withdrawal/ATM limits, and over the course of several days they get the cash in hand... at this point I'm just going to round the amount to 15 thousand dollars.
Sibling takes cash to local, mainstream brick-and-mortar bank they have a car note with and get a cashiers check, takes that to FedEx, and send check and paperwork as instructed.
It takes two weeks for the mortgage company to come back and say "Got your FedEx envelop - and the paperwork - but no check." Commence cashiers check cancellation process... money is locked up for 90 days according to brick-and-mortar bank.
1-2 weeks later, the foreclosure notice is in the newspaper and they're getting notice of foreclosure. (Don't ask me what notices they've gotten or ignored, I'm aware these things don't happen overnight.) I would have thought all this is was a scam if I didn't find the notice in the newspaper myself.
Courthouse steps sale is in 10 days.
I am liquid enough to help my sibling - I've known about the situation for 48 hours at this point. After the initial story from my sibling, my spouse and I slept on the situation and decided that if there was something we could do, we should do it...
I asked sibling "If a wire or ACH could happen today, would it solve this problem." They waited until the end of the day to call/text me back (they were working, maybe I didn't imply strongly enough that I was willing to make a payment). That was Friday. Little/no contact since then from sibling.
So, I have two areas of questions:

1. What do you think the options for my siblings actually are at this point? The mortgage company has referred the whole thing to Brock and Scott for the foreclosure, and with them involved, it's not clear to me whether a payment is possible at this point, who it would be to, a deadline, etc... (Not that I'm trying to get directly involved). Apparently bankruptcy is an option to stop foreclosure? If the story is true, perhaps they could even exit bankruptcy before it's complete?
   
2. If I do help my sibling, are there logical safeguards I should put in place? Some form of written agreement? Do you have recommendations on how to go about this? I want to verify the status of the cashiers check cancellation and that that money IS coming back, and if possible or logical draw up an actual contract with my sibling about this (if that's a logical thing to do?)
   

I greatly appreciate any input you may have. (including if it is just a statement of direct advice to my sibling of 'Go get an attorney.')
I have redacted some known details or minutiae for the sake of length of this post. Happy to fill in any gaps I have knowledge of.

You guys know what an alpine coaster is? They are like a small roller coaster you find in the mountains. They are also called summer toboggans or mountain coasters and I think there’s some long German compound word they are called in parts of Europe. They are like a roller coaster, but with much smaller one or two person sleds you just sit on instead of multi-person cars you ride in, and instead of being built with like a scaffolding or a framework the tracks are just on the ground, using the elevation of the mountain. Basically it’s a coaster track on the side of a mountain where you ride a sled down.
They are pretty fun. Or at least I used to think so. They are more “personal” than roller coasters and although you get nowhere near the speed on them that you do on a good traditional roller coaster and they can’t do corkscrews or loops or anything like that the openness and simplicity of the ride gives an impression of a much greater speed. You’re just sitting there with nothing but a little plastic sled and the track between you and the ground as it goes zooming by. It’s like the difference between how fast a go-cart feels compared to how fast a sports car feels. You know the sports car goes faster but the open, simpleness of a go-cart feels a different kind of fast. There’s plenty of POV Youtube videos if you want to get the basic idea of what they are.
I used to love alpine coasters. Used to.
My family used to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and up and down the Smokey Mountains for vacations when I was a kid and they are common in that area and I’d always rode them every chance I got.
But as with so many things after I grew up and went to college they just became part of my childhood that slipped away. They aren’t exactly common once you get away from the mountains.
Until one cool spring afternoon in 2004. I was in my final year at college and I was driving back to campus in Tennessee after a short visit to my folks in North Carolina. It was only like a 4 or 5 hour drive via the most efficient route and I had no need to be back at campus early so instead of taking the freeway all the way I got off and took part of my trip through the mountains. The scenery was nicer and I admit I liked pushing my Camaro just a little faster than I should through the twisty mountain roads.
Just after lunchtime happened upon one of those little by-the-highway tourist towns deep somewhere in the Smoky Mountains near the Carolina/Tennessee border. Nothing fancy, a gas station/truck stop, a diner, a couple of places selling tourist merch nestled deep in the mountains. I pulled into the gas station. My tank was getting low and I needed to stretch my legs, maybe grab something to eat. It was still early and I only had another couple of hours. I could kill an hour or so and still make it back to campus at a decent hour.
I pulled into the gas station and was filling my tank when I happened to glance across the road and… well I’ll be damned. There it was. “The Blue Ridge Alpine Coaster.” Nestled on the side of the mountain was a building, a mockup of a red barn, where a single railed track that led up into the mountains, where it soon got lost in the greenery. Wooden hand painted standees of cartoon character bears dressed in stereotypical “Hillbilly” getup stood around, some of them holding signs showing the ride hours and ticket costs and other info. I had to admit, as silly as it was, it made me smile.I finished pumping my gas and, well, nostalgia is a helluva thing. I decided then and there I could waste a little time riding an Alpine Coaster again after all these years before getting back on the road.
I parked my car in a corner of the truck stop's parking lot, put my phone in the center console, this being the days before smart phones when people didn’t keep their phones with them 24/7 and I didn’t want my old Nokia brick phone to fall out during the ride, locked my car and walked across the mountain highway to the Alpine Coaster building.
Getting closer, the place was less inviting. The half hearted attempt at a whimsical faux-Americana kitsch was far less effective when it brushed up against the actual decaying, run down wooden building. Hell calling it a building was generous. It was a wood frame holding up a long roof that covered the area where you got on the sleds. The wood boards creaked under my footsteps.
The only real enclosed structure was a shack that held, what I assumed, was a ticket booth. A door on the side had both a single occupancy bathroom with an out of order sign on it. An old Pepsi machine buzzed and glowed next to it.
Still the place looked alive. Ahead of me a bored looking attendant was helping a mother and her young son into one of the sleds while in a bored monotone repeating the safety brief. A few people were waiting in line at the ticket booth. Up in the mountains the playful shouts of people on the ride echoed down. Fond memories of my own childhood rides flooded my mind.10 minutes and 15 dollars later I was settling into the hard plastic seat of a bright red sled sat atop a simple aluminum rail.
I couldn’t help but grin as the sled slowly climbed the track up the mountains, making click-clack ratcheting sounds that hit my nostalgia centers hard. I felt good. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of pine.Higher and higher in the mountains we went. I don’t know if this is my mind trying to make sense of it after the fact but when I remember these moments, the last good moments, I sometimes think I remember a very slight, very subtle pit of fear in my stomach. I honestly don’t know if I felt it at the time or not or it’s just how my mind tries to make sense of it looking back at.
But either way mostly I was enjoying myself. I smiled. I was a kid again. I could hear riders in front of me let out that initial yell of terrified glee you get at the first drop of any good ride.
It peaked. I glanced around. I could see for miles, rolling hills and mountains. I the sled tipped over and zoomed down the mountain and I let out the same happy yell I heard from the other passengers.The ride zoomed down the mountain, catching speed. The mountain forest floor zoomed past, only a few feet under me. Trees zoomed past. I gave out a happy whoop as the ride banked hard around a curve and then looped back under itself.Another dip, another curve. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the G-forces pulling me every which way.
There was no one exact single moment where things started to go “wrong.” The ride kept going. And going. At this point the first creeping thought entered my head.
The ride… was still going.
It just started to hit me… this ride was going on for a really long time. I had taken a dozen rides on various coasters of this type before that day and they topped out at about 5 minutes or so, and that was the long ones. Longer than a traditional roller coaster but not that long. This one had been going on for what felt like 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
I looked back over my shoulder and could only see trees, moving too fast to really get a bearing on where I was at in relation to anything.
I wasn't exactly really worried yet. Okay so I had found a particularly long alpine coaster. At the time I wasn’t 100% wasn't sure they didn’t exist or anything like that. I was a little… unnerved but nothing was happening that was impossible. Yet.
I was trying to talk myself back into just enjoying the ride and stop overthinking it, and halfway succeeded, when out of nowhere I suddenly banked hard, the track jutting out almost over a sheer cliffside. I gripped the sled more tightly as I was whipped around. The ride then dipped hard and picked up speed, barreling down the side of the mountain.
I was pushed back against the seat by the force of the drop. Jesus I didn’t remember them being this rough. I was feeling slightly nauseous. And where had this elevation drop come from I wondered? I was still in the foothills and I didn’t remember seeing anything but gentle rolling hills and light drops from looking at the ride’s route earlier. How the ride had managed such a long, steep drop in this area I didn’t know. . For the first time I hoped that the ride would be over soon. I had no idea then how much I would want that same hope to be true so much more as time went on.
With a whiplash motion I was whipped forward and then back as the ride leveled out on flat ground again, but by this point I was going fast, too fast. My neck hurt from the mild whiplash and I felt sour in my throat and for a moment the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up. For the first, but hardly the last time the ride felt unsafe. Alpine Coasters are tame affairs, much slower and gentler than full on roller coasters but this thing was throwing me around like no thrill ride I had ever been on.
I looked around. I mean I wasn’t that deep into the woods. I should have been able to see a glimpse of something; the highway, the gas station, the tourist shops, the Alpine Coaster office, something, anything. But nothing. Just trees.
I forced back some panic for the first time. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The ride zoomed along. I counted to 60. I counted to 60 again. And again. Okay this was getting uncomfortably harder and harder to explain.
Suddenly I noticed that up ahead the track seemed to just end, for one brief, terrible moment I thought the track just ended but I was wrong. Almost without warning the track dipped in an almost vertical drop. I almost screamed as I plummeted for 20, maybe 30 seconds before flattening out again.
By this point the voice in my head that was telling me something was wrong was louder and I could no longer tell myself it was wrong. This ride could not have been this long. I tried to make sense of it, wondering if somehow I had gotten diverted onto some kind of maintenance track or, hell for one brief irrational moment even entertaining the idea that I had wound up on an actual train track somehow. But that was absurd. The rail below me was not a train track, it was still just the simple, aluminum rail of an alpine coaster and there had been no diversions or junctions in the track. I was still on the ride, as insane as that was starting to feel. Had the ride somehow looped? Again after having the thought I immediately dismissed it as crazy. There’s no way I could have missed the ride building where I got on. And what kind of ride loops over and over?
The sled zoomed through the forest, oddly never seeming to lose speed despite the relatively flat grade of the track. I cursed myself for leaving my phone in the car and not wearing a watch. I don’t know exactly how long I had been on the ride at that point but it felt like I had been on the ride for a half hour, maybe more. But time is a funny thing when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in. Could have been more, could have been less, at that point.
My pride finally failed me. I started to scream for help. I screamed out that the ride was broken, to stop it, that I needed help. I did that for about ten minutes or so I think. The ride kept going. Mostly flat, level track with occasional mild dips and turns. But the simple length of the ride grew more and more unnerving and unexplainable.
I thought about just bailing out. But the ride, impossibly, was still not slowing down and chunks of mountain rock and thick tree trunks were all around me. Bailing out without risking smashing into a rock or a tree seemed impossible.
The ride kept going.
Up ahead the forest was clearing out some, I could see the forest brightening, more sunlight making it through the canopy.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
The trees stopped and I had just enough time to take in a flat, open area of rock maybe 40, 50 yards at most before another sheer cliff. The tracks twisted and turned and then shot straight down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. For a moment, a very short moment, I had a clear view for miles and the landscape was, to be blunt, totally impossible. Any possibility that I had just stumbled on some incredibly long ride was blasted out of my head. Barren, volcanic looking rock stretched for miles. Jagged, black rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. I was in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. They don’t look like that.
I had a few moments for the terror of that view to settle in before the cart plunged into another horrifying drop. I gripped the handles of the cheap plastic sled until my knuckles turned white. The drop felt completely vertical, like I was falling at terminal velocity. I screamed. My stomach dropped and turned. I imagined the sled coming away from the track and me just plummeting screaming to my death on the rocks below. But somehow the ride still functioned. I closed my eyes tightly and just waited for whatever was going to happen. Eventually after several what felt like a full minute of steep plunging the track again leveled out, and I opened my eyes to see myself moving at breakneck speed over that black, rocky landscape.
Now that I was moving on a more or less flat horizontal track again I took a few deep breaths. I looked over the edge of the track. Nothing but that black, jagged rock, almost looking like obsidian, zooming past. I had no idea how fast the sled was moving now. Fast. Faster than a gravity powered sled should be moving. And the track was higher off the ground now. Alpine slides usually stick pretty close to the ground, but I was 20 feet or so in the air, the track suspended in the air, a simple metal tube tower like a power pylon every few yards.
Without any immediate threat and the sled moving fast but steadily and level I was able to think about my situation again, for all the good that did me. Ahead of me the track just continued to the horizon, nothing but the same rocky landscape as far as I could see. I craned my neck to look back over my shoulder and looked back behind me and it looked the same. Even the mountains were but distant specs on the horizon behind me.
This was insane. There’s not a giant seemingly endless field of black jagged rock in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. There’s no cliff faces tall and steep enough for a multi-minute vertical drop. And alpine coasters were small affairs, not major engineering projects that span miles with pylons and vertical tracks. It made no sense.
Sadly it wasn’t going to start making any more sense anytime soon.
The ride kept going.
I was on this rocky landscape for several hours. I feel comfortable saying this because I could actually notice the sun getting lower in the sky. And the sled wasn’t slowing down despite the grade of the track being flat. I was getting cramped from sitting and stretched my legs and twisted my back as best I could. Didn’t do much help. My eyes were starting to get irritated from the constant wind in them. Worst of all it was starting to get chilly. I only had on a light jacket, a windbreaker, just something to keep the breeze off me, no real insulation. I was cold, my joints were stiff, I was hungry and thirsty. My eyes watered and my throat was so dry it was sore.
But none of that was as bad as just how little sense this all made. There’s nothing like this place anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. This was like some volcanic rock landscape. The more I thought about it the less sense it made.
The ride kept going.
My mind didn’t even try to process this. Whatever I was experiencing simply couldn’t be possible. I was crazy. I was dreaming. The CIA had kidnapped me and dosed me with some new version of LSD and I was in a straightjacket in a padded room at Area 51.
The sled kept zooming along as the sky turned to dusk. Soon the bridge disappeared from my view and I continued on along the endless, rocky, featureless landscape.
I sat back against the sled, mentally and physically numb. I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was cramping up. I was hungry. I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then had no choice but just wet myself. I cried until I had no more tears left. Then I just sat there.
The ride kept going.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon my throat felt like sandpaper. I dug around in my jacket pockets hoping to find a stick of gum or piece of candy. Nothing. I checked again, having nothing else to do. Under a crumpled store receipt in the inner pocket of my jacket was a single old, forgotten cough drop. I unwrapped it from the paper and popped it in my mouth. Saliva flooded back into my mouth and I was overwhelmed by the methanol and medicine taste. It was something at least, although I knew it would be a brief and temporary fix at best.
I felt my eyes get heavy. It was getting colder. That mountain cold. That deep cold the mountains have even into the early spring when the sun goes down. That kind that just pulls the heat right out of you. I shivered. A terrible, horrible certainty came to me. I would ride until I passed out from exhaustion or the hypothermia set in. My body would tumble off the sled to fall and skip across the rocky ground like a stone skipping across a lake, my bones breaking as I tumbled until my body finally came to a stop. If I was lucky I would be killed and not have to lie for days, broken and bruised, on the ground until death took me.
The ride kept going. The ride kept going. The fucking ride kept going.
“Fuck you” I said to the ride, my voice a horse whisper. I pulled my jacket closer around me, for all the good it did. The cold wind was slowly but surely pulling my body heat away. My shivering got worse, crossing the line from a simple normal shiver into those deep, almost violent full body ones.. I wasn’t anything you could call an experienced outdoorsman, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign.
It was getting dark. There was a full moon at least so I wasn’t totally in the dark.
About then I noticed something. The landscape, what little I could see in the fading light, was changing. It was smoothing out, becoming less rocky and craggy. Up ahead an odd, shimmering light was starting to appear on the ground.
I was over it before I even realized what it was. The tracks were going over a smooth surface.
Water. It was a lake. The odd lights I had seen were the moon, reflected in ripples on the lake.
Within minutes I was out of the view of the land. After the nearly endless rocky landscape and everything else I had seen, it scared me how little I was shocked. I didn’t like how mentally numb I was getting. I leaned over. There was enough moonlight to see the water, 15 or 20 feet below the track. The pylons holding up the track went into the water, the light wasn’t good enough to even make a guess at how far they went down or how deep the water was.I leaned back in the sled. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the constant wind. I closed them. This was a mistake.I jerked awake. I don’t know if I dozed off for a split second or an hour. My weight had shifted and I caught myself as my center of gravity was in danger of sending me off the sled and into the water.
I screamed in anger. A deep primal scream. I hurt so bad. My joints felt like they were full of glass. My limbs were full of pins and needles. I glanced over at the water. For the first time on the very edges of my brain a tiny voice started to speak up, telling me that I could be all over if I just jumped. I shut the voice up, but it scared me still.
I sat there as the ride went on. It felt like hours. Eventually the lake ended in a rocky shore line. The damned ride. There was no safe place to bail out. If the ride slowed down, it was high in the air, if it moved toward the ground it sped up. Sharp rocks, big trees, nothing you could safely bail out into.
I kept having to force myself awake. I kept dozing off. Once I felt myself falling asleep and drove a vicious uppercut into my own nose to stave it off.
I seriously started to think about how much longer I could hang on. The voice came back again. This time I didn’t shut it up. I wasn’t admitting it to myself yet, but I was starting to think about the best way to land that would end it quickly if I needed to.
Something was ahead. The track seemed to dip into the ground. I was too tired, too beaten to even get scared. I was just resigned to whatever happened at this point.
With little warning the track took my sled into a tunnel in the ground. Everything went completely pitch black. After several moments even the dim moonlight was gone.
This was the worst part. The creepy forest, the immense rocky landscape, the eerie lake… those were bad. But this was just nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to hear, nothing for reference or sense of where I was going. The walls of the tunnel felt like they were inches from me in every direction. The air felt thick, like there wasn’t enough oxygen.
With every moment I was in that tunnel I lost a little more hope. After a long, long time I made a decision. When I got out of this tunnel, I would jump. I didn’t care anymore. Hopefully there would be a spot where I could be certain the fall would instantly kill me. I was done. The ride had beaten me. I sat there, waiting for a chance to end this on my terms. That was all I had left.
Eventually up ahead, a tiny speck of light appeared. I gathered my strength, ready to end it. I sat up, getting my legs under me so I could jump as soon as we were clear. The sled burst out of the tunnel. The dim light of the full moon was enough to be momentarily blinding after the pitch black of the tunnel.. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust.
I was back in a normal looking Appalachian forest. Rolling hills, green trees. The air smelled of pine again. I heard an owl hoot off somewhere.
Slowly I lowered myself back into a setting position, in shock. At first I refused to believe it but the ride was slowing down. I held still, making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but no, the cheap plastic sled that had been my world for what felt like an eternity was slowing down.
Up ahead, a structure was visible, peeking out from among the trees in the dim lighting as the sled moved down the track.
It was the Alpine Slide building. The crappy fake red barn where I had boarded this cursed ride so long ago. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure it was either my mind or the cursed ride playing tricks with me. But the building stayed there.
It grew closer and closer. The track leveled completely out. The sled slowed down more. Before I had the time to really come to terms with it I arrived back at the building.
The sled slowed to a stop, gently pumping against another sled parked on the track. I sat there for a few moments, gasping in great big gulping fear breaths, trying to assure myself the ride didn’t have one last trick of its sleeve.
I looked around. The place was empty, deserted. The overhead lights were still on and the old Pepsi machine still glowed and buzzed, but the ticket booth was dark and empty, a metal gate pulled down over the ticket window.
Suddenly it hit me that I was free and I practically leapt out of the sled and onto the platform. I immediately collapsed. My legs were jelly and my head was spinning. I tried to stand up again and doubled over, dry heaving. Have you ever been out on a boat for a day and have that weird reverse motion sickness when you’re back on solid land? It was like that times a hundred. My inner ear was literally pounding, all the motion had really done a number on it.
I laid there for a few moments and eventually forced myself to stand up on my two wobbling legs. I looked around, a horrible certainty creeping into my mind that there would be no exit, no way off the platform but to my relief an exit turnstyle, one of those full height ones, was set into the fence that surrounded the ride property.
I went through it and found myself back on the main road. The truckstop was still there, still open but far less busy. My car sat in the same corner of the parking lot I had left it.
I allowed myself one look back, just one quick one. The metal skeleton of the Alpine Slide track sat there, dark and quiet but otherwise normal.
I stumbled-ran back to my car, dug the keys out of my pocket, and collapsed inside. When the door shut I let out a primal scream, the tons of fear and confusion and anger all fusing into a single, raw emotion. I screamed again and again.
After a few moments I felt like I was emotionally at least back to a place where I could act, although I wasn’t sure yet what to do next. Not really knowing what to do I cranked the car. The A/C had been on low when I shut off the car and it came roaring back to life and cold air blowing on me almost sent me back into a full on panic attack. I fumbled with the climate controls until the air stopped blowing directly on me, then calmed down enough to turn the heat on, helping to get the chill out of my bones. There was a half full bottle of water in the center console cup holder and I grabbed it and chugged it. Nothing ever tasted as good before or sense as that few ounces of water.
That was when I noticed the clock on the radio head unit. It was 4:17 in the morning. It had been about one, one thirty or so in the afternoon when I got on the accursed ride.
Over 15 hours. I had been on the goddamn ride for over 15 hours. Over half a day.
I just sat there. Warming up. Calming down. I was exhausted. I was dehydrated. I can’t even describe how my head felt. I probably had at least a minor case of hypothermia. I thought about going into the gas station and asking for help but what would I even say, and more than anything I just wanted to get away from this place. And I just wanted to get away. I wanted to be nowhere near that damn ride.
I put the Camaro in gear and pulled into the street and in panic I immediately slammed on the brakes. I was lucky there was no traffic on the road at that moment. The feeling of accelerating to just normal surface street speeds made me sick to my stomach. I gathered myself and very slowly accelerated the car I usually treated with a very heavy foot up to 30 miles an hour. Every time I tried to accelerate at a pace faster than “Old Lady Going to Church, Uphill” I would have a panic attack. I was okay once I was up to speed, but accelerating freaked me out after being on that ride.
I drove about 30 minutes, putting some arbitrary amount of distance between myself and the coaster. Eventually I made it back to where the twisty mountain road met back up with a major road that would eventually meet back up with the highway. After a few more minutes of driving I saw the onramp for the highway. There was one of those big truckstop travel plazas and pulled in, parking right up at the door. I smelled like pee and I can only imagine how I looked, but I didn’t care.
I kept a couple of emergency 20s in the back of my wallet and spent it on the biggest bottle of water the store had, an overpriced bottle of eye drops, and a huge travel mug of coffee. The clerk looked at me as if he was expecting me to either drop dead or rob him the entire time.
Back in my car I downed the coffee. I put a few eye drops in each of my eyes and sat there as the caffeine took effect until I felt like I could make it back to my apartment. The sun was just coming up when I finally pulled out of the truck stop and got on the freeway. I slowly, very slowly, accelerated up to highway speed, put the Camaro in cruise control, and let the miles start to drift away. I turned on the radio, I needed to hear human voices. Every time my mind went back to what had just happened I turned the radio up louder, eventually drowning it out with painful levels of rock music. I wasn’t ready to think about it yet. Yes looking back I know I was just in denial. I finally made it back to the crappy little apartment I had off campus, a little two story walk up studio. I let myself in and collapsed on the cheap couch. I was asleep before I even had the time to decide whether or not to do anything else. I woke up later that afternoon. I took a shower and ate a meal and didn’t think about the ride. I washed the pee stained filthy clothes I had been wearing and didn’t think about the ride. I went back to class and didn’t think about the ride. Every time I thought about the ride I forced it out of my head. I’m sure this wasn’t the most mentally healthy thing to do but what can you say?
I didn’t forget about it, don’t be silly. This isn’t the kind of thing you forget. One day while looking up something else in the university’s library my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the Alpine Slide. No website but a few Google Map and Yelp mentions. None of them mentioned anything weird, certainly nothing even remotely like what I experienced. Near as I can tell it closed sometimes in the winter of 2012.
Life went on. I mean, that’s what it does. The next day was a little better. And the day after that a little better. And the day after that a little better still. I met a nice girl. Graduated. Got married. Got a nice house in the suburbs. Got a dog. Had a daughter. Spent a lot of time happy and not thinking about being trapped on an endless alpine coaster.And that was my life for many, many years after that.
Until a few weeks back when as a very different person I found myself driving a boring and safe mid sized family SUV through those same mountains. My wife Carol, 5 months pregnant, sat in the passenger seat, our 6 year old daughter Emily in a booster seat in the back, and Max our mixed breed mutt next to her. It had been a nice pleasant trip, driving back from visiting her folks.
I hadn’t thought about that fucking ride in so long I barely registered that I was in the same general area until it was too late. Suddenly I realized that little mountain tourist trap town was only a few minutes down the road. I swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel hard. Carol was looking out the window at the scenery and Emily was deep into some kid’s Youtube video on an iPad. I forced myself to keep my breath steady as we rounded the corner.The town was still there, sorta. Time had not been kind to it. The gas station was still there, at some point it had been bought out by Shell. The tourist trap shops were still there. One of them was now a vape shop. The diner was closed, the building looking like it sat unused for a long time.
But of course that’s not what I cared about. A looked over at the site where the Alpine Coaster once stood. It was gone. The kitschy fake barn was gone. The site was just a bare concrete slab with a chainlink fence around it. Faded “no trespassing” and “for sale” signs hung off the fence. A pile of old, decaying lumber that might have once long ago been part of the structure covered part of the old lot. No sign of the track remained outside of some old concrete support posts dotting the side of the mountain.
I exhaled out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Soon the little town disappeared in my rear view mirror.
About a half hour later we stopped for gas. I pulled up to a gas pump across from a massive motorhome. Max stuck his head out the window and started barking at a little white dog, a toy breed of some kind, in the window of the motorhome. Carol and Emily immediately headed into the store to restock on snacks while I fueled up.
I stood there, a half smile on my lips as Max barked and wagged his tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the other dog while I filled up the tank, said dog doing an admirable job of ignoring him.
Right about the time I finished fueling up and cleaning the bugs off the windshield Carol returned from inside the store, Emily in tow, arms filled with two full sized bags of Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and what looked to be a half dozen individually wrapped pickles.
I raised an eyebrow at the collection of food but knew better than to question a pregnant woman's snack choices.
“Should we take Max for a quick walk?” Carol asked. The travel plaza had a nice little gated dog walking area off to the side.
“Yeah probably not a bad idea, he’s been cooped up in the car for a few hours.” I said. Max, upon hearing his name and the word “walk” , forgot about the other dog and upgraded from wagging his tail to wagging his entire body while making whining sounds and staring right at me.
About this time I became half aware that the big motor home next to us was pulling away. I didn’t think much of it, outside of doing a quick automatic mental check to make sure Emily was well clear of the moving vehicle, but she was safely between me and our SUV, well out of the way.
But that was when Emily looked behind me and cheerfully yelled “Daddy look a roller coaster! Can I ride the coaster?”
It’s cliche as fuck I know but my blood went cold.
I turned around slowly, certain in my knowledge that terrible old decrepit Alpine Coaster would be there, having just popped into existence to trap me again.
That.. is not what I saw. Sure enough there was a coaster there, one I hadn’t noticed earlier because it had mostly been blocked by the motor home, but there it was. It was even an Alpine Coaster.
But it was not the same coaster I had encountered those years ago. That was immediately obvious. It was a small but modern and newish looking setup with neon lights and a bunch of people. There was an actual building where you bought tickets and a little snack stand.
“Daddy! Can we go on the coaster!” Emily asked again.
My mouth made motions but no words came out. I glanced over at Carol, hoping she’d say we didn’t have time but to my horror she smiled and said “You know what? That does sound like fun. Daddy will take you while I take Max for a walk.”
My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of it. But Emily was already dragging me across the parking lot to the entrance.
I patted my pocket, making sure my phone was in it. Every fiber of my being was screaming to run away. I slept walked through the line and the ticket booth while Emily bounced happily.
We got into a two seat plastic sled. This one was actually a lot nicer than the one my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about. It had two nice cushioned seats, big grab handles, even a nice rollbar.
The sled started up the track. I fought back the panic. I swerved my head around, keeping the building in my view. I was terrified of losing sight of it. We made it to the top and Emily did a happy squeal as we started down the side of the mountain.
My heart raced. Any second, any second my mind told me we’d lose sight of the building and then the ride would never end. The ride sped down the mountain. My mind tortured me with thoughts of not only going through it again, but seeing Emily go through it. The ride went around a big, banking turn. Emily kept shouting happily. How long before Carol reported us missing I wondered? Could I keep Emily calm? What if it lasted even longer this time? What if this time it never ended?
And then we were back at the start of the ride. The same attendant who had helped us into the sled was helping Emily out. I stepped out. The attendant gave me a brief look but said nothing. I guess I looked a little wild eyed.
I was fine. Emily was fine. It had been a perfectly normal, fun ride.
“That was fun Daddy! Thank you!” Emily said. I forced a smile back. “It was fun.” I responded, hoping like I sounded like I meant it.
I took Emily’s hand and we walked back to the car. Max saw us coming and barked happily. Carol looked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s she had somehow acquired and added to her snack collection while we were gone and smiled at us.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“It was so fun Mommy!” Emily said.
Carol smiled down at her, but then looked at me and frowned. “Are you okay?” Carol could read my face a lot better than the attendant could. “You’re pale.”
I smiled and this time the smile felt real. “Ya know what. Yeah, I think I am okay.”
Carol looked a little puzzled, but didn’t press it. We loaded Emily back in her booster seat, stopped Max from trying desperately to eat half a discarded gas station hot dog off the ground and got him back in the car. Carol and her small collection of snack food took her place in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's seat.I smiled. I cranked the car. I put it in gear. I pulled out of the gas station and back on the road, this time accelerating just a little faster than I had in years.

Is it a good idea to retake aamc practice exams? Took test 2 about 2 weeks ago and re did it and got a 510. Guessing it’s just me remembering the answers. Any thoughts?

I want to create a playbook on 'Understanding the PMP Question structures' for the PMP community here
Below is section one DRAFT. I think I've managed to use the PMP GPT simulator to align to its knowledge bank of questions and answers.
Feedback would be welcome before I look to develop the other sections - A) would it be helpful? b) Too much detail it may hinder or mislead ?
Othr sections would include 'decoding key phrases and terminology' eg risk indicators, issue indicators ...

1. Understanding Question Types

The PMP exam features various types of questions designed to assess your knowledge and understanding of project management principles, processes, and best practices. Recognizing and understanding these question types is crucial for approaching them effectively and maximizing your chances of success. Here are the main question types you can expect to encounter:

1.1 Action Questions

Action questions require you to identify the most appropriate action or next step to take in a given project scenario. These questions typically begin with phrases like "What should the project manager do?" or "What action should the project manager take next?" Examples include:

• "Do" Questions: Asking what the project manager should do in a specific situation.
• "Do Next" Questions: Inquiring about the most appropriate next step or action to take.
• "Do First" Questions: Assessing which action or step should be prioritized and done first.

These questions test your ability to apply project management knowledge and best practices to determine the most appropriate course of action in a given context. They often require you to consider various factors, such as project constraints, stakeholder needs, and potential impacts on scope, schedule, cost, and quality.
Example: "During the execution phase of a construction project, a major safety incident occurred on-site, resulting in injuries to several workers. What should the project manager do first?"
a) Immediately stop all work and secure the site to prevent further incidents. b) Conduct an investigation to determine the root cause of the incident. c) Update the risk register and develop a mitigation plan. d) Consult with the project sponsor and senior management.
Explanation and Breakdown: - Type: "Do First" Question - Immediate Priority: The question specifies "first," indicating a need to prioritize the immediate actions. - Options Analysis: - Option (a) addresses immediate safety by stopping work and securing the site. - Option (b) focuses on understanding the cause, which is secondary. - Option (c) deals with documentation and planning, which is not immediate. - Option (d) involves communication with management, which comes after ensuring safety. - Correct Answer: (a) - Stopping work and securing the site prevents further incidents and ensures immediate safety, which is the highest priority in project management. Addressing safety concerns immediately is crucial to prevent further harm and to comply with safety regulations. Once the site is secure, further steps such as investigation and communication can be taken.

1.2 Assessment Questions

Assessment questions evaluate your ability to analyze and assess past actions or decisions made in a project scenario. These questions often require you to identify what should have been done differently or what action or step was missed or overlooked. Examples include:

• "Should Have Done" Questions: Asking what the project manager should have done in a particular situation, implying that a different action or decision should have been taken.
• "Not Done" Questions: Inquiring about an action, step, or process that was not carried out but should have been.

These questions test your understanding of project management best practices and your ability to critically evaluate decisions and actions taken in a project. They may require you to recognize deviations from established processes, missed opportunities, or potential consequences of the actions described in the scenario.
Example: "During the planning phase of a software development project, the project manager failed to engage key stakeholders in defining the project scope and requirements. As a result, the project encountered significant scope creep and rework during execution. What should the project manager have done differently?"
a) Strictly enforced the defined project scope and rejected any scope changes. b) Obtained approval from the project sponsor before allowing scope changes. c) Involved key stakeholders in defining and validating the project scope and requirements. d) Consulted with the project team to prioritize the requested features within the existing scope.
Explanation and Breakdown: - Type: "Should Have Done" Question - Problem Identification: The scenario specifies the failure to engage key stakeholders, leading to scope creep and rework. - Options Analysis: - Option (a) suggests enforcement without stakeholder engagement, which is impractical and could lead to conflict. - Option (b) involves approval but does not prevent the initial issue of scope creep. - Option (c) addresses the root cause by involving stakeholders early on, ensuring their requirements and expectations are met. - Option (d) focuses on internal prioritization without addressing stakeholder input. - Correct Answer: (c) - Involving key stakeholders in defining and validating the project scope is essential for preventing scope creep and ensuring all requirements are understood and agreed upon from the start. This approach ensures that stakeholder expectations are managed and aligned with the project goals, reducing the likelihood of changes later in the project. Engaging stakeholders early also fosters a sense of ownership and collaboration, which is critical for project success.

1.3 Reactive Questions

Reactive questions test your ability to respond to project situations or challenges by identifying the most appropriate or inappropriate action or decision. These questions typically use phrases like "most likely" or "least likely" to assess your understanding of project management best practices. Examples include:

• "Least Likely" Questions: Asking you to identify the least likely or inappropriate action or decision in a given scenario.
• "Most Likely" Questions: Requiring you to select the most likely or appropriate action or decision to take.

These questions evaluate your ability to make sound judgments and prioritize appropriate responses based on the given project context. They may involve assessing the likelihood and potential impacts of different actions or decisions, as well as considering factors such as project constraints, stakeholder needs, and best practices.
Example: "A project is running behind schedule. The project manager decides to fast-track the project. Which of the following is least likely to be a consequence of this decision?"
a) Increased risk of rework. b) Improved stakeholder satisfaction. c) Increased project costs. d) Potential conflicts in resource allocation.
Explanation and Breakdown: - Type: "Least Likely" Question - Context Understanding: The project manager decides to fast-track the project to recover schedule delays. - Options Analysis: - Option (a) mentions increased risk of rework, a common outcome of fast-tracking due to overlapping tasks and potential errors. - Option (b) suggests improved stakeholder satisfaction, which is less likely as fast-tracking typically introduces more risks and issues. - Option (c) refers to increased costs due to additional resources or overtime required to accelerate the schedule. - Option (d) mentions potential conflicts in resource allocation, a typical risk of compressing schedules where resources are stretched thin. - Correct Answer: (b) - Fast-tracking typically leads to increased risks, costs, and resource conflicts. Stakeholder satisfaction is least likely to improve because the additional stress and potential quality issues that arise from fast-tracking can cause dissatisfaction. This answer reflects an understanding of the negative impacts of compressing project schedules and the trade-offs involved in such decisions.

1.4 Other Question Types

In addition to the above question types, you may encounter variations or combinations of these formats, such as:

• "Most Important" Questions: Assessing your ability to prioritize and identify the most important action, step, or consideration in a given scenario.
• "Least Important" Questions: Evaluating your understanding of which action, step, or consideration is least important or can be deprioritized.

Understanding and recognizing these different question types is essential for approaching each question effectively and providing the most appropriate response.
By familiarizing yourself with these question types and practicing with relevant examples, you can enhance your ability to tackle the PMP exam confidently and successfully.

I’m an incoming first year and my SAT math score placed me in math 141 ; however, I need to place into 151 so that I can register for my major course work (i.e. bio and chem).
I plan to earn credit using the recommended modernstates.com + CLEP exam, BUT I’m anxious about how long it will take me to remediate (at most 2 weeks).
I got an email saying the best time to register is before June 1st. Exactly how long do I have before all the classes are full after that date?
(p.s. I took the placement test and scored horrendously lower)

It’s DEAFENINGLY loud, and comes complete with a strobe light and deep purge-like voice instructing everyone to “cease operations and exit the building using the nearest fire exit or emergency stairwell. Do not use elevators” and then sometimes as a bonus for a day or so after, the elevators don’t work or the fire doors are closed, so we have to take the stairs up/down as high as 9 floors.
It has been all hours of the day and night. Fortunately I’m at work for about half of them but in this WFH world I know the other residents are pissed. Likewise, we’ve been woken up countless times, my bf who works from home has had to end work calls bc of how long it goes on, our 2 cats are terrified when it happens and for about 30 minutes after. Every time the office has an excuse- short in the fire panel, power surge, storms, the construction on our pool deck that has been going on for 8 months- they’ve even promised to make announcements if the alarm is false or for testing so residents know if they actually need to evacuate, yet no such announcement has ever been made. Instead they send an email 24-48 hours later giving another excuse.
Honestly nobody takes it seriously anymore. We were in the gym when it happened on Wednesday and nobody even flinched. Continued working out, just chuckled really. If there actually was an emergency one of these times, most of the building and all of the pets would likely burn up because of this.
Is there any course of legal action we can take? Even as little as being able to break our lease without penalty? State of FL by the way, if it matters.

As a counterpart to a post I saw earlier today about play-in/fringe teams that are expected to take a leap forwards next season, which teams are expected to fall in the standings next year, either due to significant personnel changes, over reliance on aging talent, or more competition in their conference/division.
I’ll split my own thoughts between the two divisions and give my predictions for placements for some teams, but they’re obviously just projections so don’t get mad if your team ends up being on the list.
—————————

Eastern Conference

Chicago Bulls
The Bulls don’t look like they’re doing anything major this offseason, other than trying to move Zach Lavine, and with his contract being what it is, I don’t expect him to be the type of asset that teams will be paying much of a premium for.
The Bulls would do well to commit to the tank in preparation for a pretty good looking 2025 draft class, but I’d only expect them to be slightly worse given that the front office (inexplicably) doesn’t seem keen to totally blow up their roster.
Prediction: 11th in the East.
Atlanta Hawks
I actually can see the Hawks committing to a bigger rebuild seeing as they’ve jumped to grab the #1 pick in this year’s draft.
Jalen Johnson is an interesting young player and it seems like it might be time to sell on players like Clint Capela (who has had a lacklustre couple of seasons) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (who is on the older side, but should have very good value for competitors due to his fantastic production this season).
They will also almost definitely move on from one of their star duo, and if it’s Trae Young that’s moved, they’ll likely be going into the 2024/25 season with a hoard of future picks and a significantly different roster.
Prediction: 12th in the East.
Miami Heat
Miami is an odd case because they have dealt with a fair amount of injury trouble this season, and you can never really count out a team coached by Spo.
That said, Jimmy Butler isn’t getting any younger (if he is resigned by the Heat in the first place), and Duncan Robinson and Terry Rozier are entering their 30s too. I don’t expect Miami to be much worse than they were this year, but if their key players miss time like they did this season, they might slip into the lower play-in bracket as the younger teams in the East improve.
Prediction: 9th/10th place in the East.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavs is less of a case of them being much worse, but I simply trust the teams around them (Pacers, Magic, 76ers, Knicks) to progress more than them next year.
Another uncertainty is the roster, which is about to be significantly retooled following the recent 2nd round exit. If Mitchell resigns, then it’s likely Garland will be moved. Allen may also be traded soon as the Cavs move on from their twin towers experiment.
Even if the Cavs do shift their young talent for win now pieces, the new team will need time to gel, and with the rest of the east getting better, I think the Cavs could be fighting to avoid the play-in next season.
Prediction: 5th-7th place in the East.
Bonus Prediction if Mitchell does not re-sign: 8th-10th place in the East, as they lean more into player development for Garland/Mobley.
—————————

Western Conference

Los Angeles Clippers
This season seemed like an ‘end of the road’ kind of season for the Clippers, who looked like world beaters before the familiar story of injuries and postseason struggles cut short their season.
The Clippers core is largely made up of aging, injury prone stars, one of whom, Paul George, is not under contract yet, and the other, Kawhi Leonard, hasn’t been able to string together a healthy season + postseason in almost 5 years.
I’m sure Ballmer will want to remain somewhat competitive to fill up the swanky new Intuit Dome, but with Memphis re-entering the Arena next season, and the Rockets young core taking a step forward, a team lead by Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and maybe Paul George, all of whom are entering the twilight of their careers, could be wrestling with the play-in.
Prediction: 6th-8th in the West.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors had a hell of a run, but now more than ever it seems like it’s time to look the future.
Another team reliant on an aging star core, the Warriors 3 cornerstone players have all shown signs of slowing down (relative to their own standards). Klay Thompson looks significantly slower on defense and has been a much more streaky shooter this season than in any other season of his career. Draymond Green still has a fantastic basketball mind, but age and on court antics remain an issue.
Even Steph Curry had a poor shooting stretch towards the end of the season, and while he will likely still make an All-NBA team this year, this year maybe be one of the last for the all-time great.
Brandon Podziemski, Trayce-Jackson David, Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga (who has shown fringe all-star level potential in very short spurts) are interesting young players, but I don’t expect them to be able or ready to lead the Warriors out of the gauntlet that the West is turning into.
Prediction: 11th/12th in the West
Phoenix Suns
Another team, another case of aging stars.
The Suns showed a late resurgence towards the end of this regular season, but fell short in their first round matchup with the Timberwolves.
Team ownership has echoed a wish to retool and run it back rather than make any big moves this offseason, but the Suns do face some glaring roster construction issues.
The Suns lack a dedicated point guard and lack size, doubly so with Jusuf Nurkic’s future with the team looking uncertain. New Coach Bud has echoed a wish to try and obtain a point guard this offseason, but it may be tough to acquire a quality option with the Suns current cap issues.
Regardless, the Suns three stars will have to learn to play off one another better, and with Beal and KD both being on the older side and having had past injury issues, Phoenix will have to fight hard to beat back younger teams vying for good play-in seeding.
Prediction: 8/9th in the West.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are the most unpredictable team in this list for me, mostly because GM Rob Pelinka constantly reminding us of the Lakers three tradeable first round picks this summer, and that he won’t be afraid to use them should a star become available (cough cough… Donovan Mitchell, cough… Trae Young).
With all that said, my current predictions are that Mitchell will resign, and that another team will be able to put together a better offer for Trae than Austin Reaves + salary filler + the aforementioned 3 picks.
In that case, there are three questions hanging over the Lakers performance next season:

1. How many games will Anthony Davis play?

AD missed very few games this season and played fantastically, but his health will always be something that will be closely monitored.

1. How long will LeBron still be LeBron?

How much can we expect from old man James, now entering his 22nd NBA season.

1. Which (if any) of the role players will step up?

Austin Reaves and DiAngelo Russell (postseason woes aside) played relatively well through the regular season. With DLo likely to test free agency this offseason, someone else may need to step up.
Prediction: 9th-11th in the West.
—————————
Interested in seeing others picks and justifications, as well as thoughts on the predictions above.

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