Your unfair advantage in PMP and SHRM
PMP and SHRM-CP read like common sense until the answers all sound reasonable. What decides them is the vocabulary and frameworks the exam uses: the right process, the right agile ceremony, the right employment law.
The advantage isn't a shortcut. It's a study method: pulling answers from memory and reviewing them just before they fade, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming.
2 programs · 2,092 cards · organised by public exam outlines
What your memory has to carry for PMP and SHRM
Different exams, the same problem: a lot to hold, for a long time, recalled on demand.
The exam's own vocabulary
Terms that mean something specific on the exam, even when they mean something looser at work.
Frameworks and sequences
Predictive and agile approaches, HR competencies and the order things happen in.
Laws and thresholds
For SHRM-CP, the employment laws and the thresholds that trigger them.
Why the old way fails for PMP and SHRM
Rereading, highlighting and cramming are the most common ways to study, and they feel productive. The research says they're the weakest.
Rereading
Rereading a guide you broadly agree with feels easy, which is exactly why it gives you little practice at recall.
Retrieve it
Tested students recalled 61% of a passage a week later; students who reread it four times recalled 40%.
Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Psychological Science
Highlighting
Highlighting terms you already half-know does not separate them from the near-synonyms the exam offers as distractors.
Test yourself
A review of ten techniques rated highlighting and rereading low utility, and practice testing high.
Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Cramming
Cramming alongside a full-time job usually means a few long weekends. Short daily reviews fit around work and hold longer.
Space it
Word pairs reviewed across four days were recalled 54% of the time; the stack crammed the day before the test, 34%.
Kornell (2009), Applied Cognitive Psychology
The numbers behind the method
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results. Each one is shown with the conditions it was measured under.
recalled on day 5: one stack reviewed daily vs stacks crammed
Short daily reviews beat the same effort crammed into single days.
25 students learned GRE-type word pairs over four daily sessions with the same number of study trials. One large stack reviewed every day: 54% recalled on day 5. Small stacks each crammed on a single day: 21%. The stack crammed the day before the test: 34%. Experiment 2.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
recalled a week later: tested vs reread
Retrieving beat rereading a week later, even though the rereaders felt more confident.
Undergraduates studied a prose passage. Those who read it once and recalled it three times remembered 61% of it one week later; those who read it four times remembered 40%. At five minutes the rereaders were ahead (83% vs 71%). Experiment 2, 180 students, no feedback.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
of learners did better with spacing, while most believed cramming worked better
If spacing feels slower, that is normal: most learners in these experiments felt the same and still did better with it.
Across three flashcard experiments, spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing had been more effective.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
See the research
Three short loops. Two chart published results exactly as reported; the forgetting curve is an illustrative model and is labelled as one.
Spacing beats cramming
From Kornell (2009), Experiment 2: over four days, one stack of 20 word pairs reviewed every day versus four stacks of five each crammed on one day. On day 5, spaced pairs were recalled 54% of the time, massed 21%, and the stack crammed the day before 34%. Across three experiments spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing worked better.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
The forgetting curve, with and without reviews
An illustrative model, not measured data: after one exposure, memory decays quickly toward zero over 30 days. With reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14, each review restores it and it decays more slowly each time, staying high at day 30.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig.
Illustrative model, not measured data.
Testing yourself beats rereading, a week later
Bar charts from Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Experiment 2. Five minutes after studying, students who read a passage four times recalled 83%, read three times and tested once 78%, read once and tested three times 71%. One week later the order reversed: 40%, 56% and 61%.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
Project & people programs
Ready-made decks, organised by each exam's public outline. Open any program to try its free sample cards.
| Exam | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| PMP180 questions (170 scored + 10 unscored pretest) · 240 minutes (two 10-minute breaks) | 180 questions (170 scored + 10 unscored pretest) | 240 minutes (two 10-minute breaks) |
| SHRM-CP134 questions (110 scored; 24 unscored field-test items) · 3 hours 40 minutes (two sections) | 134 questions (110 scored; 24 unscored field-test items) | 3 hours 40 minutes (two sections) |
How NoReread puts it to work
1. Cards from public exam outlines
Each program is organised by its exam's publicly available outline, so the decks follow the structure you will be tested on.
2. Recall first, then flip
Every card asks before it tells. That moment of pulling the answer from memory is the retrieval practice the research measures.
3. Reviews scheduled before you forget
An SM-2 schedule brings each card back just as it starts to fade: sooner if you missed it, later if you knew it.
Cards define one term, process or law at a time from each exam's public outline. Five-minute sessions fit around work, and the schedule keeps early material coming back.
A risk recorded in the risk register has just occurred. What should the PM do first?
Execute the planned response (contingency plan) documented for that risk, led by its risk owner. Then log the event in the issue log and update the risk register to reflect its new status.
Learn first, then retain.
Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials.
Straight answers
Is NoReread enough to prepare for PMP and SHRM?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
What does “unfair advantage” mean here?
The advantage is the study method: retrieval practice and spaced review, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming. It is not a promise of a pass or a score. The numbers on this page are published findings about the method from the studies cited, not NoReread results.
Does this count toward PMP contact hours or SHRM PDCs?
No. NoReread is a memory tool, not an approved education provider.
Do I still need a prep course?
Yes, or another way to learn the material first. Flashcards help you keep what you have learned.
Can I rely on the cards being accurate?
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials. We're not experts in every field we cover, and NoReread does not guarantee exam results.
Is NoReread affiliated with the organizations behind these exams?
No. NoReread is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organizations whose exams and outlines it references, and exam names are trademarks of their respective owners.
How can I try it?
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Exam names are trademarks of their respective owners. Content disclaimer · All the research
Study PMP and SHRM the way memory works
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