Andrew Ramdayal vs Joseph Phillips: Which PMP Udemy Course Should You Choose?

Published: 2026-05-27 · By FreePMPTests Editorial Team

Ask the r/pmp subreddit which Udemy course to buy, and two names dominate every thread: Andrew Ramdayal and Joseph Phillips. Both instructors have helped thousands of candidates pass the PMP exam. Both offer comprehensive 35-hour courses that satisfy PMI's contact hour requirement. Both cost roughly the same — typically $15–$30 during Udemy's frequent sales. But they teach differently, emphasize different things, and suit different kinds of learners.

This comparison breaks down the teaching styles, course content, simulator quality, and ideal student profile for each instructor so you can choose the course that matches how you learn best.

Quick Comparison: Andrew Ramdayal vs Joseph Phillips

Dimension	Andrew Ramdayal	Joseph Phillips
Course Title	PMP Certification Exam Prep Course 35 PDU Contact Hours	PMP Exam Prep Seminar — PMBOK 7 Complete
Platform	Udemy / TIA Education	Udemy / Instructing.com
Course Length	~35 hours of video content	~35 hours of video content
Teaching Style	Casual, whiteboard-driven, mindset-focused	Professional, slide-driven, structured and detailed
PMP Mindset Section	Dedicated, extensive — his signature contribution	Integrated throughout but not a separate section
Agile Coverage	Strong, with dedicated agile sections	Strong, with agile woven into domain discussions
Practice Questions	~400 in-course questions + TIA Simulator (sold separately, $40–$50)	~400 in-course questions + included exam simulator
Udemy Price (Sale)	$15–$30	$15–$30
Best For	Mindset-first learners, those who like whiteboard explanations, experienced PMs	Structured learners, beginners, those who prefer slide-based instruction

Andrew Ramdayal: The Mindset-Driven Instructor

Andrew Ramdayal has become the most-recommended PMP instructor on Reddit and social media, and his rise is largely due to one thing: the PMP mindset. While most instructors teach project management concepts — processes, formulas, frameworks — Ramdayal emphasizes how to think about PMP questions. His course is built around the idea that knowing the material isn't enough; you have to understand how PMI expects you to apply it in ambiguous scenarios.

Teaching Style

Ramdayal teaches from a whiteboard, not slides. He draws diagrams, writes key concepts, and explains things conversationally — as if you're sitting across a table from him. His tone is casual, sometimes humorous, and he frequently says things like "you see what I mean?" as if checking in with you. This whiteboard style makes complex concepts feel less intimidating, though it also means you're watching a single-camera setup of a man drawing on a whiteboard for 35 hours. Some learners find this authentic and engaging; others find it visually monotonous compared to polished slide presentations.

The PMP Mindset — His Signature Contribution

The centerpiece of Ramdayal's course is the PMP mindset section — a dedicated module where he distills the PMP exam's decision-making philosophy into memorable principles. His core principles include:

• Always discuss, investigate, and analyze before making decisions
• Never escalate to the sponsor unless you've exhausted all other options
• The project manager is a servant leader — empower the team, don't direct
• Follow the process (change control, risk management) rather than taking shortcuts
• Coach and train team members rather than replacing or punishing them

These principles are repeated throughout the course and reinforced in his TIA simulator's video explanations. For many candidates — particularly experienced project managers whose real-world instincts differ from PMI's idealized framework — the mindset section is transformative. Candidates regularly report that after internalizing Ramdayal's mindset principles, their practice exam scores jumped 10–15% without learning any new content. This is the single most distinctive feature of Ramdayal's course and the primary reason for his popularity.

Course Structure and Content

Ramdayal organizes his course around the PMP Exam Content Outline domains — People, Process, and Business Environment — with additional sections on agile, formulas, and exam strategy. The content is comprehensive but not exhaustive; he focuses on what's most tested on the exam rather than covering every PMBOK detail. This makes his course efficient for experienced project managers but slightly thinner on fundamentals for complete beginners.

His agile coverage is strong and practical. He explains Scrum, Kanban, XP, and hybrid approaches with clear, memorable examples. The agile content feels integrated with the broader course rather than bolted on — which is important, since agile and hybrid scenarios constitute roughly 50% of the current PMP exam.

The TIA Simulator

Ramdayal's TIA Exam Simulator is sold separately from his Udemy course ($40–$50) and includes six full-length 180-question practice exams. The questions are generally considered slightly easier than the real PMP exam, but they excel at teaching the mindset. Each question includes a video explanation where Ramdayal walks through his reasoning, explicitly naming which mindset principle applies. This is uniquely valuable for candidates who struggle with situational judgment questions — watching an expert articulate why one answer is PMI-correct and another is "real-world reasonable but PMP-wrong" builds the pattern recognition you need for exam day.

However, with only 360+ total questions (six exams of 60 questions each, due to the simulator's structure), the TIA simulator provides less total question volume than PMI Study Hall or PrepCast. You should supplement the TIA simulator with additional question banks — Ramdayal himself recommends pairing his simulator with PMI Study Hall.

Who Should Choose Andrew Ramdayal

• Experienced project managers. If you already understand project management but need to recalibrate your instincts to the PMI mindset, Ramdayal's course is the most efficient path. His mindset principles directly address the gap between real-world PM experience and PMP-exam expectations.
• Mindset-first learners. If you want to understand how to answer PMP questions before memorizing what the PMBOK says, Ramdayal's approach aligns with your priorities.
• Whiteboard learners. If you prefer a conversational, diagram-driven teaching style over polished slides, Ramdayal's whiteboard format will feel authentic and engaging.
• Candidates who plan to buy the TIA simulator. If you're going to use the TIA simulator, taking Ramdayal's course creates a seamless experience — the mindset language, examples, and principles carry over directly from course to simulator.

Joseph Phillips: The Structured Professional

Joseph Phillips has been teaching PMP prep for over 20 years and has helped more than 750,000 students across his courses. Where Ramdayal teaches from a whiteboard with casual energy, Phillips delivers a polished, slide-driven presentation with the structure and professionalism of a corporate training program. His course is comprehensive, methodical, and built for learners who want complete coverage with clear organization.

Teaching Style

Phillips uses professionally designed slides with bullet points, diagrams, tables, and highlighted key terms. His delivery is calm, measured, and authoritative — the tone of an experienced corporate trainer who has delivered this material hundreds of times. He doesn't use humor as much as Ramdayal, and his style is less conversational, but the trade-off is exceptional clarity and organization. Every concept is broken down step by step. You always know where you are in the curriculum and how each piece fits into the larger framework.

For learners who find Ramdayal's whiteboard-and-marker style too informal or visually monotonous, Phillips' slide-based approach provides the structure and visual variety they need to stay engaged.

Course Structure and Content

Phillips' course is organized around logical topic groupings — project management fundamentals, integration management, scope management, schedule management, and so on through all knowledge areas, plus agile, formulas, and exam strategy. This knowledge-area structure (rather than the ECO domain structure) makes his course ideal for learners who want to understand PMBOK concepts systematically before tackling practice questions.

Phillips covers agile thoroughly as well, with dedicated sections on Scrum, Kanban, and agile principles. However, his agile content is presented alongside traditional PM material rather than as a separate philosophy — which works well for understanding how agile and predictive approaches compare but may not emphasize the mindset shift as explicitly as Ramdayal's approach.

One area where Phillips excels is beginner-friendliness. His course assumes less baseline knowledge than Ramdayal's. He explains fundamental concepts in more detail, provides more examples, and builds understanding layer by layer. If you're new to formal project management — transitioning from a technical role, for example — Phillips' structured, thorough approach is more likely to give you the comprehensive foundation you need.

Included Exam Simulator

A significant advantage of Phillips' course is that it includes an exam simulator at no additional cost. The simulator provides full-length practice exams and hundreds of practice questions. The question quality is solid — realistic scenarios, good difficulty calibration, and thorough explanations. However, Phillips' questions don't quite match the ambiguity level of PMI Study Hall's hardest questions. Like the TIA simulator, Phillips' questions tend to be slightly more straightforward than the real exam's most challenging items.

The included simulator is a genuine value — compared to Ramdayal's course where you need to budget an extra $40–$50 for the TIA simulator — but serious candidates should still plan to supplement with PMI Study Hall regardless of which instructor they choose.

Who Should Choose Joseph Phillips

• Beginners to formal project management. If PMBOK terminology is new to you, Phillips' structured, detailed explanations build a strong foundation that Ramdayal's more efficient approach may skip over.
• Slide-based learners. If you learn best from polished slides with bullet points, tables, and clear visual organization, Phillips' presentation style will feel natural and professional.
• Structured, methodical learners. If you want a course that covers everything systematically — knowledge area by knowledge area, concept by concept — Phillips' knowledge-area structure is easier to follow than Ramdayal's ECO-domain structure.
• Budget-maximizing candidates. Phillips' course includes an exam simulator at no additional cost. If your total prep budget is tight, Phillips gives you more for your $15–$30 than Ramdayal does.

Direct Comparison: Teaching PMP Mindset

This is the clearest differentiator between the two instructors:

• Ramdayal: Has a dedicated, extensive mindset section that many candidates consider the single most valuable part of any PMP prep resource. His mindset principles are explicit, memorable, and reinforced throughout the course and simulator. Candidates regularly credit Ramdayal's mindset training with 10–15% score improvements on practice exams.
• Phillips: Teaches the PMI approach effectively but doesn't distill it into a named, standalone "mindset" framework. The servant leadership, analyze-first, and do-not-escalate principles are present in his explanations but integrated into the content rather than called out as a separate mental model. This works fine for structured learners but lacks the memorable, repeatable framework that Ramdayal provides.

If someone asked "which course improved your ability to answer situational judgment questions more?" — Ramdayal wins nearly unanimously in community feedback. If someone asked "which course taught me project management concepts more thoroughly?" — the answer depends on learning style, but Phillips' structured approach often wins for beginners.

Which Should You Choose?

If you can only buy one course, here's the decision framework:

• Choose Andrew Ramdayal if: you're an experienced project manager who needs the PMP mindset more than fundamental PM education; you value explicit, memorable decision-making principles; you prefer a casual, whiteboard-driven teaching style; or you plan to purchase the TIA simulator and want curriculum-simulator alignment.
• Choose Joseph Phillips if: you're relatively new to formal project management and need thorough foundational education; you prefer polished, slide-based presentations with clear visual organization; you value a structured, knowledge-area-by-knowledge-area curriculum; or you're on a tight budget and want an included exam simulator.

Many successful candidates buy both. At $15–$30 each on sale, the total investment is around $40–$50 — less than a single dinner out. You can use Phillips for comprehensive foundational learning and Ramdayal for mindset training and reinforcement. The courses complement each other: Phillips builds your knowledge; Ramdayal teaches you how to apply it the PMI way. Given the low cost of Udemy courses during sales, dual enrollment is a high-ROI strategy for candidates who want maximum preparation depth.