Background:
* Project manager with a CSM for 5+ years, and a policy-cum-business analyst by training
* Had studied to take old exam in March or April of 2020 but didn't take it because of covid
Study resources (roughly 45 days):
* Joseph Philips Cram Session - I listened to it on 2.0x speed as a refresher. I definitely recommend it.
* PMP Booster Course - Didn't use it. I didn't think it was necessary and the catch-up seminars seem excessively long unless you have zero agile background.
* PMP PrepCast Simulator - I definitely recommend it. You can't argue with results. I took all the questions except for the ITTOs and 4 practice exams (78%, 83%, 83%, 79%), but I have to disagree with a lot of folks on here who say it's very close to the exam. The actual exam questions -- that I got anyway -- were really not very similar to those from the Simulator.
* Ricardo Vargas' Youtube video: I watched it the day before I took the exam, but I'd suggest watching it early in your studies. Not essential, but I imagine it could be pretty eye-opening to someone just starting out studying.
* Barely any PMBOK: I sort of studied it a year ago but I barely opened it this time.
* Agile Practice Guide: I read about 1/3rd and decided it was pretty surface-level stuff. PrepCast Simulator questions and the shorter 2017 Scrum Guide are more than enough.
Technical issues with Pearson VUE: I had a ton of technical problems and had to start over 3 times! Given the technical difficulties, I was more frazzled than I otherwise would've been because I went in with zero expectation I'd fail. That said, I did not feel good about a solid 80% of the questions. It wasn't even the standard "two of these are both right"-type situation; I was basically just guessing the least-wrong-seeming answer. I laughed when I saw how high I scored in all 3 areas because I honestly didn't know how well I did.
The test itself: It is entirely logic based. No math questions or need to use the whiteboard. I had about 10 drag and drop, 7-8 pick 2-3 out of a list, and one fill in the answer questions, and I think these were the easiest, or at least the ones I felt most confident about.
My $0.02, mostly for those with PM and agile experience: There's really no way to confidently smash this exam. I totally overdid it with the PrepCast Simulator questions. Despite feeling pretty uneasy during the exam, I probably could've spent like 2 weeks crashing and still passed by a fair margin. I honestly regret studying as much as I did and I already was on a pretty truncated timeline. Anyone with PM experience just taking this to tick a box can confidently schedule an exam about a month after having your application submitted, take Joseph Philips' 2021 Crash Course, do maybe 500-600 questions in the Simulator, take 1 or 2 practice exams, and pass pretty comfortably (not that you'll know until you see the "Congratulations!") I *really* cannot stress enough how unimportant it is to memorize terms, either. Barely any showed up, but I imagine it would be hard to intuit what they're asking if you don't know the jargon they're rephrasing to make it more complicated.
Conclusion: Good luck, everyone. It was simultaneously harder and easier that I expected, and it takes far less studying that the old PMP version.
