Hi, I studied 2 months after a specific course to gain the PDUs. I read the PMBOK twice, and the Agile Guide 3 times, and all Rita's book once. But above all, what really helped me though, it was the PMP prepcast simulator. I did 4 exams (excluding the INPUT/OUTPUT/TOOLS & TECHNIQUE question and exam) and many learning and timed short tests on KA and on specific domains. I started scoring 75% and I ended up scoring 85%. I did around 1,500 questions, and read the full explanation of the wrong answers and the correct one (of course), and I went to reference the PMBOK (usually at the end of the question there is the reference to the PMBOK) which helped me to read again that topic, understand it and memorize it. Probably I over prepared myself, I do not know, but I am Italian and I studied in English and did the exam in English, and I wanted to feel confident enough. The exam questions are easier than the one in the simulator, however, the main difference is that in the exam you are always in doubt between 2 possible answers, then you have to read again the question looking for keywords and the better fit answer. Instead in the simulator it is a bit more straightforward, it is less tricky if you know the topic. In the exam there was only 1 calculation about decision tree (EVM) which was easy but it was time consuming. I had 65%-75% questions on hybrid & agile. In my opinion when they are only Agile, they are easier to answer, while if they are hybrid, you need to think a bit more because there is not a specific guideline, and the PMBOK doesn’t cover this topic enough. I got 5 or 6 questions drag and drop, and for me those ones were the easiest. I had a lot of questions about conflict resolution. To make a long story short, the exam was easier than I expected, and the prepcast simulator is the tool that helped me the most.
