TOPIC: Passed PMP on 9th May (First Attempt)

Cleared the PMP exam on May 9 (first attempt).
I would like to thank my family for their support.
Thanks to Cornelius for Prepcast and the formula guide.
And also various forums & websites.

I used following books and material for the preparation.

a. PMBOK 4th Edition (read cover to cover twice)
b. The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, Fourth Edition by Andy Crowe (read it 2 times)
c. PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam by Rita Mulcahy (read it 2 times)
d. Prepcast from Cornelius
e. Formula guide from Cornelius

I had planned to give myself 4 months to prepare for this test.
I started preparing from Dec last year. After reading all the books mentioned above once and
finishing the prepcast, I applied for the exam in Jan. Then I scheduled to give the exam on 24th March.
But as I am based in Tokyo, and there was the eathquake incident, I rescheduled it for yesterday 9th May.
After the earthquake and incidents that followed, the PMP study stuff was kind of completely washed off.
I was feeling as if I dont remember anything.
Then again I started studing from 1st May. Took one week off before the exam and studied every day.
And gave the exam on 9th May.

Things that I did for preparing for this exam:
1) Memorized the Process group-knowledge area chart on page 43 and the Rita Process chart.
2) Read a chapter from PMBOK, then Andy and lastly Rita. This gave me a deep understanding of the processes.
3) Learnt all the formulae from the formula guide and solved all the formulae questions.
4) Read the PMBOK glossary.
5) Did Rita’s fast-track questions for all knowledge areas.
6) Did not memorize ITTOs. But read it enough times to know most of them.

Mock tests

1) PMStudy Free Test and one paid test. Very good questions. Good difficulty.
2) Oliver Lehman’s 175 & 75 question. Very good questions. Good difficulty.
3) HeadFirst Free Test. Very good questions. Moderate difficulty.
4) PMRoadtrip free questions. Very good questions. Moderate difficulty.
5) Edwel Very good questions. Good difficulty.
6) PreparePM Good Questions. Moderate difficulty.
7) End of book exam from Rita and Andy

I scored between 75% to 80% for all of the tests.
Only in the end of book test for Andy I scored 89%

My observations & suggestions:

1. The questions on the real exam were not wordy and the choices were not difficult to pick up.
2. Only few questions required more thinking.
3. The exam was not so tough in my opinion.
It depends on the understanding of the processes and also on how much do you retain after reading the books/material.Overall, the exam was not as tough as I thought but also it was not easy either.
4. Practice at least 3-4 full length tests. If you are doing good on the above mentioned tests, you will be good on the exam.
5. Writing the dump during initial 15 minutes of tutorial may NOT be helpful. Do it only if you find it useful. I wrote the process chart and the formulas but did not look at them at all.
6. Plan for the breaks and take them only if you need. I took one break after 1 hr 30 mins.
Completed the exam in 3 hours 10 mins.
Regards
Rashmi