TOPIC: Passed on first attempt April 7, 2012

Hi All,
Finally I am now a PMP!
I have been managing projects from quite some time and I was planning to take PMP exam from couple of years. I decided to take the exam by the start of this year. But I finally ended up taking the exam on April 7 this year.
This is not long time because I have full time work and I have family. Mainly I was studying in week end and very little in the other days I dedicated the guest room for studying. Don’t put in this room TV, for me there was a TV in the guest room and sometimes I watched it. This will waste your time.
I started with Head First PMP and for me it was a wonderful book. Concepts were so clearly explained with examples... I enjoyed reading the book especially. You may found some mistakes but it is great to know the whole concept and it will help you to understand. Read all most all knowledge areas and solved the sample exam questions. I tried to memorize the ITTO's but I couldn't and this book will help you to understand them.
Then I started to read by chapters from the PMBOK guide version 4 and the same chapter from Reta book v6 and skim the same chapter from Head first again.
I read the three books once for every one but I wrote down the very important notes then I read it again. If you found any differences between these books the PMBOK is right then Reta book.
During this time I was watching videos from The PM Prepcast Podcasts it was very wonderful it helped me a lot to understand.
I joined to some forums like (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) These forums and others has wealth of information and I think I did not use it to full extent, but definitely got information. Do you would like to give back something . Hence my lessons learnt.
I answered many question (1000+) and more than 3 times full 4 hour test using reta fastrack 7, www.pmexampreparation.com and free.pm-exam-simulator.com
no need to memorize any ITTO's. I strongly agree with that, only if you understand them very good and practice to solve question about ITTO's I recommend www.brainbok.com , otherwise (if you don't understand or confused) try to memorize as you can.
All the EV formulas needs to be memorized and brain dumped in the beginning of exam. It's even more important to understand interpretation of the results from calculations, you might face many question about it in the exam.
The risk response strategies, conflict resolution, and change control are very important parts.
Memorize Page 43 of all processes.
Inspite of several people suggesting to have a good night's sleep previous night I did not follow. It was bad on my part.
I went to the exam center before the exam 10 days before, and checked every thing and all instructions.
Day of Exam : I went there early. My recommendation here go to bathroom so no need to go again during the exam also I did not follow this.
After I entered to the exam room I wrote my dump sheet contains all formulas and some important points, and the page 43 from PMBOK. The ear plug it is very important in case if there is a noise.
I took about 5 minutes break in between, but finished exam in exact time of 4 hours with answering.
Finally, for me managing family and playing with Kid was challenging and would definitely thank my wife and kids for sacrificing 8 to 10 week ends allowing me to prepare. Many thanks to my family and especially my wife (I love you so much)
After the exam, I collected my stuff quickly to get my phone so I could call my wife. She has been extremely supportive during this entire time and I wanted to talk to her at the earliest.
All the best
Abdelhamid, PMP

Congrats mizo