A year ago, I took the CAPM test as an individual who wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in the project management field. I didn't really use any more resources than the PMBOK, and probably only took about 50 hours of studying for it. I went into it knowing I wasn't well prepared and I failed.
A year later, my job outlook was completely different, I qualified for the number of hours for the PMP test and registered. I used the following resources,
-PMBOK Guide 5th edition
-PM Prepcast
-Rita's PMP prepbook
-Rita's exam simulator
-And basically every free exam simulator or practice quiz I could find online.
My PMP studying spanned 3 months.
Month 1-2 simultaneously watched the prepcast videos and read the same sections of PMBOK guide and Rita's book before moving forward. I also did the chapter quizzes in these books each time too.
Month 3 I started taking tests like crazy. Tried to identify areas I was getting wrong and would review and retest with different tests.
In terms of hours, I probably spent about 300-400 or so in prep of the test.
Test day came, I was getting anywhere between 65-90% on my practice tests, depending on which one it was. When I took the actual test I had no clue if I passed or not. Turns out I did, and hit "proficient" on every area except Closing which I got a "moderately proficient on. Huge relief.
Of the resources I used, Rita's was by far the most helpful. I'm more of an audio learner, so the prepcast was probably pretty helpful to me, but no way I would have passed on this alone. Only things about the prepcast that got old was Justine's awful jokes at the end of each section and that the review of each chapter in every section was starting to drive me crazy and making me lose focus. But it was helpful otherwise.
If you're studying for this test, take practice test after practice test. Knowing the generic material alone isn't enough.
