I passed the exam on the first try. It was a challenging exam, I'm glad that I gave as much study time and effort as I did. Over a period of 2.5 months, I did the following:
1) I needed the 35 credit hours, so I took the PM Prepcast. It was excellent and comprehensive - I steadily did about an hour a day until I finished all the lessons (took about 2 months). I took notes throughout all the lessons, and then referred back to them, but in a casual way. I didn't study them like crazy, I took the approach that just writing things down was helping me to cement the ideas and thoughts, and then referred back to them as I had time before the test.
2) I used Andy Crowe's "The PMP Exam: How to Pass the PMP on your first Try" extensively - easy and enjoyable to read, great test prep questions. I did NOT read the PMBOK cover to back, I just couldn't read more than a page at a time, it was too dry. So, just used it for reference/clarification purposes. I did try to study the glossary as much as I could.
3) I used the PM Prepcast Exam Simulator (free and paid) - this was excellent and prepared me for the actual test situation. I took 6 of the 9 tests (with the paid subscription).
4) I used the Andy Crowe CD set in the car, it's called, "Conversations on the PMP Exam" - this was also excellent, and perfect for the daily commute. I listened to these over and over (maybe 4 times total), and got more information each time I listened to it. You couldn't pass the test with just these CDs, but they are a great compliment to your study materials.
5) I got the Andy Crowe "Quick Reference Guide", a laminated set of sheets with the main points on it. It gave me something quick to review when I had time, and I keep it on my desk now, even after passing the test.
As many have said already, it is definitely NOT necessary to memorize the ITTOs, I definitely did not. I did however, make sure that I knew the important ITTOs from many of the processes. This is where Andy Crowe's main book is very handy - he doesn't list them all for each process, he helps you pick out what might be asked on the exam.
I had many more questions on EVM than I expected, but that was good since I felt confident in this area and had practiced these types of problems pretty extensively.
Finally, I will say that I found that I went much slower on the real exam, than I did on any of my simulated 4 hour exams. This surprised and worried me during the real exam, but I'm not sure how I could have practiced any differently. I think just knowing that I might be slower in that stressful situation, and that it's ok, since I could do the simulated ones in under 3 hours, would be good to know. Also, do not estimate they difficulty of the questions, they are as hard, and maybe even a little harder (due to the stress of it being the real exam) than the simulated 4 hours tests you will find.
Thank you so much to Cornelius and PM Prepcast for providing such an affordable and comprehensive set of resources. I appreciated the lessons, tests, newsletters, formula guides, forums (and for answering my posted question), etc... it was all extremely helpful, I felt like I had a quide all along the way!
