TOPIC: How Not to Pass Your PMP!!

I passed my PMP exam on my first attempt today. However, I would not recommend the way I did it though.
I applied for permission to take the exam and starting reading Rita in plenty of time to prepare, but then life got in the way (new job, starting own business, family, etc) and I realized with one month to go that my time was expiring to take the exam before I needed to reapply (and I had not been studying for six months).

As a contractor I could not afford to take a week off for a boot camp, so I searched the internet for alternatives and came up with the PMP PrepCast and bought it, along with the exam simulator. This was the best decision I could have made.

I tried to read the PMBOK, but it is so badly edited and formatted, that I just wanted to get my pen out and rewrite it! So I stopped reading it and concentrated on the PMP PrepCast (I did not have time to read Rita too, so I left it). I took a practice exam on day one and got 67%, and then started on the course. I spent three hours a day in the evening listening to the PrepCast and taking copious notes and then at the weekend I took at least one exam and spent a further six hours with the PrepCast. Week one my mock exam results improved by 10%, so I knew I was onto a good thing.

One week before the exam I realized that I had two weeks of PrepCast left to do, I then concentrated on the areas that I need to improve in (thank you for putting the results per knowledge area and process in the mock exam results).

Two days before the exam I took another two tests and got 81.5% and 79.5%. I also stopped listening and just reviewed the formulas a few times. I never reread the notes I made, I did not have time.

The day before the test I stayed in a hotel one block from the testing centre, relaxed that night, got up very early, had a good breakfast and arrived 20 minutes before the exam (the exam was at 7am and I had to be let in by the testing centre staff when they arrived).

I took three five minute breaks through the exam and finished with 10 minutes to spare. The exam is much harder than the exam simulator, but the simulator was certainly a good aid in understanding how the questions will be phrased by the PMI.

All in all a very stressful and intensive month, but I would not have passed without the PrepCast. I spent more hours with Cornelius' voice than my family in that time! If an intensive schedule is needed, then 6-8 weeks is a much better way to attack it.

Thank you to the PrepCast team for such an amazing product!