I passed my PMP exam on Mar 30, scoring 4 P (Initiating, Planning, Executing and Monitoring and controlling) and 1 MP (Closing).
Few things about the exam itself
1. There were no direct ITTO questions. There were may be 1 or 2, where ITTO knowledge was required, but those were more of scenario based.
2. There were few n/w diagram questions, which were tricky.
3. The multiple choice options were probably quite relevant to question, so it needed deep understanding to pick the best answers.
4. The questions however were similar to the scenario based questions in Prepcast, but less worded. Majority of questions were, "What will the PM do?", in a given situation.
4. Overall the Exam was well balanced across knowledge areas.
Prepration: Though, I started last year and studied Rita I had a break for 6 months due to work priorities. The I started preparing with all seriousness in Feb this year. I studied both Head-First and PMBOK once. Then I took the first exam in simulator and scored 72 %. Identified the areas of weakness and targeted those for next full exam. I read PMBOK twice after that and attempted 7 out of 9 simulator exams, with 79% average. 2 days before the exam I started reviewing my weak areas and reviewed those chapters in PMBOK. I believe reading PMBOK is absolute must. I did not attempt to memorize ITTOs because they are too many and moreover, I realized after going through lot of posts on this forum that there are no direct ITTO questions. I think it's more important to know the 'WHY' behind ITTOs instead of just memorizing them. For the month of march, I dedicated atleast 2 hours on weekdays and 4 for the weekends to ensure that there is a consistent schedule.
I must say, Prepcast simulator was most significant tool in my preparation. It helped me identifying the weak areas and the exam review helped in solidifying the concepts even more. My recommendation would be to carefully evaluate the answers (both correct and incorrect) after each attempt. Moreover, to be able to dedicate 4 hours in the simulated exam prepared me to sit through the exam quite comfortably. I was able to answer all questions in 3 hours. Then took a 5 min break and back again to review the marked questions. In total I completed the exam with 30 mins to spare.
That said, it's done now. Wish all the future participants good luck for the exam.
