I passed my PMP exam on the first try this week (mid April). I started studying using the PM PrepCast in December. My study schedule was rather erratic, but I listened to/watched almost every PrepCast lesson (I didn't finish the 80s and 50s series). About 2-3 weeks before the exam I also bought and carefully read the Andy Crowe book (it proved to be a simplified and rapid way of reviewing the subject matter, but was not very thorough (and the formatting of the book could use work)). I did not read the PMBok, mainly because there was no time left, and I did not want to reschedule my exam. I did the practice exam in the Andy Crowe book and one online practice exam the night before my exam (from Velociteach - given that I would only have time for one single online exam!)
I ended up studying less and reviewing less than I would ideally have liked to. I was therefore not very confident going into the exam. What helped a lot was that I was as attentive as possible while studying, therefore not having time to review did not have very negative consequences.
As advice, I would strongly recommend listening to/watching the main PrepCast lessons (1 to 13) while taking notes (therefore not while driving nor walking, etc.) Taking notes really helped me to concentrate and allowed me to simply revise my notes (and not have to listen to the lessons twice). I also recommend following a rigid study plan (which I did not do) to reduce stress! My final week was a stressful rush of getting through all the final material and feeling guilty for not reading the PMBok guide! The additional study guide was a lot more helpful than I thought it would be as well. I attribute my main success to the PrepCast though, it was extremely thorough, well presented and organized and allowed me to concentrate and learn while not in a classroom setting (which I know I have problems with usually!)
I did a braindump during the exam (they no longer allow you to write during the 15 minutes allotted to the tutorial). I knew that I would not take the 4 hours to finish so I felt comfortable doing that. I wrote out table 3.1, some key outputs that I had a hard time remembering, and some formulas (but not all). I think it was mainly helpful in that it allowed me to focus, but I didn't need to refer to it often.
I finished the exam, and had time to review about 70 marked questions, in 3.5 hours. My stress level was high enough that I would gaze at almost every question without being able to read it properly for a couple seconds, and then I would force myself to concentrate and take it in. I was sure to mark all the question I wasn't sure about (usually two answers would be ambiguous), and when I revised them I changed between 25-30% of my answers.
