TOPIC: Passed PMP - First attempt

I passed the PMP exam on 10/19/2018. Thanks to the PM Prepcast team, everyone who contributed to the forum and specially the moderators for providing advice and motivating me .

My Result:
Initiating - Below Target
Planning - Target
Executing - Above Target
Monitoring and Controlling- Above Target
Closing - Above Target

Before Exam:
My application was approved in January after an audit. Started studying from March-April. Since I am a fulltime working mother, I thought of dedicating short amount of times over a longer period. I had used some youtube tutorials and read Rita Mulcahy's book for my first pass. Second pass, I started reading PMBOK along with Rita's book again and third time I skimmed through Rita's book. I was very nervous about the quality of free practice tests in the market so did some research and came across Prepcast Simulator. I think that is the best investment one can make. Although the questions are not what you would expect in the exam, they definitely train and help you answer the questions on the real exam. I would have not cleared the exam if I had not practiced the Simulator tests. It is an amazing tool.

Exam day:
1. I was very nervous from before a month to my exam date. The first 5-6 questions itself had confusing options and I thought I would not be able to clear. I answered them but still marked them for review.
2. Many situational questions were there in which I could not identify the process that was being asked.
3. Some questions were pretty simple and that made me doubt my answer and think 'is it really this simple?'
4. I encountered a lot of Change Control Questions and most of the questions were from Risk, Quality, Stakeholder and Resource knowledge areas.
5. About 2-3 questions on EVM calculations. They were easy but I literally did not have time to perform a TCPI calculation and had to guess the answer.
6. Nothing on Agile.
7. Couple of questions on critical path and float. They were pretty simple too.
8. The questions on Initiating domain were very tricky for me. Most of them involved Cost-benefit analysis, Business Case and Benefits Mgmt Plan. Did not get any on Charter.
9. I was pacing myself and keeping up with the time, but still after 3 hours, I had around 20 unanswered questions marked for review and around 30 answered questions marked for review. I completed the unanswered first and changed some from the 30 marked for review answers. I ended the exam at 30 seconds remaining.

Here's a detail on the mock exams I had tried:
PM Prepcast Simulator:
Exam 1 - 82%
Exam 2 - 67.5%
Exam 3 - 74%
Exam 4 - 78.5%
Exam 5 - 72%
Exam 6 - 76.5%
Exam 7 - 72%

Free mock tests:
Oliver Lehmann (Got to only first 100 questions) - 77%
Simplilearn - 72%
MyPM LLC - 86.5%

I would really like to thank the contributers on this forum and the moderators. All of them took time and helped encourage me

Congrats!

Congratulations on passing the PMP Exam!