Passed the exam on my first attempt largely due to the exam sim questions. I finished the exam in about 3.5 hours and used the last half hour to review marked questions. Definitely didn't do the test as "leisurely" as some.
I studied for about 1 month, 1-2 hours a day on average. I've been in PM roles for the last 7 years so leveraged personal experience in my prep. My studying consisted of:
1) reading through the PMBOK
2) loosely using RITAs text (I felt that Rita's end of chapter exam questions are NOT a good depiction of what you'll find on the actual test)
3) completed roughly 1250/1600 exam sim questions and took notes on what I missed (never did a full test, all quizes ranging from 10-40 questions, both learning and timed).
4) Used Dan Ryan's excel sheet for ITTOs (no actual exam questions I got were on ITTOs specifically)
5) used PocketPrep on my Iphone (questions were not a good representation of actual questions either)
I felt confident entering the test but after about 50 questions, I was not confident in probability of success. Actual test questions are ambiguous with more than one correct answer. Many times the answers are VERY closely related and its a coin flip to what is the best choice. Had about 5 EV questions and a handful on the process chart. Those , in my eyes, are "lay ups" for easy points if you memorize the process chart and EV formula
As a note, I planned to "brain dump" the process chart along with the EV formulas during the 15 min tutorial window. However, upon arriving to the test center, I was instructed to not write anything on the scratch paper until I got to question 1 on the exam and clock started. This threw that strategy out the window but I was able to regurgitate it on the test when needed.
Overall recommendation:
1) Do lots of test questions (ideally from different sources but a good % from prepcast)
2) memorize the EV formulas
3) memorize the process chart
4) Identify key words in questions that can point you to a specific domain or process
5) Bring own earplugs if the test center allows (some people at the center had their own which was better than the vacuum seal headphones they give out)
Good luck!
