I passed the PMP test two days ago above target in all categories and the following are my lessons learned:
1.The prep cast simulator questions were the same type of questions written in the same format as the test questions. I took all of the test in the simulator, including the ITTO's and then reviewed all questions; including the ones that I got right. Also I got great clarifications of any confusing issues from my mentor, Stan Po.
2. Focus on selecting the best answer rather than the right answer. Sometimes I was not happy with any of the choices but it is a waste of valuable time to get overly concerned on finding an answer that nails the question; often there is not one.
3. Going to the bath room can use about 5 to 10 minutes of time because you have to check out and check back in and sometimes the bathroom is a distance from the test room. So best not to hydrate much prior to the test.
Be in a physiological state where you can sit down and not get up for the full four hours because you may need every minute. From my side I finished only six minutes early. And I stayed glued to my seat for the entire test period.
4. I paced myself at answering 50 questions an hour - average of 1 minute 12 seconds per question. To maintain that pace, I moved quickly on the ones I was fairly certain of the answer to allow more time for questions that require time consuming calculations; for instance, the project schedule questions can take a few minutes to generate your network diagrams, therefore, you need to make up for those type of questions with only a short amount of time (like 20 seconds) on others. Essentially, there is no time to linger on questions that you are not sure about. It is best to answer them with your best guess, mark them, and go back to them if there is time. From my side, I had about seven questions that I marked and I did not change any of my initial answers on those when I reviewed them at the end of the test.