Hi,
I took my PMP exam recently and passed with an overall above target. I would describe myself as a working professional with a college degree and 5 years of actual project management experience. I read many forum posts before my test and I don't think many of them are realistic. If you are a working professional and/or have a family or outside hobbies, studying for 1-2 years (which I have read) or even 10 hours a week for half a year may be impossible. Your goal should be to study enough to pass the exam and get the credential. Isn't that the most efficient way? Then you can build your project management skills.
I started studying in April of this year. I started watching a video course to get my 35 contact hours. Anyone who does this should know that a video course alone is not enough. If you ONLY do this, you will fail. I also bought an iphone app at the same time - PMP Pocket Prep - which was only good for ITTO questions. It wasn't until the beginning of May that I started to read forum posts and discover PMP Prepcast. I bought it and took a full length - a 40% on my first full length. I had 3 weeks until my exam. In those 3 weeks I only used 3 resources - the 8 page quick reference guide by a PMP teacher - Sohel, PrepCast, and reading the PMBOK. It is possible to pass the pmp exam only using these resources. I wasted about a month with the video course and the app. I took 3 more full length exams in total and on my last exam I got 76% . I would only suggest to read the entire PMBOK guide - read it once. People who say use it as a reference and to not read it are leading you astray. The test is based on the book - READ IT. Also, only use resources which can reference back to the PMBOK guide. The prepcast was vital in my preparation - in both timing and structure of the questions. Without prepcast, I would of failed. Here is an outline:
1 ) READ PMBOK
2) Memorize the process chart, understand the processes and the flow
3) Get the reference guide and test yourself from there
4) Get Prepcast and do as many practice exams as you can, once you get to 75%, you can probably pass in the target region.
Don't over-do it.
