The test surprised me. no doubt the simulator test helped me, but I think these questions were much more logical than the actual test. for example, in simulator questions there would be an instance where the PM Plan needs to be updated but "initiate a change request" is among the answers and truly the correct answer since you can't edit the PM Plan without an approved change request. That said, the test would omit the Change request and give you four Management plans as options for editing. As always, choose the best logical answer even if there actually are steps that proceed it.
Test center: gives you almost 15 minutes before the test to accept terms and a preview of how the test will look. To avoid losing test time, I recommend that you start writing your cheat sheet during this time.
Every test is different but I didn't find my cheat sheet too helpful. I had all 49 processes (mirroring page 25), and all EV formulas (somewhat helpful)
because there may not be enough time to go through all your flagged questions, I recommend that you jot down the question # for the ones you feel you you have a better chance of getting right the second time around. Check those first and then go back to others. In my case, I had time to do just that and check some random questions that were unflagged. Also, if you spend more than 2 minutes on a question and you are really unsure, flag it (jot down and circle it) and move on. Address these first among all flagged later.
They do offer you a software calculator which was super helpful
As mentioned above, the questions/answers aren't as logical as the simulator but still true.
EV Formulas: study different ways of getting to the answer: i.e. CPI=EV/AC if you have the CPI and the AC figure out how to get the EV or any variation of that. Do this for every formula. It will save you a lot of time on about 5% of the questions
Know where WPD, WPI, WPR come from and go to
Know the difference between Stakeholder engagement and Communications. So many questions that eventually you get confused (at least I did)
pay
know your project documents (These were all over my test: Assumption Log, Issue Log, Lessons Learned Register, Change Log, requirements Documentation, Requirements Traceability Matrix, Project Schedule, Project Calendar, Quality Metrics, Quality Control Measurements, Resource Requirements, Resource Calendars, Risk Register, stakeholder register)
I had one question that was referring to a risk and the question asked about transferring. two of the answers were about transportation. I could see how someone would get confused and think transfer meant transport so don't make that mistake. know your strategies for risk/opportunities
know all of your diagrams, what they do, how they look. quite a few questions that asked which to use
Interpersonal and Team Skills were a big part of my test
The closing questions seemed to revolve being offered another project while the current project isn't complete, what do you do next? Pay attention
Initiating, when you notify stakeholders at project charter signing, at PM Plan acceptance, both? know this
A lot of questions with scenarios that went wrong and what the project manager could have done better. Choose the one that makes the most sense but according to the PMBOK (not just your common sense)
Be familiar with Agile planning, backlog, reviews, retrospectives and Kanban uses. I had about 5-10 questions on this
Above ALL, pay attention to the question the first time. if in your practice test you find yourself rereading questions, then get a handle on that issue. You need to be able to read the question once and understand what is being said or you will waste a lot of time that could be used for harder questions.
I never took the full test on the simulator at prepcast. I always took the timed quizzes (sometimes up to 100 questions). Sometimes I focused on a process group only and sometimes on a knowledge area. I never want to see questions I've seen before or answered incorrectly (the idea is not memorization but comprehension). Take short 10-20 question tests regularly and review every one you marked to understand why you were confused and get clarification and all the ones wrong to understand why the correct answer is right and the others are wrong. Doing this will build you up way faster than repeating the video over and over again. in my opinion, the videos are sufficient to be watched once. As you get closer to the test than more 100 question tests to get a feel for the pressure. I personally don't see the need to take a full 4 hour test before hand. Think of Marathon runners, they seldom run a marathon in preparation.
I hope this helps you on your test.
Good luck
