I cracked the PMP on my first attempt on the 25th of March 2013. with 2P's and others moderate. When i look back at the journey seems like the exam is over hyped and underrated at the same time Over hyped is the subject matter complexity, under rated is the level of concentration required and thats probably why i thought i should post my lessons learnt (the hard way) for other PMP aspirants to gain and nail it too.

Step One - This part of my prepartion i like to call "Getting a flavour of the Subject matter"

Objective - To understand each concept independently (not necessarily the flow of the Inputs.T&T and outputs)

I read the Head first PMP and really slowed it down to understand the concepts with the lively examples in the book, i would read two or three pages then close the book and think of examples from my life to relate to the concepts i just covered.In addition i deligently took the practice sheets and would flip back to certain segments where i was either found guessing or gave the wrong answer

Step Two - This part of my prepartion i like to call "Getting in to the real stuff"

Objective- To understand the flow of the inputs, T&T and outputs

I took a print out of the Inputs,T&T,Outputs and would begin with the first process of the first knowlege area i.e Develop Project charter and try to rationalize why each input,T&T,output would fit and why not any other and would verify the rationalization from the PMBOK and proceeded the same way till i completed all the 42 processes.

I know you must be thinking this is contradicting to all the other blogs posted on the forum however let me tell you and i am sure those who have read or are reading the PMBOK would agree with me when i say the choice of words used on the PMBOK is not the most easy to understand however that said the diagraming used is one of the best you will ever come across. So refer to the visual depiction to get the entire picture of the processes together.

Step Three - This part of my preparation i like to call "Develp the mental strength"

Trust me appearing for a four hour objective type question exam is not the easiest thing to do, to add to that a PMP aspirant who has for atleast the last 6-7 years not attempted a professional exam. The case in point being the mental prepardness is the key

I recommend taking the following sample test - 200 questions in one sitting

www.oliverlehmann.com.

http://www.preparepm.com/mock1.html.

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/pmp-exams/pmp_mock_exams.htm

Consider meditation to build concentration and identify when is the optimum time to take a break in my case i would take the first break at 75 questions then at 125 then at 165 to ensure i cover up for the lapse in concentration.

That said, i would still stick my neck out and say Cracking the PMP is not diffcuilt its tricky but the good news is the tricky part has now been decoded.

Best of Luck

Amaan Raza PMP