For my PMP preparation, it seems I did everything wrong! And still (thankfully!) cleared the exam on 16th May 2011, morning!

I had become a PMI member in August 2010 with the sole intention of saving a couple of bucks on the PMP certification fees (the fee for the PMP certification alone is more for non-PMI members than the combined amount of PMI membership fee for a year and the PMP certification fee for PMI members!).

As soon as I became a PMI member, I applied for the PMI exam and filled up the forms in about 2 days. Thankfully my application for exam for approved promptly by PMI...that is, the application was not selected for audit.

Since then the preparation started...but not in any earnest. The following is the preparation I have done since August 2010, in bits and pieces.

- Read the PMP Exam Prep book (6th edition) by Rita Mulcahy, end-to-end, once. This reading was done, a couple of pages at a time, during the early morning hours before leaving for office.

- Print the PMBOK 4th edition, full book and staple in lots of 20 pages. I used this to carry with me and read it during the commute of one hour in the mornings. The Mumbai local trains are way too crowded in the evening hours to be able to do any meaningful study.

- Attended 2 days of PMP exam preparation classes, over a weekend, in Mumbai, by SimpliLearn (faculty : Nitin Gokhle). The class itself was good for stimulating discussions with fellow participants and covering all the PMBOK topics in 2 days. Though the subscription also came with audio-video learning modules, I did not have the time to go through the same.
- However, I managed to do one of the full 4-hours PMP practice test by SimpliLearn over a Friday late evening. This test, followed by the analysis of right and wrong answers helped immensely. I did not do any more practice tests...other than the sample questions at the back of each chapter in Rita's book
- A few days before the exam itself, I copied the first pages of each chapter in Rita's book, and the formula page (in the last chapter - Reasons why you might fail the exam), for quick reference and revision. The first page of each chapter has quick-test items which helps in juggling your  memory and covers most of the new terms and processes introduced in the chapter.
- Another thing I did a few weeks before the exam was to download many of Cornelius Fischtner (of PMPrepcast.com) free video tutorials and interviews on my iPod Touch. That helped me keep tuned to the preparation and gave a sense of reality to the PM topics.
- During the exam itself, I utilized 10 of the 15 minutes of the tutorial for brain dumping the formulae and the 42 processes under the knowledge areas. I think this is a good idea...since you may not have the cool to recollect them during the exam when faced with a tricky question.

That's it. The exam itself is quite easy but on many occassions, you will be faced with two seemingly right answers! The 4 hours for the exam are more than enough and most candidates with me finished between 3:30 hrs and 3:50 hours.

Good luck for your preparation. You may contact me at anandsharmav@yahoo.com if you need further specific information.