i wanted to share my study/pass experience as i appreciate the advice and information shared by others on this site.

first, i would point out i am an experienced project manager but wanted to get to PMP to facilitate a job/career change.  so while i was not ever trained in the PMP terminology directly, i found that i was familiar with many of the concepts.  here was my program.

took free-test on pmstudy to establish a base-line - scored 61%

selected pmstudy program for PMP of 40 on-line contact hours and 4 practice tests for $129.00 to be used in a 30 day period.  this program offered powerpoint chapter guides for each knowledge area plus professional responsibility and overall project management context  (11 areas) plus chapter tests of ~ 80 questions and four full length practice tests. 

read PMBOK front-to back twice marking up the book and phrases i did not know.  read the PMP code of conduct.   completed the 40 hours PDU in PMStudy and took 30 of 80 questions in each chapter test area.  also read parts of Project Management, A Systems Guide to Planning Scheduling and Controlling for areas i was not familiar with (note, pmstudy will occassionally reference this text as justification for its answers on practice tests)

took first pmstudy practice exam, scored 85%

did additional 10 questions per study area/chapter test

took second practice test, scored 86%

did additional 20 questions  per study area/chapter test

did additional free tests i found on internet....probably an additional 200 questions all areas.

took third practice test, scored 88%

completed all remaining questions per study area/chapter test

took 4th practice test, scored 96%.

sat for PMP exam the day after the 4th practice test.  no thinking/practice the morning of the test.  just got a good nights sleep, then went cycling to keep nerves from building up.

passed the test with four proficients and two moderate proficients.

overall, i would say that the pmp exam was harder than the pmstudy practice tests in that there was a higher percentage of very fine-grained situational questions where i could get down to two good answes but really could not figure out the "best".  i would also say it included more situational questions and less of the pure mathematical questions (e.g., CPI, SPI, critical path, etc)  than i expected.  However, i would comment that the pmstudy practice questions in form and content were very representative of the test itself.  the only area that i felt unprepared for were questions on delegation....that was not covered in the content i reviewed.  so if you are doing well on pmstudy practice tests...i think its a good indicator of being able to be successful on real PMP exam.

i would also say that many of the free practice tests i took outside of pmstudy were very NOT representative of the test.  i think maybe they were trying to scare you into taking their particular program.

overall effort from start to finish was about 100 hours over the course of a month.

thanks again everybody and good luck.

hs