Dear All,

I have cleared PMP on Nov 12th (Yesterday).Offcourse it was not my first time but feeling very happy that i cleared on second attempt.I had appeared first time PMP in the month of July 2012 after nearly two months of preparation.But i could not cleared that time.After the exam i could learn one thing that i had not practised many sample questions.I just read Rita M and PMBOK two times and had appeared the exam.I felt very bad and was very upset but got some sort of strength when i visited this site for the first time.I saw many of us like me did not cleared first time but showing courage and hope to appear for the second attempt.

Then i started the real preparation and this time i started with all the free available mock exams.I used to visit this site regularly in every two days and getting to know about free available mock exam, LLs & needed advice.Every day i used to practise 50-100 questions through various sites.After finishing almost all the availabe mock exams i thought of going back to the books.

Became very serious from Oct 2nd onwards.I have utilised all the holidays like 2nd Oct,Dussehera for reading without having any social get together, office parties etc. I read simultaneously Rita M and PMBOK for one week.Daily 2-3 hours and weekends/holidays 7-8 hours was my study plan.Then i again came back to mock exams and this time i started with 70% plus scores. Some free mock exams i have appeared this time are as specified below

PMstudy,Headfirst,Simplilearn,certchamp,certgear,edwel,techfaq360,betterpm,pmpforsure,examcentral and my institute free mock exam which was provided.I used to refer PMBOK and Rita M for any wrong answers.I hope i have completed 4000-5000 questions this time.One good thing is that the more we practised, the same concept or definition will print in our brain.

Last week i again started reading PMBOK and did all the chapter end test of Rita M book which is very helpful to tune your thought process for the real PMP exam.Last week also i had appeared PMstudy and PMPforsure and i secured 80% and 76% respectivily.This gave me some kind of confidence that it's time for appearing for the exam. I have scheduled my exam just 4 days before this time.As some of our friends mentioned about Rajesh Nair's notes in this forum , i have gone through this just a day before the exam.It's really a wonderful asset.Hats off to Rajesh!Last week while in office i have completed 200+ questions by Frank T Anberi which is present in PMI site. It's free for PMI members.

Now on the exam day in morning (My appointment was (8AM- 12 PM) i just had a look to all mathematical formulas, Quality guru theories and HR theories.I reached there around 8 AM and the same security guy of prometric center able to recognise me bcz he was present there when i was appearing for the first time.After a big surpise and little smile he told Sir this time you will click and i am praying for God for that.

I started my exam around 8:15AM and found the questions little straight forward compare to last time.Or it may be due to the fact that i have practised many questions this time.Lot of questions in EVM and was requiring simple calculations.All time management questions which requires calculations (like forward pass,backword pass,float) etc i skipped those to handle at last.I took one small 4-5 mins break and finished the exam 10 mins before. Then i started the math questions of time management but could not able to complete all those and the time passed by.Felt little bad but i had confidence that i  did better this time.Then i completed the survey and started praying god and when i opend my eyes CONGRATULATIONS!

It  was a great moment after long time.One thing is that it's only hard work and a dedicated approach paid off.I found the exam questions were close to PMstudy.com .Last but not the least i found many useful tips from this forum.Small things like, that we can use a foam ear ball while appearing for the exam and i found it better to avoid external sounds.Many people who are appearing GRE are writing some long answers and typing through key board making lot of sounds inside the exam hall which caused some sort of disturbance last time to me.This time i have used the foam ear ball to avoid disturabance and i came to know about this thru this site only.A very big THANK YOU to PMZilla!

Just you have to be little dedicated and try practising as many as questions as possible.It's not advicable to remember all ITTOs.Just understand the concepts.Exam was not too had nor easy.It was TRICKY.

Next week we are expecting our first and i will be travelling to my home town with so much of relief and joy. I am writing this in a DIWALI night and praying for all of you who are preparing for the exams.So best of luck to all of you!

Regards,

T.N.Biswal(PMP)