Dear All,

I was the silent observer of this great forum, but I must say that I was really benefited a lot from other PMP aspirants, achievers, others in this forum. As they say "stupids learns from their own mistakes whereas intelligent learns from others also"

My Background: I have around 5.3 Years of experience in IT industry after that I quit IT industry and currently pursuing Internship for my MBA (F&B).

Strategy to Crack PMP in 3 months Flat:

Stage 1(Month 1): I started to get the feel of the contents, syllabus and guidelines of PMP from the most user friendly book that I have ever seen i.e. the Head First series. Book name "Head First PMP". I read daily on weekdays after office hours as I travel to home on weekends so "weekend study" was not an option for me. During the 1month of study I researched for the education of 35 Hours PDU (Professional Development Units) which is a mandate before appearing for PMP exam. I would say that pre-reading (Read: finishing the entire course before taking the PDU classes) was the most important aspect of the strategy. After the research about the PDU education, I decided upon the Knowledge Woods Consulting, as the deal was good (Money back guarantee, 10 set of mock exams etc) and I must say that I had a good experience with them.

Stage 2 (Month 2): In this stage, after I gone through the Head First book, I attended the PDU classes for 2 weekends and it was a cake walk as I was already aware of the terminologies and concepts for PMP.  I started with PMBOK guide and read each and every line from it. Although this books seems boring at first but once it is supplemented with creative "Head First PMP" you will find that the PMBOK is indeed very well written. I am sure you will appreciate it once you know how important this book is for the exam.

Stage 3 (Month 3) : During the above 2 stages I keep on jotting down all the important points, concepts in my own notebook so that I can refer them at the last days of exam. During this stage I prepared for the mock exams. I have gone through, Head first mock exam and as it was easy it gives you a confidence that you are well prepared. I started with knowledgewoods mock tests and got a reality check that I was not adequately prepared as the level of the exams was good. I revised all the contents of Head first book, knowledge woods material again in 3-5 days... effectively gone through the entire syllabus for the 3rd time. I would suggest that please make use of your smart phones download all the free apps of PMP from the play store (This means I am an Android user :)) and use it where ever possible like in train, bus, any other places where you are comfortable:) Apart from the head first test and 4-5 knowledge woods tests I have given the Oliver Lehman's 75 Questions, 175 questions, PMZilla's 35 tough questions and so on. I was scoring on an average 65-70% on the exams and I got a feel that I am not adequately prepared for the real PMP exam.

Due to limited time and the targets that I set up for my own that I need to crack this exam in 3 months flat I could not have done more than this. With the inherent confidence (Read over confidence) that I can do it, I scheduled my exam yesterday. In reality, I was horribly scared to appear in the exam as the stake (time, money etc) was too much high. I could not sleep for last 2-3 days really. My advice to future Certified PMP managers is that decide on the plan which you feel is the best for you and just stick to that plan... come what may. There will be a lot of clutter that you will find on the internet that this is a great book, this is the best mock, you can't miss this and so on... but still I would say have confidence in your own abilities rather than anybody else. I scored MP (Moderately Proficient) is most of the knowledge areas but considering the constrains of time, I feel I did what I can do the best. There was one more guy with me yesterday who appear for PMP and he could not clear the test yesterday. I would say that this is a tough exam, lengthy exam only the perseverance and patience prevails in this exam. Lat advice : Prepare for the marathon rather than a sprint.

Wish you guys all  the very best for the exam... if you feel you can... I am sure you can. Don't listen to too much advice... listen to your own. That's what I believe very strongly. With this I am signing off for the party...

Cheers,
Sidd...
the "PMP"... :)