Forumers,

Passed my Exam on my 1st attempt with 2P and 3 MP with Proficiency in Initiation and Planning. Just wanted to share my tips n experience.

1. Spent at least 2 to 3 hours everyday for  45 days doing revision and questions. In short, eat drink sleep pmp.
2. I used Rita's and PMBOK as my main module. My method is to open both of these books side by side together with the facilitation module provided to us as reference. Wrote some notes to understand better.
3. I study after office hours where i can focus. Very hard to do it at home due to distractions. at weekend i went to the office to study. Need to sacrifice family time for that.
4. Go through both books at least 2 times to understand it. Even then i still miss out a few items.
5. Limit your reference books as you may get confused. Rita's for me is the best book ( clear and concise) . Others not so well structured.
6. Get some notes from the net and exam pointers from pm zilla.( rajesh nair notes  is the best)
7. if you want to revise at home , try doing questions.
8. you can get good questions from pmstudy.com, headfirstlabs.com., oliver lehman and pmzilla. Oliver lehmann question is similar to pmp exam but have to do  additional reference as some terms are not in rita or pmbok ) be careful of other website free questions as some are outdated processes .
9. dont just answer. check the answers and make some notes  to better understand the questions. ( say answer refers to  pmbok 4.1.2.3 - read it!) or snippets from other books like kim heldman and h. kerzner
10. you can use facilitation cd to familiarize with the pmp exam method  but as the q are repetitive, it will not represent the real q in pmp exam.  not quite same level as pmp but still useful. pmp exam have lots of multi line q . i got more than 90% from  that cd for 200 q answered under two hours but mainly because i remembered the answers from previous test.
11. some pmp q are easy, but most of them is hard. very tricky. firs t 20 q..was thinking im going to ace this. at q no 21 ..omg
12. trickiest part for me is conflict mgmt, procurement. some q are based on situations, lot of extraneous info ( distraction), have to read twice to understand. fortunately my aim is mostly straight and true.
13. i did not try to memorize the itto(input,t&t, output) . if you read enough you can estimate correctly which itto is for which process and which comes before of after process.( but remember the process groups and their sequence especially in the planning stage- important)
14. if possible try to do the process game in rita and practice it with somebody else.
15. my q and friend's q are different during the same pmp exam.
16. brain dump ( write down formulas n notes) before starting the exam.
17. be prepared before exam. know the place. dont bring undue stress to yourself. i took the train so i can get some rest instead of driving in the morning. my exam is at 1.00 pm. I do not want to get a hotel room as i will be unfamiliar with the place and will not be comfortable revising my notes.
18. remember the answers are already there. just have to connect the dots. see the clues. focus bro focus
19. you have to answer some q based on your  understanding of  the description of the process /activity/ technique. e.g it will not name charts , just its description.
20. when i took the exam and while waiting for the result, my heart almost burst. tried relaxation techniques etc. helps a lot.
21. be positive , smile - b4 i took the exam, some exam takers of a previous unrelated  test came out with long faces ( a lot of them failed  so lots of negative energy)
22. If you think you dont have enuff time. postpone it. if you d have enuff time , go for it.the sky is the limit.
23. my REP is the MAN..he is right. after enuff study, you know the process group at page 43 by heart. but i did not memorize the itto. that one you will know when you see the q.
24. train hard, fight easy - vat 69