During my preparation, I browsed this forum and learned about the free mock tests and how to prepare for the PMP exam. I thought I would post my experience here.

My prep:

I only studied from Rita's book. I tried to get through PMBok but it put me to sleep each time without fail. I did use it during my bootcamp course (I did not have Rita's book then) but only as minimally as possible. I read Rita's book 3x because I'm a slow learner; it is an easy read but after going through it just once I had already forgotten about the earlier chapters.

I took the end chapter quizzes and scored 75-85%. I learned about the free mock tests from this forum and took the following in this order: OL175 (79%), OL75 (71%), PMStudy 200Q (85%), HeadFirst (81%), Exam Central full test (83%), about 300 random Exam Central questions (86%). Exam Central told me I was poor at Closing. I was about 1 week from the exam, so I focused only on Closing. I did my 3rd read-through of Rita in a hurry (2 days), focusing only on Closing processes.

Test day game plan:

When I took timed mock tests, I always had over 1hr left when I finished so my game plan for test day was to take slow and mark as many questions for review as I needed because I was going to make myself stay the full 4 hours! (I would not forgive myself if I failed due to not checking my answers!!)

What actually happened:

I arrived early and was allowed to begin the test right away. During the 15min tutorial, I made my dump sheet (Rita's order of Planning processes, all formulas, Quality theorists, HR motivation theorists, change order process). The first handful of questions were very difficult. It took me 45 minutes to get through the first 30 questions and I had 10 marked for review! Then suddenly the questions became more manageable for me. For many questions, I was able to quickly eliminate 2 choices but the 2 remaining choices were VERY similar.

I had more Communication channels questions than I expected (maybe 7?). About 25(or more?) questions on EVM (most required no calculator). I only had to draw 3 network diagrams. About 10 or so questions regarding changes (some obvious, some trickier). Another 10 or so situational questions regarding risks.

By the time I finished question #200, I had 40minutes left (MUCH less than expected) and 25 questions marked for review. By the time I finished the remaining questions, I had under 10 minutes left. I was both relieved (that the torture would be soon over) and frantic (no chance to review all questions). I reviewed as many questions as possible (starting from Question #1...) before time ran out. I took the optional survey (I had a good exam experience - they gave me headphones that canceled out all the noise, I was very thankful) and then got the Congratulations screen. I got 1MP (Initiation), 4P.

Again, thanks to this forum for letting me know that free mock tests are available. However, I think none of them accurately mimics the actual exam I took. Exam Central probably came the closest in the type of questions but the actual exam had a higher level of difficulty for me (able to quickly eliminate 2 choices but often had to dig deeper into my brain to decipher between the remaining 2 choices).

Good luck to all!