I have been a silent observer who joined the forums recently (to be exact - 2 weeks before my exam) .first of all let me thank the all the contributors,moderators for all your efforts to keep this forum the BEST Resource for PMP ! 

My journey started this January when my work place decided to sponsor a training for few of us who are part of the PMO. Since we have busy schedules, the classes were spaced out and we completed the training by middle of April.I started filling out the application and by the mid May timeframe i submitted my application and got it approved . Then it happened ... i went to schedule my test and i got audited.. GRRR!! I was really disappointed since out of the 8 team members i got to be the 'lucky' one ! But with my husband's100% moral support ,i went ahead and responded back to PMI with all the necessary documents the very next day( by overnight.) To my surprise ,PMI did complete the audit the very same day and when i went home,i had the audit completion email asking me to move forward with the exam date scheduling  !!!!!!!!

This audit did hinder my spirits and i didn't schedule the exam for the next few weeks. My initial target was the first week of June which now seemed quite impossible ! I had other family commitments for the 2nd and 3rd week of June so i scheduled the exam for the 6/25/2013. I used to study atleast an hour a day on week days and atleast 2 hrs in the weeends. When i got to the first weekend in June i knew i had to step up the game ,hence i started spending my weekend at the local library which helped me focus really well ! I mainly used PMBOOK and Rita's (completed both of them 3 times) ,started taking the tests from each  of the chapters in Ritas - scores were low to start with and by the 3rd time got to 86% level. Still my weak spots were Risk and Procurement.

During one of those library sessions is when i came across PMZILLA when i was looking out for the practice exams. i really  loved this and started going through the lessons learned ..then i found the hidden trasure .. Chowdhary Notes .. went through it once .. Just a week before the exam came across another hidden gem - Rajesh Nair notes .. then it all came together . I started taking the Exam Central tests - found it repetitive after 2 rounds ,then found simplilearn - took that got 67% ,Lehmann got 175 questions got 69%,PMStudy free test - 73%  - the one general suggestion for the test takers - please don't focus on the scores,just understand the question and the resoning behind the answer - that will definitely be helpful. As you can see these scores are just an indication and will highlight your weak spots .I know many of the lessons learnt indicate you need to score 80% to be comfortable with the actual test ,but my real experience with the test was different .

The day before the exam i took off from my work ,and started going thru PMBook - believe me ,it was very helpful to go through each and every chapters ( I had previously higlighted and marked the important points in each chapters) and kind of revisit the PMBOOK definitions . Then I started going thru Chowdhary notes and Rajesh Nair Notes. I didn't memorize the ITTO ,but went thru the ITTO games and tips mentioned in this forum in the 'study material' section. Also one other thing that helped is looking at Pg 43 of PMBOOK and look at each knowledge areas and try to see if you can come up with the Outputs .. For ITTO one other thing i did was understanding the sequence of Rita's 'Planning Process' alone.The easiest way to revise the Risk and Procurement chapter is to go thru the charts at the end of chapter in Rita's book and again focus on the Outputs for Risk and Procurement.

The Exam Day ... my test was scheduled for 9 am ,i reached the center by 8.15 am and found a quiet spot outside the building and started going thru Risk and Procurement highlights from Rita's book,quick review of ITTOs . I didn't chek in until 8.40 am ,after the checkin i was asked to wait .I had put all my books and materials in the locker didn't feel like going thru them again .  i was not called until 9.15 am ,finished the security check formalities and was taken to the desk . I started the test first few i marked to review again ,lot of those took  longer as they were either calculations or network diagram questions - i didn't have the time to take a break . I finished the first round after 3.40 hrs and i had only 20 minutes for review i quickly revisited first 50 questions and that is it .... the exam ended !!!!!!!!

The next few minutes were the most anxious minutes in my life .. the screen froze and then it asked whether i wanted to take the survey ,i took the survey and there was a another wait ... i was going crazy .. then it finally came "Congratulations, You have Passed the PMP Exam "! I couldn't belive it ... i relooked at the screen couple of times ,yes it was there ! 

I passed the exam with 3 Ps and 2 MPs - i really could not have done this without my family support and support from my work place ! i dedicate this to them ! 

I know this is a very long post but i felt like sharing my experience to 100s of other people who are in the same anxious boat .Also this has been a great forum which i have definitely gained something from and felt like making atleast this much of a contribution...

Good Luck everyone who is taking their exams, it is completely doable ,all you need is little effort from your side and alot of moral support !!!!!!!!