Hi Everyone,

I'm brand new here, but I was reviewing the site a little bit before I sat for the PMP. I was mostly reviewing the site for exam difficulty and last minute preparation. I sat for the PMP on 29 DEC 2011, and passed it on my first attempt with MMMB. I know, not an amazing score, but I passed on the first try, and that's all that matters.

I'll be perfectly honest about what I used to study for this exam. I also don't recommend anyone to follow what I did, because you'll probably shortchange yourself in the process... I just do my own thing. Also, I've taken like 10 certification exams in the past, so certification testing is nothing new to me. However, this was the hardest and longest cert exam I've ever taken.

Here's what I did... I spent about 2 weeks skimming an exam study guide from Pass4Sure. I'll be honest on this... The Pass4Sure setup is crap. Their study guide was in slight disarray, and the material was actually wrong in a few places. Their actual practice questions were sub-par. Some of them were even wrong! I had to reference the PMBOK just to verify my answer was correct, and theirs wasn't. What I really used to help me study was PMPerfect.com. Their practice exams let me study and practice taking questions while getting used to the exam environment. I believe PMPerfect was well worth the $60.

I studied extra hard for about 5 days immediately the day before the exam. The test facility was nice. It was a cubicle type setup, but there wasn't much noise around. I sat down and in the first 15 minutes, I dumped Pg.43 of the PMBOK. I couldn't remember many of the math formulas. The ones I had to use the most were Communications Channels, PERT, and SV. Math is my weakness.

My advice on the exam... Read the questions and answers very thoroughly. In about 95% of the questions, you can eliminate two of the answers, but then you are left with an extremely difficult decision between the last two. 4 hours may seem like a lot of time, but it's definitely not. I finished the exam, and finished reviewing all the questions I had marked, with about 4 minutes left to spare at the end. It was tough, but it's passable if you use your working PMBOK knowledge and common sense. Good luck to all who take the exam! It's a beast! ;)

--Kyle, PMP