Just passed the PMP with 4P and 1MP in closing.  I wanted to share my lessons learned as those before me have done since I found it to be helpful and very encouraging.  I really followed what a lot of other people already said on here (plan your study, take practice exams) but I want to reiterate anyway.  I must preface that I only set aside one month because it was a work requirement that I get it by the end of February and I wanted an extra month in the event that I failed on my first pass.

STUDYING: I pretty much attacked this like the PM that I am so the first step was planning my approach.  I decided week 1 was reading the PMBOK and taking key notes, week 2 was Rita and Crowe plus their practice questions to help me see how I was progressing, week 3 was practice exams galore, and week 4 I focused on where I was weak (for me it was risk and HR).  My plan was written out, had goals for each day (i.e. chapter 1-3 on Monday), and I crossed things off as I got through them to add as an encourager.  As I took practice tests I wrote down what I got wrong and why, and kept track of my scores - which are below with the name, percent correct, and number of questions and in order of how I took them (all free):

• CertChamp 83% 200
• iWeb 69% 200
• EamCentral 82% 200
• PMEssentials 76.5% 200
• PMStudy 75.43% 200
• PMZilla 43% 30
• PreparePM 84% 70
• PreparePM 89% 28
• way2PM 77% 25
• PassionatePM 80% 100
• Andy Crowe 87% 174
• Techfaq 91% 200
• TutorialsPoint 83.5% 200
• TutorialsPoint 86.5% 200
• Rita 81.42% 409
• Oliver Lehmann 64% 75
• Oliver Lehmann 76% 175
• Simplilearn 73.7% 175
• HeadFirst 82.5% 200

I felt very confident by the time I got to the Simplilearn and Headfirst especially since the majority of the questions I missed were ITTOs - which I did not plan on memorizing.  All-in-all it was over 2500 questions with an approximate average score of 80%.

DAY BEFORE: I spent the afternoon reading through what I got wrong but then spent the evening relaxing because overstudying is really, very real.  Besides, one day of cramming won't help me that much.  I also took a Nyquil to make sure I got enough sleep because by the time I got into week 4 I was literally DREAMING about the PMBOK which made sleeping very difficult for me.

DAY OF: I got to the testing center early and HOLY COW I was so nervous.  I can't remember the last time I was so nervous about something.  All of a sudden all the confidence started to sink a little so I called some friends for a pep talk, walked into the bathroom, looked myself in the mirror and coached myself for awhile until I felt a little better.  The testing center let me in right away.  I did a brain dump of the 42 processes and equations, went through the tutorial, and started.  The first 30 minutes were really tough because I kept shaking, couldn't focus, and my heart kept racing.  After awhile though it just subsided and I was able to answer all 200 in about 2 hours.  Since it was over my lunch break I went to my locker to where I packed some snacks and water and WAS NOT ALLOWED!  This was a shock to me because the Rita book and other sites had suggested bringing snacks, water, a sweater, etc.  But they said no, the PMP exam was one of the ones that had a restriction on accessing lockers because there was no scheduled break.  So I spent the next two hours reviewing questions while my stomach grumbled in agony.  I barely even read the full question because I just wanted to leave.  I marked about 25 but had enough time (200) to review everything - which I did.  I really thought the test wasn't that hard but I think that all those practice tests really helped me.  I really felt that it covered everything pretty evenly, I didn't have a ton of one type or process area questions but at the same time only a few stumped me and it was because I couldn't remember something (like an ITTO) and not that I hadn't seen it before.  Anyway, there is NO JOKE when people say it takes FOREVER to get your results.  It processes and processes, then oh hey we know your heart is about to leap out of your chest but please take this survey?  No!  More processing and more processing...and finally PASS.  Thank goodness.

So to summarize: plan your attack, take a lot of practice exams to not only test you but to build confidence and show you where to focus, don't cram the day before, and remember that the testing center may not let you into your locker.  Good luck to you all and, to my fellow PMP-ers, thank you all for your lessons learned and words of encouragement on these forums!  Especially 'miners' post for passing 1/8/13 - that post was a true inspiration to me that being nervous is just a fact and that you CAN get over it and get through it and you CAN pass if you just trust yourself - all that information is up your brain you just need to spit it out correctly.  This is a great community we have here and I'm happy to be a part of it!!!