I started my preparation for the PMP exam in early November 2013. Took a 5 day class but I would say taking a class is not necessary. I just took it as my company pays for it, even though my application was approved without this class in Feb 2013 just based on my education/experience. Here is a summary of what I did (you are the best judge of where you stand and what you need to do, so please don't over-study):

- Understood and read PMBOK 3-4 times over the last 2 months
- Understood Rita's book well. I like it because it helps to clarify certain tricky concepts and has good test questions.
- I suggest read 1 PMBOK chapter and correlate to Rita chapter, and then make your own notes on concepts you find important/forget easily
- Took 1 free test from PMStudy (good and questions similar to PMI test), 1 ExamCentral Test (good questions and similar to PMI), Lehman 175 questions, and end of chapter questions from Rita's book which are also good.
- I strongly suggest doing a couple more free tests from Examcentral
- Understand your mistakes and take more notes.
- Doing questions is the key to gain clarity on tricky concepts
- Don't do more than 5-7 tests (diminishing returns unless you are doing poorly on all)
- Re-created 47 process chart (it definitely helped on the exam when awsering questions like what comes after what)
- I logged my study time over the 2 months, and it came close to 230 hours of preparation. Had to sacrifice a lot of things and sincerely hope this certification is worth it.

The exam turned out to be a lot more difficult and tricky than I expected. I completed 200 questions in 3 hrs 45 min, and barely had 15 to review some questions. I received a few questions on outputs, tools, HR theory, tuckman ladder, lots of questions on EVM, 4-5 questions on network diagrams, a few cost graphs asking about project status. The questions made me really think very hard about the options, and on several I still was not sure and confident that my response was correct. I found the test to be challenging over all, the hardest from all I took in practice. Maybe others have felt differently. I almost thought I was not going to pass. I didn't have the chance to take a break given the time constraint' when I was consistently finishing my practice tests 45 min ahead of time with 10 min break included. In the last few seconds, I said a quick prayer and let the test time out.

I was relieved to see I had passed with 3 Ps and 2 MPs in order of the phases attempted.

I got nervous during some moments as I had to mark a lot of questions for review initially, but staying calm is critical, and keep moving on. Any questions, send me a note.