My PMP experience :

This is to tell some positive story & suggest not be nervous for attempting PMP for aspiring ones.

I decided to study for PMP & then started my preparation with Rita's book on Mar. 15th, I thought let's go thro.' it if you are comfortable then will schedule for exam. 

While my work was also going on I decided not to aggressively plan now itself & every two days I should finish one chapter was my goal, my goal was to finish one round of Rita's book by April 15th. Chapters 4,5,11 & 12 are very lengthy & examine your patience. I did not try to attempt the questions on each chapter in this first round, I wanted to make sure, I should not be frightened or run away from preparation if I got many wrong answers very first time & wanted to build the interest in the subject. So I used to select randomly one or two lines questions after each chapter & (may be avg. out of 25, 10 questions) & tried to solve them, did not bother even if all went wrong, so by this way I did not become nervous. By April 15th I finished full book, so I was happy, then some how due to office work as well as activities at home, I was not able to open a book also for the next full month, up to May 15th. April 15th to May 15th I did not read a single line, as if PMP is gone out of my life & never thought of it.

My family went to India for vacations from May 15th to July 1st week, so I was alone while they were out, so decided again to turn back to PMP, this time I decided I need to give exam before July 1st week else I would again lose track may be permanently after I am back with kids. So from May 20th I started reading again, this time I decided per day one chapter & attempting to solve all exercises, so by May 31st May I should finish Rita's book again. I started well, it was tough to finish big-big chapters in a day but I had target date of May 31st to finish so I could finish the book, questions after the chapters I did not do well but for the first attempt & I am solving full questions I thought I should be ok, I was scoring around 19/30 or 22/35 & similar ranges. I was writing notes also while reading this time. This built some confidence & hopes. 

Now June 1st, I did not want to lose track, I decided to do 2 topics a day now, quickly with all questions again from Rita's book, it was really really tough for me & I could not finish by June 6th full book, it took June 10th to finish the book again, this time scores were little improved but not great ones means now, 23/30 or 26/35 that's it, that also I was remembering questions earlier & I knew where I went wrong last time. June 11th I decided to schedule a date for exam in the same month, I also purchased some online lectures & exam simulator. I started listening them but found there are a few more things which Rita's book is not covering mainly related to Communication mgmt, risk & time mgmt. I was listening to those lectures until June 15th, 16th, when I finalized my exam date as June 27th. But by June 16th, I started becoming nervous again as I was discovering a lot of gap or differences between lectures & book & I was not in a mood or my mental state was not accepting to know something new I missed, but because only 10 days to go for exam, I thought now I should not discover new things but to revise what I studied so far, so turned back again to Rita's book. 

This time I read again 5th, 11th & 12th chapter properly & tried to solve questions from exam simulator. I was not thinking about how to solve 200 questions in 4 hours still; that was my bad & one of the lessons learnt, also I know I don't have patience to solve more than 50 questions at a straight without deflection. So from the simulator I used to select random 20-30 questions, there again I was failing consistently getting 16/30 questions right initially. Then I realized that when I finish Rita's chapter & go thro.' questions e.g. scope questions, my mind was biased & knew that this was scope related question only, but in actual exam it is not like that, there is a combination of all topics. There were a lot of ITTO questions also in exam simulator & by June 20, one week before exam, my highest overall score was 34/50. I again started losing confidence, then I took print out of the first page of each chapter in PMBOK, where all ITTOs are given for the particular chapter so I have now 9 pages full of ITTOs, I know I am not going to memorize it in the last week, but decided just to think logically what can be ITTO for each process, so anytime in a day in the last week (literally while walking, eating anytime), I used to ask myself what can be inputs & outputs for Define Scope or for Plan Procurement process randomly, used to think logically & then see those pages immediately for reference. I used to glance thro.' those pages daily twice in that last week along with revising my notes & Rita's book again & again.

I know I never tried 200 questions at a stretch so decided to write one exam from simulator on Sat. & one on Sun. I was on call support on Sat. from work & as soon as I started my simulator exam, some production problem popped up & I got a call in between after 90 minutes, middle of the exam, it took me around 50 to 60 minutes to solve that & exam time was ticking ultimately I could finish just 152 questions from those 4 hours & got 99 correct. Next day on Sun. I gave exam 4 hours at a stretch, compulsorily took breaks after every 50-55 mins. for 5-7 mins. & got 136/200, still not sufficient & shaky. 

Now 3 days were remaining I decided not to solve any questions not only from Rita's book but from simulator also which will lose my moral down. I just revised for those 3 days & in my mind decided, let's give exam, if passed well & good; however if failed, then prepare properly with more sample questions next time & join some course for a week for PMP exam preparation. 

However I was happy that from May 20th, I did not lose a single day also, was very consistent & studied on average 3 to 4 hours a day at least.

On the actual exam day :

Exam was at 8 am I reached to the center at around 7-50 am & got inside hall for exam around 8-10 am after all ID, security check-up. As soon as I sat in front of computer, facility at prometric made sure I start exam right away, first 15 mins. was tutorial, in those minutes I just  put down all 42 processes & formulae for EVs in the sheets provided. Now 5 mins. were remaining for tutorial to finish I quickly went thro.' it & then actual exam started. It was not that tough initially, questions were also not more than 4 lines, Rita's questions used to be full paragraph, I was doing well I thought for the 1st 30 questions then as I don't have enough patience & did not practice well to solve enough sample questions, I think I started losing concentration, but I had decided not to take a break at least until I finish 70 questions. But it was very tough for me somehow I went up to 55, then even a single line to 2 line questions I used to read twice to thrice & was not sure what to click. So at 63rd question I took a break by that time 65 mins. were over, so I thought I am in good shape as per as time is concerned, I went out drank some water, ate some cookies & came back. Btw, I forgot to mention I observed in the exam a lot of calculation questions in between popped up for me, which I thought pieces of cake for me. One disadvantage for those is you need to apply 2-3 formulae in that for (EV or SV) & will kill your time > 80-90 secs. per question but positive thing is you get definite answer, no ambiguity about what to select whether A or B or C, something like that. 

So started the test again from 64th questions, there no more calculations appeared (those questions were there but compared to 1st 60 less often) & questions were also lengthy & killing time & me also, I marked no. of questions for review in that almost 1 in 3 questions, those were really ambiguous, i will not say those tough, if I would have practiced well, I could have put definitive answer instead of marking. In these questions, I know I don't have patience & concentration but I was telling my mind that, if I would to fail, I should fail not because of I did not get enough time to solve all questions but I should fail because I answered them wrong, so I was avoiding break, now 170 questions done & 45 mins. remaining, I thought its high time for the 2nd break. In these middle 100 or so questions I got a lot of questions on activity diagrams, may be just to release my tension I guess, because like calculations those were also calculations (simple ones) & having definite answer & kept me away from marking, mainly those were related to critical path & floats & how long activities can be delayed etc. Its like in a hot summer suddenly you get a cool breeze for a moment. 

I came back from break, 35 mins. remaining & 30 questions to finish, I was really very tired, but again decided not to leave any question unanswered, was wishing some more calculation questions or activity diagrams, but I got only couple of those or may be 4-5 total in last 30, which were again cake pieces for me, rest I clicked to the best of my understanding, did not mark any, because I was knowing, that it is well & good even if I get opportunity to complete all 200 questions, forget about review of the marked ones. Now 6 mins. remaining & my questions were over. Just clicked on review, saw so many questions marked !! Tried for a couple of ones, but clock was ticking 5,4,.. so was very tensed & could not decide what exactly I should do, now 2 mins. remaining, I thought to let it go by itself. Then notice came You ran out of time, clicked ok, then I think computer was doing a lot of calculations in the background, then survey came, 9 questions of type Yes/No, Satisfied/Dissatisfied questions for survey & 15 mins. !! I thought funnily, why they don't ask such questions in exam & give us 15 mins. extra. 

Just finished survey in 3-4 mins. again screen went white for a while, I was looking completely down, lurking my face away from computer, then something came up on the screen, first word was "Congratulations", was very happy, came immediately out, instructor told me that I did not click end on my screen to get the results printed, it was not a big deal for me & for clicking end there was no MARK for review button also :-) just went inside again, clicked on END & came out got the result. 

Initiation : Below Proficient, Planning : Proficient & rest three : Moderately Proficient. 

I thought calculation questions & float questions of activity saved me, I should have prepared more well. Surprisingly not a single ethics questions I saw in the exam.

So suggestions for aspirants : 

Prepare well & don't take tension, no need of a lot of mock-ups but at least try a few, Rita & PMBOK should be good. Give yourself a target date. Focus on questions, because of my lack of practice I could not focus on questions properly, else I could have done better.