I passed yesterday on my first try. I got 3 P's and 2 MP's. This site has been very helpful so I thought I'd return the favor to those still studying.

My Study Plan (about 7 weeks):
I took a study course at work about 6 months before the test. I was so busy at work that I was multitasking and didn't absorb a lot of the info. After that I decided I need to set a date for my test to force myself to prioritize it. I set the date about 3 months prior. Well still busy at work I didn't get serious about studying until 7 weeks before the exam and my boss helped me free up my schedule so I could study during working hours too. I also had 2 weeks off of work to study over the holidays (my holidays sucked this year to say the least!)I studied almost every day of the 7 weeks starting off studying a couple hours a day and at the end 5-10 hours a day depending on what else I had going on.

First 2 weeks: read the PMBOK word for word. I started off highlighting and taking notes but that was distracting me so I just started reading and focusing on what I was reading.

Week 3: read Rita's book word for word. This was a lot to read in a week but I pushed on. Her book was much easier to read than the PMBOK. I cut out the processes from her chart and would do that exercise every few days.

Week 4 and 5: My plan started off reading 1 chapter of PMBOK and then the chapter in Rita. I made it half way through the PMBOK before I couldn't stand reading it any more so I just skimmed the areas I wasn't sure about after reading the chap in Rita. I also would take the rita chap. quiz before reading the chapter again. My scores weren't great (high 60's to low 80's). Then I'd take the quiz again after reading the chapter again but I'd stagger it so I took the quizzes on a different day than I read the chapter so it wasn't as fresh in my mind. This time my quizzes were around 90's.

Other study aids:
smart phone process game (very helpful!)

Last week and a half:
This was my week of practice tests. I was literally taking tests and studying my gaps for like 10 hours a day.
- Oliver 75 questions: 69%
- Oliver 175 questions: 75% (I needed to get 131 questions right and I got 132!)
- PMStudy: 30 questions 75%, 30 questions 63%, 175 questions 74%
- Skillport: 200 questions 77%
- PMZilla: I tried to do these the day before the test but they were too hard and my brain was tired. I should have tried these earlier.

I never memorized ITTO. I did memorize the inputs to Time Mgmt and Risk Mgmt processes and the outputs to the Procurement processes. I reviewed all ITTO every once in a while by looking at the PMBOK charts and the ITTO spreadsheet on this site but never memorized them. If you just keep reviewing them here and there, you become familiar with the flow.

I also never memorized the process chart from the PMBOK. I did print it out, cut it up and rearrange it from memory the night before the test. The processes were engrained in my brain from studying so didn't need to write it out.

The night before the test, I only slept 4 hours. My test was at 8am. That morning I got up and tried to review ITTO and my brain was not working! I remembered reading about someone saying they failed from not sleeping and I just knew that would happen to me. I just had to mentally tell myself I could get through it and kept visualizing the congrats screen to push myself through. I also decided I'd reward myself with a pedicure afterwards so I thought about that too. :)

Once I started taking the test, I became relieved that the questions weren't as hard as I thought they'd be. The hardest part was keeping my brain focused on the time and reading the questions and answers closely and carefully because I was so tired. I would start to panic at times and had to mentally calm myself down to keep focused.

My advice for the test, you really need to understand where you are in the process and what happens when. Rita's book was very helpful for learning this. Most of the questions were situational and you had to focus very closely to understand where you were in the process and then you could carefully choose the right answer. There were lots of questions saying "x, y, z, was done now what's next". You have to first figure out if you are in initiating, planning etc. and then where are you within that.

Process of elimination on the answers was very helpful. that way you can focus on the slight difference of the few choices left. If you focus closely, you can find the obvious answer. Look for questions asking about an ITTO and look at the answers and you will see some actually a tool but they are looking for an output. Things like that. Also, know the difference between quality assurance and control. Know how to interpret control charts.

Go through the test first not spending a lot of time on any one question but focusing carefully. I cannot tell you how important focusing is. My goal was to have an hour left to review marked questions and answer calculations. I marked all calculations for later except the really easy ones. I also answered but marked anything I was 100% sure about. There were about 50 of those. Once I made a first pass, I went back and did the calculations. If any one question was taking too long, I just guessed and moved on. This only happened on the CPM which were very hard so I just guessed on those (about 3). Also, know how to calculate EV and PV! The EVM questions weren't hard but most people focus on just the other formulas and not the simple EV and PV.

I ended by going back through all that I had marked. I got through most of them and ended up changing some. I ended the test not being able to review everything I'd marked but I did answer everything. Remember to answer everything even if you don't know, guess.

Then I just waited for the congrats screen, my heart was pounding out of my chest. I can't believe they expect you to answer a survey honestly at that time. I just marked everything "very satisfied" so I could get to the end. I was so happy when it came on saying "congrats", I had to rub my eyes to see it!