Wow. That's really the only word to sum up how I felt upon seeing the Congratulations on passing the PMP  examination.  I'll never again doubt the power of prayer and hard work if you want to achieve something.

Study Materials: Let me preface this with saying I did NOT read these books more than once.  After i completed the first readings, the most I did was go back to skim certain areas in each.

-Head First Book- Great, GREAT book to start off with.  This breaks down the challenging world of PM using fun graphics and easy wording.  I highly recommend this as a STARTER book, never to be used alone, which brings me to the next book.

Rita-This was a really in depth book, and after reading Headfirst I was prepared to tackle its sometimes unnecessarily wording.  The book does have a certain negative tone to it, but it never really bothered me.  I highly recommend this book since it really breaks down what will be on the exam and the tips and tricks sections are really good.

PMBOK- What else is there to say? This really is the bible of PM and the wording of the test proved that to me.  You MUST read this book to get a good feel for the verbiage that will be on the final exam.  While it is boring, it is a necessity.  So do what you must to get through it (2 redbulls a night for me ;) )

Andy Crowe- I was actually done reading books, until I read on this forum that this book is a must read. So I picked it up from a library.  Is it a must read? I wouldn't say that.  By thit time, I was as prepared as I was going to be. I think Crowe refined my knowledge with its easy to understand language.  However this is a great book to start off with like Head First.

Rajesh Nair Notes: Used these during lunch at work and even more towards the end of my studying cycle when i was done reading books. Unbelievable the amount of work that was put into these notes. 

Practice Tests:

( highly recommend you take timed, 200 question tests to prepare for the final exam. Helps you build the mind muscle  to tackle the final exam.)

Rita Fast Track- Great prep for the test.  I took the PMP test and scored a 71%  Never got to the Super PMP. In comparison with the real test, these questions are more wordy.

Headfirst end of Book Exam- Scored about an 84% on this.  A lot easier than the actual test.

Oliver 175 & 75 Tests- Scored a 67% on the 75 question, and 73% on the 175. These tests are harder than the actual exam.  Some of the questions involved language that had nothing to do with the PMP exam. However, I recommend taking these to help build your test taking muscle.

PMSTUDY Free test- I've heard people say the PMStudy exams are the closet to the real exam. Well after finishing the real exam about 2 hours ago, I can say with 100% confidence they were RIGHT.  I scored a 72% on the free PMstudy test, and its likeness to the real exam is really uncanny.  While the real exam is a tad bit harder, I would recommend you to take this test above all else.  I wish I had paid for the others in order to improve my score, which I'll post below.

My studies started in May, with my test scheduled for July 21st.  As I got closer to the date, I realized I wasn't as ready as i wanted to be.  So I pushed it back to August 11th.  My days consisted of waking up early to study before work. Towards the ends of my studying I used to ready Rajesh Nair notes during lunch. These are highly recommended as well.  The effort put into these notes are outstanding, and saves you the time of creating your own.

The actual test itself had a difficulty level of about a 7 on a scale of 1-10.  There was an abundance of situational questions, a few critical path questions, and some easy math questions.I marked any question I wasn't sure of and finished the test with around 32 minutes to go.  I went back to review questions I marked, and reluctantly pushed the end exam button.  i didn't do the survey, and the screen flashed to these results:

Initiation: BP

Planning: MP

Execution: MP

M&C: MP

Closing: MP

To say I was happy is in understatement.  Besides all of the studying materials I listed below, another tool I used was this forum, especially the lessons learned section.  It really boosts your confidence and motivates you to pass and study harder when you see others succeeding.  At least for me it did, anyway.

Thank God and my lovely wife for putting up with my madness and studying material everywhere.

If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask!

C.Black, PMP