Passed PMP on 10 March.This was my first attempt.I am a Software Professional with over 10 years of techno-functional experience.My main area of expertise has been Business Analysis & Project Management.

I started my preparation on 1st Feb 2013.First 3 weeks I completed PMBOK & Rita and revised each chapter once.Completed all the chapter end questions from RITA religiously.The last 2 weeks I started attempting Mock exams (mostly free from web)- ( Brainbok-75%,Headfirst-73%,Oliver lehman-67%,Exam Central-77%,PM Study ( Free & 3rd) 72% & &73% each.

The last 3 days,I revised PMBOK & Rita once again.I did not memorize ITTOs (I just cannot cram) but I wrote the 42 processes & Formulas many times so that I can remember them if needed.

Day of the exam,I revised my notes in the morning again ( won't recommend anyone).I was pretty confident & cool when I went for the exam.Started the exam with the brain dump in the first 15 mins.Once I went ahead with couple of questions, I was in for a shock.The questions were really tough and tricky.I would say 95% of the questions were analytical/situational & I did not get any common questions from the mock tests that I practised.

Maximum questions were on the Project Management processes,Quality,Risk,Cost including a lot of numericals.The verbage of the questions was so twisted that I had to read most of the questions couple of times.I completed the test with just 12 mins to spare.I hardly had any time to go through all the marked questions & could only go through half of them.At that point I started feeling jittery & thought of having to come again for the exam :).

Finally I clicked the finish button...skipped the survey...white screen appeared & uuuu la la....I passed.Initially I could not believe it & read the message twice to check whether it was for real.Anyways,luckily for me it was a reality & I was thrilled with the outcome.It was a Sunday but still I celebrated my PMP success with a bottle of fine wine and was late for office the next day...:):)

My advice for people taking the test is not to memorize but get a clear understanding of all the processes,take a lot of Mock tests so that you are ready to deal with the 4 hours of mental pressure during the actual exam BUT please do not  expect anything common from the mock tests.Most of the questions will be situational questions which you may not have dealt before.So what will matter at the end is your basics,experience and thorough understanding of the project management processes.

Cheers!!

Subhankar