I cleared the PMP on Jan-31 on first try. Thanks to all pmzilla members. All the information available here really helped.

Also a special Thanks to my wife who tolerated me while I am studying. :) Without her it may not have been possible.

PMzilla post and experiences has helped me a lot in understanding the nuances of PMP and so I though I should contribute something back.

Story:

I registered for PMI membership in Nov first week.

Later by mid-dec I applied for PMP (this is one of the toughest part of the whole process ..:)

As soon as I got approved I registered for the exam for Jan31. I think this is the trigger of fast paced preparation. Once you know your exam date you can plan and complete the study with a target date.

Study plan:

I started off with Rita Mulchay 7’th edition. I was also reading PMBOK but soon got distracted. I completed Rita’s book, completed all the exercise and took notes for the questions I could not answer. Taking notes on questions you missed is very imp as these are the notes which you can review the last day.

I gave a test of Olivers 75-http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm and the results were not very pleasant. I got many answers wrong. This was 2 weeks before the exam so I was pretty much freaking out. I though I had it all. The missing part was PMBOK. The answers I missed were in Quality and Risk and I read these chapters in PMBOK. If you have very less time then at lease you should read these 2 chapters in PMBOK. (ex difference b/w quality and grade, tornado diagram, detailed explanation of s-curve etc are not covered in Rita). Also you should know the i/p and o/p of all process in risk and procurement which is very well depicted in PMBOK.

The best online resource I found was from pmzilla - http://pmzilla.com/pmp-exams-and-resources-pmp.

Apart from this I just used the sample PMfasktrack (the CD which comes with book) and Rita’s book.

PMstudy free test of 200 questions is one of the best sample test you can take for free.

PM fasttrack is said to be very good, but I did not buy it as I though it is expensive (around 300$).

The overall all prep time was 1.5 months with 2 hrs per day and 4-5 hrs on weekend days.

Experience:

Based on my test experience these are the areas you need to concentrate:

1. Cost management formulas (you should also know the exact definition and difference b/w PV and EV, else you may get many questions wrong)


2. EMV is important as it can be asked in different context


3. In HR management the team development process is imp – Forming, norming etc..


4. Critical path calc is very imp and you should know how it change if there is SS (start to start) relation or a SF (start to finish) relation etc.


5. i/p and o/p of Risk and Procurement management is imp.


6. Also you should know Rita’s process chart (at least 80% of it). Some may not agree that it is important, but I feel this is very critical to pass the exam.

One last piece of advice (if you will..)..Don’t study for 6-12 months for PMP. If you concentrate and study for 2 months it is more than enough. One drawback of long study plan is you may forget some of the concepts and you may have to spent  additional effort to get that straight.

Once again, thanks PMzilla and all the best to everyone who is preparing..