Hi,

I am Vijay. I passed PMP exam on 30- Jan 2012. I have been silent reader on this site and now it's my turn to share the study plan and lessons learned.

Recommended study plan:

1. Read all the 42 PMP processes and different organization structures. For this either use Andy Cowe (How to pass PMP on the first try) or Head First PMP. Either of these books will provide you the base knowledge which is required before you start with exam simulations.
2. Read PMBOK at least once. If possible write down all the process definitions (one liners) on a paper and stick them on to wall where you can have a glance multiple times in a day. You may create a wall paper or screen saver which will appear on your desktop / laptop so that you can look at them many times whenever your computer is idle. This will eliminate the need to remember ITTOs since the one liner process definitions will give enough hints about what would be the inputs or outputs for any process.
3. Start practicing Questions. Here the MOST IMPORTANT thing to note is not all the free practice tests available on internet are of good quality. I will suggest Rita's PM simulation since those questions are tougher than the actual exam and the explanation provided at the end of the exam will help you to clear many of your concepts.
4. Go and attend the exam.

Lessons learned:

1. The questions which require you to do calculations are really easy. Write down all the formulae on one paper (A4 size would do) and stick them on a wall. Make a habit of reading all of them everyday when you wake up and every night before you go to sleep.
2. The questions which appear in the actual exam are quality questions which are written by industry experts and hence are not ambiguous. If you try the free tests available on internet, most of the questions will be ambiguous and getting them wrong will unnecessarily bring down your confidence.
3. Rita Mulkahy's book (PMP Exam prep) is specifically written to prepare the reader to clear the exam. This book should not be used as a first resource when you start preparing for the exam especially if you don't have any project management experience. The book assumes that you are well versed with PMI processes and only attempts to only clear gaps in your knowledge. Ideally you should start reading this book just before you start taking practice tests.

Regards,

Vijay Jadhav