Hi,

I have cleared the exam with 4P and 1 MP in 1st attempt. I am satisfied with the results.

I have been a silent follower of this forum and thought of sharing my experience as well.

1. Whatever be the experience of the PM, the exam demands some amount of study to know the precise terminologies. There not many organizations which will follow the exact terms also, though most organizations follow the principles. I studied for around 2 months for around 150 hours including the mock exams and reviews.

For this, I had to study the PMBOK, (3 times - 2 times thorough reading, 1 time..only the highlighted sections). I used to make notes of imp stuffs and some ITTOs which used to confuse initially and I refered them over last 2 days before the exam and that was extremely helpful. There were qns on ITTO and I think, I did pretty well in them.

2. I did the mock-up tests from PMStudy and the actual exam was not much different from that. Those equipped me to find out the flaws and the weak areas and gave the confidence on timing that few qns can be lengthy and few will be short and easy. So, have patience to go through the lengthy ones also as the qn might be easy.

3. There were quite a few qns on the network diagrams and EV calculations and interpretations. All of them were very easy. Once you know the concepts and remember those 6-7 formulae of EV and EMVs, they should bring a good amount of score in this area. I think, I got around 20-25 qns in that area.

4. I took a mock-up of Headfirst lab also, but the questions were easy and also the qns are short. This is not a good suggestion to practice timing and to judge your standing of study.

5. I had refered Rita once after the PMBOK 1st round and did the questions twice. The explanations clear lot of misunderstandings. Similarly, I did only the questions of Kim Heldman and those have helped in the similar lines of Rita M.

6. There was hardly any direct qns on Social Responsibilities and Ethics, so make sure that you think logically on execution steps in crisis situations. Guess, that's how they are coining the questions now.

Couple of things which I had learnt from the mock exams ( can be completely personal ) that, well timed breaks are good. My runs of answering right increased a lot after breaks. So, on exam day also I took couple of them...(belive me, there is ample time for the exam).  That will help to keep away the fatigue.

All the best for all the people preparing for it. It is not tough, but, there is no shortcut to study , and YES, as many people say, study of PMBOK is a MUST, one other reference is enough if you can understand the concepts and logic.

Regards,

Pallab