Hi All,

Cleared my PMP Exam successfully on 29th Sept 2014. I am very glad that after continuous preparation and hard work for the past 3 months I cleared the exam.

Preparation time: 4 Months. 2-3 hrs on weekdays. 6hrs on weekends. last 2 weeks fulltime.

Exam Experience:

The exam was not easy. The real exam questions were completely new and tougher than the practice tests. I took more than 15 full 4 hrs Practice tests. Not even 1 Q's similar in the real exam. e.g: Tuckman's Ladder Question came several times on the real exam but with differnet twist each time. Many complex questions were from Perform Integrated Change Control, Risk, Procurement and Quality.

Most of Q's were long, scenario based with more than 2 correct answers. The trick was to identify where we are in the PM process and to choose the best next action as per PMI standard.

Had lots of problems on EVM, both Time & Cost Estimation using 3 point and PERT, Control Chats problems, CPM calculation Etc... Need to deduce values from graphs and charts and use formula's to solve the problems. They were easy but consumes lot of time.

My First question was straight forward, easy and latter questions were difficult, complex mixed with one or two easy questions in between. ***KEY*** Have a good strategy for answering complex questions based on your practice tests: e.g: Dont spend more than 3 mins on tough and problem Q's. Choose your best answer, mark and move on and review it later if you have time.

Preparation Materials Used

1. Rita. Read full book several times and practice q's end of each chapter.
2. PMBOK 5. Reference Read
3. Read ITTO's several times logically. no need to memorize.
4. Took more than 12 Practice tests(3000 Practice Q's)
5. Practice Tests: KnowledgeWoods 7 Practice Tests came along with my paid training, PMStudy 1Free, 3 Paid Practice Tests, Other Free Tests: Head first PMP(easy Q's) , pm-prep35, oliverlehmann, free-pm-exam-questions, izenbridge, examcentral, tutorialspoint.

Lesson's Learned

1. Never loose your cool while taking the exam. If you get tensed, even the easiest question will look hard).
2. Do lots of deep breathing during the exam to keep calm.
3. Practice lots of full 4 hours sample Test. Revise the gaps. Time the exam properly, 25 questions in 30 mins etc..
4. Memorize the formula's and also some derived formula's to find EV, PV, etc..
5. No need to memorize the ITTO's, however understand the logical flow between the processes.
6. Expect new terminologies for few questions.
7. Relax before the exam.

Finally...Solve lots of full 4 hrs Practice test, as the exam not only tests your knowledge, also your endurance, psychometry and analytics

Wish you all the best!!!

Regards
Madhan Mohan, PMP