I have been a quietly perusing this site for the last month and a half or so while preparing for the PMP exam.  So glad I found it - got a lot of great advice and help from so many wonderful people.  It helped me pass my exam today with the following scores:

Initiating - MP

Planning - P

Executing - MP

Mon/Con - MP

Closing - MP

I always thought that graduate school was my greatest challenge and accomplishment but I can honestly say this is by far the greatest challenge and the hardest thing I've ever had to do!

I began studying somewhat in April but got serious in May.  First pass was with Head First -- great book to learn the basics and a good understanding of the processes.  I appreciated the numerous exercises throughout the book. It made the concepts stick in my head.  Moved from that to Rita.  I couldn't really take a lot of Rita's book - seemed confusing to me if I tried to do all the chapter exercises so I just read through it and filled in gaps from her lessons and did the chapter exams.

Read PMBOK all the way through once - not exactly the most interesting book in the world.  Really took a lot of effort to even pretend I could continue reading it but kept on.  I needed a bit more of a challenge to retain the information from PMBOK so I went through again and developed 300+ questions that helped me then retain information much better.  As painful as it was, skimmed through it one more time night before the exam.

ITTOs were a challenge.  I've read many posts from people who say not to memorize them but they sure do come in handy if you can.  I created ITTO grid for each Knowledge Area and wrote them out frequently in the beginning and then less frequently as I got to learn them better.  I also recorded them as a .wmv file and downloaded the file to my Android.  I listened to them in the car, at lunch, before bed -- whenever I could.  Pretty soon I started learning them like you learn song lyrics.  

I don't know how many mock exams I did -- feels like a thousand!  Did all of Scordo, PMZilla 30, Lehmann's 75, Head First, Rita's chapter exams, Tough 200 (these were really tough but also very helpful to fill in knowledge gaps), PM Exam Simulator (9 exams), PMStudy exams 1-4.

Exam day was very stressful for me.  I think I began calming down and really understanding what I was reading around question #30.  Once I calmed down, I was able to begin applying logic to the questions and picking out the answers.  Always two are obviously wrong and then you are left with two very close answsers.  This is where you have to go back and read the question very carefully and pick out the information that tells you what you are being asked.

I had about 3 direct ITTO questions, about 20 or so EV, one make-or-buy, 5 or so CPM ES-EF questions, 8-10 each of HR and Communication and Risk.  Know your contracts, I had about 5 direct questions on these and, of course, general Procurement questions (grrrrrrrrrrrr ).  All others were situational - what would you do FIRST, what would you do NEXT, what is the BEST answer.  If you read these carefully you will get most of them right.

I finished the exam with about 45 minutes left and then went back to the first 30 or so.  I identified about 5 where I had the wrong answer and changed to the right one.  I was able to quickly go through in the remaining time and just quickly scan to make sure I felt comfortable with my responses.  With 1 minute left I took a deep breath and clicked END EXAM.

The screen went white for about 15 seconds.  The longest 15 seconds of my life!  My heart was pounding and I was breathing faster.  Then a pop-up asked me if  wanted to take a brief survey.  Are you kidding me?? I just wanted this to be over with -- so --  clicked End Survey and then the screen went white for another 3-4 seconds. Then.....

CONGRATULATIONS! I was so relieved I opened my mouth in disbelief, put my head down on the desk and almost started crying.  What a relief!!  I finally got up and went to the front office where I got my belongings and was handed my notarized document that said EXAM RESULT - PASS and practically ran to my car.

After 3 months I could finally enjoy some time with my husband. He had already bought me flowers without knowing if I had passed or not - he said he was confident I would. We saddled up our horses, went for an afternoon ride, barbecued some steaks, and sat outside and enjoyed each other's company. This was just as hard on him as it was on me and I can't thank him enough for putting up with me during this time.

Stay true to your studies and believe in yourself.  You can do this.  Thanks to everyone in this forum for all of the support and advice I've received!

Good luck to all aspirants!

Tina W., PMP