very relieved and happy....don't worry if you fail the first time, the second time you should be fine cause now you have seen the types of questions just keep studying 2 to 3 hours per day and reschedule right away.

my approach

- had been reading Rita's book for a couple months but was stuck on her interpretation of the process chart and spent 3 weeks staring at it ...frankly I found Rita's book boring and hard to read and her exercises impossible and overkill....I don't want to memorize the book

only got serious the last 8 days - I have been off work and between jobs and was able to start serious cramming...my approach isn't for everyone.... 10  hour days are hard and I could have used 2 or 3 more days of sample test taking to feel more comfortable

- really liked Head First...easy to get through, lots of innovative approachs to learning boring content...I didn't do all the exercises but read the completed ones and read the entire book...did all the chapter exams...did the 200 question at the end in 2 hrs and got 75%...but looked up every wrong answer and made a study sheet.

got PMP for dummies tip sheet online with a few key things and memorized them

memorized CV, SV, CPI, SVI......couldn't remember TCPI but coulda used it......definately know these formulas backwards and forwards

-memorized table 3-1 (p 61 pmbok) and wrote it down when I got into the testing booth, helped with some sequencing and what to do next questions.

-every day for last 5 days each morning wrote down all formulas, table 3-1, quality control techniques & meanings, conflict resolution & meaning, req gathering techniques, estimatation methods, did critical path, LS-LF, ES-EF from memory, did CV, SV, CPI, SPI real calculations and what was good vs bad (LT 1, GT 1 etc), theories of motivation and what they mean, tuckertons form-storm-norm and meanings, risk gathering techniques....remember you won't get all these till you do this over and over...start 10 days out ...

-so...if I had to do it over....would have started a few days sooner....its hard because the longer time means you have to be super disciplined to study a hard subject intensely....I have been out of school for 30 years so I had to learn how to study again..

- final bit of advice, memorize what I did and write every day - 2x per day if you have to for at least 7 days.....and take all the sample exams you can....I didn't have time to take all Ritas exam questions cause I ran out of time....I was up at 4am day of the test ....doing sample questions of rita chapters i never got to...and found stuff not in head first.

good luck