Congratulations on passing the PMP Exam. I took the exam on 12th January and also passed it.
I used Andy Crowe's Book - Pass the PMP Exam at 1st Attempt and first took written notes & read it thoroughly over 3 times. My preparation time was between 5th December 2016 and fully utilised the christmas break. The new regulation of not doing the brain dump in the tutorial time was so that candidates finish the tutorial that may contain important information for the exam.
I would not do this. I would ask them what their policy is and would follow it strictly. You don't want to take the risk that they would kick you out for not following policy. It also would be unethical if you were aware of the new policy and just starting doing it anyway.
I was told it is not allowed anymore to write anything on the paper before the start of the exam. Policy changed 1 month ago. Plus they gave me papers and pencils 5 minutes before the exam anyways
Training for Project Management Professional (PMP)®, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®, and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®