Technically, my studies were over a few years since I have taken some college level project management related courses. My focused studying really was about 6-8 weeks. Oddly, I studied hard for several weeks and scheduled my date about 3 months out and was planning to study more over a holiday, but I couldn't since I got sick. I considered changing my exam date but decided to keep it. After that, I didn't study for 45 days and decided I probably should do a little studying the week of my exam date. It wasn't like cram studying but more of checking a couple of items.
Initially for my focused studies, I read PMBOK. I did a little bit of highlighting and wrote terms in the margin. and then I began the PMPrepCast. The videos were key for my success. They were a great audio and visual explanation of PMBOK and beyond. I think it was helpful to first read PMBOK and then listen to the videos because it allowed me to focus in on areas that I lacked project experience in or may have just skimmed when reading PMBOK. I liked the PMPrepCast videos over a bootcamp concept because I could go back and listen to specific topics when needed. I did this a few times after missing several questions on a topic. The expert interviews at the end also provided some great real life applications of skills and tools that I already have incorporated into my professional work.
After listening to the PMPrepCast videos, I worked all of the questions in the Christopher Scordo book, PMP Exam Prep Questions, Answers and Explanations. It has over 1000 questions. I checked EVERY answer. I wanted to make sure even those that I got correct that I understood why I got it correct. There was also useful information in the explanations that helped me fill in some gaps in my knowledge. I also used the phone app "PMP Exam Mentor" when I would be out places like in the waiting room at doctor appointments. The other big thing I did that I think really helped me early on is that I took the famous PMBOK 3.1 chart (pg. 61, 5th edition) and laminated it with a blank template on the opposite side. Daily I would fill in the template with a dry erase marker, some days several times. I needed a way to practice physically writing the chart multiple times without wasting paper. I also can recommend the LinkedIn group, "I want to be a PMP". It was one of the ways I learned about PMPrepCast and many other tips. I did about 300 questions in the Rita software (since my employer purchased it for me) and I also skimmed Oliver Lehmann's 175 questions pdf online. There were so many people talking about it that I felt I had to give the questions a try and I'm glad I did.
I didn't study to do a brain dump and when I tried to do one during the exam, I froze. I felt I knew the process table well enough and understood the formulas that I didn't need to actually do a brain dump. I just needed to focus on my project experience, PMBOK and what I learned from the PMPrepCast, so I moved on with the exam. Going through the exam I marked about 20 questions for review - most questions that were related to earned value, required a calculation, several questions I wanted to look at again and a few that I just skipped. I had 45 minutes at the end to review these questions. I only changed 1 answer on the questions I had already answered and marked for review. I submitted the exam with 11 minutes remaining.
