Hello,
I passed my PMP exam yesterday (16/08/2017), 3P's 2MP's. In the spirit of this group below are my lessons learned.
Background: I studied Mechanical Engineering, have an Honours in Management of Technology (Includes Project Management) and have done my Green Belt Lean Six Sigma. I studied intensely for ±6 Weeks (4 Hours on week days, 9 Hours Weekend days)
Lessons:
1)Have a plan, set some deadlines of what you want to do by when, it can be simple, mine was all of 5 tasks, but each one reached was an achievement that built confidence.
2)It is true, you don't have to learn the ITTO's to pass, but you do need to understand the flow to see the bigger picture. If however you are good at "parrot" learning (I'm not) and not pressed for time, it won't hurt, purely because you can POTENTIALLY answer the related questions quicker.
3)Practice papers.... do them a lot.... I used PM Training as well as the free Prepcast ones. I also purchased the Prepcast Formula pack for more focused questions. In the end I had done about ±2000 questions with an average of about 85%. And the two MP's I got were the two areas indicated as my weakest in the practice.
4) Read the PMBOK guide carefully, that brief statement in the middle of a droning paragraph that seemed obvious for that area, is actually super critical.
5) Something I wish I had embraced sooner, CHILL, it is not the be all and end all, the more pressure I put on myself the more daunting and complicated the task seemed.
Good luck
