TOPIC: Passed PMP Above Target on 12/4/2017

MY PMP SCORE:
INITIATION - Above Target
PLANNING - Above Target
EXECUTING - Target
MONITORING AND CONTROLLING - Above Target
CLOSING - Above Target

STUDY RESOURCES:
1) PM Prepcast Podcasts and PM Prepcast Exam Simulator (Mostly just listened to podcasts rather than viewing slides while driving to work and while out jogging. I also took 7 full-length simulator practice exams AFTER going thru PMBOK at least once, Rita's book at least once, and the Prepcast videos. However, I also took the free simulator exam questions after reading through PMBOK the first time and BEFORE completing the PM Prepcast videos or Rita's book -- to get a baseline of where i was at; I scored about 60-65%)
2) PMBOK 5th edition (Read thru twice plus reviewing back to knowledge area chapters based on areas of weakness pointed out from my PM Prepcast Exam Simulator PMP practice exam statistics)
3) Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep 8th Edition (Read thru twice at least including short practice exams at end of each chapter)
4) Oliver Lehman's free 75-question practice exam
4) Head First PMP (hardly used)

PRACTICE EXAM RESULTS:
Exam 1 = 74%
Exam 2 = 76.5%
Exam 3 = 86%
Exam 4 = 81.5%
Exam 5 = 83.5%
Exam 6 = 81.5%
- Oliver Lehmann's 75 free questions -- 73.3%

METHODOLOGY:
- Memorize the 47 PMBOK processes right away from the start. It helps to be able to recall this right away even as you're learning the processes thru PMBOK and Rita's book. I also memorized Rita's PM process chart (even before the PMBOK processes), but I didn't find learning her processes were any more helpful on my practice exams than just knowing the PMBOK processes. Her process chart may help you make sense of the logical order of the processes, however, b/c it's a little more detailed. I don't think I took full advantage of her process chart even after having memorized it.
- The formulas to memorize in Rita's book are all I needed to know. PM Prepcast also has pretty much the same list.
- While working on quizzes and practice exams in Rita's book were helpful in solidifying learning concepts, the real gains I made in improving my exam readiness were from taking the full-length practice exams and THEN reviewing thru the answer explanations of ALL the MARKED questions -- not just the questions I got wrong. This was VERY time-consuming, but probably the best return on my study time investment b/c it helped me get a feel for how/what the PMP exam was trying to test. It helped me to better understand the differentiation of quality control vs. quality assurance, work performance data vs. work performance information, etc. which may be mentioned in various places of PMBOK and Rita's book, but I still had trouble applying the concepts til I took the practice exams. Also, if i scored below 80% in certain knowledge areas, I made a point of re-reading that chapter in Rita's book and/or PMBOK.
- Something I haven't seen anyone else mentioning, but I MARKED a LOT of questions on my practice exams and even on the real exam. I averaged marking about 100 questions on each exam and sometimes up to 130-137 questions! I marked a question whenever i was close in deciding between 2 answer choices. I just tried to improve my guessing rate, i suppose, of my marked questions so that the accuracy of my marked questions steadily improved from around 65-67% on my 1st two exams to a more steady 77-78% by my latter exams. The point is, I was NEVER 100% sure of every question even if I felt that I understood the PMP concept. That was also true on the real test today, so even I was surprised that my pass rate was Above Target. I'm sharing this just to say don't be discouraged if you've been marking as many questions as I have. I did worry about this all the way to the real exam. Just trust in how you're scoring on the Simulator Exams to gauge your readiness.
- Lastly, I'll just note that I didn't study very efficiently. While everyone recommends studying at least a couple hrs EVERYday, i didn't. I mainly studied on weekends as I'm a working parent who's also involved in my kids' extracurricular activities. I studied 2-3 days over the weekend at about 4-5hrs/session. I did this for about 6mos. I don't recommend my time table unless you can afford to drag this out this long; it was a pain for my wife and family to support me dragging this out.

TEST DAY EXPERIENCE:
- I arrived 45min early, and I was allowed to start my test early, which was great! As long as they have testing seats available early (due to people finishing prior tests early), my test center allowed me to start early.
- On calculators, while a PC calculator is available on desktop, I asked for a separate handheld calculator and they gave me one. Never hurts to ask if your test center will allow.
- The actual exam functionality is similar to the PM Prepcast Simulator Exams, but, as others have mentioned, it has additional features that improve your testing experience: 1) Allows you to highlight text in the question; 2) (I ESPECIALLY LOVE this feature and wished PM Prepcast Simulator had this feature) Allows you to strikethrough answer choices to eliminate choices. You right-click the mouse on answer choices that you want to eliminate for yourself, and if you happen to mark that question and come back to it later, the strikethrough is still there so that it helps you move through your answer choices just a little more efficiently.

Thank you PM Prepcast for your wonderful preparation materials, forum discussions, and numerous specialized guides that your people have created. It was a WONDERFUL knowledge base of materials and money well-spent. B/c I have benefited so often from reading thru these discussions and lessons learned, i felt COMPELLED to pay this forward with my own lessons learned. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE STUDYING FOR THE PMP!!! I KNOW YOU WILL PASS, TOO