First, sorry if my writing is not good. English is not my first language (spanish is) but i must write my lessons learned after passing the PMP exam today.
For my first attempt i took classes in a PMI authorized center and got my 35hrs and read the PMBOK and Pablo Lledo's book (its like Rita's for spanish). To get ready for the test i used a PMP simulator in spanish and didn't hit more than 70%, but the exam day was set. After 3.5 looooong hours i failed my exam. 1AT, 1T and 3 BT. What a horrible feeling.
I tried to find the perfect PMP study plan. You know what? There is no perfect plan. You have to make your own depending your time and situation, try and try again. I subscribed to the PMP Exam Simulator from PM PrepCast. This was the best help. I struggled with the language and trying to translate not only the questions, but the correct and wrong answers to understand better the situation. I only took 1 full exam to see what doming was my problem. I then took daily quizzes (20, 30, 50 depending the domain) and got to score 86% at the highest (a challenge if is not your native language).
I went today and i knew how to read between lines in the PMP questions, identifying the real problem in each situation. I finished my test (with spanish aid of course!) in 2.5 hours with 1 AT and 4 T.
Thank you very much to the administrators of the page and to everyone that is seeking the best plan to study you can do it!
