Thank you, Pierre!
Great questions. I will share my experience with the similarities and differences but please don't skip areas to study because your exam is likely to be much different than mine. I also don't think I can give you accurate percentages but I can share additional anecdotal feedback.
1. I felt that the exam simulator fully prepared me for the exam. I didn't feel like the exam, in general, was harder. It was just different because there was more pressure on me to get the questions right than when you're taking a simulator exam. The added stress made the experience as a whole feel more challenging but if you're confident with the simulator you should have no problem with the exam.
2. I studied the crap out of the earned value management formulas and I didn't have one question about them.
3. As far as knowledge areas go, I think the breakdown in the exam overview document on the PMI website was accurate as to what my question breakdown was.
4. I took two FULL simulator exams and got a 78% on the first and an 88% on the second. I took a lot of quizzes though and I think I averaged about 78% for all that I took.
5. There were a lot of questions regarding sequence, or what came next. Really familiarize yourself with the exam outline and the process laid out in the PMBOK guide (And the Ricardo Vargas video I referenced in my original post)
6. When answering the questions, read the last sentence first and highlight the key information the question is asking for. Does it ask what comes next? What comes first? Highlight it. Then read the question and highlight additional key pieces of information that you think will help you answer. This strategy helped me really focus on what was important in the question and focus on what it was asking me.
I hope this helps!!
- Mattie