Hello Folks,

Today I cleared by PMP exam with 5 P's, trust me before appearing for the exam I was so nervous I just wanted to clear my exam and never dreamed of 5 P's. Would like to sincerely thank my wife, family, friends and at last but not the least PMZilla for supporting me throughout this journey and constantly motivating me.

I have gained a lot from valuable lessons learned shared by various contributors of this site, would recommend every PMP aspirant to be a part of this site. 

Now it's time for me to share my LL

PMP Preparation:-

Was thinking of appearing for PMP certification from April 2012.Though I started reading the PMBOK and Rita but somehow was not able to start the full-fledged preparation. For me the real journey started with one of my office colleague recommending PMI membership. PMI site gave me access to lots of e-learning material and the real benefit came when I started attempting Christopher Scordo test....this was the time when I started assessing myself and got to know a lot about areas where I had to improve. And from here I didn't stop and started exploring various other freely available mock test including PMPFastrack.

Preparing a plan for PMP preparations especially for the last days and executing the same is really helpful.(including identifying mock test you wish to attempt)

Books referred:-

PMBOK 4th edition - Must have 4-5 times end to end inclusive of Glossary and Appendix.

Rita 6th edition - This was the book which really helped me to clear concepts and gain confidence.

HeadFirst - Used for just attempting the 200 questions mock test at the end of the book. Folks do recommend this as a good book to clear concepts.

Mock Test:-

1) Cristohper Scordo - Attempted test #1 to 12, 16, 17 and 18 with an avg score of 80%.

2) Headfirst - 200 question mock test, scoring 75%

3) Knowledege wood mock test#1 - 68%

4) Knowledege wood mock test#2 - 69.7%

5) Knowledege wood mock test#3 - 71 % (Before I could attempt more my membership expired :-(

6) PMStudy Free Test - 82%

7) Simplilearn Free Test - 71%

8) Oliver Lehmann - 75 %

9) PMPFastrack - Attempted almost all 1500 questions for the 9 knowledge areas with an avg scope of 75%. I think made the real difference for me.

10) PMPFastrack (PMP Exam) - 89%

11) Super PMP - 77% (This was the one I could say was closest to real PMP exam)

Key is to attempt as many mock test and questions as possible and I would strictly recommend after every test review your wrong answers and bridge your gap. And never attempt same test more than once, always remember these questions are to clear your concepts rather than memorizing answers.

Exam experience:-

Overall experience was very thrilling, was really nervous. After attempting mock test I was able to set targets for time management which helped me. Completed 1st 60 questions in 1 hrs and then 100 questions in 1.5 hrs. After attempting 100 questions I got some confidence that I would be able to clear the exam but was still a bit nervous.

Finally I was able to complete all 200 questions in 3.5 hrs (including 3 breaks) but had many questions which I marked for review. Advice is not to spend too much time on one question, if you are not confident select the best possible answer and mark it for review.

In last 30 mins I was not able to complete review for all marked questions but did changed answers for some questions which I was able to review. As expected I ran out of time and I sat back with my eyes closed waiting for the result. Unexpectedly it took good amount when something came back on the screen and to my surprise it was a survey, which I preferred to skip.

Again the screen became blank for almost 2-3 mins when I saw "CONGRATULATIONS", was extremely happy to see these words and within few seconds I had my biggest surprise 5 P's and I was stunned as I never dreamed of getting 5 P's.

At last all weekend studies and continuous sittings for mock test was worth the result  :-)