After reading so many success stories on this forum, I just had to add my own!

Today I passed the PMP exam with 3 P's and 2 MP's!

I took a good 6 weeks studying, but I also took a PMP Exam Prep course at a community college late last year. The course is what opened my eyes to the whole thing and laid the groundwork for what I needed to learn/study.

I used a few of the same study materials others have mentioned here (PMBOK, Rita, PMStudy...), and I have to say that by this time yesterday, I really felt as if there was nothing more I could really study.  I took that day off and saw a movie.  Excellent advice, and thanks to those who made it!

My practice test scores were in the mid-70's so I felt I would be okay, but lemme tell you, the actual PMP questions were a bit more difficult.  Essentially, it was heavily situational...but what annoyed me was that often, instead of using PMI terms, the question would use the longer definition to describe the situation.  

So if you were looking for specific keywords, they wouldn't be there.  You really had to read the bloody thing. And the question wouldn't be "what does this describe?"  Instead it would be something else related to it, but you would only know that if you recognized what they were defining.

But as someone else here mentioned, the first half of the questions seemed more challenging than the second - and that was a welcomed change to my stress level.

Oh yeah, about stress...if you have the time, take your breaks!  I took FOUR and they definitely helped clear and refocus my head.  And if you have to go to the bathroom, do it!  Otherwise the need to go will overcome your ability to concentrate on the questions.

Also, one of the things I did to gauge my progress was to keep a running tally of questions I KNEW I got right.  And I was conservative:  only counting those that I was 100% sure about.  "Pretty sure I'm right" didn't count.  Done this way, by the 100 question mark, I had 40 answers I knew were right.  By the end of the exam, I had 83.  Being 100% sure probably didn't prevent maybe a few actually being wrong, but taken with the other odds of getting most of the "Pretty sure's," some of the "Kinda sure's," and maybe a few of the total guesses right...having 83 "definites" wasn't bad at all.

One last thing:  I did not study the ITTOs at all.  AT ALL.  I just barely even looked at them.  I figured, considering the probable number of questions, it wasn't worth overflowing my brain with them.  I "Accepted the Risk" and figured I would use logic and reason them out should the need arise.

So to everyone planning and/or waiting for their exam day, stay focused and stay confident.  There's nothing better than that CONGRATULATIONS popping up on the screen (after waiting forwever for it and being forced to fill out a survey..ugh!).