I passed the exam on my first attempt.  I found the exam to be quite easy.  I scored Proficient in most except for 2 areas where I scored Moderately Proficient.  I finished the exam in 1.5 hours and spent 1 hour reviewing my answers (only had to change 3 answers).

Study Materials Used:

• Andy Crowe book


• Kim Heldman book


• PMPerfect exams


• PMStudy exams


• PMBOK (didn't read it completely; for reference only)

I didn't read the PMBOK in its entirety.  What I did was:

Read Andy Crowe book once and did all the questions and examples.  It was good to use for me to understand the main concepts of the PM methodology. I found the PMBOK too confusing and technical at this point.

Read Kim Heldman book three times and did all the questions. I skipped the details on the 'Real World Scenarios' and the pages on how the topic pertains to your next project.  The first time I read the book, I was already familiar with most of the concepts per Andy Crowe's book.  I noticed that there were some details that Andy Crowe didn't have which Kim's book had.  The second time I read it, I made sure to review items that weren't sticking to me per the incorrect answers I had received on the chapter end questions. 

After having read Kim's book the second time, I had signed up for the PMPerfect exam membership.  I did a number of the practice tests and again noted where I was weak.

After having done PMPerfect exams, I re-read Kim's book once more to understand the remaining concepts that I couldn't understand.  After every chapter of Kim's book, I would do additional tests on PMPerfect to reinforce my understanding of the concepts.

3 days before the exam, I dedicated most of my time to reviewing everything.  I no longer used Andy Crowe's book but relied on Kim's book and the PMBOK.  I did most of the exams that PMPerfect had available and again for anything I was weak on, I referred to Kim's book and the PMBOK. I did 2 PMStudy tests as well (see my note below on this one). 

I also perused the code of conduct from the PMI website which was helpful.

In regards to memorizing things:

I created my own set of flashcards to memorize the 42 processes. It took me under 30 minutes to memorize these.  Using flashcards made it quick for me to memorize them. Writing them out every time would have taken me hours to memorize.

I only memorized the ETC and EAC formulas.  Memorizing these took me less than 10 minutes. I already understood how to calculate EV, SPI, CPI, CV, SV from doing exercises and questions.

From all of the feedback I've read in this forum, I was planning on memorizing the ITTOs.  I didn't memorize them.  When I was doing the exam, I found that because I understood the concepts  well, I was able to either pick out the correct answer or easily eliminate choices that didn't make sense.

About the exam:

I didn't find the exam tricky at all in comparison to a number of other users' feedback here.  I found that doing the Kim Heldman questions and PMPerfect questions really helped me.

The exam questions were broad in what it covered.

I did a brain dump at the beginning. Wrote out the 42 processes and formulas. 

About other study aids:

I got a hold of Rita's book. I read the first chapter and tried a test. I hated it. Too much "noise" in her writing style. When I am preparing for exams, I like facts - basically, only what I need to know.

A lot of people used the Oliver exam questions. I tried it as well. I did 3 questions and found it far too difficult. Didn't bother with it at all after the 3rd question.

I had also purchased the 4 exam package from PMStudy.  The PMStudy questions are similar to the exam questions.  However, I found that the exams I took were the exact same ones.  As an example, I completed the first set of 200 questions.  Shortly after, I decided to take the second set of 200 questions.  The first 10 questions where exactly the same as the first set. I decided to then end that exam altogether. I proceeded to use the third set, which is once again the exact same thing as the first exam - the questions were the same and were in the same sequence.  My expectation was that the questions would vary per set or at least change the sequence of the questions. Personally, I would only buy the 1 set if I were you.

Good luck on your exam!