I am so relieved and happy to inform you guys that I finally cleared PMP today March 21, after a lot of delays and procrastination. Lots of questions on Risk Management, Quality Management. I scored well on all areas except Initiating that kind of surprised me. Not a single question on computing critical path. Please read PMI code of conduct carefully, questions on that can be tricky.

Total study time of 3 months 3-4 hours a day, weekends off. I used a combination of PMBOK, Rita, Head First and Andy Crowe. I would first recommend starting with Andy Crowe, then Rita then PMBOK. Head First is awesome for good explanations in an intuitive way. Andy Crowe is what I used 2 days prior to the exam to review all concepts. Excellent book, well worth its price. Relied on PMBOK and Rita as main source of preparation.

ITTO: The dreaded ITTO’s. I started off by trying to memorize everything. Failed miserably there. I completed Andy Crowe Book, then opened PMBOK and studied ITTO’s. I just applied plain logic. Once you know all the PM processes and how they integrate with one another, logic is a snap. Memorization helps to some extent, but logic is better. If you really want to memorize I suggest you memorize ITTO’s for Risk, Quality, Procurement and Scope.

What I would have done differently: I wish I had answered the practice tests before. I waited till the last week, to answer all practice tests in one go. My take was I will answer once I have covered everything. Don’t do this mistake. Answer the practice tests much early on. You have to know the concept. After that don’t waste time reading the same thing again and again. Once you know the concept, practice applying it, and the only way to do it is by answering the practice exams.Don't underestimate the mental and physical fatigue encountered after finishing the exams.So, it's better to answer these exams 2-3 weeks before your actual date. Oh and by the way, schedule the exam first and study later.That way you have a fixed deadline. Try not to postpone unless you seriously believe you are not prepared.

As I practiced the exams in the last week, I chickened out from doing PMZilla questions and Oliver Lehmann. Man, they were hard. My confidence was being dented big time there. In order to keep my confidence up, I avoided both those tests and concentrated on getting all my concepts right. I did lots of questions from PMFast Track (not worth the cost in my opinion; spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes). I would have done much better if I had gone through PMZilla and Oliver I guess.

I answered the following:
PMStudy.com – 1 free PMP simulated test: 70%
Head First – 1 free simulated exam: 82%
Andy Crowe – Final exam at end of the book + questions from Velocity Teach: 83%

Motivation Factors:
I told all my friends and relatives that I will be answering PMP exam. Everyone used to ask me how is preparation going, good luck, ans well, etc. That kind of forced me to focus on my studies.

Exam Day:
I saw 3Idiots (Indian movie) funny parts, told my self All is well…and went ahead. I reached almost 2 hours early, and was given the option of taking the exam early which I did.
The most tense part, is the waiting period after you press End Exam button. After that the dreaded screen for the survey popped up, my heart was in my mouth…Finished the survey…again…agonizing wait for 20 seconds or so. Then the message appears “Congratulations”. The feeling that you get when you see that is something that is only to be experienced after putting in so much hard work.

It's been a long day guys. Thanks to my parents, sister and my wife for all the support I have got from them. Finally I get the weekends to my self  Let me know if you guys need any other information.