Hi All,

Passed the test 1st attemt today. Thanks to PMZilla and all the good folks. I thought the exam was much easier than most of the Mock exams I took. I answered each question and checked then checked immediately to make sure I was right. After the first hour I got a feeling, I will do very well. About 10 formula questions needing calculation and made sure all are correct. Also, I had a very high number of questions about cpi & spf. No calculation, just asking what is happening. 3-4 fast tracking questions and thanks to Cornelius Fichtner for a question in his Podcast that helped answering all these. His Podcast was also good and came in handy. I was able to relate the questions to his explanation.  Also Rajesh Nair's notes was helpful. About 10-15 questions were very direct and easy about process name or primary output or tool or process group. Rita 6th edition was the best source. Key is to take quality mocks. I could see the similarity. This made the 4 hours very relaxed. Not a bit a stress. Several questions were almost a page or more. I just scanned once and answere and marked. later I went back and confirmed my answers. Only two questions I changed. About 60-70 questions very tricky and really good. Mostly I lost points in ITTOs, some tricky ones and in the end when I realised I will pass, I was careless (not a good thing). 

I had a hard time remembering the ITTOs. It is over 30 years since I finished my engineering and over 25 years since did my graduate studies. That is why I have to put more effort to prepare which was an over kill. I understood the concept and reviewed few times. I did the brain dump, but never referred to it.I took 3 breaks. I could have finished the test in 3 hours, but decided to relax and do slowly. Didn't want to take chance.

This is what I did.

5 weeks of intensive study that included Podcast from OSP for 35 PDU's. I had read PMBOK, Rita and Andy Crowe before. Took many free exams. I didn't buy any exams. I tried couple of other free exams and they were no good at all. Good Mocks de-sensitize the real exam and the real test becomes another mock.

Oliver Lehman 75  73%,   175  75%   This was just after I got PDU 3 weeks before the test.

Headfirst 88%

Andy Crow% 87%

PMStudy  75% 4 days before exam. Reviewed answers both correct and wrong. Almost depicted real test.

Rita chapters 75% to 85%.

PMZILLA 75%

Paul Sanghera first two mocks 87% & 89%

PMI site Christopher Scordo  averaged 75 - 80% per exam. Good 50 question tests lots of them

PMI site Frank T. Anbari (ed)   80+% two weeks before the test.

Studied PMBOK and Rita once during the last 5 weeks. Then refered a lot for targeted study and during Mock test review. Studied the definitions in PMBOK. Thanks to projmanpro . His explanation in PMTREND was helpful for few question to confirm the answers. Used his process of analyzing, saket_pmp was right. It is not just only for higly skilled and educated. Couple of others who took the test with me said they couldn't understand much of what they studied, still barely made it. My suggestion to those who want to take the test, stick to standard Mocks. Study Rita and PMBOK. One other book if you wnat. Keep checking PMZilla. I checked 3-4 times a day. Review all the old discussions. Very helpful

Thanks again to all the contributors