I passed!

Wow! I just got home from the testing center and can barely spell PMP after that brutal ordeal. I answered question number 200 at the 3 hour and 59 minute mark. I had marked about eight questions for review but thank God I selected what I thought was right because I obviously had no time to review them :) I had all the intentions of going in and answering about 75 questions and then taking a break but as I saw the clock tick down the first hour and saw I was only on question 35 I knew breaks were out of the question! Four hours straight of reading and answering, reading and answering. As for preparing here is what worked for me: (These first two were crucial. I would not have passed if I did not do this for my memory dump.) 1. I memorized the process chart. I made sayings for each process group and number strings across the top and down the side. I wrote this out twice a day for about a week then just once a day when I could do it without any mistakes. Couple of videos on YouTube that can give you some good ideas. 2. I memorized the formula chart. Just as above I started with twice a day then dropped to only once. Along with the chart I wrote the TCPI formula, PERT, Standard Dev, comm channel, and PTA. 3. After the Vets2PM course I went through the book again chapter for chapter and answered all the questions. 4. Next I went through the book two more times while following along with the CDs. This really brought the understanding of how all the processes interact for me. 5. As for extra practice questions. I did the final exam at the end of the book on Saturday and missed 8, answered about 100 questions from the Velociteach website and 100 questions from the exam central website within the past three weeks. I found the exam central website questions closer to the test than the others. 6. The only part of the PMBOK that I read once was annex A1. 7. I did not use the flash cards or study the glossary. As for the test. I did not have any trick questions like what I saw on some of the practice questions. I did have a tremendous amount of Earned Value questions which is the main reason my time management was shot but they were pretty straight forward but just took some time to go through them. Actually, I used all the formulas I had on my brain dump listed above along with doing Expected Monetary Value. I’m also glad I really made sure I understood the different types of contracts, risk management, and quality management. Overall this was the most difficult test I’ve ever taken. I had very few of the softball pitch type questions. This test really does see if you understand how the processes work and not just good at memorization. I’m glad it is over and I will now commence to relaxing in the hot tub while having a few drinks.