PMP - My Lessons Learned

Passed on JUNE 29th, 2009 took just under three hours in total, no breaks.

As for my Lessons Learned:

I used Head First PMP and PMBOK, studied both somewhat intermittently over
two months, but really didn't lean into it to say the least. (kept
reading the same chapters over and over again, thinking THIS time I'll
actually start studying!)

The two weekends leading up to the exam:

1. Went camping about three km away from any civilization, just me,
the ocean and the PMBOK! Made it through all the knowledge areas
twice and made some crude notes.

2. Had to go to Vancouver to write the PMP exam on Monday (today)
so decided to go over on Friday night and lock myself in a hotel room
and study the last bits. I read all the areas that I was the least
bit unsure of, focusing particularly on risk, earned value management (EVT), and procurement. I
did several of the 50 question sample exams from Head First PMP web site,
and all of the exercises in the Head First PMP book. I focused heavily on
EVT and understanding what the various charts and graphical
representations are for. (Pareto, Decision Tree etc. etc)

By Sunday night, I was feeling pretty good.

In the exam first thing on Monday morning, I wasn't feeling the same
for the start, but then it got better.

Overall, if I was doing it again, I would focus more on the ITTOs, and
page 70 of the PMBOK.

The exam was challenging, and certainly you want to have read the
PMBOK at least twice, THEN use some other resources.