I sat for and passed the PMI exam on November 13th. I have been assembling my notes over the last few weeks between out of town travel and work. I hope it will be of some help to anyone who has not yet taken the exam. The notes from other people who passed the exam certainly helped me in preparing for my exam. I feel obligated to help as many folks as possible to pass the exam, so I'll pass on what I know and experienced.

REGISTRATION

I sent my application to PMI initially in August using the Option II [Option II is no longer available; Option I is now mandatory] form available on the web site. I filled out the entire form assessing all of the points and including documentation and copies of my degrees, advance degrees, and anything else they asked for on the application. I also put the exam fee on my company credit card and turned in a TEA for the fee.

Roughly three weeks after I sent in the form, I received a letter from PMI approving my application and issuing a authorization number to be used when scheduling the exam with Sylvan Learning Centers. Upon receiving the letter I called Sylvan to schedule the exam thinking that I would be able to schedule an exam on a Saturday in Kansas City in about 6 to 7 weeks. Sylvan indicated that the earliest date that I could schedule and exam in Kansas City would be sometime in December 1998. This was outside the 90 day window that PMI allows to take the exam. My next choice was to take the exam on a Friday. This also met with full schedules for all of the exam sites in Kansas City. Sylvan then offered that Friday exam dates were open within the 90 day window if I was willing to travel to Topeka to take the exam. This was okay with me, so I scheduled the exam for November 13th, roughly 15 days before my 90 day window closed. Sylvan then apprised me of the exam location, the exam time, and what I could bring to the exam site. (Essentially warm clothes and two #2 pencils.)

EXAM PREPARATION

Ÿ Get the books: I started my exam preparation by getting the PMI Exam Preparation book set available through PMI for about $200. IBM picks up the cost of these books and they can be ordered through the PMI web site or their phone number. I have had the best luck with the phone number. The original study guide book set was a nine book set, but as of December, the book set was consolidated to a seven book set and the price went up. The set does not include the PMBOK book so order that separately. The price went up on that in December also.
Ÿ Take the PMI Class: I took the two day exam preparation class quite early thinking that I would just walk into a Sylvan center and take the exam in July or August. The exam preparation class I attended was excellent. It was taught by one of the PMI employees that assisted in writing the new exam. She was great in going through the class binder and pointing out items she knew to be on the exam. Her notes and direction in preparing for the exam were indispensable. (I shared my binder class notes with all PM's in the Kansas City area). The class was also helpful in that there were a few people from the Kansas City area and the Chicago/Rolling Meadows IL area that were at about the same levels of experience and asked many good questions that were very applicable to our situations. The instructor recommended that we take the exam within two months after the class. I was not able to do this, however, the class binder, the sample questions, the review flash cards, and notes we took in class were valuable resources of information for preparation. I took the exam approximately 6 months after the class but still felt the information from the class was pretty fresh and could recall almost everything by reviewing the class notes. I would recommend finding out when you can get into a PMI class, schedule it, and then try to schedule the exam sitting for approximately 8 weeks after the class if that is possible. That will give you adequate time to review for the exam.
Ÿ Attend Study Sessions: Attend PMI exam study sessions via conference call if possible. These are available out of the Kansas City office and proved to be a great support group and good sources of information from experienced PM's and PM's that have passed the exam. You can talk to these people one-on-one about their experiences. These study sessions also forces you into a study routine by reviewing one of the chapters from the PMBOK each week. The people on the call are also great cheerleaders for encouraging you to get the exam taken and put it behind you. The Kansas City call in number is 888-4530-0447, pin# 75209.
Ÿ  Plan your final study time frame: Once you have the books, you have taken the class, and know when the exam date is for you, you should plan how to spend your remaining time before you take the exam to maximize the use of your free study time in the most efficient way. I had roughly 7 weeks from the time I knew the test date to the date of the exam to do my final preparation. I elected to work each weekday night for 3 to 4 hours and a minimum of 8 hours over the weekend, space strategically to allow you some time away from the books to get some free quality time with your family, get some relaxation, or to do those weekend chores. I laid out a chart of the days I could study and listed for each day the topic or activity I wanted to accomplish that day. Based on my experience and experiences of others that have passed the exam, it seems that 5 to 7 weeks of study or about 120 hours is about the right amount of study time for most people. I spent roughly 130 hours of study time.
Ÿ Study method: I used the PMBOK as a guide listing the chapters I wanted to study for that time period. I determined that with 6-7 weeks of study time, I should have 168 total hours of study time available (28 hours per week). I spent 3-4 hours reading and marking each chapter in the PMBOK, the study notes from the IBM PM web site, and the class notes for the relevant chapter and then spent an additional hour taking the sample questions from the class and the study notes. Make copies of the answer sheets provided and be sure to track the time it takes to finish the questions and extrapolate your time out to 200 questions. I kept track of my answers, calculated my score and noted areas that needed more study. I did this for all of the chapters of the PMBOK. I took a two day break and then began on a second round of review where I reviewed the same materials and notes and took the exam questions a second time and recorded scores and problem areas and tracked the improvement in score and time used. The second round of study took 2-3 hours for each PMBOK chapter reviewing all of the same materials. The third round of review was a quick review of each chapter/topic and definitions and took the test questions the third time recording the resulting scores and times. By the third round, I was well within the time limits and well above the minimum scores required to pass. Where the PMBOK or class study binder or study notes referenced one of the special books in the study set, I read the appropriate passages and if needed read the entire book. Near the end of the study time frame, I took the on-line sample test made available by IBM. I passed that exam as well in the time frame required.
Ÿ One week before the exam: As recommended by PMI, I traveled to the exam site and visited the site to ensure that I knew the route to the site and was familiar with the setting. I spoke to the proctors and they seemed pleased that I was checking out the location. I asked for and they verified that they had me scheduled to take the exam on the appropriate day.
Ÿ Day before the exam day: I took the day off to do the third round of reviewing. I completed this by 6:00 PM, put together everything I wanted to take to the exam site, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and got a good night's sleep. I was sure to set the alarm to wake me well ahead of the time I needed to leave.
Ÿ Day of exam: I woke up early, took care of regular hygiene duties and ate a light breakfast (fruit and toast) and drove to the site. I arrived roughly 30 minutes prior to the time the exam was to begin. I had some reading material with me (Reader's Digest) and tried to relax before starting the exam. The Sylvan Center was giving other exams for other professions the same day so the place was busy and I actually started about 20 minutes late. The proctor ensured me that I still had 4.5 hours to complete the exam.
Ÿ The exam: The exam terminals are modern and GUI driven and very easy to understand. Just the same, take the time to go through the exam instructions. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the questions seemed at first ( I went in feeling pretty confident), but was soon challenged by one of those PMI questions that described a scenario and then gave four correct answers and asked for the best answer. Of course, they want the PMI answer. For most of these questions, unless I was sure of my answer, I marked the question for later review. I believe I marked about 64 questions that either asked for the best of four right answers or dealt with "gray" areas where the questions were in a subject area I was not as familiar with. In reviewing these, I believe I only changed 3 to 4 answers.
Ÿ Exam Content: The exam I took had
w 8 questions on the Initiation process, The Initiation process questions dealt with feasibility studies, Mgt. responsibilities, ID needs, and project charters.
w 74 questions on planning, The Planning process questions covered cost and scope planning, scope definition, schedule development, risk planning, resource planning (tough area), quality planning, organizational planning, communications and procurement planning, and project plan development including activity definition, estimating, and sequencing.
w 48 questions on execution processes, Execution process questions included quality assurance, scope verification, source selection, information distr., contract admin. (tough area), team development, and project plan execution (also tough area).
w 56 questions on controlling processes, Controlling process questions covered cost control, change control, performance reporting, quality control, risk response control (tough), schedule control, and scope change control (tough).and..
w  14 questions on closing processes. Closing process questions included admin close out and contract close out. Both these areas were tough. Know the difference between administrative close out functions and contract close out functions.
Ÿ The Test Process: The room was crowded and initially quite warm, so be prepared to shed clothes if needed. The usual 2 pencils and scratch paper were provided and my personal belongings were locked up. The room was crowded and initially quite warm, so be prepared to shed clothes if needed. The usual 2 pencils and scratch paper were provided and my personal belongings were locked up. Once I completed reviewing the marked questions, I hit the End of Exam button and got it over with. I completed the exam in four hours. Roughly three hours to complete the first pass, I took a ten minute break which was refreshing, and then spent another 45-50 minutes reviewing the marked questions. I had about a half hour to spare. After pushing the done button, you complete a questionnaire from PMI and once that is complete your exam results are displayed. After the "war whoop" upon notification that I had passed, and calming down and apologizing to the other test takers (who were smirking), I took my scratch pad to the proctor who immediately verified the test results and printed a certificate on the spot. I immediately left the test site and took the rest of the day off after relaying the information to my coworkers at my Topeka work site.
 Post Exam Reflections: Looking back at the experience, I would say that:
Ÿ  My study methods were sound, information gathered about the exam from the study conference call sessions was invaluable and really helped build confidence,
Ÿ The single thing that helped the most was the taking and retaking of the sample exam questions. The more you are used to the types of questions asked, the more confident you will be when you take the exam. I found that many of the questions on the sample test questions were repeated on the actual exam. There were also a few questions about topics or concepts that were direct excerpts from the study guide reading books.
Ÿ I felt confident the exam would be a breeze going into the exam. I quickly found that the exam was harder than the sample questions but found that the intense review work paid off in most cases.
Ÿ I found that the formulas for Earned Value and Net Present Value were needed from time to time but if you wrote those down at the time you started the exam or when you got to one of those questions, everything would come back and those questions turned out to be the easier questions on the exam.
Ÿ Risk was not as big of a concern on the exam as I had anticipated. Maybe it was because of the drilling and preparation we did for risk. I highly recommend the supplemental reading in the PMI study guide set of books.
Ÿ I felt that the exam still follows the PMBOK pretty closely, but a better source of additional information was the PMI class binder and the IBM PM Study Notes.
Ÿ I would reiterate what I have heard others say, and that is that the secondary benefit of studying for the exam is that you learn a lot from others who have taken the exam, you learn a lot of things you never knew before, and you refresh your memory about things you may have learned in college or special classes but had just stored that information away for a time when you would use it.

One item that seemed like a new requirement from PMI was that when they sent back the confirmation and congratulations letter after passing the exam, they requested that I complete the PMI application again. Upon closer examination, the Option II application included a Professional Endorsement & Reference form that needs to be signed by anyone who is or was a supervisor, trainer/instructor, or colleague of the applicant and can attest to the applicant's project experience and/or capabilities.