I took (and passed) the PMI test on Monday and would like to share my thoughts with the group. Hopefully they will help to target your study and manage expectations for when you get into the testing room. By the way, the room does NOT resemble a medieval torture chamber, except for the "rack" in the corner. :-)

First, I think that Helen Gregorio did a great job of summarizing, and my experience was very similar. I will focus on those areas that really stood out for me, or where my experience was different from Helen's.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me. I am more than happy to discuss the experience, especially if you think that it will help in your preparation.

My study consisted of the every-other Monday PMBOK review sessions we had in the office in May/June, attending the PMI prep class in early August, practically no time between then and mid-September, then about 20 hours total in the last 3 weeks, most over the last few days before the test. My major sources of knowledge and study: 1) EXPERIENCE and common sense; 2) Practice tests from the prep class (I took each one at least twice); 3) PMBOK Glossary for terminology; 4) the rest of the PMBOK; 5) notebook from the prep class; 6) IBM web page summaries and sample questions. I did NOT use the "flash cards" from the prep class -- it just didn't fit my style, nor did I do any additional outside reading. All of the sources I used are important. I realize the PMBOK is fourth on the list, but you need to know it very well!!!!

Looking back, I would have spent more time with the IBM web page summary, as I think it was an excellent condensed view of all of the information. As I reviewed the written materials (PMBOK and class book), I condensed the entire document twice: once by highlighting on my initial read, then again as I reread my highlights I took notes on key topics and reminders. At the end, I had about 12 pages of condensed material. I then read my 12-page summary and tried to let my mind wander to additional definitions, related topics etc, as well as cramming the obscure facts into short-term memory.

Comments on the test, in no particular order:
1) Test Logistics -- be prepared for a random sequence of questions. They are NOT sorted by major process area (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control, Closure) nor by focus area (time, cost, scope, quality...)
2) Test Logistics #2 -- you can NOT jump around from question to question during the first pass at the test. There is a "previous" and a "next" button, but there is not a "go to Question # X" option. Once you are done with the first pass, and are in review mode there is much more flexibility and capability to jump around.
3) The "tone" of the questions was much kinder/softer than those in the sample PMI exams from the 2-day prep class. I thought that they were more like the sample questions from the IBM web page.
4) There were several questions that start with "use the following information for the next 3 questions...." The information is repeated for each question, but I felt that it was sometimes unclear on #3 whether the changes for #2 were included in background for #3 or not. READ these carefully.
5) About 20 questions were of the "You are the PM in the following situation...... What do you do first?" genre. Followed by four GOOD answers. Think about what PMI thinks would be the BEST answer. These are good real-world analysis questions, not just "memorize/recognize the right fact and spit it back" questions. (OK, to be frank there were usually only three good answers, and one really silly one.)
6) As expected, there were several (8-10) questions on Organization types -- Projectized vs. Functional vs. Matrix (all subtypes)
7) Content surprise #1 -- lots of questions (5?) on Conflict resolution styles. "In this situation, which style is best?"
8) Content surprise #2 -- lots of questions (5?) on the difference between Administrative Close-out and Contract Close-out
9) Content surprise #3 -- NO questions on Quality theory and fore-fathers (Crosby, Ishikawa, etc...). I don't know if you should count on this as well, or if I just got lucky here. Don't forget that the actual test questions change day-to-day.
10) The testing center emphasizes that they do not allow food or drink of any kind in the room. Don't know if they enforce it or not, but I did get away with LifeSavers. (Please don't tell.)
11) Test logistics #3 -- the screen displays text only. So there were not any pre-drawn network diagrams. There were a few questions where they describe a diagram ("Task 1 is 1 month. Task 2 starts at the end of Task 1, and lasts 2 months...."), which I then drew to have the picture available in my mind.
12) Earned Value questions were very basic. I felt they could have been made much harder. The questions were of the "BCWP = X, ACWP = Y, BCWS = Z, what is the CV?" type. sometimes the numbers were hidden in text instead of given to you straight out. What I did on these was write down the key formulas the first time I got a question, and double-checked accuracy in my own mind. Then for each question that came up later, I just plugged the numbers into the formulas and did the math, without worrying about if I had the formula right. A great hint that I used to remember the formulas: they all start with BCWP. From that, knowing a plain English definition of the formula takes over to figure out what the other variable is, and whether you subtract or divide by it.
13) Often, but not always, key words such as EXCEPT, NOT were printed in uppercase for emphasis. This helped, but do not rely on it, because these words were not emphasized in about 20% of the cases where the appeared.
14) Test logistics #4 -- Good online tool to "Mark" questions for later review. Then at the end there is an option to "Review all marked questions" Do not bother to try to keep a manual list of ones that you want to look at again later, just mark it. However, you might want to jot a note as to WHY you marked it. At the end of the test my brain was a little mushy, and I looked at the questions and said "Yup, it is still hard" and had to recreate whatever thinking I had done on the first pass.
15) Test logistics #5 -- they told me to get there 30 minutes early. Overkill. I spent 20 minutes getting nervous and "waiting for the computers to come up" before I got out of the lobby. Go with what makes you comfortable, but 30 minutes is not necessary.
16) Test logistics #6 -- at the end of the test, there is a "click here to finish your test" button. Don't think about this, JUST PRESS IT. It's kind of like jumping off of the high diving board. You have already done the hard part of answering 200 questions, sweating the ones you weren't sure of, and looking at your "marked" ones over again. Once you are comfortable with 200 answers, move on!!! Don't rethink a lot of answers, don't "give it just one more pass through the questions", just press the stupid button and get your score!
17) Timing -- I spent about 3:15 taking the test first pass through, and another 20-30 minutes reviewing my marked questions (about 20). I did NOT do a second complete pass of all 200 questions. I did the "read it twice, answer it once" approach the first time through, and even tried to think about the answer BEFORE I looked at the options, so I did not fall into the "that looks good, so does that, and so does that. Now what do I do?" trap. I spent a total of 4 hours from entering the testing room until walking out the door. This included the time for the post-test evaluation/feedback tool and a few head-clearing and restroom breaks. Time was not a constraint. It was only a factor due to the tiring nature of 4 hours sitting in one place.

In short: stressful preparation, somewhat nerve wracking, but LOTS of good information. I learned a lot of things that I did not know, and believe that the entire exercise was valuable for building skills. The study was more valuable than the test itself. But without the test to serve as a motivator, many of us (me included) probably would not have made the time for the learning experience.

Let me know if you have questions, or if I can be of any help. Next step for me: Certification Package. Mike
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Mike Kahn, Quality Assurance Manager, Southwest Area, IBM Global Services, Denver CO
Phone/Fax: (303) 773-5349 Pager: 1-800-946-4645, Pin 143-6246 Internet: makahn@us.ibm.com
IBM internal: t/l 656- makahn@IBMUSM57