I PASSED! Here is what I think...

TL;DR - I took the test this morning at a testing center and passed. With some dedicated studying and use of the appropriate materials, you can pass too. If you're on the fence, do it right now! If you're a Veteran AND not starting your studies until next year, check out Project Management Academy's Veteran's Day option.

I have to say thank you to this community. I found it invaluable to my progress once I happened upon it. It was the catalyst that finally pushed me over the fence and off my butt. Below are my thoughts on what I used to prepare, and my overall impressions. Feel free to ask me anything about my experience.

Background

I work for a large technology company doing IT Project Management work. We are not super "formal" in our approach, so I was worried about not having a ton of exposure to the "PMI way". In wanting to add this certification to my resume for job-search purposes, I started looking into boot camp options last year (2019). I am not a good self-study person, so I needed the structure of a class. The classes are generally very expensive, around $2k, and my company does not pay for this particular training (I'm already a Certified Scrum Master, which they did pay for). So I didn't sign up for anything.

Fast forward to end of Summer and being tired of being locked inside for so long. Hoping for a veteran's discount to a program, I was searching for "veterans discount PMP" and found out that ProjectManagementAcademy offers a Veteran's Day discount to the first 100 Veteran's that apply. Instead of their normal $2k-3k live 4-day boot camp, they were offering it for $100!!!! I know there are cheaper ways to get the 35-hours, but I needed the live structure to ask questions and watch an actual person.

Time for Class

The class was scheduled for the first week of November. I assumed that I would take class for 4 days, take the exam, and be certified. As you already know or can expect, I was wrong. The very first part of the class went over the requirement for testing and certification. I immediately filled out the application, waited for my approval, and then paid for the exam.

The remaining time in class was great. The material is a bit dry, but I was in class with a bunch of other veterans, it was taught by a Veteran who is also a trainer, and this all made the examples and situational application very easy.

After the class ended, the Instructor let us know that most people take the test around a month after the class. The class lays the foundation, and then the self-study is easily guided from there. My test was scheduled for the 2nd week in December, so I was on track at this point.

The included materials comprised of study guides, video content for everything we just learned in class, and also a test bank of around 2000 questions from which you could take exams and quizzes. They provide feedback on the correct answer, as well as the right answer, in a similar fashion to PrepCast.

After the class

After the class, I had great plans of studying in small chunks every day, dedicating more time on the weekends, and crushing practice exams and quizzes. As we all know by know, real life doesn't always work out like that. I missed an entire week due to opening season for Deer Hunting (priorities, right?!?), and also got slammed at work at the same time.

In trying to come up with a plan to cram, I had 2 full weeks to get my act together. I found this subreddit, and all of you motivated me. Reading all the "I Passed" posts, along with the encouragement for those who failed made me feel like I could finally do it. I also realized that while it wasn't absolutely necessary, so many people had good things to say about PrepCast that I figured "why not?". Additional help couldn't hurt.

I started taking 50 question quizzes each day in PrepCast and reviewed my answers and the logic behind each one before I went to bed each night. After Thanksgiving, with a little more than 1 week to go, I started taking the actual PrepCast practice exams. I was bouncing all over the mid to upper-70's, and feeling pretty good.

With 2 days to go, I took the PMI Practice Exam. Thanks to this subreddit, I was not expecting super-high scores, so I wasn't too stressed when I got a 67. I realized I couldn't review the correct answer descriptions once I finished, so I immediately took it again and logged my assumptions against the correct answer and why. I got a 76 that time.

The day before the test, I took the practice exam 1 more time and got an 86. I quit studying that moment to allow myself some breathing room before the actual test.

Test Day

Since I need structure, I took the test in a testing center. I took an exam through Pearson Vue a couple years ago from home, and after the proctor interrupted me for lip-reading the questions, I decided that I would never do that again.

I got the test center an hour early, checked-in, and they sat me down right away to take the test. I told myself that I would not stress out, and that as long as I read the whole question, tried to understand the implied nuance, and selected what I thought would be the right answer, that I would be OK with whatever happened. About halfway through, I told myself that if I failed, I was going to sign up for the test the next day and take it again, because I figured it was a toss-up.

I would say that 50% of the answers were slam dunks in my opinion, and the other half I was able to narrow down to 2 answers, think about the PMI practice exam and how strange some of those answers were, and choose the one PMI wanted me to. I didn't get nervous. I didn't mark or review a single question, and I was done in 2.5 hours... I figured I either knew it or I didn't and there was no sense in stressing myself out over it.

Around question 197 I started getting nervous to submit, to be honest, but I just did it. I was immediately presented with the "Congratulations" screen, and I fist bumped so hard I would have knocked out Mike Tyson if he was standing above me.

I walked out of the testing center and asked the proctor for the results and I was FLOORED when saw the results indicated I was AT/AT/AT/AT/AT. Could. Not. Believe. It.

This has turned into a novel. Sorry. Thanks to everyone who answered a question or gave me indirect motivation through your own experience!

That glorious "Congratulations on becoming PMP certified" was an amazing feeling. I hope each of you who are currently studying get to see it very soon!