PM Challenge Questions; how do these compare with Actual certification exam questions?

While preparing for PMP, I think I went through thousands of questions and a number of fastrack software. There is no doubt that different authors and question banks have different take on how the exam question will look like and they are defiantly helpful in understanding the concepts presented in PMBOK , same is the case with PM Challenge questions. The exam questions looks and feel just like PM Challenge but after going through hundreds of PM Challenge questions I did not find any which was an actual question I faced in exam. Bottom line is they all will challenge your concepts about project management, so it is not important what type of question you are going to face, but how well you understand the concept presented in the question.

PMP exam questions were a lot more context and scenario driven. They will give you a detailed scenario with data embedded. Some of the data is required to answer the question(s) and some data is given to intentionally throw you off.

It is your job to figure out what each question is actually asking for and quickly vet out the irrelevant data. This is the hardest part of the exam in my opinion because PMI has done a great job of making everything sound legitimate and plausible. You have to know what to look for in each given scenario.

While I am not as familiar with Andy Crowe's book, I am very familiar with Rita's book. She has done an excellent job of putting everything in an easy to understand context and then teaching what to look for in exam scenarios. I would say that at least 70% of my exam prep was done through her book. The rest came through PMBOK review and on-line exam simulators, (both of which I believe are still active sites).

http://www.headfirstlabs.com/PMP/free_exam/

http://www.pmstudy.com/PMP-Exam-Resources/freeSimulatedTest.asp

I agree with Peter's assessment that our site's PM Challenge questions are a good "warm-up" but not a direct match to equal the types of questions you will encounter on the actual exam.

Best of Luck to you!