MRCP(UK) Part 1 Examination:is it really tough?

I have recently taken coveted MRCP (UK) examinations Part 1  in January 2014 (passed) .
I have frequently hear fellow coworkers and other doctors preparing for this exam saying 'omg it's so difficult' ," I have been reading kumar and Clark and still couldn't clear my exam" ,"I read whole Harrison's manual "  .these lines often puzzled me and one question always arises !whether exam is difficult or you are not accessing proper study materials for exam?
Well I would like to explain how you can effectively study for the exam and pass it in short span,I

have been writing in various forums and many people have benefitted with my study plan for MRCP.

When you need to start :

Well ,outside of UK doctors take this MRCP(UK) exam in order to strengthen their CV or just for the heck of getting a coveted diploma from UK so that they can flash it to their patients and colleagues (pun intended ;)

Irrelevance of when you take the exams the study plan is some how same for old or new medical graduates.
Ideally Royal college of Physicians (UK) ,Recommends one should take MRCP Part 1 either in FY 2 or CT1 year and part 2 written before Starting CT2 but those (like me) who don't have any experience  of UK ,taking MRCP at later stage is also not a bad idea.

What to read:

It all depends upon your basic fundamental understanding of Internal Medicine .

Let me elaborate it by one example ,suppose you come across a congestive heart failure question and you have no problem in differentiating Right heart failure from left heart failure means you are at FY1 level, now if you can differentiate various reasons for de compensated failure then it means you are good,but if you don't know why the heck we give ACE inhibitors ,If you don't know what is 'Ventricular remodeling' then probably you need to study bit more of  internal medicine from some good Text.

Basically,if you don't find any significant trouble with pathophysiology of major diseases as well some rare diseases(yes MRCP is notorious for that ) then you can follow advice below ,

1.Passmedicine:- I can't emphasize enough about how much this online qbank is important for your preparation ,in fact it should be core of your studies for part 1 ,it has around 2400 top class question with excellent explanations.

2.the only MRCP note you ever need:

by SudaMedica group ,This book is not a book per se but copy and paste from various online question banks such as pastest and Passmedicine but the way they have compiled the information in a systematic way ,it appears like a book . The good think if this ebook is it covers the majority of questions asked in MRCP part 1 and 2 exams with some good pictures asked in part 2 exam.

 3. oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine 9th edition: yes ,the ninth edition looks crispy,and refreshing .it has drastically updated with NICE guidelines But remember ,only read OHCM when you don't understand any thing from above two books ,even after reading OHCM if something still looks confusing then refer Medscape (Wikipedia is not always reliable source,Atleast not for Medicine). In summary,Passmedicine and Only MRCP Book you ever need are good enough for passing the MRCP part one exam. I have studied around 7 weeks and used these two materials and I was able to pass the MRCP 1 ,comfortably.