First try pass today

jimcruson

Been lurking around here for months now and just wanted to say thank you to those who provide this forum and to all the contributors for the excellent tips and advice. All of it came into play today. Glad I paid attention to those who say it’s an experience test and that the concepts are what’s important. You can’t memorize your way to success on this thing.

I bought every book out there and subscribed to all the practice testing platforms but looking back, I think all I needed was the Official Guide. Yes it’s a difficult read and poorly organized but all the information you need is there. I wish I’d spent more time there and less just memorizing facts and taking practice tests. Although if you’ve been out of school for a while like me the practice tests will at least hone your test taking skills generally.
In the Grand Tradition, and for what it’s worth, my exam experience:
Panicked around question 30 when I realized I had marked all of them for review because every single answer looked like it could be right! I was rattled so to feel like I was making progress I decided to just muddle through and get some kind of answer (even a guess) on all 250 questions. Took about an hour and half.
Took a break and realized I still had over 4 hours to go back and look at each question in more detail. Which I did and ended up changing at least a third. I think knowing I at least had my best guess on the board for each question and now had the luxury of so much time to review helped me to get a grip and focus better. Finished that pass at the four hour mark and called it done.
Doubt if any of my comments will be much help to others. Really just wanted to say thank you to all whose posts helped me and to verify that it was learning the CONCEPTS that helped me puzzle out the answers.

GForce75

Congrats! Get some well deserved rest!