Okay so I've been lurking here for months and I finally feel like I owe it to this community to share what worked for me. I failed the ADP exam in November and again in February — both times I scored around 68%, which is just brutal when passing is 70%. I was studying maybe 2-3 hours a week, mostly rereading my SHRM materials, and honestly that wasn't cutting it.
What changed everything was switching my approach about six weeks before my third attempt. I started using an ADP practice test every single day — even just 20-30 questions on my lunch break. That repetition built pattern recognition I didn't get from reading. I also found a study guide that broke down compensation benchmarking and workforce analytics separately, because those two topics destroyed me on the first two attempts.
Third try I scored a 79%. If you're stuck, I really think the practice test route is underrated. Happy to answer questions about specific topics or timeline if anyone's prepping right now.