Just got my APA exam results back and I'm sitting at 71%, which I'm pretty sure is right on the borderline. I studied for about 9 weeks, roughly 2 hours a day on weekdays and 4 hours on Saturdays. My main resources were the APA Publication Manual (7th edition), some psychology ethics readings, and a handful of practice question sets I found online.
The section that really caught me off guard was the research methodology portion. I thought I had statistics down cold, but some of the application questions were framed in ways I hadn't seen before. I probably got around 60% correct in that section alone, which dragged my overall score down noticeably.
The ethics and professional standards section was where I felt strongest — probably landed around 80% there based on how confident I felt leaving those questions. The publication standards questions were middle of the road, maybe 73%.
Has anyone retaken after a 71%? How much extra time did you put in, and which sections did you focus on? I'm trying to figure out if 4 more weeks of targeted study is realistic or if I need to budget 8-10 weeks for a proper retake.
The framing on the stats questions is intentionally tricky. I went back and did every practice scenario I could find on ANOVA assumptions and regression interpretation, and that moved my score from about 62% to 79% in that section. Four more weeks should be enough if you're targeted about it.
I scored 69% on my first try, studied another 6 weeks, and passed at 78%. Ethics was my anchor section too — once you nail that you're not starting from zero. The methodology stuff just takes repetition, there's honestly no shortcut.
What practice materials were you using? Some of the free stuff online doesn't reflect the actual question style very well. I switched to more official-aligned resources for my retake and noticed the difference immediately.
71% is actually really close — I passed with 76% on my second attempt after failing at 68%. The methodology section is brutal because they test concept application, not just definitions. I spent 3 extra weeks specifically on quasi-experimental design and effect size interpretation.