I'm not going to sugarcoat it: the C2 is brutal. I failed twice before I finally cleared it last month with a 78%, and honestly the difference was completely changing how I prepared. My first two attempts I was just reading through textbooks and doing a handful of sample questions — absolutely the wrong approach.
What turned things around was committing to a proper C2 practice test routine. I was doing at least two full-length timed exams per week for the last six weeks before my test date. This forced me to get comfortable with the pacing, which was killing me before. I also found a solid C2 study guide that broke down the listening and reading sections in a way that finally clicked — especially the strategies for those longer reading passages where they try to trick you with near-synonym answer choices.
For anyone about to sit this exam: don't underestimate the writing component. My biggest exam tip is to practice writing under real time pressure, not just drafting essays at your own pace. Anyone else have specific sections they really struggled with? Happy to share more details about my prep routine.