Finally passed CFD after two attempts — here's what actually worked

by Mike_T 0 views3 replies
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Mike_TOP
May 27, 2026

I just got my results back this morning and I finally passed the CFD exam on my second try. Honestly I'm still kind of in shock. My first attempt I scored a 68 and needed a 75, so I had to completely rethink my approach before sitting for it again.

The biggest game-changer for me was drilling with a CFD practice test over and over until the question formats felt familiar. My first time around I spent almost all my study time re-reading the ASPE reference manual, which honestly wasn't enough. Second time I built in timed practice sessions every other day for about six weeks and my retention was so much better. I also found a solid study guide that broke down the fluid dynamics and pump sizing sections specifically — those two areas killed me in round one.

If you're currently prepping, I'd love to hear what's tripping you up. Happy to share more details on my schedule or the resources I used. The exam tips I picked up from people on forums like this one genuinely made a difference, so I want to pay that forward.

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Marcus T.
May 28, 2026
Congrats! I'm sitting for mine in about eight weeks and pump sizing is absolutely my weak spot too. Did you find any specific breakdown of the parallel vs. series pump problems helpful? Those always feel like they take me twice as long as they should in practice sessions. Also curious how many hours total you put in for your second attempt vs. your first.
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Marcus T.
May 28, 2026
Two attempts is actually pretty common for the CFD — I've seen pass rate data suggesting first-time numbers are somewhere in the 50-60% range, so don't feel bad about that. What helped me was focusing heavily on the hydraulic calculations and less on the code citation stuff. The code questions are almost always straightforward if you know where to look, but the calc-heavy ones are where people run out of time.
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Tyler B.
May 28, 2026
This is exactly the kind of post I needed today. Just registered for my exam date and I'm already second-guessing my timeline. Bookmarking this thread. Did you aim for a specific target score during practice or just focus on getting consistently above passing?

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