I'll be honest, I completely bombed my first attempt at the CFE exam back in February. I went in thinking my audit background would carry me through the Financial Transactions section and... it did not. Scored a 68 on Fraud Prevention and Deterrence and barely cracked 70 on Investigation. Humbling experience.
What turned things around for my second attempt was being way more systematic about it. I started using a CFE practice test bank to drill specific question types rather than just re-reading the manual cover to cover. The ACFE manual is dense — I mean, genuinely dense — and passive reading was giving me a false sense of confidence. Timed practice under exam conditions exposed the gaps fast.
The CFE study guide I ended up building for myself had flashcards for the legal elements of each fraud scheme, because that kept tripping me up. My exam tips for anyone re-sitting: don't neglect Law. It looks manageable but the nuance on jurisdiction questions caught me twice. Anyone else have specific sections they found brutal?