Just signed up for the CMT and trying to figure out how long to give myself. I've got 6 years in mobile device repair but zero formal certification, so I'm not sure how much of this I already know vs. what I still need to grind through.
Been doing about 2 hours a day on weeknights and planning 4-5 hours on weekends. My diagnostic and hardware skills are solid but the software and OS troubleshooting sections feel way more detailed than what I deal with day-to-day. Scored 61% on my first practice set, which was a wake-up call.
How long did you all prep before sitting? Did the real exam feel harder or easier than the practice material? Any sections that surprised you on test day?
I prepped 8 weeks and that felt about right. My shop experience covered maybe 70% of the content, but the RF interference and component-level diagnostics theory needed real dedicated study time. Don't skip the antenna and connectivity modules even if you're confident in that area.
Passed first attempt after 5 weeks, scored 74%. Went in thinking it'd be easy given my background and got humbled fast. The software unlock and carrier policy questions tripped me up way more than the hardware side ever did.
6 weeks worked for me but I was putting in 3 hours every single day. Practice exams were pretty close to the real thing in difficulty. The troubleshooting flowchart questions show up constantly so make sure you're solid on those.
I underestimated it, gave myself 3 weeks, failed by 4 points. Retook after 7 more weeks and passed at 81%. Don't let your field experience make you complacent about the theory sections.
Took me about 10 weeks studying part-time, roughly your schedule. I'm a field tech so evenings were the only real window I had, and honestly the first two weeks I wasn't even sure what I was looking at -- the theory sections caught me off guard even with years of hands-on work. Practical stuff felt familiar but don't assume that carries you, because there's a lot of terminology and process they test you on that you just don't think about when you're doing it every day.
The weekend blocks are where I made most of my real progress. Weeknight sessions were good for review but I'd get tired and retain maybe half of it. If you can protect those 4-5 hour weekend chunks and actually use them for new material instead of re-reading old stuff, you'll be in decent shape by week 8 or 9. Give yourself a buffer week before the exam just to run practice questions. You'll know by then where you're shaky.
Six years in repair honestly carries more weight than you'd think — I had similar background and passed on my first attempt in about 8 weeks at roughly your same pace. The thing that actually moved the needle for me was drilling hardware/software questions specifically, not just reading through the material. I found free cmt device hardware software practice questions and that changed how I studied. You start seeing the patterns in how they phrase things.
One thing I'd say: don't underestimate the diagnostic logic sections just because you've done the hands-on work forever. Knowing how to fix something and knowing how to answer a test question about fixing something are weirdly different skills. Give yourself the 8 weeks, be honest with your practice scores around week 5, and adjust from there.