Failed my first attempt by 4 points back in March, so I took a full 6 weeks before rescheduling. The first time I only studied about 90 minutes a day and relied mostly on the IICRC study guide. That wasn't enough - the water damage and microbial sections caught me off guard completely.
Second time around I pushed to 2.5 hours daily and focused heavily on psychrometrics and drying science. I made flashcards for all the equipment specifications and spent two full weekends doing practice questions. Ended up scoring 81% which felt great after that 68% first attempt.
The mold remediation portion deserves serious prep - it's probably 25-30% of what I saw and it goes deep on containment protocols and documentation requirements. Don't underestimate the business and ethics section either, it's not as easy as it looks on paper.
If you're already working in the field, lean on your job experience for the scenario questions. That practical knowledge is what pushed me over the line I think.
Six weeks is a solid recovery gap. I only gave myself two weeks before my second attempt and barely scraped by with a 72%. The equipment specs are brutal if you're not actively using them on jobs every week.
What resources did you use for practice questions? The official materials are thin on that front and I'm trying to find something closer to the actual test format before I sit in July.
The psychrometrics content tripped me up on my first sit too. I found drawing out the drying diagrams by hand really helped it click - took about a week of doing that before the concepts actually stuck.
Congrats on the 81%. That mold section hits different than expected - it's not just memorizing the IICRC S520 outline, they ask situational stuff that requires you to actually understand the why behind the protocols.