So I've been lurking here for months while studying and I finally cleared the CTPRP last week, 78% on my first attempt. Wanted to post something useful since I was basically living off this community while I prepped. Background: I work in third-party risk at a mid-size bank, about 3 years in, so I had decent practical experience but the breadth of the exam still caught me off guard early on.
The thing that helped most was drilling through a solid CTPRP practice test before I ever cracked the official study guide. I did it cold just to see where my gaps were — turns out vendor lifecycle governance and inherent risk tiering were my weak spots, which I would NOT have guessed. Once I knew that, I could actually study strategically instead of just reading everything front to back.
For anyone just starting out: don't underestimate the regulatory side of the material. I spent maybe 60% of my 6-week prep on frameworks and governance, and I think that's what put me over the line. Happy to answer questions about specific topics if anyone's in crunch mode.