Failed the CVSS the first time with a 68% and it stung. I thought I understood IP camera specs and analog signal routing well enough but the NEC code questions and structured cabling topology section hit me out of nowhere. Spent 4 hours a day for 3 weeks before the first attempt and clearly I wasn't focusing on the right material.
Second time I restructured completely. Went deep on coax vs fiber attenuation loss specs, made flashcards for every cable run distance limit in the AVIXA standards, and timed myself on every practice question instead of just reading through them. That shift alone probably accounts for most of the improvement.
Ended up scoring 81% on the second try. The troubleshooting scenario section — about 20% of the exam — was where I picked up the most ground. First attempt I barely touched it. Second time I treated every scenario like an actual field call and the answers felt a lot clearer.
If anyone's studying right now and wants to compare notes on the cabling specs, happy to share the flashcard deck I built.
Failed at 71% on my first attempt, retaking in 3 weeks. Your point about timed practice is exactly what I needed to hear. I've been reading through questions slowly instead of drilling under pressure. Changing that now.
The troubleshooting scenarios clicked for me once I stopped treating them as theory questions. Ask yourself what you'd actually grab first if a client called with that problem — the right answer usually follows from there.
Congrats on the pass. The NEC code questions hit differently if you haven't done field work — that stuff doesn't come from reading alone. I got through with 79% and the structured cabling topology section took more out of me than anything else on the exam.
What study resources did you use beyond AVIXA material? I'm sitting for this in 7 weeks and the camera compression ratio and signal resolution questions are where I keep losing points on practice tests. Most online prep feels either too basic or assumes prior field experience.