Finally passed ESE after three attempts — here's what actually worked

I don't even know where to start. Three attempts, two years of my life, and more money than I want to admit — but I finally passed my ESE exam last month with a 78. I'm an electrical engineer with about six years of field experience, so I figured the technical stuff would be fine. What killed me the first two times was the breadth of the exam and honestly just not knowing what to expect format-wise.

What changed on attempt three: I stopped reading textbooks cover to cover and started drilling with an ESE practice test every single morning for 45 minutes before work. I also found a solid study guide that broke the breadth section into digestible chunks — that alone probably saved me 40 hours of wasted review time. My weak spots were power and thermodynamics, so I mapped out a 10-week schedule and hit those hard the last month.

For anyone else grinding through this, what resources are you using? I want to hear what's actually working in 2024, especially for the depth section. Happy to share my full breakdown if it helps.