So I failed my first attempt back in March and honestly it was a gut punch. I'd spent about three weeks studying but mostly just re-reading the official docs, which apparently isn't enough. Scored a 68 and needed a 75 to pass. The worst part was I felt confident walking out of the testing center.
After that I completely changed my approach. Found a solid FCP practice test site and started drilling questions every single day — probably 50-75 questions a night for five weeks. The practice tests exposed huge gaps I didn't even know I had, especially around security policies and network troubleshooting scenarios. I also grabbed a structured study guide instead of just winging it through the documentation.
Sat for the exam again last Tuesday and passed with an 82. If you're prepping right now, my biggest exam tip is don't skip the hands-on lab stuff. The scenario-based questions destroyed me the first time because I'd only read about the concepts rather than actually working through configurations. Happy to answer questions about specific topic areas if anyone's stuck.