Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I passed the FIM exam last week on my second try and honestly felt like I needed to share what changed for me. First attempt I went in after just reading through the official materials and scored a 68 — not enough. I had underestimated how heavily the exam leans on scenario-based questions, especially around identity lifecycle and access governance.
What turned things around was finding a solid FIM study guide that broke down the identity management framework piece by piece instead of just listing definitions. Combined that with doing timed FIM practice test sets every day for three weeks. My average score went from around 70 to 85 before I rescheduled. The practice tests exposed gaps I didn't even know I had — particularly around privileged access and role-based provisioning logic.
For anyone preparing now: don't skip the governance sections even if they feel dry. They show up more than you'd expect. Happy to answer questions about specific topics or share my study timeline if that helps anyone.