Failed my first MCSD attempt with a 68% when I needed a 70% to pass. I was pretty frustrated because I felt like I understood the material, but clearly something wasn't clicking. Took about 6 weeks off, regrouped, and passed my retake with an 81%. Figured I'd share what made the difference.
The biggest thing I changed was how I approached scenario-based questions. On my first try I was answering based on what I'd do in practice, but the exam wants you to answer based on the specific methodology they teach. Once I stopped mixing in my own clinical judgment and stuck to the framework, my practice scores jumped from around 65% to 82% in about two weeks.
I also spent a lot more time on ethics and documentation. Those felt boring to study but they came up more than I expected — probably 18-20% of questions touched that area. I did about 2.5 hours of focused review on those topics every day for the last 10 days before my retake.
The ethics section destroyed me on my first attempt. There are questions where every answer sounds reasonable and you have to pick the "most correct" one. Spent a full week just on that content domain and went from 55% on practice ethics questions to about 80%.
How did you find practice questions? That's my biggest issue — I can't find enough realistic questions to drill on. The official study guide only has so many and I've gone through them twice already.
Congratulations on passing! The 70% cutoff is lower than a lot of people expect so the margin feels thin even when you're ready. I scored 77% on mine and felt like I barely scraped through even though that's a solid pass.
Your point about the documentation section is spot on — I almost skipped it thinking it would be common sense stuff.
This matches my experience almost exactly. I passed on my first try with a 74% but the scenario questions were the hardest part. The answer choices are deliberately close and you really have to know which step in the process comes first.