Anyone found good free SOPD study resources besides the obvious ones?

Coming back to this thread because I just passed my SOPD yesterday. Everything people said about the exam prep section is spot on — that was the hardest part for me too. For anyone still studying, don't skip the applied questions in the sopd grid reliability. They're the closest to what you'll actually see.

For anyone finding this later: SOPD is passable with consistent effort even working full time. I studied 43 minutes a day for 10 weeks. The sopd professional ethics conduct kept me honest about my actual gaps.

Coming back to this thread — just passed my SOPD yesterday. Everything about the sopd practice test section is accurate. For anyone still studying, the sopd professional ethics conduct was the closest thing to the real exam I found.

I passed SOPD last year while working full-time, so I feel this thread. Honestly the biggest thing for me was consistency over volume — I'd do 20-30 questions on my lunch break instead of trying to cram on weekends. The sopd grid reliability section tripped me up at first but after a few focused sessions it clicked. Free stuff that actually helped: NERC's own glossary docs (dry but accurate), and a few Reddit threads in r/IBEW where journeymen break down the concepts in plain English.

Don't sleep on just re-reading questions you got wrong. I kept a notes app going and would skim it during commutes. It's not glamorous but it worked. If you're pressed for time, prioritize reliability standards and emergency ops — those showed up constantly for me.

I was in the same boat six months ago, studying for SOPD while working full-time rotating shifts. Honestly the biggest thing that helped me was just being ruthless about small chunks of time. I'd do 20 minutes on my lunch break, maybe another 20 before bed, and that was it. It didn't feel like much but it adds up faster than you'd think. For the technical relay stuff specifically, I found the free questions on sopd/questions/protection systems relay operations really useful because they're broken into focused sets you can actually finish in one sitting.

The other thing I'd say is don't sleep on NERC's own public documents. They're dense but it's the source material and it's free. Pair those with the practice questions to check if you're actually retaining it and you've got a decent self-study loop going. It's not glamorous but it worked for me without spending anything.

Just hit an 81% on my last mock so I'm feeling a lot better about where I'm at. Spent most of last week grinding through the sopd/questions/protection systems relay operations section because that's honestly where I kept losing points. It clicked eventually.

Planning to sit the real exam in late August. If you haven't drilled relay coordination yet, I'd do that sooner rather than later. It's sneaky hard and the free stuff out there barely covers it.