I just got my results yesterday and I'm still kind of in shock — I passed with an 89 after failing twice before. The first time I went in basically cold and scored a 67. Second attempt I studied a little but not consistently and got a 71. This time I actually treated it seriously.
What finally clicked for me was finding a solid NYC practice test that matched the actual format. I was wasting time on generic material that didn't reflect how the city structures their questions — the reading comprehension and data interpretation sections especially are pretty different from what you'd find on a basic study guide. Once I started drilling those specific question types, my speed improved a lot.
My biggest exam tips: don't skip the written expression section thinking it's easy (I lost points there both times), and time yourself strictly during practice. I was running out of time on the real test until I started doing timed sets every single day for three weeks. Anyone else here studying for a NYC civil service exam? Happy to share what worked.