Failed my first PAC attempt back in February with a 61%, which stung pretty bad considering I'd been working in programmatic for about two years. The problem was I went in thinking my day-to-day experience would carry me through, but the exam tests a lot of theoretical stuff around auction mechanics, viewability standards, and brand safety frameworks that I'd never had to think about formally.
For round two I gave myself 8 weeks and averaged about 90 minutes of studying per day. I leaned heavily on the IAB's training materials and drilled practice questions until I was consistently hitting 78-82% on mock exams. The deal-ID and PMP sections tripped me up the first time, so I made sure I really understood the difference between guaranteed and non-guaranteed inventory deals before sitting again.
Scored a 74% on the retake — not flashy but passing is passing. The exam itself has 100 questions and you've got 2 hours, which sounds like plenty of time but I ended up flagging about 20 questions and coming back. If you're on the fence about whether you need more prep, just keep taking practice tests. When you're hitting 75%+ consistently you're probably ready.
One thing I'd warn people about: don't skip the data privacy and compliance section. GDPR, CCPA, and consent management questions made up more of the exam than I expected both times. That section alone probably cost me my first attempt.
The flagging strategy is smart. I burned almost 20 minutes on three questions I should've just flagged immediately and came back to. Finished with 4 minutes left and definitely would've run out of time if I hadn't started flagging more aggressively halfway through.
Second attempt passer here too — that 61% on the first try feels like a gut punch but it's actually really common. A lot of people underestimate how much the exam tests textbook definitions versus real-world intuition. The two don't always line up the way you'd hope.
The auction mechanics questions are brutal if you don't have a solid mental model of how header bidding actually works under the hood. I drew out a flow diagram of the bid request/response cycle and just stared at it every morning for two weeks. Ended up seeing at least 8 questions directly related to that topic.
Congrats on passing! I'm scheduled for mine in 6 weeks and the privacy/compliance section you mentioned is exactly what I've been avoiding. Going to front-load that material starting tonight. Did you find the IAB's official study guide worth the money or is there better free stuff out there?