Finally passed my RPFT after failing twice — what actually worked for me

So I've been on this RPFT journey for about 18 months now and I finally got my passing score last week. I want to share what actually made the difference because I wasted so much time studying the wrong things the first two attempts. I'm a respiratory therapist with 6 years of experience and I genuinely thought my clinical background would carry me. It did not.

The equipment calibration and quality control section absolutely destroyed me on my first two attempts. I knew how to do the procedures in the lab but the exam asks you to think about them in very specific ways. What finally helped was grinding through focused practice — I did the RPFT RPFT Equipment Calibration & Quality Control questions multiple times until I understood the reasoning behind every answer, not just memorizing the correct choice. That shift in approach changed everything.

My timeline: 3 months of dedicated study, roughly 8-10 hours per week. I used the RPFT study guide from AARC as my base and supplemented heavily with practice tests. Anyone else prepping right now? Happy to answer questions about what the exam format actually feels like.