Finally passed my RTA exam after failing twice — here's what worked

by lisa.prep 486 views3 replies
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lisa.prepOP
May 27, 2026

Okay so I've been putting off writing this but I feel like I owe it to this community because you guys genuinely helped me get through this. I failed the RTA exam in October and again in January — both times I ran out of time on the situational judgment section and completely blanked on the regulatory stuff. I was studying maybe an hour a day from random notes I'd found online and honestly kidding myself that it was enough.

What finally clicked was treating it like an actual prep campaign. I found a solid RTA study guide that broke the competency framework down into digestible chunks, and I started doing timed RTA practice test sets every single day for about six weeks. Averaging maybe 90 minutes a day. My practice scores went from 58% to consistently hitting 78–82% before I sat the real thing.

Passed with an 81% last week. A few exam tips that genuinely made a difference: don't ignore the legislative knowledge section (I was), and always read the full scenario before looking at answer choices. Happy to answer questions if anyone's in the same boat I was.

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Chris D.
May 28, 2026
This is exactly what I needed to read right now. I'm sitting mine in three weeks and the situational judgment section is destroying me on practice runs. Can I ask which study guide you used? I've been bouncing between three different ones and I think that's part of my problem — no consistency. Also congrats, two attempts is rough and coming back a third time takes guts.
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Nicole F.
May 28, 2026
The timed practice thing is so underrated. I passed on my first attempt but I genuinely think it's because I treated every single RTA practice test like the real deal — timer running, no pausing, no looking things up mid-question. Simulating the pressure is half the battle. Also the legislative section tripped up everyone in my cohort who didn't specifically prep it. Good call flagging that.
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Tom W.
May 28, 2026
Congrats! 81% is a great score. For anyone else reading — the exam tips about reading full scenarios first saved me too. I used to skim and it cost me marks every time. Discipline on that alone probably bumped my score 4 or 5 points.

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