Passed P&A after second attempt

Before taking Programming and Analysis I had passed three exams on my first try so when I failed P&A on my first attempt I felt pretty bummed. However, after retaking it 60 days later I passed on my second attempt.  I would definitely recommend rescheduling as soon as you can so the material is fresh in your mind. 

The first time around I felt like I spent too much time reading material and not enough taking practice exams. I used the Architect Exam Prep and Ballast material to study the first time around. The second time around I reread through my notes and went over the Architect Exam Prep material again, however, this time I bit the bullet and purchased Black Spectacles, Elif's ARE Questions (arequestions.com) and Weare practice exams (https://tryweare.com/course/are-exam-bundle-programming-analysis/)

I listened to all the Black Spectacle lectures and found them helpful. The practice exams were also really useful and the same format as the test. I found the questions in the practice tests to be way harder than the actual test itself so I think it's a great study tool. Elif's ARE Questions practice tests are also really great. I like that you have the option of doing quizzes so you can review the answers as you go. I definitely learned the most in this method and took lots of additional notes as I went. I only ended up purchasing the weARE practice exams because I had taken all the practice exams on the other sites. I felt like they were also good but not as great as Black Spectacles and ARE Questions. 

My advice is to try to leave enough time in your study schedule to take as many practice tests as possible. The first time I took the P&A exam I was running against the clock and just finished the exam in time. The second time around I had 20 minutes to spare and went over all the case study questions again to check my answers. I think taking as many practice exams as possible prepares you to go a bit faster and identify the little mistakes you may make by not reading a question thoroughly. 

Since I ran out of time on my first attempt, my rule when taking the practice exams and the actual test was to leave about an hour and 20 minutes to do the case studies. Don't get too hung up on multiple choice questions that are taking forever. Flag and move on. Also make sure you don't leave any questions blank before taking a break because you can't go back to the questions! 

As with both tests, I hate the whiteboard and wish NCARB would bring back pen and paper for those taking the exam at testing centers.