About 3 weeks ago I took the CKS exam twice and failed. I took the first exam and failed by 1 point. I picked myself up, studied a bunch for 3 days and took it again. Then failed by 2 points. I was faster taking the exam the second time, but was tripped up by two things that took a lot of my time. I can't talk too much about it because of NDA reasons, but needless to say I was crushed from all of the studying I did. It was a practical exam and while I feel like I knew all of the subject matter, the time pressure is no joke. One of the questions that I felt like I messed up on was on both of the tests.

After I failed the retake, I sent a feedback email to the Linux Foundation that I was disappointed in my results. After a few days, they sent back a message saying that I need better time management to double check questions, which I figured. And one of the questions I called out that I felt was too hard for a 2 hour test. I was sure that I got it wrong. They told me that I got it right! I still can't believe that part.

The silver lining is that they gave me a 50% discount for a CKS retake. Now that I am back from Summer vacation I am back to studying. I am hoping to take it next weekend.