I am sitting for the C1 exam in December, and am getting a little overwhelmed with the reading, though I thought I had given myself plenty of months of study time. Any words of wisdom from anyone who has been there?

In my humble opinion, you want to regurgitate everything from all the Study Materials. If you are a good test taker and have studied months as you mentioned, you should do fine. Do you currently do administration on a regular basis? I had been doing administration for awhile when I first took the exams, and found that I was "overthinking" on many questions. In the real world, there aren't always black & white answers, even in our field. So I would suggest trying to avoid the "yeah - but what if...."! It's not always easy, but you can sure be proud when it's over!! Best of Luck

I've passed all of the exams up through the DB on my first try. I agree with everything pmacduff said. I will also throw in my test-taking strategy:

Answer every question by process of elimination, even when you are sure of the answer. For example, if I read a question and know the answer is"A", I still go through the other answer choices and tell myself WHY they are wrong. This saved me from quite a few incorrect answers on the test. It is also tremendously helpful when I'm not sure of an answer.

I hope this helps you. Best of luck on the test!

Thanks for the insights. I have been doing plan administration for 7 years, so I am hopeful that will help. I am reading all of the assignments int he ERISA outline book, and my eyes are about to cross. I realize that all of the material can't possibly be covered in one test, but I don't want to miss any important concepts either.

I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the good wishes!

I passed!!! What a relief. Next up, the C2 next May. Although I will be almost 9 months pregnant at that point.

You'll have a busy May.

I was scheduled to take the DB exam last December. Due to a mistake at the testing facility I got cancelled & could not reschedule for that testing window. ASPA allowed me to postpone until 2004. However, my wife & I had our 1st child in May & I just couldn't get motivated to take the exam. I postponed until this winter period, but again no motivation. Its just so much more fun to play with the boy. Maybe next year.

Anyway good luck & congratulations on your child.