Hundreds of people who used our exam prep materials are slogging through Day 2 of the NFLPA’s pre-exam seminar. They’ve had lots of thought about what they’ve seen and heard during this year’s first-ever online-only sessions. Here are a few of their texts and my commentary.

• “Some of these questions are ridiculous. Like they have never even opened the CBA before. I mean holy (bleep), just wasting my time.” It never ceases to amaze me how many people come to the exam almost completely unprepared. Because it’s open book and multiple choice and the results are scaled, some of these people will slide through, but just barely. Is that how you want to launch your agent career? The NFLPA does a good job of presenting a difficult exam. If you’re planning on taking it some day, make sure you prepare.

• “They are asking about what a family will receive on death of a player. That will not be on the exam.” Correct. See above. 
   

• “They go at warp speed. If you came into this expecting to be taught what you need to know, you’re in big trouble.” Also: “Honestly – I would be lost trying to learn it now during class. They go sooooo fast.” The CBA is 700 pages. Yes, there’s fluff, but there’s a lot of meat, too. NFLPA officials do the best they can. The people who winged it will probably be back next year (did I mention that we sell a study guide?). I guess at least those who fail don’t have to shell out to fly to DC twice?

• “Some people are fishing too deep and I tried to block them out. . .  The NFLPA was nice as well, they seemed to be trying to help us. Telling us what’s important and what to focus on. I feel good heading into day 2.” I think a lot of people — even those who have studied hard — panic until they get into the seminar and NFLPA officials narrow down the scope of things. At the same time, some of the out-of-left-field questions not only bugged those who are mostly prepared for the exam, but actually confused them. A cleanup of the question-and-answer process is probably something the PA will have to work on before next year, presuming they stay with the online format.

• “I want you to know how awesome you’ve been and how helpful the study guide and practice exams have been. This is the first exam since I think high school where I felt super prepared. Thank you!” Sorry if this is a little self-serving, but we’re proud of the service we provide, and it’s incredibly rewarding to get unsolicited comments like this one.

We’ll be discussing the exam more in detail in this week’s Friday Wrap, which is free. Register here. Hope you can join us.