When I received my failing score in January, I immediately paid my NTS for $30 each for 2 parts, FAR &AUD.
My first plan was to take AUD by Mar 31 and retake FAR in April 30. Things didn't go as planned due to so many life issues going on. In other words, I got distracted with overwhelming personal issues at home. I was physically fit to review & had the materials & all the time in the world to study but I lost my DRIVE for 6 weeks. I was praying to God to restore my enthusiasm & motivation to study. It took me sometime to regain my joy & power to study and retain the info.
I decided to focus on AUD at Q2 and take it before the new clarified SASs become testable after 6/30/13, setting aside FAR for the time being. I was determined to finish my review for AUD and take it by 5/31. That time I wanted to buy 10-Point Combo because I knew and felt I really needed it. Then I had to pay Prometric fees too. I am out of job so funds are very limited. I had no choice but waited till the last day of my NTS expiration 5/8/13 before I could pay the Promitric Ctr. I paid my NTS exactly on 5/7/13 then I looked at the schedule dates for May. Holy Molly! There were no more available dates for AUD for the whole month of May from all the testing centers close to me within 100 miles.
I panicked like crazy. I had to take AUD by 5/31/13 dead or alive! There were dates 10-15 days earlier than 5/31 but I don't think I was prepared enough because of the missing 6 weeks that I slacked off.
That same day, I saw only one slot for 5/31 in Akron, Ohio, 6 hrs to drive from my house. I grabbed that slot & scheduled my AUD. The next hour I looked again, I saw another slot which was about 3 hrs drive, so I changed my schedule. The next day I looked again, I saw another slot which was 1.45 hrs to drive scheduled on 5/30. I found another slot about 20 miles from my house but the date was 5/30. I really needed a day extra to finish my review. I was extremely exhausted on 5/29, cramming with my final review. I didn't think I could not sit on 5/30 so I changed again at the last 24 hrs.
In total I paid about extra $222+ for changing my schedules 4x for just 1 part.
So my advice in scheduling is to pay for each NTS & Promitric slot one part at a time.
.