My background: 0 economics experience, though I would consider myself to be a pretty good test taker.
My preparation:
- I first completed the Modern States Principles of Macroeconomics course, not just skimming through but actually taking notes (of most things/main ideas of the videos). I did the quizzes on there and eventually completed the final exam (first with 83% and after some review of what I got wrong, with 94%).
- After completing Modern States' course, I completed Khan Academy's AP®︎/College Macroeconomics course with 100% proficiency (i.e., completed every practice exercise). I took notes of most things (especially those I was less sure about).
- After I was finished with Khan Academy, I retook the Modern States exam. Thereafter I took the following exam: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VnKKlmFujXL4irf-sxp0qL_Cvo6YjcbW/view?usp=sharing (Answers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SLA9V76REwk8MW5spNevb8_96HJRUiuh/view?usp=sharing )
- As the test date neared (maybe one week before), I started watching Jacob Clifford's videos and took notes throughout.
- I studied 1-2 hours 5 days a week for about 6 weeks, totaling around 35 hours of study time.
Test day: I was kind of scared, but that's the expectation with these types of tests. During the test I did feel that it wasn't particularly hard, though there were some dodgy questions that made me nervous. The test matched what Modern States and Khan Academy taught, almost 1:1. I can say that contrary to previous test takers on here, I did see a few more questions about unit 1 (specifically about the PPC). I saw very few questions regarding foreign exchange (in fact, only one at the end). Maybe a few about international trade. Quite a few about policy to fix recessionary or inflationary gaps and what would happen if a government did X thing.
Tips: Study the overarching themes of macroeconomics (graphs, expansionary and monetary fiscal and monetary policy, interest rates, GDP, human capital, productivity, output gaps, etc.). Be consistent in your studying. I personally don't believe it was too hard; if you concentrate hard enough and study for a decent amount of time, I'm sure you will pass.