It took me a couple of times to get by the advanced back in 1981.  I failed it three times and aced it on the 4th try when I was able to bring in my own reader.  I passed the extra on the first try getting a 94 on the test and to put icing on the cake, I had to retake the 20 wpm test and they told me I had gotten one wrong and as it turned out, I had a complete copy in Braille and they had to give me a perfect score because they had a mistake in their answer key.  I also took my General Radio Telephone exam later that same year with a different reader and passed that one too. 73- pat kk3f