Which MuleSoft Architecture Concepts Should I Focus on During Exam Preparation?

I am studying for the MuleSoft Platform Architect certification and struggling with ways to study for the exam. Several topics need to be covered, ranging from API-led connectivity and patterns of integration to security, scalability, and development of solutions capable of supporting changing business requirements. The individual topics are fairly clear to me, although sometimes I struggle to combine them while dealing with more advanced topics. For instance, the choice of an integration pattern is far from being obvious. What might be the best solution for one business requirement could lead to issues related to performance, scalability, and dependencies on other systems. I would like to develop skills of comparing different options and understanding the reasoning behind an architectural choice. I also aim to make my study sessions more effective by looking at the reasoning behind each answer. In addition to determining whether the answer is correct or not, I try to figure out the reasons behind every answer and see which areas I must go back over. I was thinking about using such resources as MuleSoft Platform Architect Sample Questions to see if I am ready for this exam and practice applying the knowledge that I gained.

Those who were preparing for this exam, please share with me how did you choose which areas required more focus? Would you recommend starting with studying the architecture concepts and then doing practice, or should one go through the scenarios all the time during his/her preparation?