I just wrote my exam last Saturday (March 3rd) so I think I can advise on this. Let me start by saying that I have an engineering background so my view of the exam may be biased based on my background. However, I still think the CWI exam is a tough one even for an experienced engineer (I'm definitely not the smartest however..lol). In a nutshell, your background matters and it's hard to advise on what to focus on if I don't know your background but I'll try.
Generally, for Part A I think if you read and comprehend the Welding Inspection Technology book (commonly WIT-book) by AWS you should be fine. The book covers MOST of what you need to know about the Fundamental (Part A) of the exam. I say most because after studying the over 300 page book I still came across question I couldn't answer but you learn enough to know over 90%.
For Part B, THIS IS THE BIG DEAL! I promise you, Part B will drain you no matter your background! You generally don't have enough time because you have weld replicas, ****ty measuring tools, fake Book of Specification, and a Book of Exhibits containing WPS's, PQR's, WTQRs and other info that you need to navigate though. However, I attended a good one week training in Houston and the instructor did a good job and I can proudly tell you I finished and had a good amount of time to review my work. Of course the result is not out yet but I'm pwetty optimisitic. Fingers crossed.
For Part C, I opted for API 1104 and it was quite straight forward. Of course I did prepare for it by reading the spec and marking it up. FYI you're allowed to come in with your own copy of marked up specification.
So.. in summary unless you have all the time in the world i would bother reading all the recommended materials listed in the BOK.
I hope this helps.
Good luck!
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