BTW: The new associate level exam is quite easy and you need 59% to pass. If you do your homework and have 3 years experience then you should be fine. What I like about it is that you actually have to know some of the objects by name and what they actually do.
The professional level exam will be available again in 2014 some time. You should understand all the SAP system security aspects (also infrastructure topics), understand the concept (not invent your own...) and have some experience with them to be able to pass.
If you have lots of experience with disasters and manual maintenance of authorizations then you will not pass either of the exams. Certainly if you maintain your roles with "edit old status" then it will be very difficult to pass....
Cheers,
Julius