how does the mock compare to the actual exam in terms of difficulty and similarity of questions? Similar topics or entirely different?
Entirely different topics for obvious reasons. I got 76/78 on the mock and I failed the real, so I guess the real one is more difficult. They put a lot more tricks into the real one.
I agree with topher, except my results were not as varied. Based on memory alone, I believe I scored a 70 on the mock and failed Band 10. I saw some overlap in the major areas (Equity, FRA) but they tested entirely different topics in other study sessions.