PDD Fail
I passed PcM, PjM and CE in October/November and spent the last six weeks preparing for PDD. I felt pretty familiar with the content and moderately confident but I failed yesterday with a score of 493.
I felt like the content on this exam, PDD, particularly on the case studies, was so muddled and confusing and they made referencing basic information so complicated.
Has anyone else failed PDD in the last week or two? Am I alone in this? The case studies took me almost two hours, and I'm positive that that is where I crashed and burned even thought I understood what it was asking, the answers provided just never matched the calculations I was getting.
So disheartened. Hoping by March the next case study questions aren't so baffling, extensive and ridiculous. It's really frustrating to completely know where to reference the code and the basic math, but for the provided numbers to be so tricksy.
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Hi Kathryn, you are not alone. I just failed the 2nd attempt PDD last Wednesday, and I also feel confident when I was testing. however, still got a fail.
BTW, where did you get your score of 493?
Here is my failed report for this time. Feels pretty close?
A little bit of progress than my 1st attempt
I am trying to take my 3rd attempt in March/April. If you are on a similar timeline, let's study as a group and share the questions!
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I had a very similar exam experience around Thanksgiving. Fail with a 522 scaled score, so close! I probably had an hour and half for my case studies, and didn't feel confident in any of my answers. In my opinion, the questions felt significantly more vague than any of the other exams (even PPD, which I passed first round). After 2 months to think on it, the best I can come up with for where I went wrong was recognizing all disciplines that could be applied to each problem. Retake is in 3 weeks and I've really just been digging into readings (NCARB reference material) more closely to see if that really solidifies my conceptual knowledge. If anyone else out there has any recommendations, would be greatly appreciated.
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@Yafei, yeah the scaled score and report are nice to know where to dial in/how much we failed by. And I am planning retake mid-March! Love the idea of connecting and bouncing questions!!
and @Yafei & @Olivia - OMG 522 and 525!?!? SO CLOSE Y'ALL!! ughhhhhhh I'm planning to listen in to Mike Newman on Sunday afternoons (Black Spectacles workshops) and Michael Ermann on Thursday nights (40 min of Competence with Amberbook), if you all are interested in those you should join too!! I think the Amberbook one is open to anybody, but I'm not sure about the Black Spectacles.
I also passed PPD on my first try... it was a lot of material too but I felt like the exam was straightforward at least. I think you're right @Olivia, I think the intersection of multiple disciplines was slightly blurry for me too.
Yeah @Benjamin, I have some unique strategies when it comes to case studies...I always do them first while my mind is fresh, except I don't do or look at the last one for each case study. That way, if I do have to take a break, I will still have access to the resources as I work through all the other problems. Then, in my final review of tagged items, I go back through all case study questions at the end and finish the last two I hadn't seen by that point.
But honestly I really just felt like there was an insurmountable level of complication with the case studies I had this time on PDD - just soooo much information to rifle through and exceptions to apply to get really basic stuff - like they made it particularly difficult to reach the simplest conclusions. But yes, it is so important to know those references are available to apply to any question!!
Thanks for chiming in you guys, it definitely makes me feel less and alone and a little less dumb-founded.
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Hi all - Kathryn Dayton Yafei Zhang Olivia Greene
my last attempt was 510, and I tried many times lol I don't even want to mention it. Anyway, my study buddies all passed, and now back to me alone again. I would love to have someone that I can shoot my questions directly and get some quick feedback. Join me here if you want to study together: https://discord.gg/jHbJjje2
Hopefully we will all pass in the next try. -
I'd recommend studying 8 weeks then for the retake. Also, NEVER spend that long on the case studies. Do them first, and watch the clock. You need at least 2.5 hrs to do the rest of the exam. Don't waste time on questions that are strange, unclear or ones you cannot find the answers for. Remember NCARB put in questions that are unscored too.
Be sure to use the search tool to find keywords inside those case studies too.
Re-studying will help, but you need a better strategy for attacking the exam and better time management during the exam. The good news is that this is easier to overcome than broad deficiencies in knowledge.
Keep studying & hope this helps!
Rebekka O'Melia, Registered Architect, NCARB, B. Arch, M. Ed, Step UP, Step UP ARE 5.0 Courses
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Yafei Zhang, our scores are so similar! Kathryn Dayton, totally in the same boat. PDD is my last exam and I failed for a second time in December. I passed PPD (even had like 1.5 hours left to check my answers) in November. During the PDD test my calculations weren't checking out, questions were soooooo specific (truly couldn't even make an educated guess). I was probably overthinking all of the questions but you're so right. Case studies seemed easy but I wasn't confident in any of my answers. I just bought the Mehta book and I'm reading that. Gonna review my amber book notes but I'm not sure what to do.
My score:
How is everyone else tackling studying for their retake?
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