PA Fail: What to Expect and Thoughts on the New Whiteboard
Hey everyone! I took PA this past weekend and as you can tell from the title, I unfortunately did not pass. I will say though, that I was not surprised that I failed, because looking back, I don't think that I managed my studying well enough to really understand what was going to be on the test. Looking back on my score report, I got “2’s” on the Codes and Site Analysis sections but got “3’s” on the Environmental and Building Analysis sections, which admittedly, were the biggest gaps in my studying.
Study materials I used: Ballast, Amber Book, Site Planning and Design, Sun Wind and Light, Designer Hacks, ARE Handbook and Demo Exam
How long I studied: about a month, 1.5-2hrs on the weekdays, 2-3.5 hrs on the weekends
So. All that said, here's a few things I learned. Hopefully this can also help someone out there!
- It starts with knowing how and what to study:
I heavily stalked this forum to see what people have to say regarding topics to study and focus on. It's pretty spot on for the most part. I won't enumerate all those topics here because I feel like other people have described them pretty well, BUT, I will say, one thing I should have done better was to actually read through and dissect the section statements for this division on the ARE Handbook. I found that this division has a lot more general concepts that you need to understand, more so than specific items to memorize. Because of that, if you just blindly study for the sake of knowing how to answer a practice question, you won't be doing yourself a favor. In my opinion, the practice exams that I've taken do not compare to the structure, wording and content of the real test. Before you do anything, go back to the ARE Handbook. Read the section statements. Paint yourself a picture of what to expect. This test is heavy on diagrams. The practice tests I took lacked these diagrammatic questions which vastly underprepared me for the real thing.
- Timing
I felt like I was racing against the clock on this test with all the wordy scenario based questions and diagrams so it really helps to practice pacing yourself. I first ran through all the straightforward multiple choice questions. Then I ran through the case studies, answered what I could and just generally get a sense of what they were like. Then I moved on to the diagram based questions, then the few math questions that I had. I was able to go through all the non-case study questions twice. If I paced myself better, I think I could have had more time to answer the case studies. The last case study especially. I pretty much guessed on those questions.
- Whiteboard isn’t *that* bad
This was my first test with the new whiteboard, and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I still prefer a scratch paper, but the whiteboard really didn’t impede my test taking. I had a good bit of math on my test too. Took my test at Prometrics as well and didn’t experience any technical problems. I’d say just to make sure you practice a few times using the whiteboard on the demo exam and you should be okay. I will note though that I didn’t use the eraser tool cause it felt laggy on the demo exam, so I just trained myself to keep one tab open and delete my canvas each time.
- Confidence is KEY!!
Last advice - be confident. This applies to how you feel while you’re studying and while you’re taking your test. I knew during my study period that I didn’t feel as good about how much information I was really retaining. I honestly went into the test feeling like I had already failed. It didn’t help that once I started going through the questions, that I was completely overwhelmed with the diagrams because I knew that I didn’t practice those kinds of questions enough. I think this all could have gone better if I had just rescheduled my test and gave myself more time to feel comfortable with the exam content. Some may say that a month is more than enough, but like I said, despite putting in all those hours, I still didn’t feel confident in myself. Know that test taking will always be a mental game. Don’t psych yourself out like I did. Take your time to get confident.
It sucks to fail, but I feel better now that I know what to do and expect for next time :)
Also, if any of you have recommendations for good practice tests that have building spatial diagrams let me know!! Otherwise, good luck everyone!
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Thanks for sharing your experience Mara! I'm sorry to hear you didn't pass.
I appreciate all of your feedback. I have my first attempt at this one next week. I agree with you that knowing *what* to study for this one is tough! The ARE Handbook does a decent job explaining what each objective and sub objective expect, but they also seem to overlap significantly. There are few facts for us to memorize but everything seems to be about analyzing the information in front of us in each question.
I've heard Walking the ARE practice exam and Elif's AREQuestions are good source material too - for the practice exams.
I wish you luck on your next attempt!
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I failed twice already, and I agreed about all the wordy length on the question that really got me all frustrated; I wasn't expecting that much really and my first reaction was not wanting to go go through the whole exam as I should, that didn't help. I have a friend in Florida who already the whole ARE, he recommended me Eliff, they all really good> Taking the time (minimum already) is crucial, knowing to match what they are asking and what they are giving you, what information is a distractor and what is not. I think one moth is not enough, I gave my self 5 months at the beginning now I am thinking maybe two to be in the safe. I had to wait the whole January when I took my exam on December because of the cut score (even when I was sure that I failed I had some remote hope)
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Hi Mara, I took PA yesterday and the same exact thing happened to me! I agree with your analysis of the exam and used the same study materials. I am thinking of looking into Elif’s questions, Hyperfine, or WeARE. I also have heard that people recommend reading the Ballast PPD section. I really think the key to this exam is finding a lot of those puzzle practice questions because I was not prepared for those. One video you could check out that I found very applicable to the exam was Marina Curac’s YouTube video where she goes through sample PA questions. I also used Erik Walker’s Walking ARE practice exam that I thought was good. Good luck; we will pass eventually!
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Thanks for reminding to practice with the white board. Unfortunately, it plays a bigger role in the exam than I think it should.
One reason I think scratch paper is much better than the white board is because on the digital whiteboard you can't write fractions the same way you can on a piece of scratch.
If you are studying with scratch paper, than when you take the exam, it will through you off balance that you can't represent "math" (or at least it's more difficult to do so) that it would be the regular way with good old pencil and paper.
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