Failed for a second time, CE this time

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Leonardo Agrelo
I feel like this is a joke or something, either I’m studying everything but the right content or I wasn’t as ready as I thought. I would say 1/5 of my exam was professional practice. I had over a dozen of detail drawings and site images, way too many questions on systems, even the specifics of it, like mechanical systems, and probably half the exam felt like PA. Location for trees, rooms, sinks, walls. This is unreal. I’m leaving this exam for last. This has nothing to do with PCM or PJM.
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    Michael Ermann

    Leonardo, I think you have the right idea taking CE after you've studied the technical content. People who know nothing about the Construction & Evaluation division assume that it is a technical exam. . . people who talk to others assume that it is a pro-practice exam. Those who take the exam recognize that, on average, historically, it is 2/3 pro-practice and 1/3 technical. It sounds like you got one that was mostly technical, and know that you are the second person this week who has said as much; someone told me the same thing on Wednesday. 

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    Leonardo Agrelo

    Hey Michael, thank you for your response. Amberbook has been a great resource, mostly my only resource. Helped me big time with PCM and PJM. I guess was my mistake to take CE without better reviewing technical content. According to the calculator I was off my 6 questions. Got me by surprise. I wanted to ask you given that I will take CE last and move to the technical ones. Amberbook has a long practice exam in pdf format for PPD, but none for PDD, or viceversa. Do you think is possible to take both the same week? Thank you Michael, great content.

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    Michael Ermann

    Thanks for the kind words about Amber Book…there’s a full practice exam and a practice quiz for each PPD and PDD…the pdf your talking about is just one of the 13 practice exams we have in the course…don’t forget to do all those practice exams and especially the flash cards…..you can definitely take both those exams on the same week.

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    Rebekka O'Melia (Edited )

    Hi Leonardo,

    Not to be snarky, but I'd think that if the resources you are using are 'great', you would have passed.  Something else is wrong then...  What other exams have you taken, and which have you passed?  CE has the highest pass rate of all 6 AREs.  If the case studies are causing you to get flustered and fail CE, I'd recommend doing them first.  And you definitely need to brush up on reading plans/sections/details for building types that you aren't as familiar with.  If you can't pass CE, I would not attempt PDD yet.  PDD is about 10x the technical content of CE.

    I think you need some metrics, and to gradually improve your scores.

    Hope this helps & keep studying!

    Rebekka

    www.stepuparchitecture.com

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    Yun Chi Chang

    Hi Leonardo,

    I want to share that I also failed CE in Nov. 2023. Like you said, I went in expecting it to be more about practice/procurement instead of construction technicality, yet my exam had so many questions on construction details that I did not review. I passed both PcM and PjM, and I still believe the next one in order should be CE, as it only gets more technical in the other three exams. I'm trying to study more of the construction details, watching youtube videos, asking colleagues, etc.. and I plan to review all the practice-related content after I feel more confident on the technical side. Just hang in there! We got this! :)

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