508 on both exams!!!!
I am always willing to do a first try even just for a failure to test out how the question is conducted, and get myself to familiar with the exam content. This is the strategy for the other 4 exams I passed in one and a half years. I purchased Amber's book after my first failure of PPD and the first failure after PDD because I realized that I was hitting a stone that seemed my old strategy was not working anymore.
So far, I tried 3 times in PPD and 2 times in PDD. I got 508 on both exams. I kind of stuck in here. Appriaxmtly speaking, I probably just need 10 more questions and 5 for each then I will be done. But my performance in each section keeps up and down, some improve some go down. But generally speaking, they are very even compared to the passing percentage.
Every time when I finished the exam and recalled as much as I could to determine what I was missing, there was no surprise from the exam at all. I don't know what else I can do to pass the exam at this point since I was so close, I lost the sense of what I should pay more attention to.
BTW one thing I noticed is that sometimes there is a verb in the question that I don't know the meaning of since English is my second language so I won't surprise miss that couple of questions (maybe one or two). I don't see how that "word-to-word translation dictionary" will help me because I couldn't foresee what word I don't know in the exam anyway and adding more exam times doesn't matter that much either cause there is always an hour or 50 minutes left in every exam for me to go back check my flagged questions.
Any suggestions and strategies could help and I appreciate it.
Thank you for your patience in reading my long long comments. Wish everyone a happy day.
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If you are willing to spend a little money: try the Black Spectacles practice exams. I personally used them to learn how questions are asked and to look up words and terms I didn’t know in the context of architecture. Sometimes they mean something that’s not obvious or related to the general definition of the word.
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I feel you. I passed 4 exams so far and am stuck on PPD(1 failure) and PDD(5 failures) came close but these high, repetitive failure rates are a bit concerning. This high failure rate seems to be a recurring theme for these two exams for many people and things need to change as many people work full time with families and need to study from solid, consistent material and not rely on the "lucky enough to find the right combination of questions", attitude to pass.
I used black spectacles and amber, supposedly the two best resources I averaged 95% on the practice tests went through all the lectures and material 3 times and am still coming up short. For a person that test well, prepares well and passed 4 exams already with moderate ease, it is ridiculous to not be able to pass these exams. For going through 6 years of college to be stumbled by what amounts to maybe two final exams worth of knowledge makes me start to reconsider my career choice. NCARB needs to improve on the questions and study material and stop with the idea that we all have an endless amount of time and money to pull information out of there list of 200 books or there keep paying for the NCARB approved study provider NCARB is driving many good and smart people out of the field that are just as smart as the people who are passing but don't have the time or LUCK to stumble upon this magical, right combination of information. We should all be studying from the same practical knowledge base and not be handed a list of two hundred books, and a "Here ya go, best of luck to you" advice. Hoping for quick, sweeping reform of these exams.
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Wenjie Hu, First off - Congratulations on passing 4 exams!!! You are SO close to the finish line, and I am sorry to hear that you have been struggling with PPD and PDD in order to get there. You've probably seen that these exams are the most content-heavy and therefore, some of the most difficult exams of the bunch. I also did not pass PPD during my ARE journey, and it was a difficult obstacle to overcome. I know it is frustrating, but know that you are not alone and you will overcome this too! I know it's been a while since you posted this, so I'd love to hear an update on how your studying/testing journey has been going. I hope all is well :)
Samantha Weinryb, I'm glad that you have found the Black Spectacles Practice Exams helpful to you! I agree that utilizing practice exams is a great way to become familiar with how questions are asked and what type of verbiage is used in relation to various topics. In addition to learning how to approach complex questions, gaining an understanding of WHY answers are correct or incorrect is extremely valuable. Often times, hidden information on adjacent topics can be found in those incorrect answers (which we may have otherwise overlooked) and could ultimately deepen our understanding of the content.
218375, Congratulations to you as well for passing 4 exams so far!!! You are well on your way to becoming a licensed architect and WILL conquer these remaining exams soon. I am sorry to hear that PPD and PDD have caused bumps along that road for you, and I understand how frustrated you are feeling. It sounds like you have used the Black Spectacles Practice Exams to a great potential and we are honored to have been a part of your journey so far! Utilizing the Practice Exams in conjunction with Lecture Videos (to target specific objectives that require further review), Quizzes (to test your knowledge at shorter intervals), Flashcards (to brush up on key terms and practice recall), and Virtual Workshops (to further explore the most difficult exam topics) could really help round out your knowledge. If you are interested, I'd love to chat with you about some strategies to refine your studying and testing approach for your next retakes. Feel free to reach out to kiaragalicinao@blackspectacles.com.
I commend all of you for taking the plunge into this endeavor! The ARE is definitely a beast, but it's nothing you can't defeat. I'm looking forward to seeing you all become licensed architects in the near future :)
Best of luck to you all!
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Black Spectacles
ARE Community -
Hey guys
Just want to give some updates here.
I took a break from my tests for a while and just got back on track recently. Got PDD passed last Saturday and really want to share some thoughts here. God, I was literally crying in the parking lot that day when I left the test center, like crazy......
Thank you Samantha Weinryb for sharing your insights I just personally want to keep my demo practice exam resources min. to have a consistency of the knowledge because I have noticed different parties' materials seem to have different opinions on some topics that what is right and what is wrong. But for someone who just started the journey and looking for good solid practice questions to navigate the knowledge, Black Spectacles Practice Exams are good and recommended by so many people.
Hey Richard Preston, thank you for sharing your experiences as well. Since I just PASS the PDD recently, I would like to share some new thoughts on the exam. Hope it can help.
1) I see some comments under other people's posts saying if fail too many times at one location, then switch to a new test center. This is what I did this time, and somehow, I did pass the exam. Here is the thing, I don't believe any spirit or good luck thing, but I do think changing the center location at some point helps. I feel so scared and feel so bad when I walk into the same test center and keep doing those exams because I have failed so many times there. The minute I walked into the room, I was already under some sort of pressure and mindset that I was gonna fail again, just like many times before. Most of the time, at least in my case, it will be the same staff doing my security check, and I was like "They must think I am stupid how come I keep coming back to take those exams and still no pass". It makes me Self-doubt a lot. Therefore, I do think switching to a new test center helped me. Everything is new, nobody knows how many times you failed, it just feels, Fresh.
2)Let's talk about the actual exam and the questions. This is only my experience and my opinion, don't take me wrong and whoever reads it needs critical thinking. To be honest, I starting to understand why so many licensed architects I have been working with in my 6 years of career are STUPID. Yes, I mean it. Stupid. They seem to me to have the least amount of working experience, for example not knowing how to read the Zoning request regarding setbacks. The more working experiences you gain, the more detailed you go into this industry, and the less chance to easily pass the exam. I am saying yes, it will eventually be passed, but the process is much more painful and the question is really not enjoyable to read at all. If you know less and min, you don't doubt the question's formatting and what is the key point of asking. I can't count how many times I am sitting in front of the screen using my finger and pointing at it thinking "What kind of stupid questions?? This is not how architects do their job in their daily! " "There are a lot of conditions to consider and you can't just take that out just to fake an exam question, it is not realistic." Therefore, this time, for god sake, when I selected my answers, I literally repeated this to myself many many times when I wanted to double-check what was selected "Whoever wrote this exam is stupid, now I am going to be stupid too, keep it simple, straightforward even though it is stupid, but don't overthink it. To pass the exam, I mean to be stupid. "
Hey, Kiara Galicinao thank you for your effect and input as well. For people like you being a part of the ARE community and keeping actively seeing what is happening is important. There are serious problems with current exam questions. They are out of date, a huge gap between what is realistic, and even basic grammar or language errors are everywhere. I have talked to many English-speaking test takers, and sometimes they don't even know what F(word) the questions talking about, not to mention other people who use English as a second language. This is terrible, this level of exam having grammar or language errors is a joke. It needs to be fixed. ARE took so much money from us, and can't even write correct questions, this is a disaster, for this industry! Who wants to be an Architect keep convincing myself I am stupid, and the test I am taking is stupid, but I need to be stupid in order to pass it.
Anyway, one more to go and I will be done. Not about this exam, but about my career. I want to be licensed so I can leave it with a reward that I could be proud of, but now it more feels like, "Whatever, please, pass the final one, so I can exit and get rid of this S(word)."
Best of luck to everyone. -
Congratulations on passing PDD Wenjie Hu!!!
I can definitely understand your frustrations, especially being so far along your ARE/career journey and feeling defeated after many unsuccessful exam attempts. There is no doubt that these many outside factors contribute to overall exam performance. Knowing the material is only half the battle!
I am glad you have found strategies to approach the exam, as they will help you with the final push of passing PPD.
Good luck and I can't wait to hear when you've passed your final exam!!!
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Black Spectacles
ARE Community
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