PA Brain dump
Passed PA on my third trial, I personally felt that clearing this exam is beneficial before moving to PPD because I am confident about my basic knowledge of programming and analysis concepts, I tried PPD after failing PA but I felt those questions were way too much into technical details.
Resources I used :
Amber book videos (good for conceptual understanding but I also read good amount of books after failing for the first time)
Site Planning & Design handbook - read cover to cover, this book was like a bible for me to have a strong understanding of concepts.
Programming Primer by Pena - Skimmed through and stopped by the pages which I thought I was lacking my understanding at. The diagrams and graphics are quite effective and fun to skim through.
Heating, Cooling, Lighting - skimmed climate chapters from this
Architect's Studio Companion - skimmed but noted down the beam lengths of wood vs steel vs concrete, paid attention to the pages where they talk about what system would they use under what condition.
Building Codes Illustrated - focused on chapters which I was lacking my understanding at.
Sun, Wind & Light - skimmed this for climate specifically
Black Spectacles - Flashcards and workshops helped a lot. I did practice exams in initial failed trials but did not have time for the last one.
Elif quizzes - Used this a lot and even retook them again and again to get more than 80%. Her quizzes are the best.
I would say try to read - note - test - note - read and don't just do one thing on and on because you want to test your knowledge after reading good amount of syllabus.
Hyperfine - I used this for specific assignments like counting slopes, calculating maximum allowable area, etc. Highly recommend for targeted studying since he talks a lot about questions and not just syllabus.
Study groups - Helped me with passive studying. Definitely use them if you have an access to it. The AIA Triangle area has good study group online and anybody can join it ! It definitely helped me retain information from remembering talks from study group.
Hope this helps for future test takers and don't stop even if you fail multiple times!
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Thanks for your insight. For AIA Traingle area, please advice how to join. I have navigated https://aiatriangle.org/ and can't find the link for online study group.
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This is the link to the AIA triangle, Colin Mccarville runs the workshops so you might have to contact him to send you an invite. Right now he is on to PPD-PDD workshop which runs until end of May. He just finished PA workshop so it would come back early next year but he will be doing CE workshop after summer break this year. Hope this helps!
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