When did PA get simpler?

Yesterday, I took PA and it was surprisingly not difficult. I got a provisional pass.

Here's my experience -
I just graduated college with Barch in 2023. I work in a firm and have mostly computer experience with some site hours.
I previously took pcm, pjm, and ce while in school.
I'm not the best test taker nor do I claim to know all the information. I'm actually really bad at taking tests and always have minor panic episodes during lol.

I was waiting for the test to have "tricky and confusing" questions. I was waiting for it to be like CE which was brutal to me. (For information, I take like 5 months to study on average, with around 4-5 hours of study time a week) For PA I actually took closer to 8-9 due to the birth of a child.

I would say 75% of the questions were "one-lined and simple". No tricky questions, no questions that had 3 correct answers, just plain ol' simple test questions.
The other 25% of the questions were longer (usually where you have to make a site plan or adjacencies diagrams, and the case studies which were actually a bit longer than usual). I ended up averaging around under 2 minutes per question, but mainly because the short questions took 20 seconds and the long ones took like 3.5- 4 minutes each.

Here's what I used to study:
AEP, Ballast prep book, ballast mock exam, ballast practice questions, Weare mock exam, watched a few amber videos my friend gave me but didn't really help, site planning and design- maybe just scanned the book and looked at the 'pretty pictures', read the secretary of interior historic guidelines (this one was important), building codes illustrated is a good read if you don't have code experience in your office. I only scanned sun wind and light, it was a bit long for me. The most important part is knowing what to do for each climate like cold, hot arid, hot humid, and temperate. Oh, and problem seeking book.

Now I would say the best resources of all is Elif. Her exams are great. And you should get used to doing the adjacency questions really fast. And Hyperfine! They are super great too. He says it's not a replacement for your primary resource, but we all know what you're doing Ben. You're working magic here.
That's about it.
I got like 1 question on soil bioremediation, a bunch about adjacencies, 1 or 2 about historical (I think, not even), 1 about climate strategies (know the position that a building goes on a hill dependent on your climate). I got like 1 question about an ada ramp (but if you don't know that a ramp can only be 30' max before a landing then definitely brush up on ada stuff), oh and 1 or 2 questions on IBC ch 5 tables, but they give u the tables, so like most of the questions, it's just logic puzzles. So if ur a logical person, and you like solving puzzles, you have the capability to do well

Did not get any questions on sun path, or structural spans (but still scan that one page in architects studio handbook so you can know the basic max loads of each), did not really get so much on net/usable calculations (maybe like 1 question but no math problems).

If you're taking your test online, please be aware that you will probably run into technical problems. I had my computer shut off like 3x and the PSI application shut randomly like 2x. It was a little nerve wracking, and the only annoying part was getting back online in a timely manner and redoing the whole security check every time, but don't worry, it doesn't take away time from your test and most definitely doesn't lock the questions you already saw. and the proctor was super nice so shout-out to rajed.

And lastly
THANK YOU NCARB FOR TAKING AWAY FILL IN THE BLANK. I CANT TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS MEANS TO ME. I now only have 1 panic attack during the exam and not my normal 3-4 so thanksssss

Thanks for listening to my brain dump. Have a great day.

Taiwo Ogunyemi March 18, 2024 15:16

Congratulations!!! Thank you so much for sharing.

Miko Saleeby March 24, 2024 21:52

Congrats. I keep failing PA. I think my panic attacks taking over my brain during the exams. I have PA and PDD left.

Yitzchok Shine March 24, 2024 22:02

Yea. I would say the most important thing is not studying, but learning how to breathe and process stressful situations

Peggy Peña March 25, 2024 00:52

Congratulations on passing PA! This will be my next exam and I will definitely continue using hyperfine as I have for my first three exams, it's INCREDIBLY helpful. Shoutout to Ben, he's a real one!

Michael Zampolin April 10, 2024 15:44

Congrats on the PA pass! I'll be taking this test next for the first time after already passed PcM, PjM,&CE... Im definitely doing Hyperfine as its a great course! But could you please elaborate on what content within the problem seeking book you found most useful. Is it the 5 steps concepts, maths. any info would be appreciated.

Yifan Li April 20, 2024 18:05

You are just so lucky. Stop showing off

-1

Carlos Alberto Barbato April 20, 2024 18:29

Thank you for all that helpful information. I also took the PcM, PjM, and CE exams; the next is PA. I think Hyperfine is excellent for critical information. However, after reading your comments, I will check Elif Bayram's website.

When did PA get simpler?

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