PA Failed - Third Try - Thoughts
Genuinely thought I did okay for this attempt. Studied for about 4 months this time from previous attempts, maybe 10 altogether. I'm confident in the material now, the time however, this needs to be looked at.
There are large blocks of text that take maybe 3-4 mins to analyze. The puzzle piece programming questions you need maybe 5-6 minutes. If you mess up one step, you may have to redo everything and waste more time. The calculations are doable but why are there so many additional things to consider, extra time to verify. The picking of 3-4 best items out of 6-7 similar sounding options, more time. Case study questions need maybe 6-7 minutes initially to get familiar with scenario and all other items, then you can spend maybe 3-5 mins on each question. Despite all above, I tried my best to answer each question in about 3 minutes. There's no time to go back to review and you usually have to make a best guess for 2-5 questions to keep pace.
This exam is incredibly frustrating and honestly detached from reality. A code consultant who lives and breaths code will take at least one business day to get back to me if I were to just send them an NCARB case study.
I'm reading a lot of other posts, pass or fail, and it's common that time is extremely tight on this exam. If this is a major concern, why hasn't there been any change? Should I cough up $300 to review/challenge the exam? Why not just show an actual score than this obscure score report. How will I know if I learned correctly, maybe I'll keep making the same mistake. Now I have to wait until November and spend another $235 to then sit down for another 3 hours. Do I really need to buy another set of third-party study materials? (already did Amber, practice exams with Elif, read the reference books as per NCARB, etc)
I've passed 4 exams and finished my hours already but honestly this entire process is incredibly time-consuming, expensive, and overall draining. All this work and I get maybe an $8k annual increase most of which I've used on study material. This profession doesn't even protect the "architect" title being used by other industries. The whole premise of these exams is to be a "minimally competent architect", I really don't see that. Feels like we're just trying to do everyone's job. Sorry, I'm venting now. Don't know what advice/tips I need now to pass this exam but if you have any I'll gladly take it. Maybe instead of tips, there's someone out there that failed a couple of times and got through it all that can tell me that this is all worth it in the end.
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Reading your post is like a de ja vu to what I experienced on this exam. I ended up skipping many case study questions unfortunately, although I can easily find the info if I had the time to.
It is probably the easiest exam in this process, and yet many people fail it, which I am sure is because of the time issue.I highly don’t recommend adding more book knowledge if you already read the books. The exam is more about reading and analyzing diagrams than about knowing information.
The only way to get over being slow on this exam, is to practice solving PA and PPD questions in bulk without taking breaks. (More like how you train your body to workout). Until you reach a point where your mind can match the given information in the question together in seconds to provide an answer. I would also abandon any calculation question that I answer incorrectly because of a tiny error, as painful as it is, let go. A small question that requires 10 seconds and a huge question that requires 5 mins both hold the same value (1 point). This also applies to adjacencies, spatial analysis…Finally, I highly recommend not to get stuck on the 4th right answer in the “pick 4 answers” questions, giving the 4th pick your best guess still has a very high chance to be correct.Those 30 mins that you save by guessing 4 questions, would provide you comfort and less stress on items which require extracting information rather than guessing , and are more guaranteed (like case studies).
Best of luck
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Can't say it any better than Mohsen did there - sounds like you have all the knowledge, just need to get the exam timing down which is really tough for PA. I found Elif's quizzes (arequestions.com) very helpful for getting reps in, I'm using them for PPD now. With 4 out of 6 done you've broken the back of it, this is just the last big obstacle. Maybe get the fifth one in and then come back to PA for one last push. Don't get too discouraged, in year 2 after getting licensed you'll be in the black on your investment and will have forgotten the stress!
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I echo Moshen/Eugenes' thoughts below. The PA exam was a problem for me and I found that after attempting and passing PPD I was able to return to PA with that much more confidence so that some of the questions take seconds, leaving you with some more time for the other questions.
I also became somewhat obsessive about time with this exam, ensuring I completed all the test items by a certain time, leaving the most time (1.25 - 1.5 hrs) for the Case Studies.
In addition, Elif's Questions are incredible but I also wouldn't shy away from Designerhacks, WeAre and Hyperfine for speed and being able to explain the information in your own words.
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