PPD- Recommended Resource Confirmation
Hi, everyone! I'm starting the study process for PPD and was hoping to take the exam in about 3.5 months, but I am so overwhelmed with resources that doesn't seem possible. Unless I want to read 200+ pages a week (although I would like to enjoy my summer), but I am also not stuck to my deadline and am willing to do closer to 6 months.
I've consulted a bunch of sites/resources to determine basically "need to read" versus "read if you have time".
Need to Read/Know:
- Ballast- Chapters 12-30
- Building Construction Illustrated - whole book
- IBC - Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 2902
- Architect's Studio Companion - whole book
- FEMA 454 Design for Earthquakes - Chapter 4 and 5
- Heating, Cooling, Lighting - Chapters 2-16 (but not every section of every chapter)
- Simplified Engineering for Architect's and Builders - Chapters 1-4, 19.2
- ADA - Chapters 3-5
- How to calculate U- and R- values of walls
- I also read the ARE Study Guide Podcast and am looking into AREQuestions.com
If you have time:
- MEEB- appears to be supplemental if have HCL and ASC?
- Rest of ADA
- FEMA - Chapters 8-9
- Plumbing, Electricity, Acoustics - I've heard very mixed reviews. Is it worth it?
- Building Codes Illustrated- supplemental to IBC
Does anyone have any advice for what is good to read vs not a necessity? Any help is appreciated! Also any study tips would be great! I've passed my other 4 exams first try, but I'm not so sure my study methods will work for PPD or PDD for that matter.
Thank you in advance! :)
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Hi. Your need to read list looks great. These are the recourses I used and highly recommend: Entire PPD Ballast chapter, Architect Studio Companion, Building Construction Illustrated, FEMA Chapters 4&5. However, reading was only half of my study program. The other half consisted of watching videos and practice questions. I found this balance to be key. I can’t recommend Amberbook enough. Especially for PPD & PDD. If you’re currently working at a firm talk to them about buying the firm wide license. If not, you can join a group for a discount. Along with Amberbook I used WeARE, Elif ARE Questions, the Ballast practice exam and the NCARB practice exam.
You’re more than halfway there! Keep going and good luck!Cody
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I used amber book and the only supplemental reading I used from your list was FEMA 454. Personally I get too stressed out worrying about what to study, so having a program to just follow along was good for me.
I also paid for the ppd & pdd bundle from arequestions.com and found it was worth the $100. I think I took around 20 of the 24 quizzes and neither of the exams. Having sampled all the available quiz material out there, it's the closest to the vibe of ncarb questions.
I studied ppd and pdd together for one month and then took them one week apart. They are really similar.
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Congratulations themearch!!! You should be very proud of this accomplishment! I'm glad to hear that Black Spectacles was helpful to you along this journey.
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Black Spectacles
ARE Community -
I will always strongly recommend PPI's online courses and the companion text (Ballast, Kaplan, whatever) because they helped me pass PcM, PjM, CE, and PA all in one attempt. For PPD and PDD, I would still recommend the PPI practice question bank, but the reading content for those two exams is MASSIVE. I personally skipped the reading for those two exams and replaced it with Amber Book's videos. I do highly recommend AB videos for those two exams specifically, and once you've learned the content there, reinforce it with PPI's massive collection of highly accurate/representative questions. This was my strategy for PPD, and I passed it on the first attempt as well. I'm taking PDD in 3 weeks, and I plan on just going through PPI's PDD questions too. And as with every exam division, take NCARB's provided practice exam beforehand to get a sense of where you stand in terms of preparation. I've found that the practice exams are extremely accurate representations of the real exams (and between you and me, I think they're generally even a bit harder, so if you pass the practice exam, you should be ready for the real deal). Good luck, and keep at it!
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Thank you everyone for the advice and well wishes! I took my exam this weekend and passed on my first attempt!!
And to everyone looking for some references for your upcoming exams - I did read all the resources I listed but unfortunately didn’t have time to read all of the “if you have time” resources. I did skim the rest of the ADA but other than that it was just the main list I used. Good luck to everyone and thank you to all who helped!!
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