P&A Pass -- Thoughts and Advice
Just recently passed P&A this last weekend and have a couple thoughts that I think might help some people out.
This was the first exam I had ran out of time for. It seems to be a common theme from what I've read on other posts and I tried to go in with the mindset that I had to answer questions relatively fast. Even with this in mind, I left the last 3 questions empty and didn't have time to review flagged questions.
With this being said, if I had gone back and retaken this test again, I wouldn't have gone into the exam trying to work faster. The questions are long and thought provoking, so I think it's important for this one to spend extra time on the problems you know how to answer and are familiar with to ensure you work through them correctly, and less time on ones you're unsure of.
I spoke with another colleague on a previous exam who mentioned he had also ran out of time, leaving one case study completely blank, and still managed to pass. Try to be thorough and sure of your answers rather than trying to complete the entire exam (if you can complete the exam all the better, but you get what I am saying).
I think I could have genuinely passed this exam with just using Ballast and YouTube videos (YouTube has been my favorite source for all exams thus far. There are really great playlists out there for each exam). The Site Planning and Design Handbook was certainly helpful along with Building Codes Illustrated, as well, but Ballast does give a very good overview of everything you need to be prepared for.
The case studies were the most challenging. I had about 1 hr 20 min for both of them, and this still wasn't enough time. The challenging part again, was how long each question took to answer. So when a question came up that I knew how to answer and was prepared for, I spent a little extra time ensuring I had the right information and made the correct decision, rather than spend too much time on a question that I was struggling with.
Hopefully this helps and good luck to you if you're taking this exam. On to PPD & PDD!
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Of course! See below:
Programming and Analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDWODdPMNEM&list=PLbCwVAjlw5bBGcWVwwdjJ_zbPd8yGQI2x
The Emergency Egress Standards and How to Choose the Right Landscape Drainage System were the two I found most helpful.
I also watched some of the ADA Archi-corner videos. They're very basic but helpful nonetheless and are only a couple of minutes long. There isn't a playlist but here is one of them:
Hopefully this helps!
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I just took the exam and also ran out of time.
The best advice I can give is to go through questions: if it’s a multiple choice and you immediately know the answer, fill it out. If not, flag it and move on to fill in blank/drag drop/hot spot/etc. With multiple choice if you are running out of time, you have a chance that your answer is right. I had to do that with 5 (!) questions. For what it’s worth, I passed. -
Congratulations! I am wondering why not put in guess answers for the three questions? I guess you did not realize the time is up so quickly and did not even have time to put them in.
Gang Chen, Author, Architect, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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Thanks Gang!
The last 3 questions I missed were all math equations from the case study. As I saw that I only had a minute left, I decided my time would be better spent solidifying my understanding of the question I was on (which was a multiple choice) than hurry through the the last 3 equations which I was already likely to get wrong. If they had been multiple choice I would have for sure thrown up a guess.
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