PPD - A different kind of test
Just took and passed (likely) PPD today. This is a different kind of exam than the the other four that I have taken. I have only PDD left.
Unlike the other exams, I felt that the questions were intended to be a little bit more tricky. More in the "gotchya" kind of realm of the SAT's or GRE's. Not a great feeling. In fact, I usually tell people that the ARE exams are not trying to trick you too much. But for this one, I would definitely stay on guard.
The quality of the question writing also seemed a bit different. Maybe because PPD and PDD test such a wide range of knowledge, there are more questions than the quality assurance could handle? One or two questions I read and reread a few times and still couldn't quiet understand what the intent was. Again, a very different experience than the other exam questions, which I felt were clear in their intent.
All in all, I feel like this pass was more about luck for me. The study material felt a bit intimidating in its breadth and I never felt like I got a firm grasp on all the knowledge. When people asked me what the test was about, I would unironically say all of architecture. Thankfully this exam kept more to general concepts, so I could use my work experience (6 years) to get me though it.
For this test even more than the others, I highly recommend good test taking practices like highlighting key words in a question and striking through answers that you can rule out. I definitely wrote out, checked and double checked all my calculations.
Stay alert! Good luck all!
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Not much more to add on top of what other's have commented on. I'm also not sure how much of the study material stuck in my head. I felt like there was a good amount of studying overlap between PA and PPA in the Ballast 5.0 book, so that helped some. I also looked at the Building Construction Illustrated and the Architect's Studio Companion book a lot. For some of the questions, I just happened to know the answers from things I learned in school. Building Code Illustrated was a good resource as well for the construction types and fire rating questions. I've also lucked out because some of the building code questions related to a problem that had come up for a project I'm working on in CA.
Really though, I also just happen to be working through the earlier SD and DD phases of a project now, so I've been picking stuff up more serendipitously in the office. I am lucky to in that the project's building construction aligns with the questions the ARE likes to throw at you. Additionally, the projects in our office typically have smaller budgets, so a lot of conversation comes up about how to maximize the efficiency of the foundations and MEP systems. For the bigger budget projects I've worked on, efficiency doesn't come up as much.
Maybe some areas to look at would be knowing what is in zoning code vs building code? That helped me out on a good number of questions in the exam.
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Thanks for sharing.
Gang Chen, Author, Architect, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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I just took and failed PPD today. I have to say unlike the op, I found the questions to be hyper specific. I felt so unprepared. I had read through Building Construction Illustrated, Architect's Studio Companion, and Building Code Illustrated multiple times. I also studied the Site Planning Handbook, AGS, MEEB for accoustics, and ch 4-5 of the FEMA book. I feel like I probably could've answered the questions I was able to answer had I not spent any time studying at all.
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