PPD Pass! Here's What I Did!
Back in August, I took PPD and felt great during the exam. To my surprise, my results came back as a big fat FAIL. I was upset, but I immediately scheduled PDD to try to retain some of the information and continue my path to licensure while I waited for the 60 days limit for the retake. To my dismay I also failed PDD in November, but I continued, and I rescheduled PPD for 1 month after taking PDD and am happy to say I passed! Oh man! This has been a rollercoaster of emotions since August. However, I do really think studying for PDD also helped me ultimately pass PPD. While it seems like so much information to cover for both exams, there is a lot of overlap. PDD is basically the detailed exam, while PPD is more about concepts/planning.
This is my 5th exam to pass, and I’m happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My studying for this exam was a bit different than it has been for my other exams. During my first round of studying, I studied for 7 weeks (1 section/week and then a review week). I covered so much material that I really thought my brain was going to explode. This exam has a monster mountain of information. Repetition and review periods are super important for this exam. The base concepts are incredibly important. Don’t get too bogged down in the details. Yes, you need to know them, but if you don’t understand the basics at all, those details won’t help you. The only thing I did differently on my second try was I only reviewed my notes (I didn’t reopen textbooks if I could help it) and I added in Amber Books. I cannot stress how helpful Amber Books was (Yes, it’s expensive, but for me it was the way I ended up passing the exam, so it was worth every penny).
Below is a detailed approach for how I studied for PPD. Remember, what worked for me, may not work for you. Best of luck!
Study Schedule
- Study duration – 11 weeks TOTAL. First take, I studied 7 weeks. Retake, I studied 4 weeks.
- Weekdays, Monday-Friday, 2-3 hours/day (1 hour during lunch, 1-2 hours after work)
- Weekends, 4-6 hours/day, review and practice exams
- Take the exam on a Monday so you don’t have work on your mind. Really helpful to have two full days before the exam and not have the worries of emails and getting backgrounds out to consultants right before you take the exam. DO NOT take the exams on Friday if you can help it. Your mind will be all over the place.
During the exam
- When I first sit down, I write down any equations/notes I think I might need to reference. I also look at what sources I have provided on the case studies. Sometimes questions can be answered with help from the provided sources.
- I get through ALL of the problems (including case studies) first before taking my 15-minute break. I allow myself 1 minute/question. If I really don’t know the answer, I pick an answer and mark it for review. Remember – every question is weighted equally! I then take my break, and once I return, I go over the marked questions at my leisure to really think about them. If any time is left over, I’ll go through the whole exam again (very quickly, like 15-30 seconds/question). I repeat until my time expires. I highly recommend getting through all 120 questions before you take a break so you know what questions you’re struggling with. You can think about it during your break, and you know what you’re walking back into after your break. Everyone feels differently about this approach, so figure out what works best for you. This is the process that feels best to me during the exam.
Study Material
These materials I studied in depth for the first take, and then simply reviewed notes and any critical diagrams for the retake:
- Ballast
- The material in Ballast is a great first introduction to the exam material. I know there is a lot of information for this exam. Ballast provides more detail than what I think you need for the exam, so it’s a great resource to fully prepare you for the breadth of information on the exam.
- Ballast Practice Problems/Practice Exam
- I used the practice exam to help gauge my knowledge at the beginning, before I ever started studying. The practice problems are great to pair once you get through those sections in the reading material. I did the practice problems and exam twice each. Once at the beginning and another time right before I took the exam. I find the Black Spectacles exams to mirror the actual ARE format way more effectively, but the Ballast exam was incredibly helpful on pointing out my weak areas in my knowledge as well.
- Black Spectacles
- While a lot of people don’t like Black Spectacles, I find this material to be highly beneficial. It’s a great foundation to help you learn, and the lectures will actually explain to you how to solve load calculations, etc. It’s more generic, but incredibly helpful.
- The flashcards seem to pull material from outside sources as well, so those go more into depth than the lectures do. You can make your own custom flashcards as well! I tend to put the questions I miss during practice exams onto flashcards to help me in the future.
- The practice exams are awesome. They are formatted just like the actual ARE so you can get used to the format and understanding how it all works. I would highly recommend going through all of them. I tend to be scoring around 70-80% before I go into the actual ARE.
- Architect Exam Prep (AEP)
- I read through this lightly but mainly used the lectures. I feel like AEP did a better job explaining soils characteristics, and typical structural systems than Ballast did. They have good tables to break down all the material, structural systems choices, and design decisions related to climate.
- I also listened to the lectures in the car on my way to/from the office. I listened to these twice through. (once for each time I took the exam).
- MEEB
- I did a light review of this material. I mainly reviewed the diagrams and key concepts. Lots of chapters to review. I would focus on items that you tend to be struggling with. However, I will say that some of the pictures on the book are VERY helpful to know for the exam.
- Building Construction Illustrated
- Ch 1-3 primarily is what I studied. Because I studied more chapters for PDD, I also reviewed the other chapters very LIGHTLY.
- Building Code Illustrated
- READ THIS THING LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. (mainly Chapters 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10). The way this book outlines the code was incredibly helpful. If you don’t use the code in your day-to-day practice, it will give you a good base knowledge. If you use the code all the time, this is still a really helpful tool as it goes into depth and provides diagrams to explain all the concepts.
- Architects Studio Companion
- I love this book for the tables at the beginning of the sections. The tables outline which MEP system to choose under different circumstances, which structural systems to choose, spans, etc. The material behind the tables goes into further discussion and explanation if you’re needing more information as well.
- Jenny P Notes
- This is great set of notes (a few pages) that really explain the MEP systems accurately and concisely. I used this as last-minute review material on both exams. Great reminder. https://arendurance.wordpress.com/study-guides/
New Material for retake:
- Amber Books
- I had people through this forum recommend using Amber Books to help me with studying for my retake of the exam, and I am so glad I paid for a month subscription! Really helpful videos that break down the content in a different way than the other study materials above. There are practice questions scattered throughout the videos to help you retain the information while you’re digesting the lectures. I highly attribute my success on this exam to this study material. It gave me that extra layer of confidence I needed to pass the exam on the 2nd
- Karin Notes
- another great set of diagrams/notes from a fellow ARE exam taker! 17 pages of almost everything you need to know. Great to review right before you enter the exam. https://gumroad.com/arevisuallearning
Best of luck studying! Don’t let these exams get you down! Keep studying and keep going no matter the outcome!
One more ARE for me! 😊 If I can do this, so can you!
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Congrats on passing! I'm taking the PPD December 16 (first time).
I've already read through all of the Ballast and have begun reading through AEP and watching Amber Books.
I'm a bit nervous because, you're right, it's a lot of information. At this point. I'm not sure if I have time to read any new material. I'd rather focus on understanding Ballast, AEP, and Amber Books as best as I can.
I'm glad you see the light! Good luck with your next exam!
FD
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I think you're on the right track with really knowing those materials! It helps the studying not seem quite so overwhelming.
Building Codes Illustrated was really helpful with it's diagrams. I would say if you want to read anything else, that would be the book to read.
Best of luck!
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Thanks for all the input. Your notes are rather complete and very helpful. I’m currently in wrap up of review prior to taking the exam and have read building codes illustrated, the studio companion, ballast, building const illustrated, hyperfine problems, black spectacles, graphic standards and reviewed the ibc extensively.
im not seeing much material out there though regarding structural calcs, acoustic calcs and lighting calcs. What was your experience regarding these? I’ll check amber book now but any resources regarding those calcs will be helpful. Maybe I missed that section on black spectacles...
thanks!
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Black Spectacles had a *little* bit of structures calcs, and everything I experienced on the exam was pretty basic structural stuff. If you've studied the Black Spectacles and Ballast examples, you'll be well prepared, in my opinion.
As far as acoustic calcs and lighting calcs - Amber Books went into more depth on these than other materials. They walk you through example questions and how to answer them. It was a really helpful way to learn. It felt like I was back in college, learning from a professor again instead of just reading study material over and over again.
also - i googled a lot of example questions to help me prepare. Some of that was helpful for me too.
Hope that helps you! Best of luck!
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I’m reviewing the black spectacles section on structural calcs again and will later post comments on the lectures. Hyperfine had some good links for practice problems and I’ll continue to use those but they are typically engineering problems that seem denser then needed. I’m happy to be able to review a lecture from a Dartmouth engineering professor but it seems like overkill...
Thanks for the input, and I will check out amber books after structural is out of the way. Good luck with PDD and please keep me posted on how that exam goes!
D
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Congratulations on passing PPD.
I took PPD for the 3rd time this past weekend and finally passed!! I thought that the exam was very hard......probably the toughest I've taken so far.
I studied using Hyperfine and Amber Book, and I think they were both pivotal in my understanding the study information and translating into something useful on exam day. Now on to PDD!!
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Sorry to hear that you failed. I understand the frustration. Have you already signed up for the PDD yet? You should take that one. Generally the same study materials but more in depth. You never you, you might actually pass it and giving you the push needed. Make sure you rest the day or two before the exam. Don't do any last minute studying. Your brain needs a rest.
You got this.
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Hi Fien! so sorry to hear about your fail. After my first fail of PPD, I took PDD and that material was really helpful for me to understand PPD better. I think taking PDD is a great decision, but if you feel like waiting and doing PPD after the 60 day retake, that's totally understandable too! I just personally wanted to keep my momentum going, and that seemed to really help me for PPD.
I also concur with Derek - take a break the last day before the exam. Cramming never works.
Best of luck!!
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Hi Clarissa, Thanks so much for sharing your experience--I just experienced a similar fail pattern :-( I failed PPD in April, then got back on the horse and took PDD yesterday and just found out that I failed that one. It's been so deflating because I studied intensely for PDD (Ballast, Black Spectacles, Amber Book, Hyperfine) and I have made about 1500 notecards between PPD and PDD. I am scheduled to (re)take PPD in a week--too late to cancel--and I'm pretty discouraged. I actually didn't study Building Codes Illustrated or Building Construction Illustrated and maybe that will help (thanks for that advice!) Did you use NCARB's "score report" to figure out what to focus on the 2nd time? I find it difficult to translate those categories into tangible study areas.
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