How to study MEEB effectively?

Hi folks.

Recently obtained the newest MEEB, 12th edition.

I've seen the other thread here where the person said they only concentrated on the following:

Ch 7 - Heat Flow through materials/assemblies - Fig 7.6
Fig 7.11 - Thermal properties of wall sections
Pg 216 - Solar Heat Gain Coefficient
Ch 8 Daylighting strategies - Fig 8.5, Fig 8.6
Ch 9 Fig 9.5 Passive Solar Heating diagrams
Ch 11 Passive systems Fig 11.1
Ch 12 Fig 12.70 Thru-wall AC diagram (a very amusing diagram)
Fig 12.76 - Oil fired boiler diagram
Ch 19 Fig 19.51 ADA Clearances, Fig 19.53 & 19.54
Table 19.12 Expansion of pipes
Fig 19.60 Typical valve types
Ch 20 Fig 20.8 (another rather amusing diagram)
Ch 23 Fig 23.1 Acoustics, also 23.2, 23.4
Fig 23.28, Acoustics & delayed signals/speakers
Ch 24 Fig 24.47 Sound proofing of mech equip.
Ch 28 Fig 28.32 Metal floor raceways
Ch 29 Fig 29.5 Electrical diagrams
Ch 32 pg 1453 Elevator diagrams

If you look through the book, There is a LOT of good information....almost 2000 PAGES?

If i really read this book,

1. It will take me a year

2. I'll never remember it

What do people think?

krmerten January 27, 2020 15:42

I read the book and it took me about 6 weeks. It's really helpful once you get into it. Yes, it's more than you'll be tested on but you don't have to read-read all the part, just parts you're unfamiliar with.

Jeffrey Perkis January 27, 2020 22:35

I have been told to review and understand the diagrams. You don't really need to read everything. If I were to read the whole thing, I would be catching up on a lot of lost sleep.

Ralph Hale July 29, 2026 21:07

Joseph,

If you did well in your building systems courses in school, think of your time in MEEB as time familiarizing yourself with the book to aid you in your work in the profession. As you're hinting, as an exam study tool, it's not very efficient - that's a common thread across many of the books NCARB uses to build the exam. They're excellent professional references, but as a rule of thumb many of them don't do a great job teaching the fundamentals you need to understand to be able to apply the knowledge they contain. If you really want to go through MEEB, Jeffrey's suggestion is generally best-practice for most people most of the time. Skim aggressively. When you run across something you're interested in, let yourself enjoy it.

Best,
Ralph, the Amber Book Team

How to study MEEB effectively?

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