PDD Pass and Done.. What helped me.

I passed PDD two days ago, it was my last exam. Feels good not to have to tell my kids Mommy can't play cause she has to study. 

I studied for about four weeks, after work for an hour or two and on the weekends. If I had to do it again I would definitely try to study for longer but this was my last test, I have two small children and with all the test cancellations I didn't want to move my test and have to wait until the fall. 

I used Hyperfine guidance mostly. First I read the chapters Ben lists for Heating, Cooling, Lighting and the ones for Plumbing, Electric, Acoustics (I actually had Alexa read them to me and I looked at the images, I learn better by listening) Then I read Building Construction Illustrated (This book takes FOREVER to read). I read a couple of Chapters from PPI Ballast 4.0 (12-16 and 27-28) and chapters 2, 5 and 6 from Brightwood (kind of random chapters because I was running out of time). I did all of the practice problems from Hyperfine and I looked at AGS details. 

The last week I did Black Spectacles Practice exams, PPI quizzes and watched Hyperfine, archiecorner and Designer Masterclass videos on Youtube. There was a lot more on Youtube than I ever imagined and for someone with a very busy life, they really helped me learn or remember a lot. I would play them while cooking or cleaning or while working or while taking my toddler to the doctor because she got sick that last week (of course!). 

Since I had already taken PPD last year in October I had already read most of Ballast 5.0 PPD and PDD chapters and Building Codes Illustrated. I had also watched the Amber Videos back in 2017? or 2018? 

Lastly, and very importantly, Karin's notes. Go get them, read them, make notes on top of her notes. 

Take your time, it was stressful to try and do it all in four weeks, it definitely helped that I had read other resources for the other exams and that I've done CDs and CA for a couple of projects. I was fully planning on reading Fundamentals of Building Construction if I failed the test, if you can read it, do it. Don't ignore simple math.. slopes in all the ways they can be calculated, Cost related calculations and simple unit conversions. If you don't have a lot of experience grab a set of drawings and look at what each section is showing, what information is shown in a floor plan, in a section, in an RCP etc. Look at consultant drawings too. Look at the most used spec Divisions (from 00 to 14? 22, 23, 26, 31, 33?) and what kinds of things go into them. Look at section and axo Details! And don't forget PDD comes before CE, get a refresh on the Agreements or AHPP construction and spec chapters. 

Good luck!