Testing Order

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Elizabeth Mahr

September 08, 2020 16:55

Hey everyone! I have been looking at my AXP hours to determine which ones I should focus on more so that I can start taking the exams as soon as possible. My plan was to start with the easiest exam (to build confidence) then hit the hardest one next and work back down from there. I know "easiest" and "hardest" are pretty relative but I'm curious how others rank the difficulty of the tests. Specifically if the layout is:

1) Easiest

2) Hardest

3) 2nd Hardest

4) 3rd Hardest

5) 3rd Easiest

6) 2nd Easiest

 

Thanks for any help in advance! 

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  Allison Hora September 08, 2020 17:12

  Hi Elizabeth,

  That order is something a lot of people try to do and I think a lot of have had success with. That is not the order i did them in but based on my experience I would say the order to go based on your strategy would be:

  1) PA

  2) PPD

  3) PDD

  4) PJM

  5) PCM

  6) CE

  I think this order also coincides with the passing rate that NCARB has published. 

  Hope that helps and best of luck!

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  Elizabeth Mahr September 08, 2020 18:31

  This is great, thank you! 

  Just out of curiosity, what order did you do them in? I'm not dead set on this order or anything - it just seemed like a logical first guess. 

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  Allison Hora September 08, 2020 18:56

  You're welcome! I took them in this order: PCM, PJM, CE, PA, PPD, PDD. This is the order in which the handbook is laid out and made logical sense to me as this is the order of the typical phasing of a project.  I started my exams a year or two after graduating graduate school so I wanted to gain more on-the-job work experience that would pertain to PPD PDD. 

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  Ivan Huber September 09, 2020 01:16 (Edited September 09, 2020 01:18)

  Hi Elizabeth. I would agree that CE and PA are the easiest ("least difficult" is a better way to say it though).  I found PcM and PjM to be the most difficult as I have less experience with contracts and the business side of architecture.  PDD and PPD were a little less difficult as building systems and construction are more intuitive for me.  In other words, I think it greatly depends on your experience and natural inclinations (and know that all the exams are difficult!).

  I think the order does not matter that much.  However, I would highly recommend you take PDD and PPD within the same week.  I would do the same with PcM and PjM.  There is so much overlapping content that you can easily study for them at the same time. I took them in this order: PA, PPD, PDD, PcM, PjM, CE.

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