PA Exam - Resource Confusion
Hello All,
First I wanted to say that this community was a great source to gather and organize information about study material and learn from other candidates' experiences, I even compiled an extensive checklist of topics that were referenced repeatedly throughout the PA forum and took a good deal of time to learn and study them for the test. However, I regret to say that I received a fail on my exam this weekend, and I am thoroughly confused. I repeatedly read posts across the board that encouraged studying Brownfields, ESA phases, Zoning History + its Origin, Soils and Foundations, Historical Preservation, Hazardous Materials, Construction types, Erosion, Development Patterns, the list goes on - yet my exam experience served to be nothing of the sorts. Can anyone relate? Has anyone read this forum, the resources and topics to know and have the real exam be vastly different?
I studied for 6 weeks, 10-20 hours a week. I didn’t really have a problem missing days of reading and studying, I enjoyed the time spent learning and I know I will apply this all in the future, regardless!
I watched Pluralsight, took and studied practice tests like weARE + Walking the ARE, Designer Hacks quizzes and tests routinely, I felt that this was right in sync with what I was learning in SPDH, Problem Seeking, Brightwood, Ballast ARE 5.0 Review Manual - but n/a in my experience.
I found that the ARE 5.0 Review Manual PA chapters 7 - 11 were entirely a waste of time. I thought this was going to be key for me (I mean it’s the PA chapters, it’s Ballast/PPI, this has to be essential right?) Wrong… I know that PA can bleed into PPD but Ballast should probably rethink what they call PA in their book. I'm disappointed that I spent $200 to be completely misled, do not waste your time. This has made me question whether or not to trust this resource on the other tests.
Site Planning and Design was actually a great read, really easy to understand and had some helpful charts - I was disappointed to have read and studied these resources and felt like useless information come exam day.
Problem Seeking was also a fine read, learning about the 5 Steps of Programming and associated topics was cool, again, not applicable for me.
I will say however that another candidate recommended going through the guidebook and creating your own study guide this way - I thought this was an awesome idea. It was definitely helpful to write out what the guidelines said they would be testing you on, and kind of filling in the blanks with what you know. This was really helpful for me, but still found the test to have lacked about 80% of what I laid out from the guidelines. Even knowing Building and Analysis was the largest section of the test, what I had been exposed to on that topic through DH, Ballast, Brightwood, Pluralsight did not serve to be the right information you need for the exam.
Long story short, after getting in a groove with the resources, practice tests, probably a couple hundred flashcards of concepts and reading chapters - I feel like my test was entirely from left field. Does anyone have a similar experience with PA? Just bummed that what I figured would be at least a percentage of I would see in the forums come up on exam day wasn't the case. I guess that's the way algorithms work though, right?
I have been considering purchasing my exam, it’s a lot for $300 and only seeing my incorrect answers without the solutions, but if what I was studied was supposed to be the PA exam, and what I took was the real PA exam - I guess it’s better than nothing! If anyone has any tips, suggestions, comments - anything is helpful at this point! If you’ve read this far, I hope my experience can be useful and help to scope out some of the uncertainties that come along with resources and what I found to be true.
Thanks !!
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Don't give up!
I made a YouTube video about the best resources to study from and a sample study schedule for the PA exam. Feel free to check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPKOq9rqgMg
I will also be releasing a new video every week, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any future videos!
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Rachel - that's too bad, it sounds like you got a lot of studying in. PA is the only exam I haven't taken because the vagueness / puzzle type questions seem like such a moving target (even more than a regular ARE exam). Without disclosing any exam specific content; would you say there were a lot of calculation problems & 'puzzle type' problems I keep hearing about?
I ask because my PA is scheduled in a few weeks and I'm studying very similar to what you did above ^ so I am trying to cover my bases. Regarding the score report, my suggestion is just to invest that money into another re-take. I'm sure studying those resources still helped you in determining the 'best answer'. I think the nature of this test / programming in general is making an educated solution that isn't always a clear yes/no... Maybe you'll catch a lucky break next time.
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Hey Alexander - Thanks for your comment. Id have to agree with you on all fronts! I would say minimal math, fair amount of puzzles.
I had those same questions before I took my exam, I was encouraged by a coworker than any calculation he needed was included in the questions he came across. For me, I really didn't find that there was a lot of math. Standard things like slope and basic site calculations, a couple square footage here and there. I saw another candidate ask about frontage calculation, which I made sure to cover in my studies, but didn't find that to be in my exam either.
His question is posted here: https://are5community.ncarb.org/hc/en-us/community/posts/360049853713-Frontage-Increase-Calcs-and-Allowable-Area-Determination-
For the 'puzzle types' I would recommend going over Adjacency Diagrams the most. I came across a good amount, and really just take a little bit of good reading and tracing the lines of intersection. These are kinda fun because there is a clear answer! Taking time on these are worth it to me. Another puzzle type I would recommend is the placing of program. Takes a bit longer, same type of system as the adjacency. Hope that helps! Best of luck, please let me know how it goes!
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Hey Mikel - I did not. Practice tests that I used included Walking the ARE, weARE, Designer Hacks, answering questions along with the Black Spectacles Mock Exams (I think they have about 5 videos for the PA section, 2016-2020), a few Ballast questions that were available through my office.
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Hi! this was my EXACT experience to a T!
It was my first FAIL and I am so confused now.
I agree 100% with what you said.
I am now studying for PPD and am hoping it will help inform my PA 60 days from now.. ;-\. I would still not know what to study differently for PA at this point and feel i have so much more knowledge than they tested. I am totally confused by the experience with PA since the last 3 exams prior I PASSED with same study methods.
Prior to studying for PPD i am investigating PA to see where I went wrong.
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Kelly, I hate to hear that you experienced a similar exam! I definitely agree with you.
This time around I purchased the Hyperfine PA course and enjoyed going through it, really only marking a handful to go back through after completing - which is frustrating and motivating at the same time. I encourage you to keep pressing on and try PA again, even if you don't feel the same as you did walking into the test the 1st time. That's where I am at the moment, keep going and try again.
Test Failure ≠ Personal Failure
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