Got creamed by CE today

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morooster

November 27, 2025 00:39

Started finally taking tests. Took PPD last week and passed it first try, then PA this monday and passed that also. Feeling good, I scheduled CE right away because I heard it was one of the easier tests. CE had me sweating, like actively perspiring in the test center. It was hard. I admit I could have studied the contracts more or the AHPP, but I am pretty sure the test difficulty was up there. 

Curious, so I looked up the pass rates and saw that while in 2019 the CE pass rate was 70%, by last year NCARB had successfully dropped it to 61%. It is the largest drop in pass rate among the 6 tests. 

I don't even know if this info is valuable, I just wanted to vent. It was hard. 

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  riverari November 27, 2025 18:50

  I'm curious to know what study materials you used for PPD and PA? and how many weeks did you study for these exams?

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  morooster November 28, 2025 00:27

  riverari Amber book mostly, and it took me a while because I juggled raising a baby. I think I paid for around 4 months of amber book. They encourage you not to do this if you can't finish the program in 2 months. About a week before my PPD exam i took NCARB's practice test and failed that one, but I went through the answers and tried to correct my test taking faults. Also, I didn't take the practice test for CE, and look what happened. Definitely grind the practice tests. I also have the ballast book and a copy of the AHPP, but I barely touched them TBH. 

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  riverari November 28, 2025 09:42

  morooster

  I also did not pass CE this week. My gut feeling was telling me to do an NCARB PPD or PDD practice test a couple days before... I should have done that to get an overlap of site observation and construction details. A handful of those questions came up on my test. Hopefully studying for the next design related exams will help to fill the gap. Good luck to us on the next one! :)

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  morooster November 28, 2025 19:21

  riverari

  Good luck to us... and yeah I'm sure it will help. I also got a few related to construction details. I struggled the most with the contract related stuff so I'm going to go brush up on that. Let's ace the 2nd try in january. 

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  Architect_inprocess December 27, 2025 22:51

  morooster- Did you finish the whole amberbook before giving the PPD, PPD and CE test?

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  morooster December 28, 2025 01:24

  Architect_inprocess

  For CE no not really, since the professional practice was the last chapter and the test date was approaching, I had to rush through it. But PA PPD and PDD I did prepare for a few days prior after finishing the amber book videos

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  Architect_inprocess December 28, 2025 15:30 (Edited December 28, 2025 15:30)

  @morooster But if you gave CE after PPD and PA, that means you had finished the whole amberbook? I failed CE by 1 question, and I am debating if I should regive or finish the amberbook and move on to next

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  Dannympoto December 29, 2025 17:39

  I am Scheduling the CE by mid February hope I will passed it the first time

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  morooster December 29, 2025 22:56

  Architect_inprocess i can't tell you really, but in my opinion if it was 1 question, i wouldn't bother with amber book other than the professional practice section and the CE flash cards, i would probably spend most of my time in the contracts and taking practice tests

  Dannympoto Good luck. I have my retake late Jan 

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