Preliminary Fail PPD

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chloeanndyer

August 30, 2026 01:22

I failed ppd for the 3rd time today. I used amber book / BS / hyperfine and read through building construction illustrated + architect studio companion. I was getting 88% - 90% on all practice exams… failing was pretty surprising. Anyone have any advice for me? // what they recommend to pass. I have passed all other divisions except this one.

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  liubin August 30, 2026 14:12

  chloeanndyer,

  Sorry to hear that — I failed PPD my first time too. This division is really a tough one. Based on what you’ve already studied, I’d add FEMA 454 Chapters 4 & 5 for seismic and Karin’s Summary Sheets, but I probably wouldn’t keep adding more books beyond that. After that, I’d focus heavily on practice questions. I used Amber Book, ARE Questions, AREchitect, and the official NCARB practice exam, and the NCARB practice exam was by far the most valuable because it felt closest to the real exam. Since you’re already scoring 88–90%, I’d focus less on the score itself and more on understanding why every answer is right or wrong, including the ones you got correct.

  Hope this helps and you will get a PASS next time!

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  Ralph Hale September 04, 2026 15:49 (Edited September 04, 2026 15:51)

  chloeanndyer,
  
  What was the scaled score on your score reports - the 3-digit score on the first page.  Should be ~450-550.  
  
  The ARE is quite unlike any exam most people have taken at the point in their lives they take the ARE, and I speak to people all the time who haven't assessed where they're at relative to where they need to be correctly - folks feel terrible and pass, feel confident and don't, feel like they failed miserably and were one or two questions away, etc. 
  
  50% of all divisions taken score within 4 questions of the cut score question (25% pass 1-4, 6% exactly pass, 19% don't pass by 1-4.  If you've passed your other 5 divisions the first time, I'm betting you're within that 50% band - which is like needing to revise and resubmit a permit set, not start your building's drawings all over again. 
  
  If you're in that band, most of your study for your retake should be review of your notes and the things you already know broadly - the biggest mistake I see people make in preparing for retakes is overstudying the topics you remember not knowing, and not spending enough time reinforcing the things you knew at the time you first tested - our minds are leaky buckets, and it takes a little effort just to keep the bucket filled!
  
  I've got an email I send to people who are close to passing - even if they've been close multiple times it has some tips and tricks to get a few more questions right.  Email us at architects@amberbook.com and I'll send it to you.
  
  Best,
  Ralph, the Amber Book Team
  Ralph 

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