How are you studying?
Hi all,
I failed PDD. I'm quite upset cause I used all the resources listed here that are helping people pass. Amber, Black Spectacles, Hyperfine, Elif's Questions, Practice Tests all of it. I felt really confident going into the test and even while taking the test I felt like some of the questions were easy (ha, how dare she). Clearly I missed the mark.
I will say that one of the things about the test that stood out to me was when people say general concepts are enough to study for a test, they're right sort of. Walk with me on this journey here:
Yes, it's true you need to understand general concepts of basic building science and systems. But I think what people mean by that is that you need to understand the multiple roles that a particular concept plays. We all know that there are specific things that a vapor barrier, rigid insulation, air gaps, CAV systems, etc. do. Why? Because we're all reading and watching the same material. BUT, we need to go a step further and think of the primary, secondary, and supplemental roles these concepts play, which can only be figured out by going a step further than what the prime suspects of materials give you. I got a question about a specific topic. If I mentioned what that specific topic was on here, I guarantee all of you would have the same response to that topic. Why? Because, all of the material we read/watched (including NCARB references) told us that. I'm so confident in that, I'd put money on it. But that response wasn't one of the options in the answer. That's where I feel the terms "general concepts" should be elaborated on. A true understanding of a general concept is understanding the in's and out's of why something is the way it is. It's a detailing test. Know the pieces of the detail and their multiple roles. (this is my hot take on the material, take it or leave it, I don't care)
I will reiterate that studying calculations are absolutely a waste of time. I hate math, I'm terrible at it. You can ask my colleagues. All the stuff I saw on my test was simple math. If I can handle it, you can too. Roll your eyes all you want, but trust me. Don't sweat math.
So rather than venting frustration (I've done plenty of that already), I want an action plan. Back to my original point of this post: HOW are you guys studying? Is it just reading and taking notes? Flashcards? Questions? Are you guys organizing your notes in a specific way?
I read and take notes, and a few flashcards based on what I get wrong, and a LOT of practice questions where I'm looking up wrong answers. Does anyone else have more suggestions? I'm ready to try something creative to study.
Also, I know a lot of people have gripes with various materials and NCARB. That's fine, you're allowed to have an opinion on that. But I need this post to be productive, and I know other people are going to benefit from hearing about how people study. So if you've got an ax to grind with a resource or NCARB, please respectfully take it somewhere else. I just want to pass.
Last note: If anyone is curious about how my testing experience was, it was fine. No crashes, zoomed in on PDFs in the case study and could clearly see the drawings. Whiteboard functioned perfectly. The *only* thing was that sometimes my calculator didn't show up on the screen. But before I panicked about it, I went to the next question, came back to the previous question, clicked on the calculator, and it was back. I was fine. I feel terrible for anyone who had an experience that was otherwise, but I didn't experience anything negative and I was content with my testing experience.
Good luck everyone, we can do it. I spent most of yesterday feeling like garbage, but the last thing I'll ever do is let a few tests stand between me and a license, or let a fail define me. I'm so much better than that and so are you.
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Hi Shikha,
Sorry you had to go through that PDD experience. But you are not alone, if that is any consolation. I felt the exact same way, so much that I convinced myself that it must be some kind of glitch and I immediately turned around and gave it second shot, and, you guessed it!....BOOM!! in my face!!!. So please do not go back right immediately.
Seat back, task your brain's memory recall. As it comes write it down. Firstly, you would be surprised how much your brain has kept! Then reprocess as you continue to study, you may need to search the concepts from different sources, but you begin to realize how and why you dropped the ball. You may also find that, certain concepts you really did not know enough or probably had not factored into your taught process several other issues that could sway your (would be) decision. I think PDD questions test our knowledge on multiple concepts in one question. You may want to ask yourself, after reading the question "what do these guys really, REALLY want from me"
Another thing is, don't slow down your studying, keep the same pace, watch YouTube when you don't feel like studying and you would be amazed how you begin find the links and weave them together to get a wholistic perspective on concepts.
I did not find BlackSpectacles and WEARE helpful on this exam. Elif, Hyperfine and PPI on the other hand were helpful.
And the last thing is calculation, you may not necessarily have to do calculations, but in my experience you need to understand the concepts of the formulas to bag enough points to pass this test. If you consider what was thrown at you on lighting, structures and estimating. Several cracks at Elif and hyperfine should put you there, plus most of it is the resources so you only to understand not memorize. Good Luck on your next try. I plan to take another shot at it next month.
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Do NOT spend too much time looking for obscure ARE information because the NCARB will have to test you on the most common architectural knowledge and information. At least 80% to 90% of the exam content will have to be the most common, important and fundamental knowledge. The exam writers can word their questions to be tricky or confusing, but they have to limit themselves to the important content; otherwise, their tests will NOT be legally defensible. At most, 10% of their test content can be obscure information. You only need to answer about 62% of all the questions correctly. So, if you master the common ARE knowledge (applicable to 90% of the questions) and use the guess technique for the remaining 10% of the questions on the obscure ARE content, you will do well and pass the exam.
On the other hand, if you focus on the obscure ARE knowledge, you may answer the entire 10% obscure portion of the exam correctly, but only answer half of the remaining 90% of the common ARE knowledge questions correctly, and you will fail the exam. That is why we have seen many smart people who can answer very difficult ARE questions correctly because they are able to look them up and do quality research. However, they often end up failing ARE exams because they cannot memorize the common ARE knowledge needed on the day of the exam. ARE exams are NOT an open-book exams, and you cannot look up information during the exam.
The process of memorization is like filling a cup with a hole at the bottom: You need to fill it faster than the water leaks out at the bottom, and you need to constantly fill it; otherwise, it will quickly be empty.
Once you memorize something, your brain has already started the process of forgetting it. It is natural. That is how we have enough space left in our brain to remember the really important things.
It is tough to fight against your brain's natural tendency to forget things. Acknowledging this truth and the fact that you cannot memorize everything you read, you need to focus your limited time, energy and brainpower on the most important issues.
The biggest danger for most people is that they memorize the information in the early stages of their exam preparation, but forget it before or on the day of the exam and still THINK they remember them.
Most people fail the exam NOT because they cannot answer the few “advanced” questions on the exam, but because they have read the information but can NOT recall it on the day of the exam. They spend too much time preparing for the exam, drag the preparation process on too long, seek too much information, go to too many websites, do too many practice questions and too many mock exams (one or two sets of mock exams can be good for you), and spread themselves too thin. They end up missing the most important information of the exam, and they will fail.
Gang Chen, Author, AIA, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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I would recommend reading the source materials - the Fundamentals book, and reviewing AGS. Ballast is also a very good exam review. I highly recommend reading chapters 3, 5, 6 and 10 of the IBC. You need to really understand the building code. Use youtube (from industry standard sources) to visually understand the construction. Yes, it's A LOT of material. None of the materials you listed are source materials. They are all 3rd party study guides. You need to spend most of your time reading. Out of all the resources you mentioned the only one that I used that I thought was helpful was hyperfine. But I think hyperfine is too focused on complicated math problems. You won't see many on the ARE, and if they are super long/complicated you are better off skipping them.
Also, do the case studies first. And skip strange questions or complicated math problems (they may be part of the non-scored questions anyhow).
Hope this helps!
Rebekka O'Melia, B.Arch, M. Ed, Registered Architect, NCARB, Step UP ARE 5.0
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Don't give up! You can do it! I made a YouTube video explaining all of the resources I used, my studying strategy, timeline, and study tips I utilized in order to pass the exam. I have made videos for each of the ARE 5.0 Exams. Feel free to check it out and subscribe to my channel so you don't miss out on any future videos. https://youtu.be/hXHFKlN-Bx4
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So sorry to hear that. I made a YouTube video about all of the resources I studied in order to pass the exam in two months. I also talk about my study strategies and my study schedule for the exam. Check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXHFKlN-Bx4&t=16s and feel free to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss out on any future videos.
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