Passing the AREs quickly - Amber Book
I just finished the AREs, and am a firm believer in the Amber Book approach as the best way to do it - focus on the content, lean in on studying efficiently, and take the exams as quickly as possible. Amber is an extremely focused course, and the clarity of the animations paired with the lectures really helped me retain the fundamental concepts needed for the exams... I can't recommend it enough. I think it's the best way to pass quickly, but it will also make you a much better architect/designer.
As for my timeline... I took two weeks to watch the entire Amber Book course (40ish hours), then took PjM, PcM, and CE in a week (reviewing the flashcards and practice exams the that week, and the day before each), then took another week to re-watch the site/codes portion of the course and took PA, then finally another week to re-watch the systems/construction portion, review the flashcards and take the remaining practice exams, and then a final week to take PDD and PPD. This diverges a bit from the recommended approach by Amber, but fit my schedule well.
The content taught was great, you rarely feel like you're actually studying for an exam - something I don't think was an accident. And the HVAC and acoustics chapters were particularly brilliant (you really become an expert on those with Amber).
Anyhow, I know I'm sounding a bit too fan boy here, but I can't thank the Amber team enough for putting together such a great course and system to getting licensed quickly.
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Congratulations on passing the exams! I also would like to add a few questions. What are some of the strategies did you use to study in those two weeks? Did you have to take notes, pause, and use any other materials to fully get concepts? It is hard to imagine you completed all the videos in just two weeks! If you could provide some study tips, that would be great! Thanks in advance!
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Kyle, congrats on your success. Just curious as to your experience level? Particularly how many years you've worked in the field. I think this is an important piece of information that many people leave out when discussing what study strategies have worked for them.
Congrats again!
Matt
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