PPD Case Study plans are entirely too small to read!!!
Hi this is a comment for the people at NCARB who create the exam / online experience.
I just completed the PPD (w/provisional pass!!) however I was really frustrated with the case study documentation. I took the test on a large gaming-type laptop computer and could barely read the information in the plans needed to answer questions in the case study. There is entirely too much information to put into any screen confined within a secure testing window and have a satisfactory user experience. In other words, the ability to answer was determined by the interface and not the knowledge. It seemed to be a bigger problem on this exam than on the other ones I have taken. I wonder if there is a better way to do this?
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Wasn't PPD, but I just took CE and experienced similar frustration. Navigating those case studies and locating minuscule notations was exasperating. Not even addressing the ~150 PDF pages of other documents per case study (split between specifications/agreements/field reports/schedules/pay apps/etc.) the drawing sets were each 10-15 full size sheets. Scrolling and zooming in/out to locate several individual door/wall/assembly/etc. tags (and sometimes comparing between plan/elevation sheets), only then to have to compare those tags to tiny finish schedules on separate sheets had me ready to pull my hair out.
I literally fell to the floor when time expired, and my proctor got on to me about leaving the webcam (whoops). But at least I passed, so it's water under the bridge, I guess.
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yes, I just completed the PDD yesterday and the same thing happened as on the PPD. The case study documents were very difficult to use considering the screen user interface and the exam time. This problem was most accute in the PPD and PDD case studies because of the subject matter covered compared to the case stidies in the other four ARE exams.
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Yes. I totally agree with it and faced the exact problem of this case study for the PPD and PDD. People who create the exam needs to be aware that the exam's purpose is for testing the knowledge instead of struggling of font size, resolution. I have to zoom in and zoom out forth and back to overall look at the entire floor plans, elevations, and sections and details due to the resonation and font size. If it is the daily work we can spend more time on it, however this is an exam, is time consumption, and I have to spend time on the interface. It is terrible experience of this exam platform.
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Just took the PPD too and I couldn't answer the last few questions in the case study because I literally couldn't see the room names and numbers to be able to answer. I zoomed in, but the pdf window didn't have a horizontal scroll bar...so zooming in so far just shot half the plan out of view. To top it off, the entire plan had different thick hatch patterns covering everything. This isn't right. I wasted so much time, just to have to give up. I'm honestly glad I didn't waste time at the beginning of the test doing the case studies now...since I was never going to get those last questions anyway. It was very defeating. Wonder if your allowed to use a magnifying glass?! :) Asking for an old friend
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My testing site allowed me to use a magnifying glass that they provided (they wouldn't let me use my own which I brought). but the problem was with the zooming (on PPD and PDD) and constant switching back and forth between viewports and so many huge plan pages. Took me several minutes to just find a room number they were referring too. Then you go look for a code section or something else and lose your spot on the plan. The questions were not so hard - I just couldn't find the right page or the right spot to look in the time so I had to blindly guess at quite a few at the end. This is not how we work in our architectural offices.
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