Hi all,
After passing CDS and PPP last year and then a long lapse in testing, I decided to transition rather than take SPD. I got overly concerned about the Site Planning vignette and just couldn't get myself to practice it. I had done a lot of multiple choice studying so I just went for it. Here's what I found.

This was a hard exam. It's fairly esoteric and a lot of the planning and programming problems are more like puzzles than questions. You don't need to know information, but you need to work through them slowly. The new questions take longer. The lag time issue exists, but didn't bother me. My exam was part of a 30-40 minute nationwide crash, which was terrible.

I found this harder than PPP. I got a screen that said likely pass, which was good, but it was challenging.

Also, don't restudy CDS much.

I'm happy to answer any reasonable questions!

I forgot to post study materials.
Ballast ARE Manual 4.0 - Chapters 2,3 and 5.
Archiflash 3.1 - PreDesign (This aligns super well with PA)
Ballast ARE questions for PPP
DesignerHacks 4.0 SPD and PPP
Site Planning & Design by Thomas Russ (very light skimming)
ADA (skimmed parts I don't use daily)
Problem Seeking by Pena (read first section)

I strongly recommend getting any 3.1 PreDesign materials you can get. They align well with this exam.

Congrats!! I am thinking about taking PA in 2-3 weeks but have yet to start studying for it (holiday season-itis has slowly started to kick in). How were your case studies? Everyone says that they are heavy on IBC. I haven't really ever used the IBC so I'm really nervous about that.

The case studies were challenging, but all the information is in front of you.

I wouldn't say mine were heavy on IBC, but I use IBC all the time, so it's a pretty comfortable place for me. IBC was referenced (in several questions), but you don't need to know any of it without looking it up. I would familiarize yourself with occupancies, where to find height and area requirements, some of the basics of egress, but locating them is the main thing.

Out of curiousity, what building codes are you familiar with?

I'm trying to maintain my momentum and get studying on PPD and PDD, but I think the holidays slow me down (they did last year)!

Hey there! Good job! Please let us know if you indeed passed after you get your official score.

I have been looking at this section these last few days and I am surprised that there are not more forum posts in ARE 5 in general. I took CDS in ARE 4, failed because of the vignette and decided to transition to ARE 5. I find ARE 5 to be SO MUCH better than ARE 4. I took CD, PjM, and PcM in that order within a pretty short time, so I am not familiar with PPP study materials.

Anyways, I was wondering what pages in Problem Seeking by Pena comprises "first section" as you mentioned?

I am also pretty intimidated by the selection of structural systems... did you find there was a lot of that in the test? What would you study regarding that section (I have only used Ballast for ARE 5).

Thanks for you help!

Thanks! I did pass.
Structural systems don't come into PA much, if at all. However, I think there are a lot of references to recommended structural systems for different spans.

Problem Seeking is literally broken into "Part 1" and "Part 2". Part 1 is 95 pages long, but the pages are super short and contain loads of diagrams. The information is also very repetitive, however the book is well written and available for free online.

Good Luck and congrats on your successes in 5.0!

thd7t wrote:The case studies were challenging, but all the information is in front of you.

I wouldn't say mine were heavy on IBC, but I use IBC all the time, so it's a pretty comfortable place for me. IBC was referenced (in several questions), but you don't need to know any of it without looking it up. I would familiarize yourself with occupancies, where to find height and area requirements, some of the basics of egress, but locating them is the main thing.

Out of curiousity, what building codes are you familiar with?

I'm trying to maintain my momentum and get studying on PPD and PDD, but I think the holidays slow me down (they did last year)!

Hey thd7t, I only know parts of the code from studying for these exams lol. I have only joined projects around 60% or later (in the CD phase).