Hello all, finally got the bad news on this exam. The result does not show the 7 weeks I spent going through all the materials and taking practice quizzes and exams.
Here is what I studied the most:
- Brighwood 5.0 front to back --took all the quizzes, did not score anything less than 70%
-Nalsa Archiflash(selected sections pertaining the subjects mentioned in NCARB)
- Sun Wind and Light-all the diagrams and strategies for passive design
-Grant Videos on building construction all chapters
-Arch graphic standards--chapters on foundation assemblies for steel , concrete and planning, as well as building systems
-building construction illustrated- everything on foundations, materials, site, environmental
-Architect's companion--all of the good stuff in there
I spent about 3-4 hours every day of the week on studying and weekends between 5-6 hours all to run into this problem and every minute possible on the train reading definitions and taking quizlet type of exams and flashcards including study-blue diagrams
My experience---
-i showed up extra early to prometric--pretty awake and alert and fully prepared
- the first question was a WTF , i kept going
-finished all the MCs with 1.75 hrs left to complete the two case studies
-case studies made me rush as the material appeared incomplete based on the questions they were asking even if the formula was provided
- many WTF questions even on the case studies
-guessed probably 1/3 of them based on common sense
surprises? well besides the obvious, a lot of ambiguous lighting fixture selection questions---similar to what a CID exam would ask---i thought it was useless--- the case studies did not test for the life safety of the public at all--it was more of an I-trick-you set-up
lots of structures, more structures structures and Mechanical--, very little CDS/BDCS material---I hope it is not the case in every exam----full of unclear questions and diagrams, some cant even be seen well===
the type of question that probably beats the one with the body of water everyone talks about(I had four of those myself)? yes, you might have run into it.... there is a load on the simple beam, but we are to assume the object is "weightless" yes, I will assume that in real life and see what happens----for the love of the profession....need to say more?
here is to another wasted 2 months...moving on to PDD no matter what happens
Hope this helps and if there is a will to try to find local people taking the same exams, maybe this helps each of us? please contact me.
the most important thing? no one can say we are procrastinating on these exams.