I woke up this morning to a PASS after taking my first 5.0 exam yesterday and since I use this forum pretty heavily to learn everyone else's study strategies, I wanted to give back by offering my study and testing strategy for anyone who might be interested.
I studied for 6 weeks, 1-2 hours a day weekdays, taking practice exams/quizzes on the weekends.
-Jenny's Notes BS and Structures
-Kaplan BS quizzes and Exam
-Kaplan Structures Exam
-Building Construction Illustrated - cover to cover
-MEEP - intended to read a lot more from this but only made it through maybe 5-6 chapters
-Designer Hacks PPD quizzes
-Taking my own notes and making flash cards of key terms
And of course coming from passes on PPP, CDS, SPD, so "knowing" all that material.
I also want to add that I'm not one of these first time passers. I failed CDS and SPD the first times. So I am over the moon about passing this exam on my first try.
For the exam itself, I started by skipping directly to the case studies. I had two. I spent about 1.5 hours doing those, then began from the top with the normal questions. I took my break when I had 2 hours left. Came back and powered through the rest of the questions. Then I had a whole hour remaining to go back to the few questions I had marked and then took my time going through the case studies again, changing a few answers because I had more time to think them through. I finished the exam with over 30 minutes left. I just can't sit there re-reading questions and second guessing myself. Time has never been an issue for me with these exams, I always have extra time when I sign off.
Overall, I must say that I really prefer the 5.0 exam and I'm super glad that I transitioned. I like the hot spot type problems the best. I didn't get too many calcs, and the ones I did I was comfortable with and confident about. The case studies were probably the hardest/most brain racking portion, but they felt pretty legit, like what architects actually do. I didn't feel that I had a single wtf question. Sure there were many questions I wasn't certain of the answer, but every time that happened I felt it was something I would have known if only I'd studied structures or materials a little bit more intensely, for example.
And for those who care, a little about me: I got my BS in Arch Studies from the U. of Missouri and practiced in hospitality interiors for 2 years after that degree. I'm 3 years out of M.Arch at Sci-Arc. Had internships at various firms during school. I worked at a smallish firm after grad school where I was able to do a ton of CA and project management that I felt confident enough to start my only solo practice, of which I have been doing for a year and a half now. I count myself lucky that I'm able to work for myself, as doing so does give me a lot more flexibility in studying. I've passed 4 exams this year and am scheduled for the final one (PDD) in 4 weeks.
Hopefully this is helpful to some of you! Onward to the PDD forums for me now.