by thd7t » Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:14 am
Sources listed at the end of the PDD and PPD sections of the ARE handbook. At the end of the book there is a huge list of sources, but it looks like those are not usually necessary.
Most people look at: Building Construction Illustrated, Building Code Illustrated, Fundamentals of Building Construction, MEEB.
The thing that Ballast and Kaplan (Brightwood?) offer is lots of questions. Don't assume that the questions will prepare you for the exam. Use them to see what your weak areas are. Take the ARE 5.0 handbook and look up the competencies for each exam, then do a lot of practice questions. When you get questions wrong or find them tricky, mark them. Then after you finish grading, see what areas the questions you get wrong fall into. This will give you an idea of what you should be studying more.