Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby max8176 » Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:32 am

Which study review book is better, Brightwood (Kaplan) or Ballast? Any opinion? I need to get some study material for PPD and PDD.
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Re: Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby thd7t » Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:39 am

Use either for a loose structure, but go to primary sources in the NCARB study guide. I don't think that Ballast and Kaplan have caught up with the new exam structure too well, yet.
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Re: Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby kerzzo » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:11 am

and Kaplan even more unless you study all the sections of 4.0. the readings are long and probably not so great--reference material is likely the best helper...
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Re: Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby max8176 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:07 pm

Primary sources? Are you talking about the ARE 5.0 Handbook?
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Re: Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby 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.
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Re: Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby BnyBen » Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:06 am

I'm finding the Ballast 5.0 Review Manual to be too wordy and time consuming to read yet lacking enough detail on some important subjects to truly understand how you will be tested on them; for example cost estimating and life cycle costs. So I would recommend skimming it quickly to identify your weak areas and studying suplimental material for those. I'm finding MEEB to be a great resource when you know what you are looking for. It's much more detailed and has better graphics/diagrams. Worth the $$ in my opinion.

I have been using Kaplan as a secondary resource and for the practice tests but have often found it to be too vague as well.
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Re: Review material for PDD and PPD: Kaplan or Ballast?

Postby max8176 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:37 am

I see. BTW, I have taken the Structural, Building Design, and Building System in the 4.0 format but did not passed (barely). So I am familiar with the questions in each of the subjects. I am looking for material that will help to refresh my memory because I took a break since taking the 4.0 exams. Would Ballast or Kaplan be better? Seem like still Ballast is too detailed while Kaplan is still too general.
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