I took PDD on Thursday (May 11th) and found out yesterday that I passed! What a relief it is to receive a pass after getting a fail in PPD.
After testing PDD, I felt I had done enough to pass, but was cautiously optimistic.
After my PPD fail I readjusted my study schedule and methodology. I did not go through any of the Study guides for this exam. I had managed to go through the whole of 4.0 Ballast guide in preparing for PPD. I also made notes as I studied the Ballast guide. For PDD all I did was flip through my Ballast notes from PPD very briefly. This strategy helped me in two ways:
a) It freed up more time for me to study more crucial and helpful material like, Fundamentals of BC, Materials and Methods, Building code illustrated and Building construction Illustarated.
b) Helped me stay calm and focused before the exam. The amount of irrelevant detail and formulas that the Ballast guide carries, just made me feel uprepared for PPD, since I was confused if I need to know all the formulas and trivial details.
Thoughts on the test:
I did not experience any issue with lag time. The system was a bit slower only during the case studies, due to the detailed drawings and reference material.
Lucky for me, my strategy to focus less on structures worked for me. I had a lot of questions on Construction details, materials and Construction documents and coordination.
Overall PDD test you on your knowledge of the big concepts (moisture and thermal protection, materials and their characteristics and uses, basic structural concepts, overall coordination of systems and drawings and Life safety and fire prevention codes)
Time is very limited on this exam and you have to use it wisely. Since I failed PPD due to terrible time management, I went into PDD with a lot of mental preparation regarding my time management. I made a detailed strategy and stuck to it for most of the exam.
My time management strategy:
Spend a maximum of 1.5 to 2 hrs for the MC question ( It took me almost 1 hr 50 mins to finish all the questions, apart from the case studies)
Keep at least 2 hrs for the case studies. (I used almost 2hrs 15 mins to complete my case studies. I think that is a little on the slower side……but I think I was so tired trying to read the PDFs and navigate the zoom % in the PDF, that it slowed me down)
Skip any question which looks like it requires more than 2 steps of calculation, even if I knew how to arrive at the answer. (I thought it was better to sacrifice 2 questions with long calculations, than miss answering 10 MC questions that you can get right if you had the time). I skipped 3 calculation questions, to come back to in the final review. I had 10 mins left to review my questions. In that time I was able to answer one of the calculation questions and could not get to the other 2.
I skipped the 15 mins break as I was in a good flow and did not want to break my rhythm and concentration.
Go in prepared to be beat this exam and you will. Just know that this exam will test you on more levels than just your knowledge, it will test your mental and physical endurance and your patience too.
These are the items I studied:
Ballast 4.0 guide
Amber seminar videos
Fundamentals of BC, Materials and Methods - Iano
Building code Illustrated
Building constructed Illustrated
Caroline’s CDS notes
Jenny’s BDCS and BS notes
Archiflash cards - BDCS, BS
NCARB 4.0 Practice test - BDCS, BS, SPD
Ballast ARE 5.0 Practice test
Made tons of my own flashcards and reviewed them.
Since I could not figure out a clear distinction in the study topic and materials for PPD and PDD, I have decided to just review and revise the same list for my PPD re-test, coming up in 2 weeks. In addition, I will focus a little more on SPD and climate for PPD.
I Hope this post helps other 5.0 test takers. Good luck to one and all!