I just got home from testing this afternoon.
First, a big UGH to Prometrics. I got there 35 minutes before my test, there were two people in the waiting room, and three people in line in front of me. Before I was at the front of the check-in line there were 10 more people behind me, and that line continued to grow. After checking in, I waited for 45 minutes, there were 3 people left in the room before I was called back, which means that around 20 people that checked in after me got called in to test before me. Prometrics has no clue what it is doing.
But... the test...
I gave myself just under 4 weeks to study for this test, since taking PPD. Here is what I studied:
Black Spectacles Videos
Architect Exam Prep
I then took the 12 example questions from NCARB.
Jenny's Notes for BS, SS & BDCS to fill in all the gaps.
I then did the NCARB 4.0 example questions for BS, SS & BDCS.
I studied what I missed.
I then took the Ballast Practice test (got 60%) and spent another day going over all the answers.
I spent the last few days reviewing all of my notes.
Also for the last several days I casually skimmed my way through Building Construction Illustrated, using it to just take in every "concept" I could shove into my already overloaded brain.
My idea with studying for this test was that there was no way I could learn to do all the math for structures and acoustics and calculating mechanical unit sizing in the time I had. So, I studied concepts. I studied the concepts of how to do those, but I dedicated almost no time to memorizing equations or practicing how to use them. My hope was that I knew enough specifics about building systems (from work and studying), enough broad concepts about doing good Architecture (from work and studying), and how to put together a solid set of Construction Documents (from work) and deal with clients (from work) that I could apply that knowledge base to every question, and if a question required math, I would use my general understandings to do my best. Or if there was a question about a building material or system I didn't know, I applied overall concepts to narrow down the questions.
Of course, I don't know my grade, but I think that really paid off. I walked out of the testing facility feeling like if I don't get a passing grade on that exam, I don't deserve to be an Architect.
There were a lot of specific questions. And there were a LOT of non-MC questions. Knowing your building systems and materials, etc. But also, just understand good building principles, because you can't know everything. If you have an understanding of materials because you work with them every day, and you have a broad understanding of good building principles, you will be able to apply them to reach the best answers to the questions on this test. Overall, I thought this test was easier than PPD because it was more concrete, whereas some PPD questions could get into the "well, both of these are good systems, I would have no qualms about using either of them..." but this test didn't do that.
A few bad things:
- The system was still really laggy; between questions, and especially between pulling up documents during the case studies. I saw a comment somewhere from somebody that the test clock stopped during the lag, so I watched for this while I was testing. It absolutely did NOT stop. It continued to count down while my screen was loading questions.
- There were a few really poorly worded questions where I looked up and I had spent 3 minutes just trying to figure out what they were attempting to ask.
- There was one question on a case study where (I'll try to keep this vague), you had to match up some given details with where they would be appropriate for the building. But looking at these tiny documents on this one tiny screen... it wasn't a question to test your knowledge, it was a "Where's Waldo" question to test your endurance. Stupid question.
But, like I said, over all, I really liked this test. It was challenging in all the ways a good test about doing Architecture should be, without being tricksy.
With any luck, whenever grades for 5.0 start coming out I will see two Passes and I will be done! But if anybody has any questions about study materials or anything, I'll be around the boards for a bit.