Thanks guys!
I was going to write a post with study material suggestions once I got my score report but time got away from me...
I totally get feeling demoralized. I'm not even going to go into how many tests I've taken and failed - I did the transition plan (CDS, PPP, SPD + PPD, PDD) and I have literally three days before my rolling clock starts to expire and I have to start taking EVERYTHING over again. I took PPD yesterday and got the same provisional feedback message at the end of that one, so I *think* I'm done!! It's been a loooooooong journey that I'm more than happy to be finished with (assuming I actually passed PPD).
So that being said, I don't know where to start with study materials and strategy. To be honest, my testing strategy for PPD and PDD ended up being to take each test more than once (not on purpose) and use that as the go-by but that was by no means the plan. It's hard to say exactly how to study for these since the material is so broad, but I will say that I found PDD to be easier than PPD. They aren't all that different, so if you study for PPD, you will sort of be studying for PDD too.
The case studies are vast improvements over the vignettes, and make so much more sense in terms of what we as architects actually do on a daily basis. Most of the answers are located in the references provided with the case study scenarios, so familiarity with basic IBC structure is helpful so you know where to look for things like fire separations, occupancy, stuff like that. But if you're even slightly familiar with a PDF search function, that's the most helpful. It's really testing your ability to process and synthesize information and make informed decisions in a much more realistic way.
The structures questions on both tests are minimal (at least in my testing experience), and are either very basic equations (and usually multiple-choice) or just straight concept understanding - like having to choose the most appropriate diagram based on the information shown. As someone who did NOT perform well on the 4.0 SS, I felt fine with these questions.
The hotspots are also much more related to our work IRL, and those are the kinds of questions that work experience really help with. Mostly wall sections and details, so be sure you know how to draw those things and build them.
The rest of the questions were your basic multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and "choose the three that best..." types of questions, but not many of them felt as tricky as they did on 4.0 - they were pretty straightforward, and most felt like they were trying to test my understanding of concepts over rote memorization or trying to trick me, which is a HUGE improvement over 4.0.
I studied for a long time for both of these, like over months, which included taking and failing them once or twice. For this last round I really hunkered down starting about two months before taking the tests for the final time. I found the Amber videos to be the most helpful, and better than any of the other study material I used. The videos are usually no longer than 30mins to an hour, so you can watch a few of them every day and still have time to go back and either watch them again, or review specific videos that were more difficult to understand. Michael Ermann is great at explaining concepts in a way that is translatable to more specific applications, so synthesis was easier. The package is a big chunk of change which, after paying another big chunk of change for these tests, is a little hard to swallow, but they were my best resource. And study material is tax-deductible!
So here's my list:
This forum!!
*Amber Book/videos
*Designer Hacks practice exams
MEEB
Fundamentals of Building Construction
Ballast 5.0 practice exams
Ballast study guides (SS, CDS, SPD, BDCS, BS)
Archiflash
Architect Exam Prep Whole Enchilada study package (I don't suggest this one if it's a choice)
Various youtube videos. For structures, Dilip Khatri's videos are free, and I found them pretty helpful -
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... hKW2Q9AODo Google: If I was unclear about anything, I would google it and just look around until I found helpful diagrams or videos or case studies, etc. It's really your best resource if you can weed out the helpful info from the unhelpful info.
AIA contracts
*These were the best study resources I used
I feel like I'm missing a lot but those are the most prominent pieces of advice that currently come to mind. I'm more than happy to answer any questions if you want to DM me or ask on here. All I can say is that if I can pass these tests, anybody can. It just takes a lot of concentration and commitment to actually sit down and study which was the hardest part for me. We're all busy, it's difficult to find the time to carve and the energy to actually do it. But when it's done, it's done!
Good luck!!