Case Studies

Case Studies

Postby Lucas Edens » Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:28 am

Hello,

Does anyone know good study material for Case Studies?
I have used the material below to study but they are absolutely nothing like the test.

- Designer Hacks PDD 5.0
- Ballast PDD 5.0 practice exams
- Brightwood PDD 5.0 practice exams
- Black spectacles PDD 5.0 practice exams
- Chen PDD practice exams

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Lucas Edens
 
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Re: Case Studies

Postby rgharvey » Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:57 pm

I think the point of the Case Study is that you can't study for it.. it's mimicking a real situation where you need to reference client program, code, ADA, other trades.

One recommendation I saw was to flip through all the questions in the case study and write down the general topics (ADA, # of bathrooms, wind Direction etc) then review the source materials, then go back to the questions and read them all through again. You could find the answer to one question while searching for the answer to another.

Unless it's something related to IBC or ADA I doubt there would be a type of question you would immediately know the answer to without referencing the case study materials
rgharvey
 
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Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:22 pm

Re: Case Studies

Postby Lucas Edens » Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:32 am

Thanks for the advice.

4.0 had the practice vignettes, I wanted to know if there was something similar for 5.0.
Lucas Edens
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2017 2:21 pm

Re: Case Studies

Postby rgharvey » Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:05 pm

I've seen some people recommend using a set of drawings at your office as a guide, and basically walking through them as a code review. For example, checking the occupancy type on a building and then determining construction classification, max height, FAR allowed on the site, number of egress components and width etc.

I took the test once and the hardest part of the case study for me was learning to use the interface.. The full zoom is extremely annoying. Get comfortable at least with that (from the test exam on NCARB) so you're not flustered when it doesn't work on test day
rgharvey
 
Posts: 50
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Re: Case Studies

Postby JORDANARE » Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:12 pm

Some People might differ with my response here - but honestly, I didn't find a lot of information in crossing the resources.

There is a lot of "look at this article or this drawing", but then I would hit search and what I was looking for wasn't there anyways, so I can only imagine that some of it is just deductive reasoning. An example of a question (without giving actual test info away) would be "You have type xx construction, in climate zone whatever, now pick the assembly type (roof, wall etc.). You would be given basic information, but a lot of it is your own knowledge, and only a basic understanding of the references that helps a little, when there are several options.

I remember maybe half of the case study having enough information where you could come to a suitable conclusion.

The rest were just best guess, I'd be interested in hearing others experience, maybe I missed something.



After having taken two case studies- I almost think you are best off just using your common sense on a lot of the questions and making sure you really know the material well.
JORDANARE
 
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