CDS- Passed MC, Failed Vignette

CDS- Passed MC, Failed Vignette

Postby jmsphm » Thu Apr 20, 2017 8:18 am

Hi all,
Took CDS as my first ARE exam for the first time and got results today. Level 1 on all MC questions and level 3 on the vignette. I honestly thought I had a pretty good grasp on the vignette and looked carefully at all the joist/duct combinations. I must have made a pretty big mistake somewhere by oversight as I only had 3 minutes left to review before timing out. The only thing I can think of looking back is that I might have extended the rated interior partition down to the grade line ( overlapping the S.O.G.). Could that have been enough to fail?

Moving forward, my plan was to take PPP next regardless of results from CDS, but given that I only failed the Vignette, should I retake CDS prior to studying/taking on PPP since the subject matter is fresh on my mind?

I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions.
jmsphm
 
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Re: CDS- Passed MC, Failed Vignette

Postby gbalaka » Thu Apr 20, 2017 9:49 am

I also took CDS as my first exam (over 2 years ago).

One thing that is of great help is to review and comment on other people's solutions on this forum and you will start spotting mistakes right away. Look for forum posts with lots of comments - that means that person most likely made errors, but before you read the comments, try and see what's wrong with that solution first. You must have made some type of a critical error to get a level 3. Make sure to watch NCARB's YouTube videos for each vignette - that's where you'll find out what's a critical error, a major error and a minor error.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDSYme3LFU0

The thing about vignettes is that upon completion, I personally know if i passed of failed them based on my experience on this forum looking at other people's solutions. In other words, I would walk out of an exam KNOWING if i passed or failed a vignette. How familiar are you with the software? Did you practice enough beforehand? Don't get too caught up in all the alternate solutions and do not do anything by hand - that's just a waste of time.

Since you did well on the MC portion, I would reschedule the exam for 2 months from now (first available date) and retake it. In the meantime, keep looking at other people's vignettes and grade them yourself. Start studying for PPP and brush up on CDS prior to the exam to refresh your memory. Just because you passed the MC portion the first time does not guarantee you'll pass it the second time around. Don't drop the CDS study material because you already passed it.
gbalaka
 
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Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 9:27 pm


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