5 and done!

5 and done!

Postby volksnick » Thu May 04, 2017 11:34 am

I procrastinated after graduating in 2009 and finally got around to taking the tests. My folks took every opportunity to encourage me to take the exams, but I always said, "I will, eventually..." but never did. The 4.0 to 5.0 transition calculator encouraged me to step up and actually take the exams since I figured that could get done in 5 tests. March 2016 I signed up for PPP, followed by CDS in June and SPD in December, all in 4.0. With 3 signed up and 3 passed, I transitioned, thinking that the pressure to hurry was off. Once the incentives to test in 5.0 went into effect and the gift card came out, I signed up for PPD, thinking I'd at least get a mulligan. I was surprised when I passed! I hadn't even studied because I figured it was a freebie and why not? I missed the PDD incentive, so I took a break and signed up for PDD for yesterday. I was having a hard time getting motivated to study, so I ended up watching a few youtube videos for the PDD and said screw it, lets try it. I got my pass this morning (that was fast! Less than 24 hours from clicking submit). Everything is done!

I know there are a lot of recommendations for testing order and study materials. I took the anti-study approach. My folks got me the ARE Review Manual by Ballast and O'Hara for Christmas many years ago. I casually studied it for the 4.0 exams at lunch, but got bored with it quickly. I had 6 years experience in various office settings including a construction office for a few months. I think that was so much more valuable than reading about architectural history from a study manual or reviewing theoretical details. I took every test and felt bewildered as if the material covered and the questions ask were either unfair or misleading. Every test I felt that way. So many times I thought, "I'm not an engineer! I would hire a consultant for this calculation!!!"

In the end, I was able to get enough questions right to squeak by. Its not a method I would recommend for everyone, but I would suggest that you relax a bit and use the information that you've learned over the course of your career. 5 tests, 0 fails, 5 passes! I'm beside myself.
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Re: 5 and done!

Postby vrcat25 » Thu May 04, 2017 11:57 am

volksnick wrote:
In the end, I was able to get enough questions right to squeak by. Its not a method I would recommend for everyone, but I would suggest that you relax a bit and use the information that you've learned over the course of your career. 5 tests, 0 fails, 5 passes! I'm beside myself.


GREAT job and NICE story volksnick! For the 3 tests i passed, I also feel like i did just enough to squeak by. I still have 2 more tests if i transition to 5.0 and share some similarities as you, with the exception of passing all the tests. Your advise on staying relaxed and using the information from your career is spot on! I have a problem implementing that and a tendency to psyche myself out and panicking as the hours wind down to test time. A fail or two compounds this problem. It's also hard to think outside of the books, but i'll keep this in mind for my last two tests. Thanks for sharing!
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Re: 5 and done!

Postby lander8 » Thu May 04, 2017 12:04 pm

Did you find the two 5.0 tests similar? Would you recommend taking them in the order you did?
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Re: 5 and done!

Postby volksnick » Thu May 04, 2017 12:59 pm

vrcat25 wrote:
GREAT job and NICE story volksnick! For the 3 tests i passed, I also feel like i did just enough to squeak by. I still have 2 more tests if i transition to 5.0 and share some similarities as you, with the exception of passing all the tests. Your advise on staying relaxed and using the information from your career is spot on! I have a problem implementing that and a tendency to psyche myself out and panicking as the hours wind down to test time. A fail or two compounds this problem. It's also hard to think outside of the books, but i'll keep this in mind for my last two tests. Thanks for sharing!


Good luck! I think the 5.0 tests were much easier and less stress inducing than the 4.0s. Maybe thats because there were whole blogs and countless study books written about 4.0 and all of the difficulties. Or it could be that the 5.0 format leaves a lot less ambiguity in you answers. After doing 4.0 vignettes and hoping that I provided enough info to get it correct, it was nice to know that the 5.0 case studies offered you multiple choice/fill in the blank/click on the____ options. It was much nicer to know that you completed a question, even if you didn't think you knew it 100%

lander8 wrote:Did you find the two 5.0 tests similar? Would you recommend taking them in the order you did?

They are incredibly similar. I think the best description I heard was that PPD was like designing at scales below 1/4" and that PDD was scales from 1/2" up. That is to say that PPD is more site and building layout while PDD is more about the details and specifics. As for order, I don't think it matters necessarily. Similar to a project, I started with the bigger scale and then focused smaller.
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Re: 5 and done!

Postby denacourtney » Sat May 06, 2017 8:06 am

Volksnick,

So if you could make the decision again, knowing what you know now about the 5.0 exam... would you still do the 5 exam plan or would you go ahead and transition to the 5.0 exams?

If you had to give the 5.0 exams pros and cons what would they be?

thanks so much,
Dena Courtney
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