How important is Amber?

How important is Amber?

Postby vrcat25 » Tue May 16, 2017 11:33 am

I'm trying to avoid an extra $300, but have heard many people advise Amber. Would anybody strongly recommend it for PPD and PDD? I already have Building Construction Illustrated, Building Codes Illustrated, MEEB and ARE sample problems for BS, BDCS and SS, Fundamentals of construction, FEMA readings and Jenny's notes for SS, BDCS, BS. These alone are over 3000 pages worth of study material. I'd like to focus on these sources and not add any more to the mix unless absolutely necessary I feel as though i already have enough study material. Would anybody agree or disagree to this?
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby gbalaka » Wed May 17, 2017 5:13 pm

I've know a person who studies for Building Systems by ONLY watching the Amber videos.....

I personally did not purchase the study material or videos. Be that as it may, i hear it's a ton of hours of videos to watch. If you have the money laying around and the time to watch the videos - i say why not. Essentially, it's the same material that you are seeing in the study material.

I personally just watched a ton of videos on YouTube about the various topics to save myself from purchasing the Amber videos. But then again - that's entirely up to you. There's nothing wrong with Amber.

I've also known people who had Amber and failed exams...it's not a guarantee.. No matter what, you have to put in the time and do your own research.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby nickedemus » Thu May 18, 2017 4:44 am

I watched the Amber videos for BS and passed. I watched one or two videos per night after work. Then I spent a week going through the book and picking out little details. Then I took the test and passed.

Resources like Amber and Thaddeus kept me from getting distracted by extraneous information while studying. I have that problem.

For PPD and PDD, I wouldn't know. I would be reluctant to invest only because it doesn't have much of a track record yet. But he did a pretty good job with BS, so I expect good things going forward with the new format.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby corbismyhomeboy » Thu May 18, 2017 7:04 am

Vrcat, I bought Amber for 4.0 BS and it was fantastic - one of the best resources I had for my whole testing experience. And it's good that you have the FEMA docs included, those were really crucial to my SS exam. (I'll shortcut for you and say there is a lot of overlap between the FEMA docs, so if you feel confident with the material, you don't have to read all of it...)

That said, have you checked out some other's accounts of their 5.0 PPD and PDD testing experience to see what kinds of questions were on those exams in regards to building systems content? Or if 5.0 has percentages of the exam that covers BS in both of these exams? It sounds like you do have your hands full with the amount of resources you already have, but from the looks of it, these exams both cover a TON of topics so the amount of study prep is going to be massive. As you know from taking 4.0, you study pages and pages of material, and the test only realistically asks you about maybe 10% of the ground you covered. I would expect PPD and PDD to do the same. Some may suggest you buy the Amber Book on Amazon without the course, personally, I wouldn't do this. When I went through the book, I thought to myself that I'd be pretty confused if I didn't watch the videos first - even though there are lengthy explanations for each question and answer. Personally Amber was good for me because I tried reading Ballast for BS, and even with knowledge gained from experience, I was very puzzled by their explanations of different systems. Even my boyfriend, who has been licensed for 13 years, would say 'I have no clue what they're talking about' after I asked him for explanation.

And gbalaka is right. Amber is a TON of hours of material. I watched 2x. Took notes the first time, just watched the second time, often while working out at home. When you buy the subscription, you only get it for 3 weeks so you HAVE to power through. I used that and NALSA flashcards and I felt more than adequately prepared.

Last note, there is a good chart in Jenny's notes for BS about different system types and their similarities and differences.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby vrcat25 » Thu May 18, 2017 7:58 am

WOW! You guys/gals are a BIG help! It's nice to have such a great support system and can honestly say that ARECOACH has been my biggest tool for these tests thus far. All 3 of you made very valid points. Based on my experience at a firm and having already studied, prepared and passed the other 3 tests (CDS, SPD and PPP), i'm going to opt out of buying any extra study material. I'm already inundated with material and I don't think there's any easy way around for me to prepare in such a short amount of time. I feel as though my core is strong enough, but i may have to reevaluate things after i test. I'm just going to keep reading/studying what i have and see how it goes for my first attempts. It's kind of late anyway since my test is next week. I'll let you all know how i did next week. THANKS! :)
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby corbismyhomeboy » Thu May 18, 2017 8:25 am

Good luck Vrcat! Keep us updated! Glad I could be of some help to you.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby vrcat25 » Thu May 18, 2017 8:38 am

corbismyhomeboy wrote:Good luck Vrcat! Keep us updated! Glad I could be of some help to you.


Thanks Corb! Also, I'm going to check out the section in Jenny's notes you were referring to. I've powered thru the ARE sample problems for all 3 sections (BS, BDCS and SS) and was getting ready to study Jenny's notes for BS. That should help.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby nickedemus » Thu May 18, 2017 9:32 am

Good luck, vrcat.

One thing that I started to do, which helped me to analyze groups of systems and the similarities/differences between them, was copy diagrams from MEEB and color them in. Coloring helps my brain organize information. My intention was to copy and color every diagram in MEEB, but it was too time consuming. However, what I did color stuck with me. So, if there are a couple of concepts that you can't quite hammer down in your mind, I recommend coloring. It's fun, too.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby corbismyhomeboy » Thu May 18, 2017 10:34 am

Amen to nickedemus's post! Thaddeus's coloring method helped me immensely in structures. We are such visual people! :) I wish the exams reflected that more.
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby vrcat25 » Thu May 18, 2017 10:37 am

Sounds like a great idea! I was planning on going over structures and systems this weekend and I'll now be breaking out the crayolas! Maybe this will help and if nothing else, it will break up the monotony! :)
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Re: How important is Amber?

Postby nickedemus » Thu May 18, 2017 2:33 pm

corbismyhomeboy wrote:Thaddeus's coloring method helped me immensely in structures


YES. I really appreciated that about Thaddeus!
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