Passed my First Multiple Choice Exam - SPD!!!

[Yakety_Yak]

I seriously don't know how I passed. I couldn't have done it with everyone's help on this forum and my weekly study partner. My confidence is boosted and can't believe how much faith everyone still has in me. My method was to start with the easiest exam and so far it's been working. I just hope I don't have to take every exam 4 times to pass it . What I did different I would say is put more time in. Yes, a minimum of 2 hours a day is the minimum but I would try and do 3 hours a day. The weekends were about the same except for the weekend before the test I would stay at the office all weekend. Sometimes if I needed to get through some material I wouldn't even think about the time, I would just think about what I needed to accomplish on list/plan that my study partner made me. My study partner made me make a list/plan of what I needed to cover week to week so I stayed focused and on track. Based on the other failed exams I took he looked at my weak areas, principals and environmental issues for example, and tried to make sure all my concepts pertaining to those were well understood. For me, if I don't have anyone holding me accountable, I slack and put off studying. I've been taking exams on and off for 10 years but never have been consistent. Someone once said on this forum, "its like a big boulder going down the hill, once it starts moving, it starts moving." I hope that is the case for me, I got to keep passing

Here's what I did exactly for SPD:
-I gazed over some additional books, the LEED green associate exam guide and the green studio handbook.
-I used archiflash 4.0 cards and exam prep cards and made different piles of what I knew and what i didn't know. The ones I didn't know or the ones that had heavy amounts of memorization information on the card I kept with me for review in it's own pile for daily review.
-I listened to are exam prep while I read the material.
-I took all practice exams from the ncarb guide, kaplan, ballast, design hackers free questions, and ARE preps questions. The keys is circle/highlight the one you got wrong and go back to them a few days later or even a week to see if you can get it right next time.
-Lastly for the vignette I did each one a minimum of 4 times and watched the DORF videos. I posted my solutions on the forum, and that is totally invaluable. I did that for the last week up to the last day before exam day.

Once again thanks to everyone that has been on this journey with me, but it's not over. I have 5 left. I am thinking of CDS next then PPP.

P.S. I do take a day off or two during the week to spend time with my family, I was told you can have a life while taking these exams!
This is advisable to keep your sanity.

Yak

[vrcat25]

Congrats Yakety!

[gbalaka]

So i take it you started off with Schematic Design first. You're doing the opposite of what i did as i saved that one for last. Nothing wrong with that.

Whether you do PPP or CDS next, make sure you read all the contracts until you are sick of them. Those two exams have a lot of overlapping information.

When it comes to Designer Hacks, it's worth the $30 per exam to take the full exams. I ended up doing the exams until i got 100% - became sort of a game to me.

And you're right, there's no magic number of hours per day to study. It's all about setting goals and meeting those goals. Also, never ever schedule an exam first and then start studying for it. Who knows what will happen in your daily life that may shift you away from studying.

Best of luck on your upcoming exams.

[vrcat25]

So i take it you started off with Schematic Design first. You're doing the opposite of what i did as i saved that one for last. Nothing wrong with that.

Whether you do PPP or CDS next, make sure you read all the contracts until you are sick of them. Those two exams have a lot of overlapping information.

When it comes to Designer Hacks, it's worth the $30 per exam to take the full exams. I ended up doing the exams until i got 100% - became sort of a game to me.

And you're right, there's no magic number of hours per day to study. It's all about setting goals and meeting those goals. Also, never ever schedule an exam first and then start studying for it. Who knows what will happen in your daily life that may shift you away from studying.

Best of luck on your upcoming exams.

Good advice. I personally did not use designer hacks for PPP or CDS. I did stumble across the Schiff Hardin Lectures and I would say they are PERFECT for understanding contract documents. There's a full semester of audio files along with the power points that you can listen to. Even though i didn't discover Schiff Hardin until after i'd arleady taken and passed CDS on my second try, i really think it would have helped me pass the first time around. It takes some of the monotony out of studying the contracts and best yet it's FREE!