Passed! - Don't Panic, You've Probably Read it!

Site Grading & Site Design Vignettes and Multiple Choice

Passed! - Don't Panic, You've Probably Read it!

Postby hangryarch » Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:50 pm

Got the pass today and I’m stoked. However, I would like to point out a few things.

A lot of post test posts on here implied that the “usual” study material everybody seems to use (see below) only covered a small percentage of the exam. I studied the same stuff, but I didn’t feel like I was blindsided. This is not to say that I felt the exam was easy (heck no!) But, let’s put it this way. Every question that was on my exam, there was at least a word or term I recognized. I knew I came across it at some point in my studies. I am a horrible test taker and had a difficult time recalling what these words/terms meant, but I could figure out an idea of what reference I read that material in. Guess it turned out to be helpful.

Here’s what I studied:

Ballast: The actual section dedicated to site planning (I think it’s chapter 5), Chapter 2 (talks about zoning, land analysis, acquiring land – it’s more of a PPP chapter, but still very helpful), The chapters about sustainable practices (chp 30) and alternative energy sources (chp 29), the chapter on thermal barriers (chp 41 - specifically to foundations), and the chapter about earthwork (chp 35).

Kaplan: read everything in the SPD section

Russ: Read him pretty thoroughly, but he is kind of a drag to read. I’d say that you can grab most of this info from Kaplan and Ballast, but his figures and tables are a bit more detailed. Actually, I’d recommend this book because it is so detailed. If you find conflicts between Kaplan and Ballast information, use Russ as a tie breaker – this is because this is a NCARB recommended source and Kaplan and Ballast are not.

Lynch Site planning: alright but honestly, if you paid attention in architecture school, you probably know this stuff. Additionally, I also found most of this information covered in Kaplan and Ballast. You could do or do without this guy.

CPTED: just Wikipedia this and defensible spaces to get a gist of the concept. Again, if you paid attention in school, you probably remember this stuff.

My homegirls Jenny and Caroline: they never let me down. Although, Caroline’s notes are her notes for Kaplan’s SPD section. Still pretty solid. Jenny’s notes covered more technical stuff, so if you failed materials and technologies, I’d start here and google terms you find in her notes to get a deeper understanding. Study these notes and take a refresher on their PPP and CDs notes too, just so it’s fresh in the head (provided you took CDs and PPP before – if not, study all three sets of notes).

Kaplan Q and A: Honestly, I had seen most of these questions before because Kaplan recycled them in their PPP prep books. Useful if you haven’t taken those practice exams.

Ballast Q and A: This was a game changer. It’s short and I wished there were more questions but I LOVED the explanations they gave in their solutions. They are very in depth answers and talk about what the other answers mean as well as going in depth about the wrong answers. Well done, Ballast.

SWPPP: you can find this information in both ballast and Kaplan, but this pdf comes with diagrams and bigger text, so it’s a different way to view the same material

NCARB Study Guide: first thing I did before reading anything was answer the sample questions on this exam just to figure out where I was at. Then I googled/found in references the stuff I didn’t recognize. Did the same thing for the “break down” of subjects on the exam and the questions. I do this for all my exams

The following are resources you can use for all exams:

Designer Hacks: I hear people sing praises about this. And yeah I like it, BUT the questions are questions I’ve seen before through other available resources. I like the convenience, in that it can be mobile. And the “competition” aspect of it is pretty great. The solutions provide links to sites where you can learn more about the topic. I’d add this to your mix if flashcards are not your thing.

ARCHIFLASH: I love this. I’ve learned so much through these cards. And I can use it while I’m working out (it’s an app on your phone). I used to struggle so much with building code, until I started using these flashcards to memorize basic code stuff. Highly recommend, especially if you commute.

ADA/ANSI/BUILDING CODE: I use a pamphlet cheat sheet that is a visual guide to the ADA code, you can find it on amazon, to study and memorize my ANSI rules. I pair it with reading Chapter 4 in ANSI so I have a visual guide to what I’m reading. Additionally, I read code sheets from my projects at work alongside the building code to help me understand some of the concepts in there. It’s a lot for IBC, but I try to just know big concepts with IBC whereas with ADA I get more specific. I also write out the tables in the IBC (except the allowable floor area chart, because NO ONE GOT TIME FOR THAT) so it’s fresh in my brain.

With the resources I listed above and if you count the Q and A’s, the NCARB Study Guide, and Designer Hacks as individual exams, then I had access to 6 total practice exams (2 Q and A’s, 2 Practice Exams, 1 Designer Hacks Exam, and NCARB’s Study Guide). I did 2 the weekend before the exam and 3 of them two days before the exam. I made flashcards of the questions I got wrong, and memorized those. So by my last week of studying, I was mostly reading flashcards and Jenny and Caroline’s notes to hammer the knowledge into my brain, not learning new material


Vignettes:

Guys, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably gone up and down this forum and heard of the wonderful Sparky…listen to them. Post your solution to the practice vignette on here, have people look at it and critique it, and then go look at other people’s solutions. See what Sparky has said about theirs and take mental notes. I highly recommend looking at others’ solutions and giving feedback. By knowing what mistakes to look for, you’re learning not to make them yourself. NALSA I believe has a workbook for this section of vignettes where they have 6 solutions per vignette and you have to determine if they are passing or failing and find the mistakes. This is a great way to learn, especially since this is such an open ended vignette (well, at least compared to CDs and PPP).

On a final note, I did take this exam after CDs and PPP. I do recommend, like others, that you study for these three exams together if you haven’t taken the other two before SPD. The information overlaps, (they’re overlapping in 5.0 too, as PPP and SPD are now one exam known as Programming and Analysis) I like the order I took my exams in (CDS, PPP, SPD) but there are other people who feel differently. That’s fine, do what works best for you. But make sure you’re well versed in the big concepts for all 3 exams, that’s how you avoid being blindsided.

I know, these tests suck. They’re hard. It’s easy to get jaded. Just don’t. Don’t get jaded. Don’t panic. You’ve read this material SOMEWHERE. You’ll get it.
hangryarch
 
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Joined: Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:00 pm

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