SPD Pass --> ARE Complete

Site Grading & Site Design Vignettes and Multiple Choice

SPD Pass --> ARE Complete

Postby shar.ak » Fri Jun 22, 2018 9:00 pm

Hi All,

I finally received by SPD pass today. This was my last test and second attempt after 1.5 years of taking it for the first time; I failed the site design vignette the first time.

Materials I used to study:
1. Kaplan
2. Ballast
3. Carolines Notes PPP
4. Site lighting
5. Other concepts - Imageability, CPTED etc.
6. Wind diagrams and effects on buildings - used the sources I used for Structures. I would recommend reviewing some seismic concepts too.
7. EPA - wetlands, hazardous materials
8. LEED - SS, IEQ and Material credits
9. Quick skim of BDCS stuff - waterproofing foundations and treatment of other materials (wood, metal etc.)
10. SWPP
11. Diagrams of all kinds of stormwater control strategies and equipment
12. Sun diagram and paths at different times and locations - made notes to retain basics concepts using this link: http://andrewmarsh.com/apps/staging/sunpath3d.html
13. Thomas Russ - quick skim - made notes and reviewed charts and diagrams
14. Gang Chen questions
15. BS - plumbing, lighting

Vignette:
I practiced crazy like 30-40 times. Tried multiple alternates multiple times. Posted all the silly questions on this forum - Thank you Sparky83 and others for your patience!

Exam Experience:
Multiple choice felt okay - obviously a lot of guesses and gut-feeling kind of questions/answers.
Grading was okay - 20 mins.
Design vignette threw me off a little - wasn't expecting what I saw. I was able to work out a solution that met major requirements. Finished in 1 hour 5 mins but kept tweaking stuff. Towards the end, with 7 minutes left, I redrew parking and roads like 3 times as I was trying to better fit other features. Totally freaked out and was almost certain I will fail. I definitely had gaps in meeting some requirements. Focus on drawing parking quickly - I used a sketch rectangle sized 89' x 148' assuming double loaded parking that would easily fit 40+ cars - you can manipulate the rectangle based on requirements.

Very long 12 days of waiting and praying - thankfully I passed, and this ARE business is over!

PS: I have mentioned it before on this forum: I have worked under an architect but have NEVER worked at a core architecture/design firm after finishing grad school, which was 8 years ago. I knew the basics but this studying process taught me a LOT for my current job. It took me 2.5 years to wrap this all up. Bottomline - everyone can do this if I can.

A big Thank You to everyone on this forum who helped! I couldn't have wrapped this up without your feedback.

Good luck!

A
shar.ak
 
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:59 pm

Return to SPD - SITE PLANNING & DESIGN

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 40 guests

cron