Pass!

[rydellin]

I just found out today that I passed this exam two Mondays ago. Having now passed PPP, SPD, CDS, BDCS, and SS...my main piece of advice for this exam would be...chill out, it's really not that bad.

To be honest, I felt unsure after each of my first four exams, but felt confident after SS. The main reason was because this was the first exam I've taken that actually stayed on-topic for the entirety of the exam...no random questions from topics I've yet to study, just all structures all the time.

Also don't freak out about the math. Out of 125 MC questions, only 10-15 involved math, most of those were straightforward things like a tributary area times a load, and only one question was so mathmatically involved that I just guessed at an answer.

As many others have mentioned, the primary focus of the exam is lateral stuff...know diaphrams, moment frames vs. diagonal bracing vs. shear walls, etc.


Last but not least, the most helpful thing to me was that I signed up for the Thaddeus "at your pace" seminar online. I watched a video or two before work each day and that did wonders to cut through the noise and let you know what you actually need to know to be prepared for the exam. So much of the reading (I'm a Ballast person) is worthless fluff you never need to know, especially the math, but Thaddeus does a great job layering up the concepts so you feel confident in most of what you need to know. I know that not everyone is willing to shell out the $$ for this either online or in person, but I'll just say that if you do choose to do it, it's very helpful.



What I studied/my process:
- Read all of the Ballast chapters (just once and never looked back at it other than a couple tables to refresh)
- Watched the Thaddeus "at your pace" videos online
- Read FEMA chapters 4, 5, 8, 9
- Took the practice quiz from the NCARB site
- Practiced the vignette software twice (just use columns)
- Took one pass back through my Thaddeus notes
- Took the Ballast practice test (note that these question are a bit more difficult than the actual exam)




Hope this helps! Glad to answer questions if you have any.

[ssarch25]

Thanks for this post, I feel much better about taking this exam now.

Could you possibly provide a link for the Thaddeus seminar? I think I'm going to bite the bullet and just pay for it to make sure I pass this one.

AND THANK YOU COACH FOR THIS FORUM!

-Scott

[Coach]

Could you possibly provide a link for the Thaddeus seminar?

Last time I looked, google is still in business.

[ssarch25]

Could you possibly provide a link for the Thaddeus seminar?

Last time I looked, google is still in business.

Sorry I guess I thought it was a drop box or something.

[hachepr]

Congrats!! And thanks for the advice!