by vrcat25 » Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:28 pm
For PPD and PDD i would suggest the following study materials in order from most to least important for the most part
1) Building Construction Illustrated - Ching
2) MEEB
3) Fundamentals of Building Construction
4) Ballast Chapters pertaining to PPD and "ARE Sample problems" for ss, bs, bdcs
5) Jenny's notes SS, BS, BDCS and refresher on SPD and PPP
6) Mike's notes for structural systems
7) 5.0 Handbook and practice exam ( i would do this last and make sure you are very familiar with navigating the case studies)
Even though i listed the handbook last, i don't know that it would rank there as far as importance because it depends on the specific test. Probably the most important thing for the 5.0 test is "time management". Obviously, i'm no expert since i failed both PPD and PDD my first time around, but i feel i am more prepared. that being said, there are some question that i'm still unable to find answers for due to their obscure and ambiguous nature. There are many "pick the best" answer where they are very subjective hypothetical questions that are impossible to study for. Percentage wise there were 60% "best guess" subjective questions and maybe 40% clear and straightforward questions for my PPD test and 80%/20% for PDD so i would say PDD is even more difficult due to how bad the wording was. Hopefully, i will have a little better luck the next test with the type of question i get and i will be a little more prepared. I can't think of any major study sources than what i've listed. If anybody else knows of an essential study source for PPD, feel free to add or rearrange my core list...
I would also advise what NOT to do. Don't do as i did and rely mainly on experience. I've worked at a firm for over 5 years and i thought this would help with the test, but the question were not real world in nature. You only have about 2 minute per question so the clock is always running. If you get hung up on a question for more than a minute, mark it and move on. Hopefully, you will have less than i did, but more than half of my questions were WTF questions.