Thank you COACH and for all of you who regularly contribute to this awesome site. This has been a grueling process, but hearing (reading) tips, struggles, complaints, and success stories from others certainly helped push me through. I have been trudging through the ARE since 2011 - Crohn's diagnosis/surgery set me back and extended my clock for a little over a year - but i finally made it through and i am so relieved!!!!!
My path followed the "5 exam method" (PPP, CDS, SPD + PPD & PDD). I was hesitant to transition to 5.0, but i thought it was the best option because i only had 4 months before my passed sections started expiring. After deciding to transition, I immediately scheduled PPD and PDD for consecutive days. To maximize the number of times i could take these (3 times - factoring in 60 day waiting periods if i failed) i could only give myself 2 weeks of prep time prior to my first attempts. But i figured, what the heck - if i fail, it will be a good learning experience for my second attempt. So, i ordered the amber videos - i know, lots of money - and i crammed for 2 weeks watching videos and taking Ballast 5.0 practice tests. That's all i did and i PASSED BOTH!! And they were NOT DIFFICULT!!! I felt very well prepared - nothing caught me by surprise.
Sorry for the long post, but i think some of you need to hear this. ARE 5.0 is not the nightmare that VRCAT25 says it is. His/her posts scared the crap out of me, but boy were they wrong. ARE 5.0, PPD and PDD at least, are indeed more relevant to current architectural practice. PPD and PDD are very similar. I actually thought PDD was easier. Both mostly focused on SPD, BS, and BCDS material. I STUDIED NO STRUCTURAL, other than the steel, wood, and concrete amber videos. I may have had 4 or 5 structural questions......total....for both tests. The case studies were pretty straight forward. If you know how to navigate through the IBC, how to translate zoning requirements, and how to cross reference plans, elevations, and sections (you know, the stuff you should be doing at work every day), then you will be fine. I finished both tests with 30 minutes to spare. The most difficult part of these tests is enduring the 4.5 hours of staring at that screen....and the slow loading times for plans and code references...they really need to fix that.
In closing, don't be afraid to transition and try the 5 exam method. USE THE AMBER VIDEOS!! They are very, very, very helpful and worth the money!!! Lastly, i think i figured out why VRCAT25 is so negative...........i think he is really David Thaddeus.......he is upset because people will no longer need his seminars to pass the ARE!!!
Good luck!!
Billy