by PCorn6 » Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:05 pm
Charlie22, I feel your pain, being a 3+ PPD test taker myself. This test was the most difficult one for me to pass, but eventually I did. The best advice I ever read - and I've been on both this blog as well as the AREcommunity blog; I much prefer this one - was from philipgu: PPD - PASS_my advice; dated Monday Jul 30 @ 4:23pm. philipgu advised 'spend the majority of your time relentlessly taking practice questions.' After my multiple failures, it occurred to me that if I went into my next resit studying the way I did for the previous sittings, I would fail the same as I always had. Of course, the first failure may be chalked up to not knowing exactly what and how the exam will be delivered, but once you get to the 3rd and subsequent failures, it's time to change your strategy. Instead of reading, reading, reading and memorizing; and buying yet another book, then doing practice exams on the weekends, I did practice exams every day of week, then read up on the questions I missed on the weekends. I bought Brightwood's online question bank (cost me $25 on Cyber Monday) and hit those questions hard, as well as Designer Hacks (already one of my staple study references...I used DH for all my exams). [Disclaimer: I don't put much stock in Brightwood's study resources overall, but the act of going through the online question bank increased my knowledge of the subject areas, and that was worth something.] I also used the Black Specs practice exam a lot! My goal was to hit a consistent 85% or higher score. It's also very useful in helping to get your timing down on the actual exam. Another valuable resource for me was my notes on the previous exams I took. I always did a brain dump, i.e., wrote down every question I remembered from every iteration of every exam I took and failed, once I got back to my car. By the time I went in for my successful sitting, I had over 126 questions in my personal notes as a separate personal study guide. I went through every single one of them and found the answers (NCARB matrix, YouTube, Google, Ballast, etc.). I wrote the answers down and what book, where to find it, etc. in the margin beside each question. This option is unique to us multiple test takers. Leverage it as much as you can. I also took a gamble and signed up for Black Specs' tutoring sessions. These were/are expensive!! But so is sitting this exam 3/4/5/? times. It turns out that the tutoring was not as helpful as I expected it to be; however, I did glean *some* info from the sessions; even if only to disagree with the rationale I was given for a question, then thinking my way through why I thought the tutor was incorrect. [i/m/o Black Specs - and others - make a critical mistake assuming a registered architect practicing for 20+ years makes an ideal tutor. WRONG! There's the practice of architecture and then there's the PPD exam. Two very different things.] Lastly, after taking the exam several times, I had enough info to literally map my performance in each subject area for each failed sitting. This helped give me a clear idea of where my weak areas were. Like many multiple test takers, I passed every section at some point; just not in the same sitting. I was able to identify areas where I was on the fence 50/50 re pass/fail, strong areas and areas and weaker areas (where I only passed a section once in all my sittings). That exercise helped me to better focus. HVAC was a weakness of mine, so I watched The Engineering Mindset videos on YouTube. A lot. I also did the NCARB test several times, and read through my notes on CDS/PPP/SPD (4.0) as a refresher, since PPD is all encompassing. This test covers a lot and is a tough one to hurdle. But it can be hurdled. Even for 3+ test takers like us. It's hard to keep one's chin up after multiple failures, but I encourage you to do so. I'm rooting for you and all the other 3+ test takers out there. Change your strategy. Think differently. You can do it!