ARE 5.0 FAQ

This page is an archive of ARE 5.0 FAQ people have inquired about. I have edited the questions and answers slightly to remove any personal information.

I can’t figure out what the questions are asking me. How do you interpret and analyze the questions? (From multiple)

1. Study a lot. I find that the more I know about a subject the fewer trick questions I come across. This is especially true for code and maybe structural questions. Know code stuff really really well. The more you know about wall construction, material properties, solar orientation, all the stuff, the questions will be easier to decipher.

2. Look out for units. I bet people miss lots of questions because the question asks for price per square foot and the diagram shows yards. Or they don't realize the provided table is in 1000s of dollars and so 150 actually means $150,000 and etc. Attention to detail!

3. Read carefully and try to figure out what the question is really asking. You only have 2 minutes per question, so if it seems really really complex you're probably missing something or making it too difficult. I had a question where they gave me an equation and I thought I had to find the section modulus of a beam to solve it. So I spent a lot of time trying to remember bh2/6, which I couldn't. Thought about it later and realized I didn't actually have to do the math to get the answer, I just had to understand what the formula was telling me about the system. So understand the formulas, even if you can't solve them all the time.

4. See if an unfamiliar term is just a different way of presenting information you would otherwise know how to deal with. Volt-Amps is a confusing way of saying Volts X Amps, which you might understand better if you looked at the watts = volts x amps x power factor formula. Kip-ft, inch-lbs, foot-pound, these are all ways of expressing the value of a moment. So now you know you're dealing with a distance multiplied by a weight. And watch out for the units! 1 kip-foot = 12,000 inch-lbs…can you do that conversion quickly and understand it?

How do you handle it if there is a calculation question you don't know but you have to type in a number? (from A)

That happened to me at least once, you just have to type in anything and try not to worry about it. You're going to miss questions on the test, and it's a marathon, not a sprint. So don't get too high or too down on yourself. If you know how to do a calculation spend time doing it because it's important to get a question right if you can. If you don't know it just move on. Time is a big asset in the exam and you can use that extra time to find more questions you DO know the answer to.

why did you decide to take first PDD instead of PPD, even though that is not the order in which NCARB organized the exams. Do you think that particular order helped you In some way? (from L)

I took CDS and PPP in 4.0 then decided to transition so I didn't have to take SPD. I took PA and then had to decide about PPD or PDD. The only reason I did PDD first is because when I looked at the transition calculator (https://arecalc.ncarb.org/) on the NCARB site it said that CDS and PPP content covered 1/4 of PDD and 0/5 of PPD. BUT, I took PDD/PPD about 11 months after I took CDS and I took PDD/PPD 10 days apart, so I don't think it made a ton of difference. From the forums I see that people take them in different orders, and the only thing that seems consistent is that people agree it's a good idea to take them close together. I was more nervous about PPD, which I took second because I thought maybe I didn't study enough general content, but it turned out ok.

I was reading your suggestions of the primary study materials, and when I compared with the study materials suggested by NCARB, The Architect Studio Companion Book was not one of them, unless I didn't see it? Please advise. (from L)

The Architect's Studio Companion isn't on the NCARB list because I don't think the test writers referenced it when writing the questions. BUT after taking the test I think it is the best book you can get for PPD. That and Ching. I like ASC because it is so efficient and seems to be exactly the level of detail you need. So MEEB or Heating, Cooling Lighting or some of the others might give you more detailed information, but you will spend a lot of time reading and also have to spend time deciding what content to focus on. With ASC you can basically read the entire book and almost everything will be directly relevant to the exam. I don't want to convince you to spend money, but if you are already looking to buy some study books, ASC will be one of the best. A very efficient use of your time and money. I think I bought it for $85, which looks like one of the highest costs I have seen, but it's been $55-$65 recently.

I think I am lacking some fundamental knowledge that maybe all the other architects have? I have a Master’s in architecture, but not a Bachelor’s. Sometimes it's hard for me to find the correct wall section in the case study or identify the floor finish or whatever. I just didn't see it anywhere on the drawings. (from L)

I only have a 3-year Masters also, but I spend a lot of time doing construction documents…and I can't find some of the info in the tests also! But it should all be there, so practice reading your CD sets at work. Get real good at figuring out where dimensions are supposed to go, where sections might go, and how to quickly find that drawing. If you have that part down then you can worry about reading the actual sections and finding the info you need. I remember there was one question where I had a schedule and an interior elevation and I had to find the error…I spent 10 minutes on it then came back to it at the end of the test and STILL couldn't find it. So you are going to miss some questions that you think should be easy, it happens to everyone.

How beneficial were the Black Spectacle videos? Also, the videos are arranged like the exam objectives, but I did not see a lot of information regarding daylighting and building orientation. I was about to purchase the 1 month membership but wanted to get some more insight on what specific videos you watched in, lets say, week 2 (Electrical Systems) of your plan. (from E)

Shortest answer, I think one month of Black Spectacles is probably worth it. I did two and that definitely was too much. If you saw my study resources review, I said I was mixed on Black Spectacles. It was good, but when I was done I wasn’t sure how much they really helped. I think when I was watching the videos I kept wanting him to do a full on example with all the calculations for a specific problem, and can't recall that ever being done, so at the time I always felt the videos stopped a little short of what I wanted. But they were definitely a good primer to get my studying started, and then I could go into Heating, Cooling, Lighting or Graphic Standards and have a little more background on what I was reading.

My study plan called for 45 minutes a day because that was about how much time I needed to watch in order to view all the videos before my test. My plan was to watch all of them, but in reality I watched the MEP and Structures videos multiple times and the stuff about drawing coordination and detailing I didn’t watch at all. So in my plan where it says study electrical systems, I definitely watched all those videos a few times. I always watched them on 1.5 speed, sometimes 2x speed because he talks really slow and spends a lot of time drawing.

I don’t remember watching anything about daylighting or orientation, but I felt pretty strong on sustainability stuff in general, so didn’t really study any of that.

My biggest question has to do with study strategy. In the past (4 tests in 4.0) I have been successful reading Ballast as my primary source along with secondary sources and transcribing highlighted info onto electronic (Chegg) flash cards. Based on the breadth of content for PPD, I am finding that this is too much work to fit into my typical study model. Do you think I am getting too deep into the weeds? I am finding it tough to get everything covered. I know you also used an 8 week strategy, roughly how many hours a day were you doing? (from J)

So my method was pretty similar to yours. I took 2 exams in 4.0 and used Kaplan (Brightwood) and highlighted stuff and made my own notecards on actual notecards. Then I took 3 exams in 5.0 and tried to do the same thing, but it was just so much stuff I felt I was spending more time making notecards than learning stuff. I slowed down on the notecards and tried to mix up my study methods so I never did any one thing for more than an hour at a time, rotating between reading, watching videos, taking practice exams and reading/making notecards.

With my study plan I would say I got maybe 2-3 hours a night in, 5 nights a week. Maybe a little more on the weekend, but due to my daughter and pregnant wife and other stuff I really didn't even get to start studying until about 9pm. If I couldn't do any studying I would usually just watch YouTube videos on my phone. There's tons of stuff out there

I still think the notecard thing is really good, especially since you have a lot of time left for the exams. If you're ok with the September date for PDD I might consider rescheduling PPD for late August or early September. Get those exams closer together, they really are so close in content.
The other big thing I would say is you're not trying to remember facts. (EXCEPT for code things which you should memorize) It's unlikely that you'll read any specific page in a book and then come across that exact thing on the test. You need to learn concepts and think about how they relate and how you can use them. For example, don't try to learn how to size rebar in a 2-way slab. But understand where you need columns to support a 2-way slab and if that's a good floor system for say an auditorium vs a car showroom or something.

Do you think I should just focus on studying the book material? Like page by page, and memorizing it? It will take longer than two months I think... I don't have Black Spectacles, but I have the Amber Videos, should I still get the Black Spectacles? (from L)

Yes I would read the books but don't try to memorize it all, because you're never going to memorize exactly what's on the tests. Everyone gets on the test and thinks, “I didn't study this at all!” But the more you study to more you will understand the concepts, and that's what's important. If you read the chapters I list on my study plan that will be a really good start for you, then supplement that with YouTube videos and whatever else you find. I saw the free Amber videos on YouTube. I think they were pretty good, so I don't think you need to also get the Black Spectacles.

I feel really frustrated by the lighting part especially cavity zonal method to calculate how many lighting fixtures needed. I read through MEEB on those pages. Some people are saying they will test those. What is your suggestion on the depth of study needed on the lighting part? (from R)

I can only remember two lighting questions and I think I got them both wrong. One was about the angle of the light and how many foot candles landed on the desk. The other was on the case study, and I didn't think there was enough info to answer the question. Maybe if I knew the Zonal Cavity Method I would have understood the question better. Either way I didn't study a ton of lighting. I read mostly from Heating, Cooling and Lighting and I was reading about different types of light, light fluorescent vs incandescent vs high pressure sodium. I didn't get tested on those things though. I think I've spent a lot of words saying I'm not the best guy to ask about lighting.

I already own the Ballast 4.0 book and was curious which chapters you reviewed for each exam. (from TL)

I don't remember off the top of my head what I read from Ballast, BUT if you go to the Resources page on my site I have a PDD/PPD study plan that you can download, and it says exactly which chapters I read from all the different books, including Ballast.

I hate spending a fortune on books. do you think a 1991 version of heating, cooling and lighting is too outdated? (from L)

I think you'll be ok with the old version of Heating, Cooling, Lighting you already have. I had a used version myself, though only about 6 years old. I read that book quite a bit, but it was really more for understanding the basics of heat transfer and the physics of how mechanical and lighting systems work, not so much detail on the individual systems. I don't think that has changed much in 27 years 🙂

I love your study schedule and will try to follow it. But where do you find 20 questions every day? I've only found practice exams on B.S. and in the Ballast practice test. Desperate for more. (from L)

I had access to an old Ballast book, Brightwood online question bank and Designer Hacks, so I had a lot of question I could find.
Designer Hacks has some free ones, check out my page with free ARE resources. I think it's like $30 to buy the rest of their database. Their questions are a little too easy, but really good for getting in a quick Q&A session.
Most of the other questions you'll have to pay for. The BS is really good, but not enough of them. Architect Exam Prep has some, Brightwood (old Kaplan) has an online database, like 600 questions for about $50, but way too heavy on structures.
Even better, try asking yourself some questions and then using your books to research the answer. You know what you don't know, so ask yourself a question about that stuff. I would really just think of a question I don't know. Like if I'm sitting at my desk and my office has a chilled beam system, how do I feel cold air? Then you gotta start looking that stuff up and drawing out diagrams.
Here's a good one…how does a double skin facade work?

I am working towards my licensure and I am frustrated with the 5.0 PPD PDD. I switched to 5.0 but 4.0 seems much easier now - I passed the 3 exams from the old system quite quickly. This year I failed both PPD and PDD! I think I must be studying something wrong. Do you offer tutoring for these exams? Any kind go advise will be much appreciated! (from L)

I'm sorry to hear about those fails. I can imagine that's really frustrating. On the positive side it seems you understand you are not studying correctly. I'm not doing tutoring right now, but happy to help you out if you have any questions.

The first thing I would say is to check out my 8 week study plan and follow that the best you can. This will help you cover a lot of the material that's on the test. you can download it on the resources page. I think you need to spend more time with text books and maybe less with the videos, since that hasn't been working. For books I would recommend:

Architect Studio Companion (ASC)
Heating, Cooling and Lighting
Architectural Graphic Standards

You can read my reviews and get links to them here: https://hyperfinearchitecture.com/ppd-pdd-study-resource-review/

The second thing I would say is get really really really good at code stuff so you can easily answer those questions. Things like means of egress (IBC Chapter 10) comes up on the exams all the time. They are usually not as tricky as some of the structures questions or details questions, so you can easily identify them on the test. Stuff like dead end corridors (max 20ft) and door clearances and ramp slope just comes up on the test all the time, so if you know those you don't have to waste time thinking about it.

Third is on the test do the best you can to carefully read the questions and figure out what it's really asking. There is a lot of extra information, so it's a compromise between going with your gut and looking out for any tricks.

I understand that you said this study plan was a pretty " enthusiastic" plan. But just to gauge myself and my reading speed... did you read the chapters word for word or kind of power read through( skimming)? For example, for your first week on Tuesday you put down B27 and B28 with 45 BS and 20 Q...to me that is a lot to do in 2 hours.

I definitely did not read every word of Ballast or Kaplan, but I did read critically, with my highlighter. It does take me a while to read stuff also, but I'm also pretty good at identifying what I have to read and what's filler. Heating, Cooling, Lighting I read critically, this was actually pretty easy to read. Graphic Standards I tried to read and failed, so I just used it as a reference or to read very specific paragraphs if I was looking for that specific information.

Some nights I did 2 hours, some nights more, some nights less. If I had to drop something from the plan it was usually quizzes or Black Spectacles videos. Although the videos I could at least watch them on my phone while lying on the couch. So even though it's not the best study approach at least I was doing something. If you have Black Spectacles make sure to set the speed to 1.5x or even 2x.

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