LINKS – ARE 5 PPD study resources
Studying for the ARE 5 PPD exam and/or just looking for overall architecture exam prep resources? Below is the list you need:
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When it comes to studying for the ARE 5 PPD exam (and architecture exam prep in general), there are tons of books, videos, courses and third-party study guides from which to choose. 
How do you identify the resources in which you should invest your time and money? I think the reality is that there is no absolute answer and you can pass the exams with all these books, or one of them, or a few of them or none of them. I wrote this post to share the exact resources I used to pass PDD and PPD. Everyone is different, but this worked for me and I hope it will help you decide where to devote your time and money and which resources you can skip.
Someone asked me if they could use their 1991 copy of Heating, Cooling and Lighting, or if they should buy the new one. My answer was that they are ok with the one they already have. I think it's important to study from a variety of resources and understand as many concepts as you can, but that doesn't mean you need to buy every single book out there. No book or video will tell you exactly what's on the test, so if you have a resource that teaches you about heat transfer and convection and conduction and R-values, you're probably going to be ok. If you have a question feel free to email me: ben@hyperfinearchitecture.com
This is mostly geared toward the resources I used for the PDD and ARE 5 PPD exams. If you haven't seen it yet, you can view and download my PDD/PPD Study Guide over on the free ARE 5.0 Study Plans page. That page currently has my original 8-week study plan and a new 5-week PDD plan that's in the works. The study plans include which chapters I suggest reading from the different books. This post is an overview of what was good and bad about all these resources and whether or not I would get them again. I am not associated with any of these companies, I'm just sharing what I liked, and didn't like, about the resources I used to pass PDD and PPD. Any link to a book on Amazon is an affiliate link*
Primary Resources – ARE 5 PPD
Primary resources refer to the books and other documents listed on the reference matrix in the NCARB guide. I prefer books to study guides because I consider a book an investment in my professional library; Also, I am likely to keep a book and refer to it for years, where a study guide will be in the trash as soon as the exam is done. Finally, I also had a lot of these from school, because if a book was required for class I likely bought it and kept it.
MUST HAVES FOR ARE 5 PPD
There are only two books that I think you absolutely need to get: Building Construction Illustrated and the Architect's Studio Companion. There is no wasted information in either of these books. You can read both of them in their entirety and be confident you will have covered topics that will be on the exams. They are both easy to read and cover a huge scope of information that is directly relevant to these exams. They both have drawings and diagrams to illustrate most of the concepts as well.
The Architect's Studio Companion: Rules of Thumb for Preliminary Design
For HVAC systems, there are two-page write ups that give a brief description of a system, then list advantages, disadvantages, common uses and major components. There is a diagram for each system as well. The book covers All Air, All Water and Air-Water systems, including: VAV, CAV, Chilled Beams, Fan Coil Units, Hydronic Heating and Cooling and Through-Wall Units. See the image on this page for part of the write up for VAV systems.
STRUCTURES
The entire section on Structural systems is just as good, but I want to highlight what they say about lateral systems in particular. I posted an image of the first page of the lateral systems section below. They have a paragraph about the three major types of lateral support systems you'll see on the ARE: shear walls, braced frames and rigid frames. What you really need to know about these systems on the ARE is how they integrate into a building, i.e. best places to use them. For rigid frames, ASC says, ” shear walls can also be part of the exterior wall, although in this location they limit access to daylight and interior views.” That's the kind of info you need to understand, so if you get a question about lateral structural systems in a building that needs lots of light, you know shear wall is not the right answer!
Get it again? Absolutely.
Read: The whole thing. (But you can skip the Canadian code chapters for the ARE)
Link: https://amzn.to/2P74gve
Page examples from the Architect's Studio Companion:
Page 31: PPD level structural info you need to know
Architect Studio Companion pg 74: VAV System
Architect's Studio Companion pg 39: Lateral Structural Systems
Building Construction Illustrated
Get it again? Absolutely
Read: The whole thing.
Link: https://amzn.to/2Pczn8y
NICE TO HAVES
These books are all really great, but they start to get pricey. You can get a lot of what you need from the books above, but the books in this section will really round out your resource library. You don't need all of them, but if you are able to get one or two you'll be better off for it. They are listed in order of how much I relied on them for passing these exams. Heating, Cooling and Lighting was number one, tons of great info about mechanical stuff. Architectural Graphic Standards was a close second. Tough to read, but I use it all the time at work now that I'm done with the exams.
Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects
Some good info in Heating, Cooling, Lighting
It's a scaled down version of MEEB, very much more user-friendly. Easily explains a lot of the mechanical concepts you need to know. I spent a lot of time in this book reading about heat movement, thermal resistance, mechanical systems, passive strategies and lighting, like foot-candles and all that good stuff. In addition to the concepts, this book covers system types as well. Those are also covered very well in Architect's Studio Companion above. In Heating, Cooling, Lighting it's more in-depth, more PDD level. I think the Studio Companion was more valuable to me after I spent time reading this book, and I would consider this one the best single resource if you want to learn more about mechanical and lighting systems.
Get it Again? Yes
Link: https://amzn.to/2zvs72Q
Architectural Graphic Standards
Details from Architectural Graphic Standards
When I wrote my PDD/PPD Study Plan, I listed all the chapters I was going to read and then realized this is a really difficult book to just sit down and read. But when I started using it as a reference to look up answers to specific questions, like where does the rebar go in a retaining wall, and how does a curtain wall connect to a concrete slab, the book became really valuable. It's tough for me to tell you exactly what to read from this book, but browsing through it and studying the details will benefit you on the exams. On PDD there were a few point and click questions showing a detail and asking you to identify items such as flashing, ballast, waterproofing, etc. I believe I have recognized a few of them in this book. This is physically a beautiful book and it gets borrowed off my desk all the time! Every single “more experienced” architect that sees it on my desk comments that the still have their 5th edition from when they were in school.
Get it again? Yes.
Read: Chapters 5, 7, 8 plus browse the rest
Link: https://amzn.to/2Pa0Es8
Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods
Great description of steel connections and lateral support systems.
This book really helped me understand moment vs shear connections better than any other resource. I don't have very much experience with steel and the scale of projects on the ARE, and this book really helped me with steel and lateral structural systems. This book covers structures and wall systems, but no MEP stuff. It's written by the same guys who did ASC. I like this book, it was great for the ARE, but I don't use it anymore, at least not nearly as often as AGS. If you are looking for one primary resource for structures and construction this could be a good book, and it's a great complement to AGS. If you already have a primary resource maybe you don't need this one as well.
Get it again? If you have AGS and Ching, you can skip it. Also, if you don't have any other resource for structures, this would be a good one to get. Lastly, you want a professional resource to use long after the exam AGS is probably better.
Link: https://amzn.to/2TUK7vY
The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice
Get it again? If you still have PcM,PjM, PDD and PPD then definitely. If you only have PPD/PDD then you can probably skip it.
Read: Chapter 10 for PPD/PDD
Note: AHPP seems to change price often. I bought it for around $145. This week I have seen it for $195 and also for $130. If you're thinking about it but the price is really high maybe give it a week and check again.
Get it again? Yes, but not ONLY for PPD/PDD
Read: Chapters 12, 14, 15, 16
Link: https://amzn.to/2Q52mAG
Plumbing, Electricity, Acoustics: Sustainable Design Methods for Architecture
Get it again? I got by without it, but it is a good book.
Read: Chapters 3, 4, 6
Link: https://amzn.to/2Pa7C0D
SKIP IT AND DON'T FEEL BAD
Only one book in this section and it's MEEB…
Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings
Get it again? Get either this OR the HCL/PEA combo above. MEEB is more technical, HCL/PEA are both more like textbooks.
Link: https://amzn.to/2zxWOnN
Third Party Guides – ARE 5 PPD
Third Party refers to study guides and summary products. These are not listed in the ARE Handbook, but they are produced by either experienced architects or professional test-prep companies. I generally use these only as an outline of what to study and not as my primary tool for learning.
I used the Brightwood PDD Study Guide and the online question bank. This was similar to what I did for CD&S. I think the Brightwood guide is decent, but not nearly detailed enough for ARE 5 PPD & PDD. At the time I was using this book the 5.0 exams were still relatively new, and a lot of the companies rushed to repackage their 4.0 products into new 5.0 guides. The 5.0 book I received had a chapter on solving vignettes, which is obviously not relevant to the 5.0 exam. The question bank had 500+ questions, but there were so many overly complex structural questions. The book also had too much space devoted to structures. It was a good intro to all the topics, but all my real learning came from the primary resources and not the Brightwood products.
Get it Again? No
Even though I was taking the 5.0 exams, I bought a used Ballast 4.0 book. It wasn't organized the same as the 5.0 exam, but it was pretty obvious which chapters I had to read and the information was a lot more detailed than the Brightwood. Again, most of my learning did not come from this third-party guide, but if you're going to get a general review book I think this is a good value.
Get it Again? Yes, used. The used books are about $18 right now, which for me puts this book up in the Must Have category. I still think primary resources are the best, but for $18 you will not find so much info on such a breadth of topics. The new ARE 5.0 books are around $130, and in my opinion there is no way they add $112 of value over a used 4.0 book.
Link: https://amzn.to/2zvssCE
I subscribed to Black Spectacles for 2 months and started out with a very meticulous plan for watching all the PDD/PPD videos. I thought they were a great intro, especially for MEP stuff, which I wasn't very strong on. As the videos started covering topics I felt more comfortable with they weren't really worth my time. So again, a great overview, but probably not best as your primary resource. I also used the practice tests, which I felt were by far the best I had seen. There were some annoying errors, like it would grade “1000” wrong and tell you the correct answer was “1,000” but otherwise it was the most accurate practice test I had seen.
Get it Again? Yes, but only one month.
Brightwood vs Architect Exam Prep vs Black Spectacles vs ballast
If you want a third party guide, you definitely only need one of these. When I was studying for PPP back in 4.0 I ended up getting a Brightwood and an Architect Exam Prep package, and they were pretty much exactly the same in terms of content. Each of these four has something the others don't offer, but also lacks features found in the other products. My super quick comparison:
Brightwood: Good background info, you get a physical book
Architect Exam Prep: Info nearly the same as Brightwood, you get more stuff, including audio files, but no physical product unless you print it yourself
Black Spectacles: Videos are better than the Arch Exam Prep audio files, practice tests by far the closest to the real thing. Expensive and no physical product
Ballast: More detailed info than Brightwood/Arch Exam Prep, Expensive to get the 5.0 book. Practice tests are overly complex.
FREE AND ONLINE MUST-HAVES
These are primary resources that are online and free, and you really need to be familiar with all of them. Links in the descriptions. I have created an archive of these items and more free online resources. You can check it out in this post about ARE 5.0 Free Online Resources.
FEMA 454: designing for earthquakes. a manual for architects.
FEMA 454. This is important to know for the ARE
This one is free, and I tell everyone who will listen that they need to read this. Especially Chapter 5.
The entire chapter is great, but I got questions correct on PDD and PPD specifically because I read and was familiar with 5.2.1 of this PDF.
Get it again? YES!
2018 international BUILDING code
It's the IBC, what is there to say? The ARE uses the 2018 edition. Be familiar with egress distances, clearances, door widths, etc. For PPD especially be familiar with occupancy classifications and separations. Check out my post for 10 Things to Know About the IBC.
2010 AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT STANDARDS FOR ACCESSIBLE DESIGN
This is the 2010 ADA, and you really need to have your clearances down. Link goes to the online HTML version, straight to Chapter 4 Accessible Routes.
And that's the recap of what I used to study for ARE 5 PPD and PDD. Make sure to also check out my ARE 5 PPD and ARE Test Strategy Tips video as well. Feel free to use the contact page if you have a specific question or want some more info. And good luck!
OTHER RESOURCES
- Check out this article on the importance of ARE 5 PPD Slope Math skills
- 9-Week PPD/PDD Study Course
- Free 8-Week PPD & PDD Study Plan
*Amazon Affiliate Links
These are the same exact books at the same exact price. If you buy an Amazon product after clicking on one of my links, they send me 4.5% of the sale! It's pretty fun, for me. If you want to know more feel free to ask me about it, or read “architect entrepreneur“, by Eric Reinholdt of 30×40 Design Studio.
