The following are tips on how to pass the LEED exam on the first try and in one week. I also included my responses to some readers' questions. They may help you:
1. I found the reference guide way too tedious. Can I read your books only and just refer to the USGBC reference guide (if one is available for the exam I am taking) when needed?
Response: Yes, that is one way to study. If you read only LEED GA Exam Guide, you already have a very good chance of passing. LEED GA Mock Exams will help you become more familiar with the way that questions are asked in the real LEED Green Associate Exam, give you more confidence, and increase your chance of passing.
2. Is one week really enough time for me to prepare for the exam while I am working?
Response: Yes, if you can put in 40 to 60 hours study time during the week you can pass the exam. This exam is similar to a history or political science exam; you need to MEMORIZE the information. If you wait too long to take the test after studying, you will probably forget the information.
In my book, LEED GA Exam Guide, I give you tips on how to MEMORIZE the information, and I have already highlighted/underlined the most important materials that you definitely have to MEMORIZE in order to pass the exam. My goal through this book is to help you to pass the LEED Green Associate Exam with minimum time and effort. I want to make your life easier.
However, to be on the safe side, for an average reader, I recommend not less than 2 weeks, but not MORE than 2 months of prep time.
3. Would you say that if I buy books from your LEED Exam Guide series, I could pass the exam without any other study materials? The books sold on the USGBC website cost hundreds of dollars, so I would be quite happy if I could buy your books and just use them.
Response: First of all, there are readers who have passed the LEED exam by reading only my books in the LEED Exam Guide series (www.ArchiteG.com). My goal is to write one book for each of the LEED exams, and make each of my books stand alone to prepare people for one specific LEED exam.
Secondly, people learn in many different ways. That is why I published LEED GA Mock Exams, and added some new advice below for people who learn better by doing practice tests.
If you do the following things, you have a very good chance of passing the LEED exam (This is NOT a guarantee, nobody can guarantee you will pass):
a. If you study, understand, and MEMORIZE all of the information in my book, LEED GA Exam Guide, do NOT panic when you run into problems you are unfamiliar with, and use the guess strategy explained in my books, then you have a very good chance of passing the exam.
You need to UNDERSTAND and MEMORIZE the information in LEED GA Exam Guide and achieve almost a perfect score on the mock exam in order to pass the GA exam or the first part of any AP exam. For the second part of the specific LEED AP exam you are taking, the corresponding book from my LEED Exam Guide series will give you the BULK of the most CURRENT information that you need. You HAVE to know the information included in my book related to the specific AP Exam you are taking, in order to pass the second part of the AP Exam.
b. If you have not been involved in any LEED projects before, I suggest you also go to the USGBC website, and download the latest LEED credit templates for the LEED rating system related to the LEED exam you are taking. Read the templates and become familiar with them. This is important. See the link below:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222
c. If you want to be safe and take additional sample tests to find out if you are ready for the real Green Associate Exam or part one of the AP exam, I would suggest LEED GA Mock Exams. That is probably the reason you bought this book in the first place.
In fact, some of my readers have passed the LEED Green Associate Exam with a high score by reading only my books, LEED GA Exam Guide and LEED GA Mock Exams and WITHOUT reading the USGBC reference guide AT ALL.
The LEED exam is NOT an easy exam, but anyone with a 7th grade education should be able to study and pass the LEED exam if s/he prepares correctly.
If you have extra time and money, the only other book I would recommend is the USGBC reference guide. I know some people who did not even read the reference guide from cover to cover when they took the exam. They just studied the information in my book, only referred to the reference guide to look up a few things, and passed on the first try. Some of my readers have even passed WITHOUT reading the USGBC reference guide AT ALL.
4. I am preparing for the LEED exam. Do I need to read the 2" thick reference guide?
Response: See the answer above.
5. For LEED v3.0, will the total number of points be more than 110 if a project receives all of the extra and standard credits?
Response: No, for LEED v3.0, there are 100 base points and 10 possible bonus points. There are many ways to achieve bonus points (extra credits or exemplary performance), but you can have a maximum number of only 6 ID and 4 Regional Priority bonus points. So, the maximum points for ANY project will be 110.
On another note, the older versions of LEED rating systems all have less than 110 possible points except LEED for Homes, which has 136 possible points.
6. For the exam, do I need to know the project phase in which a specific prerequisite/credit takes place? i.e., pre-design, schematic design, etc.
Response: The information on the project phase (NOT LEED submittal phase) for each prerequisite/credit is NOT mentioned in the USGBC reference guides, but it is covered in the USGBC workshops. If this information is important enough for the USGBC workshops to cover, then it may show up on the actual LEED exam.
Most, if not all, other third party books completely miss this important information. I cover the material for each prerequisite/credit in my book because I think it is very important.
Some people THINK that the LEED exam ONLY tests information covered by the USGBC reference guides. They are wrong.
The LEED exam does test information NOT covered by the USGBC reference guides at all. This may include the process of LEED submittal and project team coordination, etc.
I would MEMORIZE this information if I were you, because it may show up on the LEED exam. Besides, this information is not hard to memorize once you understand the content, and you need to know it to do actual LEED submittal work anyway.
7. Are you writing any other books for the new LEED exams? What new books are you writing?
Response: Yes, I am working on other books in the LEED Exam Guide series. I will be writing one book for each of the LEED exams. See LEEDSeries.com for more information.
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