Pass the PDD Exam in 30 Days with our Free Day-By-Day Guide | PDD 30 Day

Last month we brought you a day-by-day guide to help you tackle the ARE 5.0 Project, Planning, & Design (PPD) exam.

Since PPD and the ARE 5.0 Project Development & Documentation (PDD) exam contain closely related material, we’ve created a 30-day ARE 5.0 PDD study guide so you can knockout this exam by the end of August.

With our day-by-day schedule, you’ll have a gameplan for learning everything you need to know for this tough exam division.

Download our free 30-day guide to passing PDD!

To help you be even more prepared, we talked to Ji Moon, Structural Engineer and Architect at Cordogan Clark in Chicago, and one of our ARE 5.0 prep coaches, to get her top 5 tips for passing the ARE 5.0 PDD exam:

1. Take practice exams first. Many people start off trying to read textbooks, but there’s so much material that you really don’t absorb anything. Try taking practice tests first to find out what areas you’re weak in and study from there. This will help you focus you’re studying so you don’t get overwhelmed with the material.

2. Know your formulas. Understand what each of the formulas mean and practical applications for them. A lot of the questions are based on parametric differences. You’ll want to be able to see and understand relationships. With structures, especially, you’ll want to know the relationship between moment and shear. With mechanical, know the relationship between airflow and different systems.

3. Study flashcards during your downtime. Instead of scrolling through Facebook or texting, make use of your downtime, especially during your commute, to study flashcards. Having flashcards on your phone is helpful because you don’t have to carry around a big stack.

4. Accept the fact that you’re not going to know everything. With so much material to know, it’s not realistic to sit for the exam feeling completely prepared. Remember, it’s about figuring out what elements the architect can change. For example, you can’t do anything about the site itself, but you can do something about a building’s orientation around fault lines.

5. Practice the case studies. There isn’t much material out there for practicing with case studies. But, Black Spectacles’ online practice exams have case studies for each ARE 5.0 exam division to help you prepare.

Want more help preparing for PDD? Check out the free ARE Live Podcast episodes listed below:

ARE Live: Navigating the Case Studies

ARE Live: An ARE 5.0 PDD Mock Case Study