Materials and Methods is usually a good one to take first. The content is not as comprehensive as on some of the others, so it's pretty easy to study for. But it's all a matter of personal choice. PreDesign does cover content from all of the others and a million other subject areas too - but on the other hand I thought it was the easiest and shallowest of the multiple choice tests.

thanks for your advice. what do you recommend as a studyguide? are you familiar with the archiflash flashcards? those seem like a good touch up type of study too, but not a comprehensive or extensive study plan. do u have any good recommendations on study guides and where to get them cheap?

go here http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=51965_0_42_0_C

I was always told the structures exams were the best to take first.

i started with contract documents. it was limited material and shows up on a lot of other exams...definitely do not take pre-design first.
you could also start with the graphic exams as they are their own thing and take forever to be reviewed.
for study guides you need:
Norman Dorf's graphic exam study guides
NCARB graphic exam software
Ballast Structural and Non-Structural Topics
ARE flashcards
I also used the old ALS books, Grahic Standards, and Allen's Materials and Methods...but some of this might be replaced by the new Kaplan guides

starting with const docs. myself this monday...used the old als books, the new als books, and the architects handbook of professional practice

well see what happens!

Here's the order I took all of mine:
Materials & Methods
Const. Docs
Pre-design
General Structures
Lateral
Mechanical & Elec
Site Planning
Bldg Planning
Bldg Tech

If I had to do it again, I would start with the 3 graphics divisions first - there's not much studying involved, but you have to get pretty proficient at that awful excuse for a CAD program... It's like drafting in Photoshop...

I had the ALS study guides (poached from my old office), the Ballast Guides (purchased used on Ebay or Amazon), and the Archiflash cards (great to use on the bus/subway, etc)...

When I took the graphics divisions, I poked around a lot on the AREforums (Professor Dorf) for feedback and to see what others were doing...

Take the ones that have the worst passing record first (for example the graphic divisions, which are not hard, but have a low pass rate) that way if you fail one of these you can continue to take the rest while you wait through the 6 months waiting period.

materials and methods first...pretty easy if you have been working for a few years.

Hmm, I started last year with pre-design first. Thought that was the easiest of them all so far. Second was construction doc's & services. That one seemed touger but I still passed. Waiting to hear back on general structures.

I'm using the flash cards and the new Kaplan ALS books. Did the first two with nothing but the flash cards. Worried about the graphics ones mostly because of the half assed CAD program. Plan to take those when work gets busier and I have less study time.

I started with Mechanical & Electrical as the first section I took. It was the section I was least confident about, and I thought it would be good to get a sense of how difficult the exams were as a whole by starting there.

I figured I'd get a much better sense of what I needed to study if I didn't pass it, as well as finding out how the exams were structured.

Fortunately, I did pass it, and I'm now halfway through the exams.

I've used the Ballast books as my main study resource.

I don't think there's any right order for taking the exams. It probably depends on your personality and test taking style more than anything else.

I wouldn't waste time on trying to game the sequence. Just get prepared and start taking them.

actually there is a strategy. if i had to take them over again i would have taken CD/MM/PD in one week - you're studying pretty much the same material - followed by GS/LF within two weeks of each other - do these in the middle, that way if you take a crap on these two you have 6mths to prepare for the retake. then take all three graphics within 2 weeks, the trick with these is the software; learn that well and these won't be an issue. finally, ME, why, because its the last one and there is a ton of shit on there that i have had very little experience with, aside from coordination, and MEEB is a long read. if you failed GS/LF, studying for ME is a nice dovetail into these two.

don't spread them out like take GS now then a few others and then LF, the material tends to crossover, and if you couple them you'll be more efficient in your studying.