First off, the good news: I took my first ARE in April (Structural Systems) and passed! Such a relief! Now I'm trying to chart out a course for the remaining 6 that gets them out of the way quickly but lets me keep my sanity.
I've heard a lot of recommendations from peers & coworkers about how to order the exams so that you're taking tests with significant overlap back to back... so the question is, now that SS is out of the way, what next? I'm thinking either Building Systems or BDCS, since they seem fairly technical compared to some of the other design + pro practice related ones. My plan for now is to take one of those two in late June, take the summer off, then try to complete one a month through next fall and winter.
What does everyone think? Does the order matter that much? Are any similar enough to be worth studying for concurrently? Anything in your experience that makes the process smoother (or any cautionary tales)?
SneakyPete
May 2, 16 5:12 pm
I started w/ CDs, then PPP.
This was done because of the 4.0 - 5.0 transition.
Neither exam was super difficult, the vignettes being the worst part.
tduds
May 2, 16 5:14 pm
I'm hoping to wrap up the whole process before 5.0 takes over... although the prospect of only 5 exams is tempting.
SneakyPete
May 2, 16 6:05 pm
Unfortunately the exam you took wouldn't allow for the 5 exam path with only 5 exams. You're in the pipeline, but you'd need to take 5 MORE on top of Systems, as that exam doesn't transition 1-to-1.
tduds
May 2, 16 6:11 pm
Yep, I know I've committed to all 7. Mostly because it's looking like 5.0 won't roll out until November or December at the earliest and I don't feel like waiting.
SneakyPete
May 2, 16 6:29 pm
Fair enough. I'll let others do the advising on order, as I don't have any insight. Sorry.
Sam Apoc
May 2, 16 7:05 pm
More important than order imo is momentum. I think you're on the right path with the one-a-month thing. Also, if you can swing it financially, go ahead and schedule the exams. If you can't (or don't want to) do it all at once, then definitely schedule the next one as soon as you're finished with another. It's way too easy to let a two week break turn into a two month break without that looming deadline (again, imo of course - you may be different).
fwiw, here was my order, which I found to be pretty good:
1. Building Systems
2. Schematic Design
3. Site Planning
4. PPP
5. CDS
6. Structures
7. BDCS
tduds
May 2, 16 7:26 pm
Sam: do you think SS was a good precursor to BDCS? Someone in my office suggested taking them back to back. Looking at the study guides this past weekend, BDCS seems pretty technical, but in a very different way than SS.
gwharton
May 2, 16 8:09 pm
I scheduled the ones I felt would be the hardest/most likely failed first, in case I failed one. That way, I could reschedule taking it not too long after I worked my way through all the others (back then, you had to wait longer to retake a failed exam, not 60 days). And I scheduled one exam per week until I was done. As it turned out, I passed them all on the first go.
awaiting_deletion
May 2, 16 8:32 pm
agree with ghwarton, thats exactly how i did it, I failed 2 or 3 I think.
shellarchitect
May 2, 16 10:42 pm
I did SD, CDs, PPP, SPD, bdcs, bs, SS.
I found that CDs, PPP, and SPD are fairly similar, if nothing else they all have contact documents and ada questions. the rest are fairly stand alone. maybe some overlap between bdcs and SS, but I think that's a stretch, most important thing is to schedule them and get them out of the way to move on with your life/career.
SD is an easy one, take it last or in the middle as a break from reading.
senjohnblutarsky
May 3, 16 8:09 am
I went:
BDCS, SD, SpD, CDS, PPP, BS, SS...
I think.
BDCS had material that helped on all the others. In the end, it won't matter what order you take them in. Just cover the right material and you'll be fine.
Josh Mings
May 3, 16 10:01 am
I went:
CDS, SS, BDCS, BS, PPP, PPP (again), SPD, SD.
SD is great to save until the end - I studied for a couple hours the day before and that was it.
null pointer
May 3, 16 10:25 am
I went PPP (fail), SP, PPP (fail, fuck my life), SD, BDCS, CDS, PPP (finally..), BS, SS.
nicholass817
May 3, 16 10:34 am
Here's the order in which I took the sections:
Structural Systems
Building Systems
Schematic Design
Construction Documents & Services
Programming Planning & Practice
Site Planning & Design
Building Design & Construction Systems
Tackled the "tough" ones first and that laid the groundwork for a good study method for the rest of them....I thoroughly read Ballast (then skimmed Kaplan), constantly reviewed the ArchiFlash cards, skimmed reference material, and participated in AREforum.com daily. The ARE forums are gone but http://arecoach.com/coachforum/ replaced it.
If you want it I have a culmination of study guides and such that people posted to the AREforum.com. It's been almost 3 years since I finished, but the information is still valid...for now.
pretty nice stuff up there, i think its interesting how different people study. I didn't like ballast, preferred kaplan for everything but structures.
Kaplan's structures has either a ton of errors or is just really poorly written
tduds
May 3, 16 12:50 pm
Agreed on Kaplan. their structures practice exam was awful. Ballast was great!
I would recommend using multiple guides though, since they're all mostly just guesses as to what the exam is. You want to master the material, not the guide.
YourYoureYore
May 6, 16 8:36 pm
Now that you've done SS, I would recommend the following:
BS
BDCS
SD
CDS
PPP
SPD
BS and BDCS are more technical. SD is obviously just a vignette and the other three are more conceptual.
I did CDS, PPP, SPD, SD, SS, BDCS, BS. BDCS wasn't that difficult and I actually studied the least for it, but it has overlap from SS and BS, so if I did it over (please Lord, no) I would do it after them.
Good luck
tduds
May 7, 16 5:53 pm
Alright I thought it over... registering for BS in late-June. Here goes nothin.
Jamb'd
May 10, 16 5:32 pm
tduds: The best advice I can give you is just take the exams and don't over think them. Obviously, study hard for the exams. If you fail, just keep taking them.
What worked for me was to schedule the exams in groups. Once I passed the first one, I scheduled them in groups of three. I spaced them about 4-6 weeks apart based on how difficult I thought the exam was. Scheduling was key for me. It didn't allow me to back out of taking an exam or come up with excuses to push an exam back on the calendar. Prometric's rescheduling fees aren't cheap either which helps with this strategy.
My exam order went: BDCS (fail), BDCS (4 yrs later!), PPP, SPD, SPD again, CDS, SS, BS, SD. Once I got going, I think it took me 13 months and that was with a lengthy holiday break.
My last piece of advice, don't underestimate the vignettes. They are not difficult per se, but as I'm sure you're heard and experienced, the software is horrendous to use.
gwharton
May 10, 16 5:59 pm
+1 on being careful with the vignettes. One helpful bit of advice is that they tend to have a "gotcha" somewhere that you need to be on the lookout for. For instance, the building section I had to draw off of a plan had a ceiling height in a hallway that was actually determined by a gigantic duct clear on the other side of the building. The hallway was continuous through the whole building and the RCP didn't show any soffits or steps, so the finish ceiling had to be low enough to clear that duct even though it wasn't anywhere near where my section was taken.
tduds
Jul 13, 16 1:36 pm
Building Systems Passed!!
5 more to go, gonna take the summer months off to enjoy the outdoors (to stay in my girlfriend's good graces) then I'm thinking SD in late Sept.
tduds
Feb 10, 17 1:52 pm
Welp, after an unintended 9 month hiatus (Job searching really impedes on one's study time) I bit the bullet and registered for two more this morning.
I can study for SD in 12 days, right?
Wilma Buttfit
Feb 10, 17 2:25 pm
Yes.
s=r*(theta)
Feb 10, 17 6:04 pm
No more than 8
BulgarBlogger
Feb 10, 17 6:22 pm
SS, BS, SD, CDS, SPD, PPP, BDCS
SneakyPete
Feb 10, 17 6:25 pm
I took a 5.0. The content aligned with the profession better, and the lack of vignettes was a blessing. The software is slow, and the material for the Case Study reloads every time you go to a new question which is REALLY annoying when it's a 45 page pdf of code language with no hotlinks.
That being said I'd rather this than use that abortion they called 4.0
tduds
Feb 22, 17 4:33 pm
Took SD this morning. One hour for the interior layout vignette is bullshit. Especially considering you get 4 hours for the building layout.
I could do either in 90 minutes. One is infuriatingly short, the other is unnecessarily long. I think I passed, but I was annoyed with how panicked my first solution was.
ivorykeyboard
Feb 23, 17 2:54 pm
im taking BDCS and SD back to back in March, and then im done. I haven't really studied too much for either. Any tips ?
shellarchitect
Feb 23, 17 3:46 pm
sd just takes practice, not really difficult though
BDCS I really don't remember much of, seems like it was pretty similar to a couple other exams
s=r*(theta)
Feb 23, 17 5:35 pm
^ Imho BDCS is mostly a synthesis of all the exams with minimal new concepts introduced. if I were you I would definitely review SS, BS, & SPD
tduds
Jul 12, 17 5:50 pm
In summary, this was my order: SS, BS, (long unemployed break), SD, SPD, PPP, CDS, BDCS.
6 out of 7 passed. I failed CDS by a hair. In retrospect, taking CDS and BDCS in a two week span may not have been the best idea. But I had a goal of wrapping up the tests before July 1st.
I'll be retaking CDS after a well deserved summer break.
Everyday Architect
Jul 13, 17 11:16 am
Congrats on all the passes tduds. CDS can be tricky. My advice, take the time to really learn and apply the material. IMHO, cramming for the test with the assumption that you just need to learn enough to pass and that the material doesn't apply to the "real world" is a recipe for failure. I'm not saying that is your approach, but I have heard plenty with that approach fail miserably.
Also, make sure you finish with CDS before next summer and you're forced to transition to 5.0 and take 4 tests to finish.
FWIW, my planned order was CDS, PPP, SPD, SD, SS, BS, BDCS. After a long, unintended, break after passing CDS and PPP, I took SPD, waited a little bit for 5.0, then transitioned and finished with PPD, then PDD.
tduds
Jul 13, 17 11:45 am
Thanks.
Yeah I only bombed the contracts section, which I knew was my weakest section before I took the exam. My brain just doesn't work that way.
I'm planning to take the summer off, then re-take in the fall. I've got a couple hundred more AXP hours to rack up between now and then anyway, so it's not like this changes my timeline much. Just gotta memorize those damn Schiff Hardin lectures!
Everyday Architect
Jul 13, 17 12:01 pm
I found chapters in the CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide a lot more helpful than the Schiff Hardin lectures ... YMMV. Link to buy, but you can find PDFs online pretty easily. You could also probably borrow a copy from your local CSI chapter ... just tell them you're studying for the CDT exam.
tduds
Jul 13, 17 12:07 pm
Good to know. Thanks!
wurdan freo
Jul 13, 17 2:51 pm
Skip episode I... then watch in the following order
First off, the good news: I took my first ARE in April (Structural Systems) and passed! Such a relief! Now I'm trying to chart out a course for the remaining 6 that gets them out of the way quickly but lets me keep my sanity.
I've heard a lot of recommendations from peers & coworkers about how to order the exams so that you're taking tests with significant overlap back to back... so the question is, now that SS is out of the way, what next? I'm thinking either Building Systems or BDCS, since they seem fairly technical compared to some of the other design + pro practice related ones. My plan for now is to take one of those two in late June, take the summer off, then try to complete one a month through next fall and winter.
What does everyone think? Does the order matter that much? Are any similar enough to be worth studying for concurrently? Anything in your experience that makes the process smoother (or any cautionary tales)?
I started w/ CDs, then PPP.
This was done because of the 4.0 - 5.0 transition.
Neither exam was super difficult, the vignettes being the worst part.
I'm hoping to wrap up the whole process before 5.0 takes over... although the prospect of only 5 exams is tempting.
Unfortunately the exam you took wouldn't allow for the 5 exam path with only 5 exams. You're in the pipeline, but you'd need to take 5 MORE on top of Systems, as that exam doesn't transition 1-to-1.
Yep, I know I've committed to all 7. Mostly because it's looking like 5.0 won't roll out until November or December at the earliest and I don't feel like waiting.
Fair enough. I'll let others do the advising on order, as I don't have any insight. Sorry.
More important than order imo is momentum. I think you're on the right path with the one-a-month thing. Also, if you can swing it financially, go ahead and schedule the exams. If you can't (or don't want to) do it all at once, then definitely schedule the next one as soon as you're finished with another. It's way too easy to let a two week break turn into a two month break without that looming deadline (again, imo of course - you may be different).
fwiw, here was my order, which I found to be pretty good:
1. Building Systems
2. Schematic Design
3. Site Planning
4. PPP
5. CDS
6. Structures
7. BDCS
Sam: do you think SS was a good precursor to BDCS? Someone in my office suggested taking them back to back. Looking at the study guides this past weekend, BDCS seems pretty technical, but in a very different way than SS.
I scheduled the ones I felt would be the hardest/most likely failed first, in case I failed one. That way, I could reschedule taking it not too long after I worked my way through all the others (back then, you had to wait longer to retake a failed exam, not 60 days). And I scheduled one exam per week until I was done. As it turned out, I passed them all on the first go.
agree with ghwarton, thats exactly how i did it, I failed 2 or 3 I think.
I did SD, CDs, PPP, SPD, bdcs, bs, SS. I found that CDs, PPP, and SPD are fairly similar, if nothing else they all have contact documents and ada questions. the rest are fairly stand alone. maybe some overlap between bdcs and SS, but I think that's a stretch, most important thing is to schedule them and get them out of the way to move on with your life/career. SD is an easy one, take it last or in the middle as a break from reading.
I went:
BDCS, SD, SpD, CDS, PPP, BS, SS...
I think.
BDCS had material that helped on all the others. In the end, it won't matter what order you take them in. Just cover the right material and you'll be fine.
I went:
CDS, SS, BDCS, BS, PPP, PPP (again), SPD, SD.
SD is great to save until the end - I studied for a couple hours the day before and that was it.
I went PPP (fail), SP, PPP (fail, fuck my life), SD, BDCS, CDS, PPP (finally..), BS, SS.
Here's the order in which I took the sections:
Tackled the "tough" ones first and that laid the groundwork for a good study method for the rest of them....I thoroughly read Ballast (then skimmed Kaplan), constantly reviewed the ArchiFlash cards, skimmed reference material, and participated in AREforum.com daily. The ARE forums are gone but http://arecoach.com/coachforum/ replaced it.
If you want it I have a culmination of study guides and such that people posted to the AREforum.com. It's been almost 3 years since I finished, but the information is still valid...for now.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n0w2j43ocrqwtnu/AADDx719BGNWc4gXYA449cFBa?dl=0
Thanks all, this is reaffirming.
gwharton: One per week?! You're a masochist, man.
pretty nice stuff up there, i think its interesting how different people study. I didn't like ballast, preferred kaplan for everything but structures.
Kaplan's structures has either a ton of errors or is just really poorly written
Agreed on Kaplan. their structures practice exam was awful. Ballast was great!
I would recommend using multiple guides though, since they're all mostly just guesses as to what the exam is. You want to master the material, not the guide.
Now that you've done SS, I would recommend the following: BS BDCS SD CDS PPP SPD BS and BDCS are more technical. SD is obviously just a vignette and the other three are more conceptual. I did CDS, PPP, SPD, SD, SS, BDCS, BS. BDCS wasn't that difficult and I actually studied the least for it, but it has overlap from SS and BS, so if I did it over (please Lord, no) I would do it after them. Good luck
Alright I thought it over... registering for BS in late-June. Here goes nothin.
tduds: The best advice I can give you is just take the exams and don't over think them. Obviously, study hard for the exams. If you fail, just keep taking them.
What worked for me was to schedule the exams in groups. Once I passed the first one, I scheduled them in groups of three. I spaced them about 4-6 weeks apart based on how difficult I thought the exam was. Scheduling was key for me. It didn't allow me to back out of taking an exam or come up with excuses to push an exam back on the calendar. Prometric's rescheduling fees aren't cheap either which helps with this strategy.
My exam order went: BDCS (fail), BDCS (4 yrs later!), PPP, SPD, SPD again, CDS, SS, BS, SD. Once I got going, I think it took me 13 months and that was with a lengthy holiday break.
My last piece of advice, don't underestimate the vignettes. They are not difficult per se, but as I'm sure you're heard and experienced, the software is horrendous to use.
+1 on being careful with the vignettes. One helpful bit of advice is that they tend to have a "gotcha" somewhere that you need to be on the lookout for. For instance, the building section I had to draw off of a plan had a ceiling height in a hallway that was actually determined by a gigantic duct clear on the other side of the building. The hallway was continuous through the whole building and the RCP didn't show any soffits or steps, so the finish ceiling had to be low enough to clear that duct even though it wasn't anywhere near where my section was taken.
Building Systems Passed!!
5 more to go, gonna take the summer months off to enjoy the outdoors (to stay in my girlfriend's good graces) then I'm thinking SD in late Sept.
Welp, after an unintended 9 month hiatus (Job searching really impedes on one's study time) I bit the bullet and registered for two more this morning.
I can study for SD in 12 days, right?
Yes.
No more than 8
SS, BS, SD, CDS, SPD, PPP, BDCS
I took a 5.0. The content aligned with the profession better, and the lack of vignettes was a blessing. The software is slow, and the material for the Case Study reloads every time you go to a new question which is REALLY annoying when it's a 45 page pdf of code language with no hotlinks.
That being said I'd rather this than use that abortion they called 4.0
Took SD this morning. One hour for the interior layout vignette is bullshit. Especially considering you get 4 hours for the building layout.
I could do either in 90 minutes. One is infuriatingly short, the other is unnecessarily long. I think I passed, but I was annoyed with how panicked my first solution was.
im taking BDCS and SD back to back in March, and then im done. I haven't really studied too much for either. Any tips ?
sd just takes practice, not really difficult though
BDCS I really don't remember much of, seems like it was pretty similar to a couple other exams
^ Imho BDCS is mostly a synthesis of all the exams with minimal new concepts introduced. if I were you I would definitely review SS, BS, & SPD
In summary, this was my order: SS, BS, (long unemployed break), SD, SPD, PPP, CDS, BDCS.
6 out of 7 passed. I failed CDS by a hair. In retrospect, taking CDS and BDCS in a two week span may not have been the best idea. But I had a goal of wrapping up the tests before July 1st.
I'll be retaking CDS after a well deserved summer break.
Congrats on all the passes tduds. CDS can be tricky. My advice, take the time to really learn and apply the material. IMHO, cramming for the test with the assumption that you just need to learn enough to pass and that the material doesn't apply to the "real world" is a recipe for failure. I'm not saying that is your approach, but I have heard plenty with that approach fail miserably.
Also, make sure you finish with CDS before next summer and you're forced to transition to 5.0 and take 4 tests to finish.
FWIW, my planned order was CDS, PPP, SPD, SD, SS, BS, BDCS. After a long, unintended, break after passing CDS and PPP, I took SPD, waited a little bit for 5.0, then transitioned and finished with PPD, then PDD.
Thanks.
Yeah I only bombed the contracts section, which I knew was my weakest section before I took the exam. My brain just doesn't work that way.
I'm planning to take the summer off, then re-take in the fall. I've got a couple hundred more AXP hours to rack up between now and then anyway, so it's not like this changes my timeline much. Just gotta memorize those damn Schiff Hardin lectures!
I found chapters in the CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide a lot more helpful than the Schiff Hardin lectures ... YMMV. Link to buy, but you can find PDFs online pretty easily. You could also probably borrow a copy from your local CSI chapter ... just tell them you're studying for the CDT exam.
Good to know. Thanks!
Skip episode I... then watch in the following order
IV, V, II, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX