The following are readers' questions, my responses, and some tips on how to pass the LEED exam on the first try and in one week:
1. I found the reference guide way too tedious. Can I read only your books and just refer to the USGBC reference guide (if one is available for the exam I am taking) when needed?
Response: Yes, for LEED GA Exam or Part I of the LEED AP O+M Exam, my books are sufficient. That is one way to study. If you read only LEED GA Exam Guide, you already have a very good chance of passing the LEED GA Exam.
For Part II of the LEED AP O+M Exam, we suggest you still need to read the USGBC O&M reference guide, but you do NOT have to read it from cover to cover. Read and focus on the important sections. LEED O&M Mock Exam will help you focus on the most important materials in the reference guide, such as prerequisites and credits intent, requirements, synergy, implementation, important equations or formulas under calculations section, etc.
LEED O&M Mock Exam will also help you become more familiar with the way that questions are asked in the real LEED O&M Exam, giving you more confidence and increasing 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 of 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 much of the information.
In my book, LEED GA Exam Guide, I provide 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 Part I of the LEED O&M Exam. The purpose of this book is to help you to pass the LEED O&M Exam with minimum time and effort. It's designed to make your life easier.
However, to be on the safe side, for the 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 Web site cost hundreds of dollars, so I would be quite happy if I could buy your books and only use them.
Response: First of all, there are readers who have passed a LEED exam by reading only my books (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.
Second, people learn in many different ways. That is why I published LEED O&M Mock Exam 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. (However, 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 questions you are unfamiliar with. Use the guess strategy explained in my books, then you have a very good chance of passing Part I of the LEED O&M Exam.
You need to UNDERSTAND and MEMORIZE the information in LEED GA Exam Guide and achieve an almost perfect score on the mock exam in order to pass the LEED 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 MAJORITY 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 Web site, 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. 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 seventh-grade education should be able to study and pass the LEED exam if s/he prepares correctly.
Since I have not published the LEED O&M Exam Guide yet, I would suggest you read the USGBC O&M reference guide. You should know what information to focus on after you read this book.
4. I am preparing for the LEED exam. Do I need to read the 2-inch 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 standard and extra 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? That is, 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 guide 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. 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? If so, what are they?
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.
1. I found the reference guide way too tedious. Can I read only your books and just refer to the USGBC reference guide (if one is available for the exam I am taking) when needed?
Response: Yes, for LEED GA Exam or Part I of the LEED AP O+M Exam, my books are sufficient. That is one way to study. If you read only LEED GA Exam Guide, you already have a very good chance of passing the LEED GA Exam.
For Part II of the LEED AP O+M Exam, we suggest you still need to read the USGBC O&M reference guide, but you do NOT have to read it from cover to cover. Read and focus on the important sections. LEED O&M Mock Exam will help you focus on the most important materials in the reference guide, such as prerequisites and credits intent, requirements, synergy, implementation, important equations or formulas under calculations section, etc.
LEED O&M Mock Exam will also help you become more familiar with the way that questions are asked in the real LEED O&M Exam, giving you more confidence and increasing 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 of 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 much of the information.
In my book, LEED GA Exam Guide, I provide 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 Part I of the LEED O&M Exam. The purpose of this book is to help you to pass the LEED O&M Exam with minimum time and effort. It's designed to make your life easier.
However, to be on the safe side, for the 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 Web site cost hundreds of dollars, so I would be quite happy if I could buy your books and only use them.
Response: First of all, there are readers who have passed a LEED exam by reading only my books (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.
Second, people learn in many different ways. That is why I published LEED O&M Mock Exam 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. (However, 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 questions you are unfamiliar with. Use the guess strategy explained in my books, then you have a very good chance of passing Part I of the LEED O&M Exam.
You need to UNDERSTAND and MEMORIZE the information in LEED GA Exam Guide and achieve an almost perfect score on the mock exam in order to pass the LEED 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 MAJORITY 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 Web site, 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. 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 seventh-grade education should be able to study and pass the LEED exam if s/he prepares correctly.
Since I have not published the LEED O&M Exam Guide yet, I would suggest you read the USGBC O&M reference guide. You should know what information to focus on after you read this book.
4. I am preparing for the LEED exam. Do I need to read the 2-inch 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 standard and extra 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? That is, 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 guide 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. 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? If so, what are they?
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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