How I became a LEED Accredited Professional
Back in March a colleague I spoke with mentioned I might find it useful to get the USGBC LEED Credential as Green Building is all the rage right now. A few days later a friend of mine who is a LEED AP mentioned that if I wanted to take the easy path to accreditation I should sign up fast, as the credentialing system changes July 1 and the last day to register for the exam was March 31. Not knowing much else about it aside from - register before March 31, take a test get accredited; register after March 31 the whole thing is a lot more work, I quickly signed up to take the exam at the end of June.
In April my LEED AP friend started e-mailing me tons of study guides, practice tests, flashcards etc. I'd heard the test was pretty hard with tons of memorization so I tried to get an early start on things. At first it was overwhelming, all these credits and strategies I didn't know how to begin. Eventually I found I could download the basic information from the USGBC, so I had a place to start. Beginning of May I took my first practice test - I pretty much knew nothing but that was OK, lots of time to study.
There are six basic categories of information you need to know for LEED. I scheduled a week for each, and then some time to review and concentrate on practice tests. I spent days writing out each credit in full and reading flash cards until I was familiar with the requirements. To my surprise it was pretty interesting, green building strategies make a lot of sense in terms of saving money on water and energy bills but also in providing a better working environment resulting in more productive employees.
About half way through the credits I took another practice test - 40%. That's OK I figured I know 40% of material I've only studied 50% of. After getting to know the rest of the credits fairly well I took another practice test expecting a high score - 69%, not what I was hoping for. Memorizing the credits is not enough you have to know how to fill out the forms online, what factors are included in the calculations, what all the referenced standards mean, which party is responsible for making decisions and what are the best strategies for achieving each credit.
Back to studying, I wrote out the answer to every question I missed, wrote out every credit and it's referenced standard, wrote out the decision maker for every credit. I looked up all the terms I was unfamiliar with - open grid pavers, albedo, bioswales etc. Went back through the practice tests I had already taken, my scores improved dramatically and again I wrote out all the questions I missed.
Then I took a new practice test - 81%. Wow I just might pass this thing. Yet I continued to be amazed at the number of questions that appeared which I had no idea what the answer was. Again I wrote out all the questions I missed, wrote out the process for submitting appeals and clarifications, wrote out all the tasks of the commissioning agent, took a blank table and wrote out every credit and it's requirements from memory.
I took two other practice tests, again scoring around 80%. In the two days before the LEED exam I retook all the practice tests scoring in the high 90's. Still I knew there were are a lot of questions that might come up which I would not be able to answer. I thought I'd pass, but it would be close.
The day before the exam I went for a good hike. Even exhausted I didn't sleep real well. I scheduled my exam for 10:30am to give me some time to sleep in, which didn't happen. I got to the testing center just after 10:00 and was allowed to start the exam early. There is a ten minute tutorial on how to use the computer before the exam starts. The tutorial took me about a minute, so I spent five minutes writing down stuff I wanted to remember. That exercise of writing down things I knew completely relaxed me and I started the test.
There were certainly a lot of questions on the exam I wasn't sure about. I went back and reviewed most of it once then very nervously pressed the finish button. The result pops up immediately Passed! With a scaled score of 189 on a range from 125-200 I did better than expected. I am a LEED AP, now have to figure out how to put that to good use!
In April my LEED AP friend started e-mailing me tons of study guides, practice tests, flashcards etc. I'd heard the test was pretty hard with tons of memorization so I tried to get an early start on things. At first it was overwhelming, all these credits and strategies I didn't know how to begin. Eventually I found I could download the basic information from the USGBC, so I had a place to start. Beginning of May I took my first practice test - I pretty much knew nothing but that was OK, lots of time to study.
There are six basic categories of information you need to know for LEED. I scheduled a week for each, and then some time to review and concentrate on practice tests. I spent days writing out each credit in full and reading flash cards until I was familiar with the requirements. To my surprise it was pretty interesting, green building strategies make a lot of sense in terms of saving money on water and energy bills but also in providing a better working environment resulting in more productive employees.
About half way through the credits I took another practice test - 40%. That's OK I figured I know 40% of material I've only studied 50% of. After getting to know the rest of the credits fairly well I took another practice test expecting a high score - 69%, not what I was hoping for. Memorizing the credits is not enough you have to know how to fill out the forms online, what factors are included in the calculations, what all the referenced standards mean, which party is responsible for making decisions and what are the best strategies for achieving each credit.
Back to studying, I wrote out the answer to every question I missed, wrote out every credit and it's referenced standard, wrote out the decision maker for every credit. I looked up all the terms I was unfamiliar with - open grid pavers, albedo, bioswales etc. Went back through the practice tests I had already taken, my scores improved dramatically and again I wrote out all the questions I missed.
Then I took a new practice test - 81%. Wow I just might pass this thing. Yet I continued to be amazed at the number of questions that appeared which I had no idea what the answer was. Again I wrote out all the questions I missed, wrote out the process for submitting appeals and clarifications, wrote out all the tasks of the commissioning agent, took a blank table and wrote out every credit and it's requirements from memory.
I took two other practice tests, again scoring around 80%. In the two days before the LEED exam I retook all the practice tests scoring in the high 90's. Still I knew there were are a lot of questions that might come up which I would not be able to answer. I thought I'd pass, but it would be close.
The day before the exam I went for a good hike. Even exhausted I didn't sleep real well. I scheduled my exam for 10:30am to give me some time to sleep in, which didn't happen. I got to the testing center just after 10:00 and was allowed to start the exam early. There is a ten minute tutorial on how to use the computer before the exam starts. The tutorial took me about a minute, so I spent five minutes writing down stuff I wanted to remember. That exercise of writing down things I knew completely relaxed me and I started the test.
There were certainly a lot of questions on the exam I wasn't sure about. I went back and reviewed most of it once then very nervously pressed the finish button. The result pops up immediately Passed! With a scaled score of 189 on a range from 125-200 I did better than expected. I am a LEED AP, now have to figure out how to put that to good use!
| 19:20
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