I am planning to take the exam in September 2014. However, I came to know that the study guides will not be released until Fall 2014 (I am not sure about the specific date of release though). Would it be wise to wait until the guides be available in the market, or should I prepare myself according to the reference materials mentioned in the USGBC Candidate Handbook? Thank you in advance.
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Paula Melton
Editorial DirectorBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
183 thumbs up
July 9, 2014 - 11:23 am
Tonima, if you are not pressed for time and are planning to use commercial study materials, I might recommend waiting. It will take a while for test-prep companies to take the exams and make new materials. If you have a reason to take it in September specifically, my guess is that you could use older materials as a guide for what will be on the exam, and then mainly study the BD+C reference guide. That's what I'm doing for the v4 AP exam, which I am ending up taking because I didn't have time to study in May!
Tonima Ferdous
1 thumbs up
July 10, 2014 - 10:10 am
I appreciate your suggestions Paula.
In case I do not go for the commercial study materials, did you mean to study the full BD+C reference guide v4 for preparing myself for the LEED Green Associate? Then what about the Green Building and LEED Core Concepts Guide mentioned in the candidate handbook? I apologize that I am bothering you again. However, I have to buy one guide book very soon and that is why I require some clarifications.
Thank you in advance.
Paula Melton
Editorial DirectorBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
183 thumbs up
July 10, 2014 - 10:20 am
No, you need to study everything they tell you to study, but, as I said in the blog post, the ref guide is the best source of info you can get. The test is NOT as introductory as they claim and is quite focused on referenced standards and other finer points of specific credits.
Tonima Ferdous
1 thumbs up
July 10, 2014 - 10:31 am
Thanks a lot Paula. I am going to read your blog post once again.
Glen Phillips
Sustainability ProfessionalBright Green
42 thumbs up
July 10, 2014 - 12:36 pm
Paula is spot on, as per the LEED Green Associate Candidate Handbook:
"The primary sources for the development of the LEED® Professional Exams are the LEED Rating Systems".
This means that while the other references remain important, including the Core Concepts Guide, the exam will absolutely require knowledge of the intents, requirements, and referenced standards - going well beyond the CCG in terms of detail on the LEED programs.
My suggestion on literature, used to supplement a v4 study course (such as GreenCE's live webinar series starting July 29th), would be to purchase the Core Concepts Guide, and get your Rating System info from the freely available Rating System documents, combined with the intro and overview sections of the BD+C guide that is also freely available.
If you go on to pursue a LEED AP specialty credential, then a copy of the full Reference Guide would be crucial (plus you'd need one as a practitioner anyways).
Just be thankful the references no longer includes the technical and scientific paper on refrigerants.
Good Luck!
Tonima Ferdous
1 thumbs up
July 17, 2014 - 9:33 am
Glen, I appreciate your reply. Thanks a lot!