Comments on: The Four Categories of LEED and What the Heck They Mean

By: Pat

Pat — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:43:41 +0000

Hi Dee,

Thanks for your comment. Many people, I’m sure, would agree with you, however the exam is not meant to be easy, and many people have passed so I don’t think it’s a “money grabber”, like you mentioned. The USGBC does it’s best to make the exam as fair as possible between everyone taking the exam, which is the reason for their complicated grading system. I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience with the exam so far. It is indeed a frustrating process. Best of luck to you in the future.

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:06:25 +0000

I wrote the exam yesterday and I failed with an 81% and you need 85% to pass. There was over 40 people in the testing place and no one passed. ??? I feel that this is a bit of a money grabber don’t you think?? There were guestions in the exama that made no sense and I didn’t even reconize anything about the questions and the multiple choice answers didn’t even make sense or give any clues to the question. I feel that there is something very questionable about the exam rating and the questions that are asked. I have spoken to several people that wrote the exam – failed the first time and passed the second and they remember that there were no trick questions like the others on the second exam. I think it is a money grabber – don’t you????

By: Cheryl LaPointe

Cheryl LaPointe — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:07:23 +0000

Hello,
I would like to know if these study guides will help with the Canadian 1.0 New Construction exam.
I appreciate any guidance you can give me on this.

Thank you kindly,
Cheryl

By: Julie Buffenbarger

Julie Buffenbarger — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:18:31 +0000

You can calculate recycled content in concrete two ways. 1) By mass only using the [(0.5 *pre-consumer content) + post-consumer content]; and, 2) by the SCM Calculation which is the total of all SCM replacement materials for portland cement materials. In either case, fly ash is a pre-consumer material. It is also known as an Supplementary Cementitious Material, SCM. The SCM calculation would be [0.5*[fly ash mass/(fly ash mass + portland cement mass)] You don’t have enough info for the mass calculation (the question does not tell you the mass of aggregate, water, etc.) and only have enough information for the SCM calculation which gives an answer of 2.5%. They most likely forgot to multiply the 5% answer by 0.5.

By: Cheryl LaPointe

Cheryl LaPointe — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:09:26 +0000

Hello,

I am currently preparing to write the LEED exam in Canada. How would this information apply to me?

Appreciate guidance.

Thanks kindly,
Cheryl

By: Lemuel Pitkin Sprats

Lemuel Pitkin Sprats — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:29:18 +0000

Oops, made a typo http://www.ASHRAEStandards.com was not helpful!

By: Lemuel Pitkin Sprats

Lemuel Pitkin Sprats — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:41:17 +0000

Whoa dude! What a great website. Extremely helpful with exam questions. Especially appreciate heads up on ASHRAE Standards (http://www.ASHRAE Standards.com was not helpful!). Best of luck as you develop this website and advance your career. Cheers.

By: David

David — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:48:18 +0000

Green Power is given by a percentage of the total energy use. Removing the louvers on the south facing windows, will change the building energy use and thus a change the green power requirement.

By: SB10

SB10 — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:58:46 +0000

I am taking LEED exam next month and have been following this website and I must compliment on the amazing content!! I particularly love the concise tables for memorizing WIMSEE etc. I am stumped by this one question I found on the internet — PLEASE HELP!!

“A value engineering exercise has proposed that exterior horizontal louvers above
south-facing windows will be deleted from the project. The change requires that various
project team members review strategies and reconfirm calculations for several credits.Which three credits would be affected by this decision? (Choose three.)

A. EA Credit 6, Green Power
B. SS Credit 7.1, Heat Island Effect: Non-Roof
C. EA Credit 1, Optimize Energy Performance
D. EQ Credit 1, Outdoor Air Delivery Monitoring
E. EQ Credit 8.1, Daylight and Views: Daylight 75% of Spaces

I selected BCE. (I thought removing the louvers will affect some shading and hence B)But the answer says ACE. How will Green Power be affected?

By: Vall

Vall — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:53:44 +0000

Hi Pat

I just started studying for LEED Canada. Thanks for creating an informative website and assisting everyone. I intend to try your test once I am ready.

Regards
Vall

By: Shan in HK

Shan in HK — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:44:35 +0000

Pat,
Great job on organizing all the important study materials on LEED. I can’t thank you enough. Found the info. on this section a few days before re-taking my exam & review the items I am weak in.
2nd exam score 170
1st exam score: 168

My weakest scores on both tests were Coordinate Project Team, which I suspect I didn’t fully understand the synergies between all different credits.
The 1st exam on this section score was 44%
The 2nd exam on this section score was 50%

During the exam, I thought I did much better than my 1st exam. But I was really surprised how close my passing score is. I believe that I must have read the question not carefully on my first exam & reading too much into it on my 2nd exam.

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:46:12 +0000

well i took the exam on monday and failed with a 166. I purchased the “Passtheleed” study material and ONLY studied what was in the book. I had no clue there would sections about implementing the leed process and project corrdinating. I will be re-regestering tomorrow , however i’m wondering if i need to get the complete referance guide, or if i can find info about the sections i did poorly on over the internet. If any of you have any info, please help. After reading the posts, it seems like im not the only one who made this mistake.

By: mamz

mamz — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:50:25 +0000

I agree with you Arpita it should be 2.5%.

By: Arpita

Arpita — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:03:35 +0000

Hi i have to give the LEED-NC exam and i had a querry on recycled materials as follows:
‘ 2000 pounds of cement had 100 pounds of flyash in it.. what is the % of recycled material that will contribute towards MR Cedit: Recycled COntent?
-5%
-10%
-20%
-30%
????

mY ANSWER WOULD BE 2.5% THOUGH I DO NOT SEE IT FEATURING IN THE OPTION.(sorry for the caps)
flyash being preconsumer, we would calculate only 50% of it – which it 2,5%

Anyone?? Comments? corrections?

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:27:25 +0000

Hello Pat,

What a great forum, I have looked over everyones comments and found inspiration. I am still upset after failing TWICE!

160 and 164, I was absolutely devastated! I had taken out a loan for the test and am literally in the dog house as money is so very tight.

I thought I knew the reference manual inside out and yet the questions managed to get me stressed.

Perhaps I over read the question and second guessed myself too much. Ater failing the first time I lost confidence in my critical thinking.

I have done numerous self-tests from Greenexamprep.com and used their flash-cards
and still no luck. How many hours of study does this require? I have spent easily 100+ hours
and did a online tutorial with a company Teknion.

I am deperate to pass this and would welcome any thoughts you may have. I am doing LEED CI and am in Vancouver Canada, do you know of any differences in the US vs Canadian versions?

Greenexamprep.com I think is US only, my boss says he will fire me if I don’t pass this ( what a jerk!) This only fuels my fire to pass and get a decent job elsewhere.

Thanks for letting me spill it all out.

Respectfully,

Darren.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:24:13 +0000

Jenni – congrats!
I’m going to be taking the Canada exam too, so this site really helped you? Do you know, is it very different from what you would study for the US?
Did you use the LEED AP Walkthrough?
Thanks

By: mamz

mamz — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:06:28 +0000

Great explanation Pat.Your site is very helpful now that I am approaching my exam..kudos to you.

By: jenni

jenni — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:53:40 +0000

I passed my LEED Canada exam recently with over 190/200. Thanks for all your tips and advice. Great website!

By: trish

trish — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:32:43 +0000

By: Ella

Ella — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:04:47 +0000

does anyone have any suggestions on where it is possible to obtain more practice exams? i have one from colorado study guide and 4 from on line service i purchased. are there any other ones (besides the real ones at $300-400/ea)that could be used for practice?
Thanks.

By: Randy

Randy — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:42:32 +0000

I cant fiquire out what it takes to bring up my percentage in the las catagory?

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:02:50 +0000

Sunny,

A while ago, project teams were given 2 free CIRs with their registration fee. Now, you must pay $220 for each – no free ones.

You can read more about this on this post here:

http://www.intheleed.com/leed-project-registration-cir-appeal/

Good luck!

By: Sunny

Sunny — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:44:26 +0000

Are there any CIR’s included in the registration fee? I thought I read somewhere that you get 1 CIR free per registration.

By: Pooya

Pooya — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:45:12 +0000

I took the exam and fail 3 days ago but now I can see what I have to study more
Thank you so much

By: RANDY

RANDY — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:58:00 +0000

I am taking the test one more time. I score 100’s on all the practice exams but got 169 on the test.That was a let down.Not sure what i need to study to pass the test?

By: a different Melissa

a different Melissa — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:15:21 +0000

This isn’t particularly related to this topic, but…

I’ve been studying hard all day. Your site is great, but I REALLY, REALLY wish the text was not all in gray. I feel like I’m going blind.

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:22:14 +0000

@ Fernando,

I found this from a study guide that may be of some help to you:

“LEED for New Construction applies to commercial buildings such as offices, retail stores, institutional facilities (such as libraries, schools and churches), hotels, and residential buildings with four or more habitable stories. LEED-NC also may be used for major renovations to existing buildings that are beyond the scope of the LEED for Existing Building Rating System, which focuses more on operations and maintenance.”

I know it’s still not the clear cut answer you were looking for, but it’s really not explained that well to begin with. I hope this helps!

Good luck!

By: Fernando

Fernando — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:40:14 +0000

Not sure where to post this question:

Pat (or anyone else on the blog),
Has anyone a good definition of when (what qualifies under) LEED NC applies? In other words is there a Square Footage threshold for Major Renovations or extent of HVAC included in the renovation?

All I have found is the following text from the LEED NC v2.2 Reference Guide:

“as a general rule of thumb, a major renovation involves elements of major HVAC renovation, significant envelope modifications and major interior rehabilitation.”

A few colleagues here at work mentioned that they’ve seen a more specific definition but are unable to point where they’ve seen it.

Help anyone?

Thanks,
Fernando

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:59:55 +0000

Pat,

I was very confident after scoring 100% on all 4 pratice exams but when you take the actual exam they bring up questions that i have no clue.I scored good on all except the last section.I am at the point that i dont know what to study.Maybe you just have to be lucky and pick the correct answers.I will give it another try. Wish me luck!

By: matt

matt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:37:31 +0000

Randy: What was the general theme of the questions that you had never seen? Were they asking about really specific stuff or…

169 somehow is more frustrating than getting a bit lower but at least you know you’re very close.

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:54:09 +0000

Hey Pat,

I took the test on Tuesday and Made 169.I was sick.I was making 100% on the practice exams.
But the last section i did the worst in.
I am not really sure on what to study now.
It seems the test has questions that i have never seen.I guess i will study all the calculations this time to see if that helps.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:31:41 +0000

Hey Pat,
I’ve been studying for a month and a half now- test coming up September 4th. I’m using the greenexamprep.com practice tests. I’m doing decently on sections 1-3 (75-85% in each) but 50-60% on section 4, which I know is generally hard for everyone. Any suggestions on how to bring up the section 4 score? I will continue to study hard, but it seems that this score in section 4 isn’t increasing like the others with more studying.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:42:01 +0000

I failed the exam yesterday with a 169 (ouch!), and I definitely found the Technical Analysis section the hardest part of the exam.

By: Bsh

Bsh — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:45:48 +0000

Thanks Pat!
Just one more thing: Are all of those categories/information/data… available in LEED New Construction v2.2 Reference Guide Third Edition, or I‘ll have to look for some other studding material?

By: Frances

Frances — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:13:06 +0000

Binu, that sildeshow was really helpful, thank you! I’m sure there are more than a few of us who haven’t been able to access that part of LEED Online yet (since we haven’t worked on a project, yet).
And thanks, Pat, for this website! I’ve already taken the LEED NC test once but failed with a 165 because I studied only the information in the Reference Guide. I feel much more confident now, mostly due to finding this well-rounded site!
And just to inform you on your site’s fame- the information texting service called ChaCha recommended this site when I searched for a free LEED study site.

Thank you!