I am planning on taking the LEED GA Exam and I don’t know where to start. I’ve been searching the web and just see $$$ I have a coworker who took the exam and passed it but they are a bit weird about sharing their info., they paid $700 for preping for it and I don’t want to pay that much. Is there a link or a cheap place where I can get a hold of the study material. I don’t think your weblink intheleed.com works anymore. Can you help? Thanks a bunch!

Yes, I was a little nervous, but I knew going in that I had spent as much time as I could memorizing as much as I could, so I was confident I was going to pass. Still, there’s always that thought that you just might not. All the best to you! Good luck on yours!

Thanks Pat for this website!!!

Thanks

Jason

greenexamprep practice tests were extremely helpful too, but I never blew them out of the water, so I was nervous going into the exam yesterday. I was scoring mid 70′s on them most of the time.

I took the exam yesterday – passed with a 186!

RE: TwinsMommy, I think that you will do great! Just take a deep breath when you start to think about taking the test, and when you do take your test treat it like the practice exams that you are doing so well on!

I’m not an engineer or an architect. I have a B.S. in Environmental Science and an M.A. in Journalism; I’m a communications professional at an engineering firm. I went into this with NO experience. I’ve been studying HARD-CORE for months, including some 12+hr hour days, nights and weekends. I have a job and toddler twins.

This site has been SO helpful. I read the entire NC reference guide, made my own study sheets, read the Colorado guide, and bought the greenexampprep practice tests. First time through all the tests I was getting in the 70s. Retaking them, and the Colorado test, I’m in the mid-90s. I am STILL PETRIFIED. I feel like there are things I’m missing and I keep having serious anxiety attacks. Anyone with relaxation tips???

I did not really read the Refernce Guide that well, Pat’s notes are sufficient.

My concern is that the exams are loosing their effectiveness because I am just memorizing the answers to the particular questions. OR is pool E just that much harder than the other pools?

Does anyone have any comments? Pleas? Before I take my test next week.

Just wanted to say thanks for the great resource. I took the LEED-CI exam today and passed with a score of 199! There is such an immense amount of information in the reference guide, and your site helped me to focus in on the key points to study. And thanks also for the info on the 2009 changeover…so much clearer than info I’ve found elsewhere. Keep up the good work!

I did the same brain dump that Barefooter Roy did above. I wrote ASHRAE, phase chart, WIMSEE, and all the MR exemp. perform. percentages. I wrote a few more EP criteris before my time ran out and the test began.

I happened to have found the test very difficult. Similar in question type to the greenexamprep practice tests, but about 75% had multiple answers. There were a lot of questions about LEED online and the project administrator’s role and responsibilities, surprisingly. Many questions on synergies. The rest is now a blurr to me.

I highly recommend the practice tests from green exam prep. Oh so helpful. I hadn’t studied so much until about 2 weeks ago when I pounded it every day. It’s important to stay positive and keep studying and not get scared from all the memorizing.

Good luck to all and thanks again for all the help!

Took the test today. No questions on points, point totals, how many points in each category, etc. Very few questions in EA other than what is ASHRAE 90.1, and a few questions about how EA1, EA2 and EA6 relate. TONS of MR questions, TONS of EQ, Many WE. Few EA. Few ID, Few SS, most of which were on SSc6.1 and seemed to tie into rainwater harvesting. One question on design v. construction submittal.

Not one question regarding any of the prerequisites, how they relate, the fact that ALL are required. As a matter of fact, not one was ever referenced, even as an answer choice.

NO questions on increased ventilation, none on Views, none on thermal comfort other than what is ASHRAE 62.1.

At least 5 questions involving Construction IAQ Plan.

4 questions on CIR’s.

Get this: at least 4 questions involving FSC wood, chain of custody.

Pat’s “Lightning Round” on LEED process was awesome, really helped. I am not a good test taker. I studied 1-2 hours every day for 5 weeks, and a couple of 2-3 hour sessions the last week, took 3 80-question sample exams, and landed a 196.

Once again, not a good test taker, paranoid, and nervous: I thought the test was WAY easier than I expected. WAY easier than almost any practice test I took. Very little trickery and super clear questions. I got 25 questions into it and said, “are you serious”. That helped having easy questions to start. Most of them were 1 answer type of questions.

Anyway, I am really excited. I was getting a lot of pressure from my clients to be an AP so they could pitch me as an AP in presentations.

Guys: If I can do it so can you. Study hard, really KNOW the material.

If you can, get on an actual project on LEED On-line, and surf around. It will make more sense. Familiarize yourself with the credit templates that are available to all. Read them, and the submittal requirements (yards, pounds, sf, maps, FTE’s, gallons, $$, etc.) will make way more sense.

Anyway, good luck.

Thank you for this great website, good references and tips. It really helped my preparation for the exam. I passed the exam this morning ;=)

Thank you!
Su

It must have been sometime in the year 2001 when the word “LEED” entered my peripheral vocabulary. My friend SP was in Oakland to establish a branch office in Northern California. SP asked me if I knew what LEED was. I did not know. He passionately explained to me the philosophy behind LEED, and then spread out a number of manuals in front of me. I looked at the material half-heartedly, as I had other things going on in life and was not interested in investing my time in a new green program. Very quickly I forgot everything about LEED I heard from SP or gathered from a quick skim of LEED manuals–everything except the fact that LEED wants you to use regional material.
My professional mechanical consulting engineering life went on with LEED existing on the fringes of consciousness. But voices citing LEED were gaining strength, I became aware of the fact that you could take an exam and become a LEED accredited professional. But none of my clients ever asked me if I was a LEED AP. Then last year that is in 2008, I provided my professional services to Applied Materials (AMAT). AMAT was in the process of LEED certification of its existing buildings. My help was sought in earning the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) credits. It was then that I read through the LEED-EB scorecard and became more familiar with the rating system. Then came recession and I found a lot of time at my hand. I decided to earn the LEED accreditation. But I procrastinated, till I found out that the LEED version 2.2 I was somewhat familiar with, would be superseded by a newer version and I needed to register for the 2.2 version exam by the end of March. A lot of people prepare for the LEED exam by first studying the material and then scheduling the exam. That was not going to work for me. I needed a deadline, a goal, a target date. So I registered for LEED NC exam on Monday, March 30, 2009, just one day before the deadline to register for v2.2–I could register only after completing my tax return work. I scheduled to take the exam on Monday, May 4 at 12 Noon at the Prometric office in San Jose. Why Monday? Because my babysitting duties end on Sunday–they start Friday evening. Why 12 Noon? Because it would give me some time to start a relaxed morning and easily reach the exam site without any stress. I now had more than a month to study.
After registering for the exam I started studying, but not right away. I got the LEED NC 2.2 reference guide on Friday, April 10. I quickly realized how long it had been that I had read anything with focus and had retained my attention on the document. I read the chapter on Sustainable Sites lying in bed. I did not take any notes telling myself I only needed to have an overall understanding of the material without getting into the nitty gritty. So, SS prerequisite and credits, along with their intents, requirements, calculations, submittal documentation, and strategies were all reviewed in a couple of hours–that must have been on Saturday, April 11. Then on Monday, April 13, I did similarly justice to IAQ. The chapter on Materials and Resources was read sitting on a bench in the Children Discovery Museum, while the children played. Summary reading of Water Efficiency and Energy & Atmosphere followed. Then I took a sample test and the result felt like a hard kick in the butt. I found out how ill-prepared I was and I was going to be for the exam, with my erstwhile strategy. I decided to make an Excel file of all information I would gather while reading the reference guide. My study took a more serious approach, but then I realized I had already wasted a lot of time. The exam was on May 4, just over two weeks out. I decided I would take two sample exams before April 26 and then take the USGBC Colorado Chapter sample exam on Monday, April 27. If I did not score over 80% in those exams, I would reschedule. So here I am. Today is April 28 and the exam is on May 4. I have scored just over 50% in the sample exams. I must reschedule and do it before the end of tomorrow (Wednesday)–the rescheduling fee is $30. But when should I take the exam? I need to take it before June 30 and I should take it on a Monday or Tuesday. But when? It is not a question to you, it is a question to myself, and I am pretty sure having written all this I would come up with an answer soon.

i just passed the leed nc exam yesterday. about 80% of my study material was sourced from your intheleed website. i spent the first 15 minutes of the exam writing out all of the credits which was a huge help while taking the exam. thank you very much for all the time spent creating this website and breaking the information down into a easy format for review.

all the best.

jason.

Just passed the LEED NC exam today. Started studying 5 days ago and put in about 40-50 hours since. It was a lot of studying, but nice to have it done within one weeks time. I definitely could not have done it without the help and guidance on this website. Thanks for all the hard work. I’ll be sure to donate once I actually make some money out in the field. Start work June 1st, can’t wait!!

I understand that the main difference between the current version and the new LEED 2009 is that a) there will be many more credits to know, and, b) those who have not been accredited under the current version will need to be re-accredited every two years (that means taking the exam again every two years!).

Maybe you could confirm?
Thanks,
Karen

@Loy: You will be sitting for the current version, LEED for NC v.2.2. The new exam for LEED 2009 will not be implemented until summer, probably around June.