Passing the LEED Green Associate Exam

Waiting for that score to pop up on the screen at the exam was a very stressful 10 seconds! I kept thinking, “what if I don’t pass?” over and over again for what seemed like a century. Finally my score popped up... and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Getting to the end of that exam took weeks of preparation. About six weeks ago, I started preparing with Poplar's LEED GA “Super Study Pack". I began by reading the Memorization and Study Tip Guide before I got down to business to check out some different memorization approaches. The Memory Palace technique proved to be very helpful and the Memorable Associations technique helped me commit the ASHRAE Codes to memory.

Studying

Next, I spent about 45 minutes each night reading the PDF study guide. One night I read about Sustainable Sites then took the short quiz at the end, the next I read about Water Efficiency, and so on, but did not try to commit anything to memory just yet. Once I made it through the entire study guide, including the introductory sections (this information is important too!), I moved on to the videos. Each night I watched two of the study videos, but this time I took notes on important information from the study modules. I opted not to listen to the MP3s; I am a very visual learner, so the videos were more helpful to me.

When I was all finished with the videos, I took one of the practice tests. Although I did not pass the first time around, the test was very helpful because I was able to see all of the questions I missed and read more about them in the Study Guide when I was finished. After clarifying the issues I had in the practice test, I went back to the Study Guide and began studying it meticulously. This time around I began to commit information to memory by writing down important information, highlighting sections I needed to come back to, and drawing charts to help me learn the information. When I was all finished, I took another test. My score was much improved. The day before my exam, I spent all of my time focusing on concepts I hadn’t yet quite mastered and reviewing my notes.

Day of the Exam

In the morning of my Exam, I packed a bag with everything I could possibly need including tissues, a water bottle, an extra sweatshirt, and my ID and headed to my testing center. I was nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to find the location or adequate parking, so I made sure I had plenty of time; no need for extra stress on the day of the big test. I sat down at a nearby café looking over my notes for one last time and ordered food, ensuring my stomach wouldn’t rumble during the Exam. When I felt ready, I walked to the neighboring Prometric Testing Center.

When I arrived at Prometric, I checked in and locked my belongings in one of their lockers. Next, one of the Prometric staff members gave me two dry erase boards two dry erase pens, noise blocking headphones, and my ID and walked me to my seat. She wished me “good luck” and I was off! I read all of the directions very carefully and then began the test.

The LEED GA exam allows you to mark any questions you want to come back to, so I made sure to mark any question that I was unsure of, while also being watchful of my time. It took me approximately 1 hour to answer all 100 questions, from there I went back to all of the questions that I marked, and still had enough time run through the entire test again before my time ran out. I used the entire time allowed.

LEED GA Exam Questions

I noticed that the exam particularly emphasized credit synergies, Exemplary Performance (EP) levels, Credit Interpretation Request (CIR) components, and “what if” scenarios in certifications. I made these up, but these are similar to ones that you might see on the LEED GA exam:

• If a company is moving into 4 levels of a 20-story office building, and they want to renovate the space in order to achieve LEED Platinum, which rating system should they use?
• If a project is in a city, but is separated from most of the basic services by a small river running through the city, what is the best method to achieve Community Connectivity?
• If a project team planned to divert 70% of their construction waste, use 10% reused materials, and 20% regional materials, but in practice diverted 75% of their construction waste, used 17% reused material, and 30% regional materials, which category would give them one more point than they originally expected?

By taking the Exam, I learned that besides memorizing the facts and credit categories, it is important to also test yourself by applying what you have learned to “what if” scenarios.

It's important to know the basics of each credit category, the purpose, according to USGBC, of each category and which other categories may be complimentary or conflicting. Also, understanding HOW to memorize is important... and employing a variety of methods for memorizing key information (exemplary thresholds, standards, components of items such as CIRs, etc) via multiple interactive approaches, such as practice tests, study guide, and video training was very helpful.
Good luck!