1. Start Early
Give yourself at least one full, all-day stretch to study—read, take notes, digest, and test yourself on—each of the major credit categories. Give yourself similarly long stretches to study each topic.
2. Read, and then read again
And then check your answers twice. They give you two full hours to answer 100 questions. You might take about an hour to attempt 100 questions. Which means you will have devoted 60 minutes for 100 questions or 0.6 minutes or 36 seconds per question.
There would be some questions that will leave you stumped. Don't spend too much time on these questions as they will impede your progress. You can mark it and then come back to this question again.
There would be some questions that will leave you stumped. Don't spend too much time on these questions as they will impede your progress. You can mark it and then come back to this question again.
3. Take as many practice tests as you can
Taking the exams and testing your knowledge with exam questions prepares you for the actual environment. And if you are wondering where to start, 100Questions have a very comprehensive bank of exam questions that you can start with.
4. Understand your standards
You should acquire a reasonable understanding of all the standards and calculations you see in the Reference Guide tome—but there are an awful lot of them. acquire a reasonable understanding of all the standards and calculations you see in the Reference Guide tome—but there are an awful lot of them.
No need to purchase or read the original standards, but make sure you understand exactly why and how each one is used in LEED:
No need to purchase or read the original standards, but make sure you understand exactly why and how each one is used in LEED:
- ASHRAE 52.2
- ASHRAE 55
- ASHRAE 62.1
- ASHRAE 90.1, including its relevance to light pollution
- ASTM E 1980, including the difference between SRI, reflectance, and emissivity
- ASTM Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (mainly the difference between them)
- CDPH Standard Method v1.1
- CRI Green Label Plus
- EPAct 1992 as it relates to water conservation (this one’s important! memorize the tables in the Reference Guide!)
- EPA definition of a brownfield
- Green Seal-36 and Green Seal-11
- SCAQMD 1168 and SCAQMD 1113
- SMACNA
- USDA definition of prime farmland
5. Know your refrigerant
Pay close attention to the difference between the prerequisite and the credit regarding refrigerants (hints: global warming and fire suppression systems). Know when CFCs in the HVAC system disqualify a project from LEED certification.
Finally, commit to memory the table in the Reference Guide that shows a variety of CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, and natural refrigerants. Seriously: see if you can replicate the entire thing on a blank page without peeking. They might ask you absolutely anything from that table. Oh, and don’t forget the supplemental materials on refrigerants referenced in the Candidate Handbook either!
Finally, commit to memory the table in the Reference Guide that shows a variety of CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, and natural refrigerants. Seriously: see if you can replicate the entire thing on a blank page without peeking. They might ask you absolutely anything from that table. Oh, and don’t forget the supplemental materials on refrigerants referenced in the Candidate Handbook either!
6. Know your prerequisites
Be able to list all the prerequisites of LEED for New Construction v2009 by heart, and understand the intent of each one.
7. Fully understand energy optimization, onsite renewables, and green power.
These are the most important credits in LEED, and nothing will wreck your day like forgetting the rules for RECs. Except possibly not knowing which things count as onsite renewables (combined heat and power from methane, yes; from trash incineration, no).
And how do you sleep at night without remembering which building systems use process energy? or without knowing how to calculate your percentage energy savings above baseline according to the requirements of ASHRAE 90.1-2007
And how do you sleep at night without remembering which building systems use process energy? or without knowing how to calculate your percentage energy savings above baseline according to the requirements of ASHRAE 90.1-2007
