Customer Reviews

Leed Prep: What You Really Need to Know to Pass the Leed NC V2.2 and CI V2.0 Exams

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

This publication was of little use to me while studying for the LEED AP exam. If you really want to pass the exam before the roll out of LEED 3.0 (you cannot register for the current exam ofter 03.31.09) then your money is best spent elsewhere.

Had I known that most of the information in this book can be easily found online for free, then I would not have purchased it. Most notably, the "reformatted" credit information simply repackages the credit information available directly from the USGBC as a free pdf. The bulk of this book consists of this reformatted credit information and yet contains no new or insightful information. The charts and advice available from websites such as www.intheleed.com and "Learning to LEED" are much more helpful. The author of the intheleed website also offers the information available on his website in a well organized e-book for HALF THE PRICE of this book.

Real preparation requires complete study of the reference guide, which is pricey if you don't have one available to you. Save your money for that. Also consider spending money on the mock exams from www.greenexamprep.com. They provide exam relevant questions with answers AND analysis, all of which is sorely missing from this book.

I was able to pass the exam handily without recourse to this publication, I would recommend focusing one's attention and resources elsewhere.

I am not one to write reviews but will take the time to forewarn anyone looking for a good way to study for the LEED exam- Do not go this route. The book is not organized in a logical manner. Rather then presenting the information in the same structure as the exam- by section and points, it talks around the structure in theoretical and broad ideas of green architecture and forces one to constantly cross-reference an index of what this general information relates to on the actual exam. It is basically useless and I give it one star because zero is not an option.

Had I not read the full text version (from USGBC) first, I would not have passed the exam. Yes, the full version is very long but at least you would understand the intent of each credit and how the USGBC was thinking when they created the credits. With this book, you have no background on the subjects, just short lists of facts to memorize but no way to understand how they are really applied. Using just this book would be something like taking calculus, deciding to skip all the classes, and just before the final, obtaining a copy of someone else's `cheat sheet'.

Because it is so short on detail and is just lists of bullet points and words to memorize, you really can't use this as a reference book later.

The format of this book is good. The beginning 60 pages are "textbook" style explanations and recommendations. The information is separated by pre-design, design, construction, and operation. The rest of the book splits up the NC and CI prereqs and required credits (one for every two pages--leaving room for "notes"). The format for splitting up the credits is good, as it outlines the intent, requirements, points earned, and references.

My hang ups were these:

They often used vague explanations and filler material in the beginning literature section. While it was good to read the material in a more discussion style--rather than just a bunch of tables--they were sometimes nondescript and used sentences that had no meaning. Also, the outlines for the credits took up too much space (nearly 2/3 of book). I think they should have provided some practice questions.

I have not taken the exam yet so I can't say whether this was a sufficient prep guide. I feel like I'm learning, but we'll see.

This book is not important to be added to any Library, as it's contect is only the LEED Rating System Description, which is downloadable at the CAGBC website at no cost. For LEED students, I would only recomment the LEED Reference Guide along with the online Sample Exams on the PPI website. Good luck to everyone.

I liked this book because it was written how I study. With all of the memorization of many percentages and points involved in studying it was great to have it laid out for you. I never purchased the one directly from the site, but that would be the only way to know for sure you have all of the info. I passed with a 181