| Are you a building professional who wants to ride the | | | | so overloaded with information, I figured the test |
| increasingly large sustainability wave? Well becoming a | | | | would be impossible. I decided to change my |
| LEED Accredited Professional is a lot easier than you | | | | approach. I went ahead and tried to memorize all of |
| think! Passing the LEED exam will make your self look | | | | the 50+ credits. The only thing I needed to memorize |
| that much better, not only on paper, but also in | | | | was what the goal of the credit was, and if not that, |
| practical terms. | | | | at least the name. The intent of the credits are |
| Ever since the United States Green Building Council | | | | pretty straight forward; they make logical sense and |
| appeared, people have been becoming more and | | | | you can understand what the point of the credit is |
| more serious about building green. The USGBC | | | | without having to think too much. In no time, I was |
| created a rating system to help set industry standard | | | | able to list every single credit from memory. It helps |
| levels of green building. Green buildings are appearing | | | | to break them down into the six sections (sustainable |
| everywhere. Many owners know the benefits of | | | | sites, water efficiency, etc). |
| building green and require that the architects achieve | | | | Once you lay the foundation down, it is time to dig |
| certain LEED ratings. Some counties and cities are | | | | into each credit. A lot of the time, there is more info |
| requiring that all buildings over a certain size threshold | | | | than you need to know in the reference manual. Just |
| be LEED certified. Many public projects are also | | | | try to get a good understanding of how each credit |
| incorporating LEED into their buildings. | | | | works. You will notice that each credit is explained in |
| There is no question that if you want to survive in | | | | a similar way (intent, approach, references, |
| this industry, you are going to have to go green. | | | | calculations, etc). It really helped me to set up a |
| With energy prices on the rise, fossil fuels becoming | | | | spreadsheet summarizing everything about each |
| more and more scarce, and the earth’s natural | | | | credit. I chose a small font, printed mine out on a |
| resources being slowly finished off, you better go | | | | few sheets of paper and carried it everywhere I |
| green or go home. This world won’t be able to | | | | went. |
| sustain itself unless there is a huge push to go green. | | | | When you get into the exam room, you are given a |
| The LEED Rating system might be a little | | | | few sheets of paper and put in front of a computer. |
| overwhelming at first glance, but once you start | | | | You get two hours from the time you click |
| digging into it, you realize it is not as difficult as you | | | | “ok” on the computer. Before I touched the |
| had imagined. I passed the LEED exam over a year | | | | computer, I went ahead and wrote down all the |
| ago, and I didn’t really start studying until one | | | | credits on my scratch paper. Even though I already |
| week prior to the exam. When I started studying, I | | | | memorized them, I referenced this sheet a whole lot |
| didn’t think I would stand a chance. There were | | | | during the exam. |
| so many credits and just so much to learn about | | | | Go through and choose the best answers to each |
| every single one that I didn’t think it would be | | | | question. Your gut instinct is usually right, so go with |
| possible to retain enough information to pass. After | | | | your first intuition. Make sure to skip any questions |
| spending a lot of time in a panicked state of | | | | you are unsure of; there is a feature on the |
| overwhelm, I organized my studying approach, and | | | | computer that allows you to go over any skipped or |
| was able to pass the test without breaking a sweat. | | | | flagged questions. Use the entire two hours, and |
| The first thing that you do when you start studying, | | | | submit just before the deadline. You will find out if |
| is obviously begin by reading the LEED manual. I tried | | | | you passed or not about 20 seconds after you |
| to start by the darn thing page by page. That really | | | | submit! |
| didn’t work. After reading a few credits, I was | | | | Best of luck on your Leed Exam! |