I’ve noticed that in the practice exams for black spectacles, there are a lot of code questions related to specific chapters and sections asked within the main multiple choice questions of the exams (I’m not referring to case studies). However, under the references tab, I don’t see the code book offered. Am I really expected to memorize all these fire ratings AND their exceptions?
One could in theory skip ahead to the case studies and see if the code sections are there. But that doesn’t make sense, especially if I need to take a break and I get locked out from questions I already viewed.
So ultimately, is NCARB going to offer me code sections under references in their multiple choice portion, or am I just supposed to pray and hope I memorize all these requirements?
Thank you for your questions and for using the ARE Community! To continue our discussion from yesterday’s PDD Virtual Workshop, I found the best strategy for me while taking the exam was to approach each question as they came up, leaving the case studies for the end. I did not want to waste the time clicking through each and every question. Instead, when I approached a question that required a reference, and if the reference wasn’t provided in the question, I took my best guess at answering the question and marked it for review later. Then, while in the case studies (if you haven’t taken a break) you could check those provided references to see if your question popped up.
I also recommend you take a look in the ARE 5.0 handbook for NCARB’s list of resources that they will provide on the exam. Should be one of the last pages in the handbook.
The key is staying nimble. The more agility you have, the more confident you feel bouncing around on the exam (from my experience).