Right after walking out of the CDS exam, I knew I had to schedule my next exam. I didn’t want to wait until getting the result from CDS. In the event of a fail, I didn’t want to allow myself time to give up and procrastinate for a few more years. Although I was still crushed by the exam taking experience, I knew that, by looking deeper into other materials and ways to prepare, I could enhance the experience altogether and perhaps not leave the test center in such despair the next time around. So I decided that first and foremost, I needed to update my materials.
Following suggestions on the arecoach.com forum, I decided on PPP and right away scheduled the exam for four weeks down the road. The schedule seemed tight, but doable. I didn’t have a lot going on and girls seemed to be on a healthy streak. I finally learned about jenny’s notes, and Gang Chen mock-up exam book. They were very instrumental for this exam.
I didn’t have my own notes on this division. I studied Kaplan, Archiflash, Caroline’s notes, Emily’s notes on Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice, Jenny’s notes, and Gang Chen’s PPP book.
The first thing I did was read Kaplan and take those sample tests. That took me an entire week to go over (two mornings per week and every single night after putting girls to bed). I, then, spent the next week taking sample tests and reviewing all of the wrong answers. The third week is when I would read Caroline’s notes, Jenny’s notes, my own notes from CDS, and start practicing the vignettes. I always took the third as a review-of-concepts kind of week. I would take a break from taking samples test because I didn’t want to become too familiar with the language of samples tests. They proved to be nothing like the language on the real exam (and I was basing this off on the previous exam only, but it proved true for the other ones too). Finally, the week preceding the test (sometimes the week of the test) is when I would resume taking and retaking sample tests, reviewing notes and really practicing the vignettes, this time, timing myself.
I walked in the test center on the morning of the PPP exam feeling like I had covered all grounds. Again, those first ten questions felt like I was being hit with a ton of bricks! Holy cow! Where do they get this stuff from? (I used to think…) I remember feeling a little bit of the same sense of despair as I felt during the CDS exam, but, for some reason, as I finished that portion of the exam, I also felt a tiny little bit better. The vignette portion was, again, straight forward and very much on par with the NCARB samples. I finished with very little time to spare on both portions, but I also felt confident on both vignettes, even with almost no time left to review. I didn’t know at the time (and I still don’t) how much weight the vignette portion of the exam carries. What I knew walking out that day is that my vignettes would most definitely not fail me. That must have counted for something!
About a week later, I was on vacation and could barely sleep on the night I believed the result would be published on the website. I woke up super early, almost instinctively, knowing I needed to log in and check my report. I was glad to see a pass! That was it! I was 2 for 2! Great feeling.
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