architect54

On Thursday (Oct. 1st), I tried to reschedule Programming, Planning and Practice (PPP). That was less than three full business days prior to my exam. I was politely told, by the Prometric guy, ”The computer is not letting me reschedule… [for this reason and] Good luck on your exam.” Or something like, “I hope you do well on your exam.” I knew this would happen. I was late. I set a reminder on my phone a day before and I foolishly ignored it.

Anyways when he told me “Good luck” or whatever, I was kind of irritated with this guy. Who are you to wish me good luck? You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’m going through. You tell me I can’t reschedule, and then tell me GOOD LUCK?! Man, listen.

Well, I politely told him, “Thank you.” And hung up. Then, while siting at my desk, I experienced an upset and nervous reaction to not being prepared and not being able to reschedule. I prepared to go home and I slowly began to shrug off this whole feeling. I had finally gotten back into a study momentum on Monday and I was hoping to put off this exam, so I could slowly soak in some reading. I had barely been doing any questions, and the ability to do them and slowly review was one of my goals prior to this exam. Well I was disappointed I wouldn’t reach that goal, but I didn’t let my emotions take hold. It took me weeks to come down from the high of taking my first exam (Construction Documents and Services (CDS)). I wasn’t going to get caught up in another flurry of frustration over something I could have done something about.

This week, I regained my focus and I wasn’t going to lose sight of that. So on Friday, I staid late and printed out material, I thought would be helpful. I won’t be able to read it, but I will look at the pictures! In all, my weekend goals are to:

1. Read the Programming, Planning and Practice and Site Planning and Design sections in the ARE Review Manual
2. Do all of the practice exam questions and vignettes in PPI’s Programming, Planning and Practice book
3. Do NCARB’s two vignettes on the computer (versions 3.1 and 4.0)
4. Look at all of the pictures in the ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines (the file opens on p. 7, go to p. 1 to see the cover title) and HUD Fair Housing Act Design Manual (These are two large pdf files.)
5. Review as much as possible of anything else.

On Friday, I did the NCARB 4.0 study guide questions for PPP and got 32 out of 40 correct (80%). A good sign that determines nothing. On Friday, I experienced the rush of information I didn’t know enough about, including Americans with Disability Act (ADA), lead abatement and asbestos. I’m in a rushed position this weekend. Yet, I feel calm and relaxed. Sometime back in May I had started reading material on “Pre-Design” as a precursor to taking this whole exam. I finished that probably sometime in July prior to reading up on CDS. So I started my preparation for this PPP exam long ago. About two weeks after I finished CDS I was studying on and off prior to Monday (Sep. 29th) and overall I feel I have enough time to prepare this weekend for Monday’s 4:00 pm exam.

I’ve been trying to convince myself to take another exam. That’s not happenning. I didn’t pay for anything else (besides Site Planning and Design (SPD)) and I’ve already prepped for “Pre-Design”. Even before I got the ARE Review Manual. That said, I’m not in a comfortable position to take Programming, Planning and Practice (PPP). I’ve done the site zoning vignette once and made enough mistakes to know I would fail. I have not reviewed what I read before. In short, I’m not ready at all because I haven’t been studying. I’ll admit it.

So to change my focus I dug through my books to try and find something “different” from what I should have been focusing on. Well I found “Programming for Design, from Theory to Practice” by Edith Cherry (1999). Not different at all, it is one of NCARB’s recommended reference books for PPP!

Why did I have this book? Many years ago, I bought it thinking I would read it! Imagine my delight when I came across the title in the NCARB study guide! Truthfully, I didn’t recognize the title. When I looked up the book on Amazon.com I recognized the cover! I said, “Hey! Another book I don’t have to buy! And now I have a reason to read it, too!”

Well on Monday, I cracked it open. I’m now finished chapter 3. Time will not permit me to finish the rest of the book by Monday’s exam. This doesn’t matter too much, because reading the entire book is overkill. Maybe I’ll sum up the book in a later post, but for now “architectural programming… defines the problem to be solved by design.” (p. 3, Cherry quoting Duerk, Architectural Programming, p. 8 and Tschumi, Architecture and Disjunction, p. 112)

I’m glad I found this book, because it has perked my interest on this exam topic. I hope to finish the book within one or two weeks, because it is also a reference book for SPD. Thankfully, as of Monday (Sep. 29th), I have regained my focus and I’m studying again. Hurrah! Hurrah!