LEED Green Associate Exam Guide: Comprehensive Study Materials, Sample Questions, Mock Exam, Green Building LEED Certification, and Sustainability, 3rd Edition

I used this book along with Gang's supplementary book LEED GA Mock Exams (Red book) and some free practice tests I found online as my primary sources to study for the exam. I'm happy to say that I took the test recently and passed!How did I study? First, I read through the LEED Green Associate Exam Guide twice (an hour or two hours per night) just to get familiar with concepts within a week. Then over the next few days, I read through the book a third time more carefully in order to memorize the numbers, terms, abbreviations, etc. Next, I went through the mock exam included in this book, then the Red book by Gang - LEED GA Mock Exam, and also a couple free practice tests I found online thanks to Google. My confidence dropped when I scored less than 50% on the two exams included in the Red book (while scoring around 60-65% on the others). As a result, the three days prior to my test (which included the weekend), I spent most of my time going through ALL of these practice tests to try and figure out my weaknesses by focusing on my incorrect responses while reviewing the things that need to be memorized. Overall, I probably spent around 30 hours preparing (YMMV).What did I think of the book? It's a lot of information and although I agree with other reviewers that there might be too much information, it is better to over-prepare than under-prepare which is what this book does and is the author's goal. However, I must emphasize that this book does not cover EVERYTHING (the author does not claim that this book does so this is NOT a negative point). I highly suggest that you look at the online links that are referenced in this book as well as in the solution sections of the Red book because if I hadn't, I probably would not have passed. I did not use any other study guides besides what I have already mentioned.Why 4 stars? I have to give a positive review because I passed the exam, but I can't give it 5 stars because there are some flaws. There are several typos and grammatical errors so it's obvious that whoever edited this 3rd edition didn't do a good job. Also, it would be nice if this book, included another mock exam or two, but I guess it's just business to pressure you to buy a separate book.My tips:-Study this Green book along with the websites referenced and take several practice exams. Use the practice test results to help you focus on your weaknesses (questions you get incorrectly).-The Red book is harder than the actual exam (as the author intended it) so it definitely helped to scare me to study a bit harder. I do recommend the Red book as a supplement although it's a bit pricey IMO for two exams. (I'll write a review with more details for this book shortly).-Although I did not use the following resource, some of my peers who passed the exam said this really helped them if you don't mind paying and additional $50 - http://www.gbes.com/store/products/PTLEEDGREENASSOCIATE.html

I just passed my LEED Green Associate test yesterday and I am very pleased to say that this book was a perfect Study Guide.I first started to read this book 2 months before my scheduled exam date, of course I read the book once and then it stayed on my book shelf till 2 days before my exam.With only 2 days to study I reread the material, memorized as best I could and took the practice test in the back, which I barely passed. At this point I was very nervous, but it was too late to postpone or cancel, so I took the test. To my surprise I passed the test with quite a high score.This book's format of concise bullet point, memorization devices and tables was exactly what I needed.If you have trouble with concise bullet point information this is not the book for you.I know that when I take my LEED AP test I will be using GANG CHEN's study guide.

This book is useful by default: there is a real dearth of good resources out there to prepare you for the LEED GA exam. This is one of the few/only books that consolidates everything you need to know for the exam in one place.That said, this is not a professionally made book by any means. Stylistic/formatting/grammatical errors galore and mnemonic devices & test-taking "tips" that are awkward and painful to read.In terms of content, there is an overemphasis on memorization of nitpicked details and acronyms, which made certain parts a real chore to get through. But amidst all the noise, the important stuff is there.

This review will focus only on the book as far as its ability to help pass the exam (that is the only reason I purchased it). First thing, there are a lot of grammatical errors but I didn't sit for an English test so they didn't bother me. One thing I would say is to check his data against the reference guide. There was one question on the mock exam that I believe is simply wrong and he leaves off a few ways to earn exemplary performance credits (while he always includes which credits can earn exemplary performance, he leaves out some qualifiers).Now to the good part:I took the LEED GA Exam this morning and passed with a score of 190/200. I used this book as my primary study tool. The only other thing I did was to read the Green Associates handbook and I used the LEED 2009 NC Reference Guide to check the information in the book. The book is broken down very well for studying making it much easier to memorize the data. The practice exam will prepare you well. It is much harder than the real exam. There was a lot of information in this book that showed up on the exam that I would not have known had I not read it.My basic study schedule was about one day of reading the non technical chapters, one day devoted to the technical chapter about credits and then the morning of the test to review my highlighted notes. I think if anyone studies this book until they pass the mock exam (I scored about a 70/100) and feel comfortable then they will be over prepared for the actual exam.I have worked as a Mechanical Engineer in the building industry for 6 years now so I do deal with the LEED program very often but this book helped me even with the credits that I have never bothered to learn since they don't apply to my profession.One last thing: I don't know if I just missed it in the book but the exam did have 3 questions on LEED for Homes certification. One was common sense but the other two you needed to know the system. I believe this rating system was completed after this book was published so no fault of the author.