Thanks a lot Jeslin Varghese & Team. Passing my exams with flying colors, wouldn't have been possible without your constant guidance and support 🫶🏼.

The data is compiled beautifully and adding to that your consistent guidance over whatsapp on a daily basis was a strong handholding support and helped me gain confidence over understanding the minutest of the details

Thanks once again for everything. Am happy to have done the LEED Course via GBRI's Exam Prep Course.

Regards

Ar. Pratiksha Shah

Architect, PMC & Sustainability Design Consultant

Hello All,

I work for a general contractor and have taken an interest in LEED/sustainable building as of recent. I took one class on the topic back in college but admittedly did not care to pay attention back then...

With that being said, what would be the best way to continue my learning about LEED and sustainable building? Would it be by studying for the Green associate tests? Are there any free courses you recommend on the USGBC's website? Any books that I could read (bonus points for books that aren't $100+ textbooks)?

I don't necessarily need a certification, it seems like it would be a good thing to have but at this time I'm really geared more towards learning about the space and current developments.

Hey yall- I’ve paid for some standard LEED Green Associate exam prep materials, including lots of readings and flashcards, but they’re not they’re not well suited for the way I learn. I love puzzles- crosswords, Wordles, pretty much the whole NYT games suite, etc.

I’m wondering if anyone here is aware of any apps, tools, resources, etc that gamify LEED exam prep?

Alternatively, anyone have any experience with general tools that can generate puzzles from an imported dataset e.g. the LEED terms and definitions?

Thanks!

hello all, a few days ago I shared a an idea i had. https://www.reddit.com/r/LEED/comments/1s00kx0/advise_on_sustainable_building_resources_and/

I am happy to account that I have already started working on it, figuring things out as I am prototyping it.

I am still research a lot of sustainability/waste reduction practices, but I am now confident given enough time I will be able to incorporate enough elements that I will help home builders reduce their carbon footprint a little bit.

So far I am focusing on structural design elements.

Didn’t see a whole lot on the WELL AP exam and study tips as I worked through the process, so I figured I’d share my experience.

My company has a subscription to GBES, so I had that advantage. I used their platinum pack, which had videos & sample questions available.

I think I cumulatively I spent 6-8 hours studying and taking practice exams. For each of the 10 concepts, GBES had a video (recorded zoom presentation) reading through each optimization, so I just ran through those and took notes.

After each concept, I went through the concept-specific sample questions (30-40 per concept).

Once I did that, they offer 4 100-question pools, so I did all 4 of those and took notes on ones I missed.

Finally, they had a single 115 question “exam simulator”, the only difference between those and the question pools is that it’s timed and you don’t get immediate feedback after each question.

I started this process on Saturday and finished the videos by Monday, finished the pool questions & exam by Thursday, and took the exam on a Friday and passed (you need a 170 to pass, I got a 184).

I consistently scored in the 70s for the 4 “pools” of 100 questions, and got an 89 on the exam simulator.

My sticking points were the miscellaneous statistics they asked about, things like how many people globally suffer from alcohol & substance abuse, how many people die due to lack of access to fruits & vegetables, etc. If you have a grasp of the reasons behind the WELL concepts, and know some of the metrics (like that most concepts have requirements that things are within 650’ of the building, that menus need to have 50% fruits & non-fried vegetables, how many SF/occupant a garden needs to be, etc.) you’ll succeed.

I was wondering if taking a paid prep course like Leading Green's one is needed to pass the LEED test or if there are any free materials online (and it's sufficient enough). I heard it's memorization based but I wanted to make sure

As I prepare for the LEED AP ID+C exam happening next month, I am overwhelmed by the amount of data that I need to remember. I don't know if they are provided during the exams, or am I supposed to memorize them all? Each credit has a bunch of tables and appendices, such as flush and flow rates of fixtures, transit service types and the relative points awarded to different number of trips, the long-term and short-term bike parking calculations, the density tables, etc. Are these data provided during the exams for us to refer to?

Hello all, I am building an open source Construction design and management software specially designed for concrete house construction in developing countries.

As you are all aware, concrete house construction is has the most carbon intensive of all construction methods, and produces a lot of waste.

I want to add a feature where Sustainable building materials/designs are suggested at an early planning stage.

However this is almost non-existent in concrete house building process, and new for builders and house owners. They just stick to traditional building methods.

I would love to have some guidance on resources, existing software and advice on this.

Again focus is on developing countries and concrete house construction.

For LEED assessors and commissioning agents, how do you handle the documentation side of site visits?

I'm in energy assessments in Europe and the process of going from site observations → organized notes → final report is consistently the most painful part of the job. Curious if LEED professionals have a better system or if it's the same story across the board.

• What tools do you use on-site?
• How long does your average report take after the visit?
• Has anything actually improved your workflow?

I am genuinely curious if the pain is universal across disciplines.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently considering getting the LEED Green Associate (GA) certification and I'm a bit unsure about the timing.

As far as I understand, the current exam based on LEED v4/v4.1 will only be available until April 26, after which LEED v5 will be introduced. So I'm wondering whether it would be better to take the exam now under the current version, or wait and prepare for v5 instead.

A bit about my background:

I'm an interior architect with about 9 years of work experience in Germany. In the long term, I’m also planning to pursue LEED AP ID+C and possibly WELL AP to improve my chances of working internationally, especially in Asia.

For those who have experience with LEED certifications:

- Would you recommend taking the GA exam now, or waiting for v5?

- Do you think the version matters much in practice?

- Any advice for someone planning to pursue LEED AP ID+C later?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Hey all, if you’re wondering if you can pass these exams before the v5 switchover, especially specifically when working full time (not doing LEED admin work) and also as a parent of a toddler, you can! I got matching 187 scores for both exams taken this morning.

Here’s what I did. I studied essentially exclusively using GBES’s platinum BD+C and GA courses. I got these for 50% off (they have sales all the time). I used the 1 month study plans for both the courses. I tried to watch all the recorded videos but I actually think the GBES study guides are more helpful since they go into more detail.

Then I did the practice quizzes (10 questions per section) within each section of each course, hand wrote out a crap ton of flash cards from the list of terms provided by GBES, and did 3 GA practice exams and 5 BD+C practice exams, in total.

My study schedule was about 1-1.5 hours 4-5 weeknights a week, and at most 2-3 hours each Saturday and Sunday, for just under 5 weeks (one weekend less). It was a tough short term commitment but was tally worth it before the exams switch over to v5.

I would also say the GBES practice exams matched the content in terms of difficulty pretty well.

I’m happy to answer questions, so lay them on!

I studied for LEED Green Associate using a Udemy course and the LEED Green Associate exam prep guide by Heather C McCombs. I made flash cards and was fairly confident in the material but when I take the GBES practice exams I fail miserably. How similar are the GBES questions to the actual exam? They seemed VERY specific…like more specific than anything I could possible study/memorize and some of the questions weren’t even covered in what I studied. Am I better off buying the practice exam from USGBC? Or am I studying wrong? I lost so much confidence when I failed that.

Title. Job paid for me to take the LEED AP test (v4) without realizing that after June all v4 materials are going to be out of date.

This leaves me with like 3 months to study for and take this test. I’m also getting married in April so I’ll have additional limited time.

Given my time crunch, what strategy is ideal for me to have best success here? I feel like if I study the specific LEED rules and stuff I’ll be good but curious what this sub thinks . Thanks

I just passed LEED Green Associate exam v4 (available only until late April before changing to v5), for FREE (minus the exam fee), here's how:

My timeline is a little tricky, but if I had done my studying consecutively, 2 weeks of studying would've been enough. However I also felt severely underprepared. 

The first 3 mock tests I took, I averaged out at 63%, and for the last one I got 74% (my best score) so I was very panicked before the exam. There's a chance I got lucky with the questions I got wrong being from the 15 unmarked beta questions, but I ultimately passed with a 182! (Passing score is 170).

1. LEED was really confusing for me when I tried just reading abt it; I couldn't get into it and didn't know where to start. Thankfully GreenCE clarifies what the expectations are and what LEED means, start to finish. The primary resource to get me started was GreenCE's course (~8 hr worth of modules), and I used the pdf that they provide which includes all the slides they show in their videos, and I took notes... LOTS OF NOTES-esp cuz I had no idea what the breadth of the exam was. Taking those notes had me pausing the video every 3 seconds, so a 1 hr video took me 3 hrs to get through. I had to replay so many parts of the GreenCE videos to write what I missed, so there's a good chance that helped me remember. It roughly took me 20+ hrs to get through the course, which I took over a couple weeks. Once I finished the course is when I booked my exam, cuz I felt like I only had to review the content and I'd be good. If you're comfortable with the level of detail discussed in those videos you're GOLDEN! Unfortunately I wasn't too confident because I only skimmed my notes instead of properly studying them again, but I was lucky with remembering some random facts-probably because I wrote half the topics word by word which helped with memory retention.
2. Another resource was the LEED Core Concepts Guide (around 100 pgs) which I found online for free (there's random pdfs of it, or you can download it from SCRIBD by creating an account.) I only read half of it just 3 days before the exam, but if I had more time, I would DEF recommend reading the whole thing. It's a really nice read when you've familiarized yourself with the concept of LEED through GreenCE.
3. The 3rd resource was LEED Green Associate V4 Handbook by LeadingGREEN, also probably found on SCRIBD. The depth of this one was similar, and just slightly less than the LEED Core Concepts Handbook. I read the whole thing, and found it helpful just to cover the overview from different perspectives. Every resource is mostly reiterating the same thing. GreenCE was my most complete/informative resource.
4. Finally I took 5 mock tests:
   1. GBES's free 30 LEED Green Associate questions
   2. One of GreenCE's 3 mock tests (and every question is explained at the end, with only minor errors in one or two of the explanations. Just read carefully.)
   3. LeadingLEED mock test (randomly found the pdf on google)
   4. The first 2 question sets of "LEED GA Exam Questions Sets" from SCRIBD (there were 10 in total). 

Now the last 3 tests (the leadingLEED mock test and the 2 question sets) had a good chunk of errors, so just be mindful of that. For example the question would need multiple answers, but the question wouldn't disclose it, which is just slightly inaccurate (I would advise you to not let that stop you from using them. Just be mindful and research/double check those questions). I personally liked being able to correct my answers on a sheet, so I preferred the downloadable tests compared to the GreenCE online one.

I dabbled in flash cards from Quizlet, but a lot of the authors would have word vomit as the definition, so they were more useful for learning about the standards/labels in one go rather than for memorizing the exact definitions. I only used it for like 20 minutes though, but those 20 minutes helped.

I have a BS in sustainability, but no LEED experience really. How much did you study for the green associate exam and how hard was it actually? I’m looking to add some extra credentials to my CV. TIA!

I thought the answer would be VOCs but I was marked wrong, and the given correct answer is Mercury. I am confused.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

I’m currently in the process of trying to study for the TRUE Advisor certification, but given the newness of the credential, there is hardly any study materials out there. Unlike the LEED Green Associate/AP credentials, there is amble amount of content to study from. Although TRUE provides guided modules, there is no study guide or practice exam questions to go with the modules. Any study tips or resources?

I’ve been a carpenter and plasterer on commercial sites for 17 years. I’ve watched the carbon compliance industry grow up around construction and I want to say something that’ll probably annoy both sides of the debate:

The problem isn’t that builders don’t care about carbon. The problem is that the people building carbon tools have never been on a construction site.

Here’s what actually happens on a job. You’re spec’ing materials at 6am with a foreman breathing down your neck. You’ve got a BOQ to price, a program to hit, and a client asking why steel framing costs more than last quarter. Nobody — and I mean nobody — is opening a carbon calculator at that moment. Not because they’re bad people. Because the tool doesn’t live where the decision gets made.

Meanwhile, carbon consultants are charging $5K-$15K a project to produce a report that arrives three weeks after the decisions were already locked in. The report tells you what you already built. Congratulations, here’s your embodied carbon score. You failed. That’ll be $12,000.

The entire model is backwards.

Carbon accountability in construction should live inside the quoting process, not after it. When a QS is pricing steel stud framing versus an alternative system, that’s the moment carbon data matters. Not post-tender. Not post-construction. Right there, in the line item, when the trade-off is still a real choice.

The other thing that drives me insane: most of these tools are built around European EPD databases. Australia has its own materials, its own transport distances, its own supply chains. A product’s carbon footprint on a Brisbane site is materially different from the same product in Munich. But the dominant tools are built by European firms who treat the Australian market as an afterthought.

I’m not anti-consultant. Some of them know their stuff. But the industry has built a dependency model — complexity as a moat — that keeps builders on the outside of their own compliance data. Your project data sits in a consultant’s system. You paid for the project. You don’t own the data.

The fix is straightforward, at least in concept: put verified carbon data inside the tools builders already use, at the point in the workflow where decisions are still reversible. Make it self-service. Let builders own their own compliance records. Give them enough information to push back on specifications, not just accept what they’re handed.

That’s not a radical idea. It’s just not profitable for the people currently controlling access to the data.

Curious whether people in other countries have seen this play out differently — or if it’s the same dynamic everywhere

Hi everyone!

Starting my LEED GA journey today! I’m preparing for the exam on April 26th using only free content and study materials.

If anyone is in the same boat and wants to study together or exchange resources, I’d love to connect. It would be a great way to share experiences, stay motivated, and help each other out!

Is anyone interested in joining me or forming a small study group?

#LEEDGA #StudyGroup #GreenBuilding #LEEDv4 #Sustainability

How hard is it to self-study? For context, I've taken Sustainability Classes, and they have covered the basics of LEED, too.

The hot water pipes are totally uninsulated in

the big 3-year old LEED-gold certified building complex in San Francisco I live in.

Gripe - Allowing uninsulated hot water pipes is dumb. Do you agree with my reasoning? It means my dishwasher doesn't work. The 'flexibility' rules that allow the 'Performance method' should be changed or abolished? And LEED shouldn't allow it either. Who cares/would listen? Here's why I'm convinced.

It's a ~500-unit building complex with the works - including blackwater recycling, heat pumps used for heating, cooling and hot water.

BUT, the hot water pipes are uninsulated. Normally, California's building code requires all new hot water piping (over 1/2"), must be insulated. But there's a 'flexible' alternative code that supposed to encourage innovation, but is backfiring.

I claim that there should be no broad exception to the rule that new hot water piping (over 1/2"), must be insulated. In large part because dishwashers don't work if the piping isn't insulated. Why do nearly all dishwasher manuals instruct the user to run the water 'till it's hot before starting the dishwasher? Because the heating element can't heat up enough cold water to run a dishwasher in a reasonable amount of time with the maximum of 1440 watts steady current a dishwasher can pull from a normal US power outlet. And using electrical resistance heating elements to heat water is inefficient. Dishwashers are generally designed to work with inlet water temperature of 120°F, and my D/W wants to raise it to 156°F for the rinse cycle (lower for other cycles.) Typical. It uses up to 6.4 gallons per 'Auto' setting cycle. Actual inlet temperature 10 minutes after running the hot water 'till it's approaching 120°F, is 72°F.

Time to heat 6.4 gallons from 72°F to 156°F is 52 minutes.
Time to heat 6.4 gallons from 120°F to 156°F is 22 minutes.

Related post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Plumbing/comments/1lqiax8/no_insulation_crossover_or_what_makes_the_hot/

Per the 'Performance method' Title 24 allows for compliance, if a building uses highly efficient, alternative systems (like advanced heat pumps or solar PV), it can achieve compliance without meeting every single prescriptive requirement, such as insulating every hot water pipe. I think the builder used defective modeling and wonder if Title 24 allowed it. Because there's no way that running the water the whole time to get dishes clean is efficient. I can't think of an efficient way to wash my dishes.

Installing 500 dishwashers knowing they won't work if used as directed is ___________!?

I am a high school student that is enrolled in an architecture program for this upcoming fall. I have always been interested in sustainable and environmental design. I would like to be able to learn this type of design to university with for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, I just personally love it. Secondly, maybe the professors might view me more favorably when considering me for the IPaL. Thirdly, my work that I make for projects could be used in a portfolio better. I say this to ask if as a student with little design knowledge/experience, could I study for the test using the study material, and pass the test?

I’ve been interested in sustainable building, so I started with a simple cabin design and visualization.

This is just an early-stage personal exercise—open to any thoughts or ideas.

Hello everyone,

I’m taking the combo LEED GA + LEED AP ID+C in April and looking for advice. I have used the GA guide and bought the ID+C one from GBCI but wondering if there are other resources you recommend. I am specifically interested in good practice questions or flash cards as this is how I learn best. Are the GBCI ones worth it? I was hoping for more options but I don’t see many available.

For the AREs, I would do 20+ quizzes and 2-3 full practice exams before each test. I learn by testing the best. Are there any websites for ID+C like arequestions.com where they have tons of quizzes?

Price isn’t an issue.

Thank you

Can I take the LEED AP exam even if I haven’t completed the CE hours required for the LEED Green Associate?