Why is "LEED GA Exam Guide" needed?

The LEED Green Associate (GA) Exam is a brand new exam GBCI launched in 2009. The biggest problem for LEED GA Exam is the shortage of LEED GA Exam prep materials.

The LEED Green Associate Exam is the most important LEED exam for two reasons:

1. You have to pass it in order to get the title of LEED Green Associate.

2. It is also the required Part One (2 hours) of ALL LEED AP+ exams. You have to pass it plus Part Two (2 hours) of the specific LEED AP+ exam of your choice to get any LEED AP+ title unless you have passed the old LEED AP exam before June 30, 2009.

There are a few ways to prepare for the LEED Green Associate Exam:

1. You can take USGBC courses or workshops. You should take USGBC classes at both the 100 (Awareness) and 200 (LEED Core Concepts and Strategies) level to successfully prepare for the exam A one-day course can cost $445 if you register early enough, and can be as expensive as $495 if you miss the early bird special. You will also have to wait until the USGBC workshops or courses are offered in a city near you.

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2. Take USGBC online courses. You can go to the USGBC or GBCI websites for information. The USGBC online courses are less personal and still expensive.

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3. The USGBC's "Green Building and LEED Core Concepts Guide." It is somewhat useful, but does not have enough information for you to pass the LEED GA Exam.

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4. The USGBC Reference Guides: They are comprehensive, but they give too much information. Searching for information related to LEED GA Exam from the USGBC Reference Guides is like "looking for a needle in a haystack." For example, The LEED 2009 Reference Guide for Green Building Design and Construction (BD&C) has about 700 full-size pages. Many of the calculations in the books are too detailed for the exam. They are also expensive (approximately $200 each, so most people may not buy them for their personal use, but instead, will seek to share an office copy).

It is good to read a reference guide from cover to cover if you have the time. The problem is that few people have the time to read the whole reference guide. Even if you do read the whole guide, you may not remember the important issues to pass the LEED exam. You need to reread the material several times before you can remember much of it.

Reading the reference guide from cover to cover without a guidebook is a difficult and inefficient way of preparing for the LEED GA exam, because you do NOT know what USGBC and GBCI are looking for in the exam.

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5. Various books published by a third party are available on Amazon. However, most of them are not very helpful.

To stay at the forefront of the LEED and green building movement, I sign up for USGBC courses and workshops myself, and I review the USGBC and GBCI websites and many other sources to get as much information as possible on LEED. Based on this very comprehensive research, I summarize the information in my latest book, "LEED GA Exam Guide: A Must-Have for the LEED Green Associate Exam: Comprehensive Study Materials, Sample Questions, Mock Exam, Green Building LEED Certification, and Sustainability (LEED v3.0)." I have done the hard work so that you can save time preparing for the exam by reading it.

"LEED GA Exam Guide" will fill in the blanks and become a valuable, reliable source:

a. It will give you more information for your money. It has more information than the related USGBC workshops.

b. It is exam-oriented and more effective than the USGBC reference guides.

c. It is better than most, if not all, of the other third-party books. It gives you comprehensive study materials, sample questions and answers, mock exams and answers, and critical information on building LEED certification and going green. Other third-party books only give you a fraction of the information.

d. It is comprehensive yet concise. It is small and easy to carry around. You can read it whenever you have a few extra minutes.

e. It is great a timesaver. I have highlighted the important information that you need to understand and MEMORIZE. I also make some acronyms and short sentences to help you easily remember the credit names.

It should take you about 1 to 2 weeks of full-time study to pass each of the LEED exams. I have met people who have spent 40 hours to study and passed the exams.

You can find sample texts and other information on the LEED Exam Guides Series in customer discussion sections under each of my book's listing on Amazon.