Building Systems (Bs) Are Mock Exam (Architect Registration Exam): Are Overview, Exam Prep Tips, Multiple-Choice Questions and Graphic Vignettes, Solu

Gang Chen

Nov 2011 · ArchiteG, Inc.

About this ebook

A Practical Guide & Mock Exam for the Building Systems (BS) Division of the ARE! To become a licensed architect, you need to have a proper combination of education and/or experience, meet your Board of Architecture's special requirements, and pass all seven divisions of the Architect Registration Examinations (ARE). This book provides an ARE overview, suggested references and resources, exam preparation and exam taking techniques, tips and guides, and a realistic and complete mock exam with solutions and explanations for the Building Systems (BS) division of the ARE. More specifically this book covers the following subjects: 1. ARE, IDP, and Education Requirements 2. ARE Content, Format, and Preparation Strategies 3. Codes and Regulations 4. Environmental Issues 5. Plumbing: Principles and Materials & Technology 6. Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Systems (HVAC): Principles and Materials & Technology 7. Electrical: Principles and Materials & Technology 8. Lighting: Principles and Materials & Technology 9. Specialties: Acoustics, Communications & Security, Conveying Systems, and Fire Detection & Suppression 10. Two Graphic Vignettes with Step-By-Step Solutions Using the NCARB Practice Program Software The mock exam includes 95 challenging questions of the same difficulty level and format as the real exam (multiple-choice, check-all-that-apply, and fill-in-the-blank), and two graphic vignettes. This book will help you pass the BS division of the ARE and become a licensed architect! About the author Gang Chen holds a master's degree from the School of Architecture, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree from the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. He has more than 20 years of professional experience. Many of the projects he was in charge of or participated in have been published extensively in Architecture, Architectural Record, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, and more. He has worked on a variety of unusual projects, including well-known, large-scale healthcare and hospitality projects with over one billion dollars in construction costs, award-winning school designs, highly-acclaimed urban design and streetscape projects, multifamily housing, high-end custom homes, and regional and neighborhood shopping centers. Gang Chen is a LEED AP BD+C and a licensed architect in California. He is also the internationally acclaimed author of other fascinating books, including Building Construction, Planting Design Illustrated, the ARE Mock Exam series, and the LEED Exam Guide series, which includes one guidebook for each of the exams. For more information, visit www.GreenExamEducation.com

Ratings and reviews

“Great Practice Exam “In my opinion, the Building Systems (BS) test is one of the most difficult of the ARE Exams. For me, it was difficult to not be overwhelmed by the amount of content covered by the Exam. This Mock Exam is the perfect tool to keep you focused on the content that matters and to evaluate what you know and what you need to study. It definitely helped me pass the exam!!” —Michael Harvey (“Harv”) “Great resource for the BS exam It is a guide that gives you the exact information you need before you start taking the tests and more specific information for the BS Exam. The BS exam section breaks it down into the specifics you need to know and what you should not waste your time on. One of the hard parts of the exam is trying to figure out where NCARB gets its material from. The book gives you tips on what books the diagrams and MC questions in NCARB's study guide are similar to. It also references websites and PDF's throughout the book, which is very helpful. The exam section emphasizes the need to not read everything, but to concentrate on the specifics (i.e. diagrams, images etc.) and emphasizes this several times throughout the book. The graphic vignette section was extremely helpful and its importance in the book clarifies the need to make sure you know the graphic section in order to pass the exam (a very helpful hint). One of the best features of the book was the practice questions. It is hard to find many books that give good questions that are more in line with what NCARB will be asking and it is also good to have an extra set of questions to study from. The book goes further than a conventional study/exam guide. It explains the profession of architecture and goes more into the professions future. Overall this book is a great resource not just for the exam review, but also for the general knowledge of becoming an architect and what to expect, in a very concise, step by step, and easy to read format.” —Rebecca Rubinow (“R”) “Great resource “Building Systems is easily the hardest exam of the ARE's in my opinion. For preparation, there is nothing that prepares you more than questions. There is an overload of information out there, you tube, online resources like Wikipedia, MEEB, etc., but a lack of real questions. Answering the questions through practice is the best way to study, as opposed to reading the entire MEEB book-which I did as well. The questions in this book are very similar to the exam (took it twice). Also, the ARE exam questions try to trick and throw you off. These questions also do the same thing, and he explains in his answers why. There are over a 100 questions, including insight and tips on passing the vignette. Highly recommended...” —Andrew Consigli (“Nate”) “Great ARE BS Practice Exam “This is a comprehensive mock exam with a very detailed answer explanation for each questions and reference materials to look up that covers other relevant areas. Personally, I have taken most of the other available mock exams prior to this, and I found the questions in this book more similar to the official NCARB sample questions in comparison (but contains great explanations that the NCARB questions clearly lacks). The book also includes a section of a step-by-step instruction on solving the vignette that is easy to understand and helped me improve my speed greatly. Highly recommended.” —csquare “Great study resource! “It's always a great study tool to have Practice exams like this one! Seems to be very comprehensive and includes a little bit of everything that you need to know for the exam! Great supplemental resource!” —Sean Primeaux “Great Mock Exam Exercise! “One of the best things I like this book is how the author have included some of his insights and utilized online resources into the introduction of the book. He provided some Youtube links or online regulations references that readers could

About the author

Gang Chen holds a master's degree from the School of Architecture, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree from the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. He has more than 20 years of professional experience. Many of the projects he was in charge of or participated in have been published extensively in Architecture, Architectural Record, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, and more. He has worked on a variety of unusual projects, including well-known, large-scale healthcare and hospitality projects with over one billion dollars in construction costs, award-winning school designs, highly-acclaimed urban design and streetscape projects, multifamily housing, high-end custom homes, and regional and neighborhood shopping centers. Gang Chen is a LEED AP BD+C and a licensed architect in California. He is also the internationally acclaimed author of other fascinating books, including "Building Construction," "Planting Design Illustrated," the ARE Mock Exam series, and the LEED Exam Guide series, which includes one guidebook for each of the exams. For more information, visit www.GreenExamEducation.com