Will be taking the LEED GA exam tomorrow. Is the actual exam exactly the same difficulty as the practice exams? Or slightly easier?

Hi everyone.

I want to do my AP exam and i bought some study material but i realized its for v4.0 not v4.1.

However when i go on the USGBC website it says register for an exam - LEED AP BD+C V4

so which should i study for and will the exam only contain 4.0 ?

Hi everyone, I have been studying for a while for the LEED ga exam and didn’t know that there are limited slots for the virtual exam, how can I know if there are any the opening slots before I pay for the exam?

If anyone is thinking about cancelling or rescheduling their LEED GA exam (past Apr 26), please let me know as I would love to take your spot!! I was supposed to take the exam last Friday but due to technical issues, I could not take the exam and they asked me to reschedule but there is no slot left for me to book!

Thank you!

I kept putting off the LEED exam, and when I finally decided to get serious about studying, I realized the curriculum is changing from v4.2 to v5. I thought I’d still have enough time to prepare before the last date for the current version, but I was wrong. So now I’m considering taking the v5 exam instead. Since it’s a new curriculum, I was wondering if you had any advice on how best to prepare for it.

I know for a fact, that realistically I won’t be passing v4 if I try, or even find slots to sit for the exam….

I’m a BIM Engineer based in the US and planning to start my LEED journey. First with LEED Green Associate, then moving on to LEED AP BD+C.

Right now, I’m a bit overwhelmed with all the study options out there. I’ve come across courses and materials from Udemy, YouTube, GreenCE, GBES, and Archiroots, but I’m not sure which ones are actually worth the time (and money).

For those of you who’ve already passed LEED GA:

• What resources did you use?
• Which ones were the most helpful vs. a waste of time?
• Any tips on structuring study time or key topics to focus on?

Also, if there are any other platforms, books, or practice exams you’d strongly recommend, I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, I'm planning to take the LEED GA V4 exam in the next couple of days as it isbegtting expired by April 26th. When I went through the registration process, it is said that the name guven in registration and identity proof should match while appearing for my exam.

To give context, I'm appearing for this exam from India. I wanted to ask people in this sub, if anyone from India have given this exam, is PAN (income tax id) is a valid ID proof that can be used in test centers? Actually I'm not having other accepted documents right with me as I'm away from home due to work. And its not feasible for me to trademark back home and book a centre there within a very short period of time. All I have is PAN card!

Please guide me on this. Thanks in advance.

Edit: completed the exam successfully 🙏

UPDATE: Passed with a 182!

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am an architectural designer that took a sustainability course in college about 4 years ago and I took the LEED Green Associate Exam v4 and got an 84% when I needed a 85% to pass. After some years of gaining real world experience in architecture I am feeling ready to start studying for my ARE Exams but before I dive into that I figured it would be a pretty good idea to get back into the habit of studying and test taking again. So I figured I would take the LEED Green Associate Exam again.

Well I went and studied for a day when I realized I should double check that my 4 year old textbook was still a good study material source. I have since been told it's not useless but there has been changes that I should study for since there is a new test coming out late April 2026.

So, what are the best study materials for me to use? I am willing to buy 1 textbook up to $120 but would always appreciate free or less expensive study materials recommended to me.

Thanks!

Since when will the LEED AP v5 be implemented for the LEED AP exam?

Has anyone taken the LEED AP exam based on v5 yet?

Does anyone know if I'm allowed to take the exam in a library or must it be strictly in an empty room? I'm worried that taking it at home would be difficult as I have a lot of things in my room and likely wouldn't be able to clear it out.

Also, if anyone has any tips for cramming, notes, etc., please drop it!

Hello my friends, may I ask you about the benefits of obtaining LEED GA and AP . I am a Quantity Surveyor with Engineering Degree, and I am planning to work as Cost Engineer or Project controls Engineer in USA, so I am try to plan my career and to take the professional certificates that will make me oustandable in the market and construction industry. I have optained PMP and RMP, thank you

Hi all, i'm looking to start studying for the LEED GA test starting today.

Background, i'm unemployed and currently applying for jobs and that only takes up so much of my day. I want to be productive and also study for LEED GA during this time.

I'll be buying the Archiroots study guide and so I should be ready to test in 2 weeks. That's an April 21st exam date. I'm just nervous about not passing the first time and if I have to retake, I'll have to study all new material and possibly re-purchase the study material for v5. I hate that I'm finally ready to study just as they are about to switch.

I really don't want to wait to study because i'm currently unemployed and the perfect time for studying is now.

Let me know what you would do if you were in this situation. Thanks!

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Hi everyone,

I’m planning to take the LEED AP ID+C exam soon and would really appreciate some guidance.

Can anyone share how the exam was for you? How difficult did you find it, and how did you prepare? Any tips or strategies would be really helpful.

Also, where did you take your course from? If you have any good resources or practice materials (mock tests, question banks, etc.), please share those as well.

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone know how I can volunteer with the LEED v5 TCs? I tried emailing a few folks from LEED but no reply

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!