NCIDQ Interior Design Practicum: Practice Exam First Edition

Too expensive and not as helpful as I thought it would be.

When you get the book, you will be immediately be disappointed - only because you paid a lot of money for a very small book - however, overall it was nice to have just to simply know what to expect on test day. Although it is not 100% accurate, it is very close to the actual test format. It also has some good general info in the front that explains the test and gives you tips for each section. As you will know, if you are signed up to take the test - it is a horrible feeling to hear all of the horror stories about it and not have a clue what to expect for test day. So on that note, it was really great to get this book and know what to I had to prepare for, and to see some examples of what an answer might look like. I had made the mistake of thinking there were 7 complete practice tests in here from the description, HOWEVER they are counting the 7 separate exercises of the test. That was probably my mistake. But it was also why I was surprised and disappointed by how small the book is. It does not come with test sheets/drawings. Instead it directs you to the PPI website where you can download them. I got them printed off to the regulation size at Staples for about $20.The reason I only gave it 3 stars is because I did find a few discrepancies in the book that I will send into the PPI website directly. Two are tiny things that directly contradict some info in the Ballast Study guide "Interior Design Reference Manual". It is not enough to fail the test, it covers using educational or assembly occupant loads for a training room and emergency lighting in an assembly space. They are things I noticed on the "passing" or "failing" examples that contradict what was written in the other study guide. The larger problems were the way the separate exits were shown on a passing solution (through the corridor rather that a straight line) and the way the occupancy is calculated for the Egress exam. That one is however a problem with the NCIDQ format. It looks like Ballast does it the way they want, however the way it is actually calculated in real life includes the common area of the building.SO overall, it is a good book to calm your nerves about the test. However, if you want to save money, the NCIDQ website does have a download of the Exam Guides that shows you a sample page of each test section (but no right/wrong solutions).

Super helpful guide! Covered a LOT of questions. Blueprints were easy to find on the website.