Dear all,
Could you advice on tips, literature, topics to review or anything else to
improve my chances to pass the BEMP Certification exam? It would be also
great to hear from BEMP holders.
Sincerely,
Jos? Luis Correa Guzm?n. Ing., MSc, LEED AP O+M
I would like to join to the same request from Jose Luis.
Regards,
Catalina Caballero, AIA. Assoc., LEED GA.
Welcome to the list. Huge amount of knowledge and experience here.
Enjoy
Michael Hupel, B.Tech, CEM, LEED?AP
The following advice worked well for me:
Sit down and read the stuff on this page http://www.ashrae.org/certification/page/2491 :
? The list of study items on pgs 6 & 7 of the Guidebook are overkill.
? Do go over Appendix G and Chapter 11 of 90.1
? Open up the ASHRAE 2009 Fundamental handbook and read through Chapter 7 Fundamentals of Control, and Chapter 19 Energy Estimating and Modeling Methods
? If you have it handy go ahead and look through the ASHRAE 2011 HVAC Application handbook and go through Chapters 41 and 42, Building Energy Monitoring and Supervisory Control Strategies and Optimization
Really, though, the test is mostly common sense and anyone that does energy models regularly should do fine. The biggest challenge for me was the number of questions. I didn't feel there was enough time allotted for the number of questions asked, so you might want to do some practice tests where you do your best to brush up on your speed reading skills. :)
Kristy M. Walson, PE, LEED AP BD+C, BEMP
Thank you Kristy for the advice. :)
Thanks Kristy.
I found further advice at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=
&gid=3344845&goback=.anh_75552_1371687431716_1.anb_3344845_*2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1
De: Caballero, Catalina [mailto:ccaballero at jalrw.com]
Enviado el: jueves, 20 de junio de 2013 08:05 a.m.
Para: 'Walson, Kristy'; 'Jose L. Correa'; equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Asunto: RE: [Equest-users] ASHRAE, BEMP Certification
Thank you Kristy for the advice. J
I had the exact same experience as you Kristy. I am a slower reader and that was the greatest challenge for me too with the number of questions to complete.
The suggested reading material was overkill and not actually relevant. Having Exposure and experience to many energy modeling situations was the best benefit for myself to pass the exam.
Pasha
I agree that experience/common sense is going to be most help. It isn't
like the LEED exam where they want you to regurgitate a bunch of random
numbers/criteria. A lot of the questions are common situational/modeling
approach questions. There are questions about the best way to trouble
shoot results. There are some calculation questions that a pretty easy
is you know your basic heat transfer formulas. There are some questions
on different data analysis types that I didn't really have a good grasp
on. I finished with about 30 minutes to spare, but I didn't spend much
time on questions I didn't know.
I don't know what the passing score is, but I ended up in the high 80s
without studying. I wouldn't say the exam is easy, but if you have a
couple year of modeling experience I would expect you would pass it
pretty easily.
- Austin
Agreed on both accounts. I found that it was a difficult test to study for, and you either know the stuff or not from modeling experience and general HVAC theory. I spent a good amount of time reading through the listed references and study material (what I had access to anyhow), and while much of it was useful and interesting, I don't think it really contributed to my being able to answer the questions correctly. Unfortunately, this probably isn't very helpful, but it was my experience and seems to have been Kristy's as well.
The most difficult thing I found about the test was the short time in which to answer all the questions. Towards the end when I realized that I was falling behind the pace, I simply had to guess at some questions with long write-ups or calculations involved. I do believe the test format included the ability to flag a question for later and skip it, which would be good for long questions.
Good luck!
Riley Beise, P.Eng., BEMP
I studied some chapters in the ASHRAE handbooks and a few other things, but I don?t think any of them helped at all. I think it is an excellent test because they test for basic modeling skills that you learn by doing it day-to-day, so I think an inexperienced person would struggle even after studying a lot.
I also found the limited time to be the biggest challenge. There was not enough time for me to complete every problem. I went through all the questions and answered the quick ones first. If I had to do more than a simple arithmetic problem then I saved it for later. The second time through I did the simpler calculations and saved the most complex calculations for last. I didn?t complete the calculation for a few complex questions and I just guessed answers for those. (There is no penalty for wrong answers.) My biggest advice would be to not get bogged down on a complex question (which might be one of the questions that isn?t scored!) and then not have time to answer the simpler questions.
Keith Swartz, PE, BEMP, LEED AP