Anyone a Certified Professional Constructor?

Has anyone taken the Certified Professional Constructor (CPC) Exam?  I have applied to sit for the Spring (April) 2017 exam and I am waiting for my application to be approved. 

I took and passed (unofficially) the Certified Professional Constructors Exam today. 
 
Information for the Exam can be found at the following link: 

 http://www.professionalconstructor.org/?page=CPC_Certification

ELIGIBILTY FOR THE CERTIFICATION

To be eligible, you must meet one of the following requirements

1. [COLOR= black]HAVE ASSOCIATE CONSTRUCTOR CREDENTIAL (Exam taken in college or just as you start your career where upon passing you are designated as an ASSOCIATE CONSTRUCTOR):  Obtained 4 years of Qualifying Experience since earning the Associate Credential and 2 Years must have been managing the execution of Construction work.[/COLOR]
   
2. DO NOT HAVE ASSOCIATE CREDENTIAL (WAIVED FOR EXPERIENCE):  8 years of Qualifying Experience and/ or Education and 2 Years must have been managing the execution of Construction work (Project Manager, superintendent, etc.
   

Note:  Education: A Construction Management degree counts as 4 years while a Civil Engineering degree counts as 3 years.  A Graduate Degree in a construction or management program (MS, MBA, etc.) counts as 2 years of experience.

[COLOR= black]Work Experience[/COLOR]

[COLOR= black]1 year = 1 qualifying year:   Direct or Executive Level Supervision over estimating, scheduling, QC, Project Management, etc.[/COLOR]

1 year = ¾ year qualifying experience

1. Technical work in engineering, estimating, scheduling, QC, project engineering, etc.
   
2. Administrative work in purchasing, finance, safety, etc
   
3. Teaching/Research
   
4. Trade supervision
   

Cost of Exam -  $575 if you have Associate Constructor credential, $675 if you do not have it. 

There are two testing windows annually, one two-week period in April and a two-week period in October/November.

STUDYING FOR THE TEST

There is a study guide, which can be downloaded here:

https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/professionalconstructor.site-ym.com/resource/collection/14A2ECF8-58C9-4D0C-98DC-E18A8D906E54/CPC-Exam-Study-Guide.pdf

NOTE:  This is really all you need to study for the exam.

I went through the study guide in detail twice, highlighted important information, and skimmed through it again a day or two before the test.  I was traveling a lot before the exam so the majority of my studying was done at airports, planes, and hotels.  (Note: There are sample test questions at the end of each chapter that are very similar to the test.   There has been an online webinar in the past, but that was not available this past Spring).
 

THE TEST

1. 175 Multiple Choice Questions
   
2. 4 Hour Time Limit (I used 3.5 hours for my exam).
   
3. Very Similar to sample questions found in Study Guide
   
4. Provided a paper Pass/Fail Score when you check out of the testing facility.  You get your official detailed score 4 to 6 weeks after the test window closes.
   

CREDENTIAL MAINTENANCE

There is credential maintenance program as follows (from the American Institute of Constructors Website):   

“After being awarded the CPC credential you must participate in the Continuing Professional Development Program.  This program ensures that each certificant keeps current on industry trends and education.  Each individual certification is valid for two years, beginning the first full year after earning the certification. 

• Pay a yearly CPD Fee of $75, billed in November of the year before it is due.  AIC Members have this fee waived, note that AC certification is not AIC Membership.  
  
• Obtain 32 Hours of CPD Credit over the 2-year Certification Cycle.  Every two years you will be asked to submit an affidavit verifying you earned the 32 Hours.
  
• 10% of CPC's will be asked during their review period to participate in an Audit of their hours.  This will require those CPCs to provide backup documentation of their hours earned.”
  

.” Note:  I plan on getting my hours here:  https://www.aecdaily.com/
 

(I get my LEED non-specific credits here, so going forward I am going to choose the sessions that are both GBCI and AIC approved to credit for both).
 

Overall, I spent about 6 weeks studying off and on, mostly while traveling, and $675.00 (Company Paid).  Someone in my company had this credential and left and I wanted to make sure at least one person in our office has it.

I received the official results today.  The Report gives a breakdown as follows:

Questions scored:  175

Passing score: 130

Your Score:   Total number of questions answered correctly

Percentile:  Based on number of candidates taking the exam in that window

Area Scores -  You get a breakdown (correct number of questions answered) for each section below:

Project Scope Development:  37 questions

Employment Practices:  11 questions

Working Relationships:   8 questions

Construction Start-Up and Support:  12 questions

Construction Resource Management:  27 questions

Construction Cost Control:  35 questions

Project Closeout:  14 questions

Construction Risk Management: 21 questions

Ethics:  10 questions

After getting the official results, there a couple more steps that need to be followed before you are officially a Certified Professional Constructor.

I have considered taking this test. I just took my PE last month and if I passed, I may try to take this in the Fall.

I think I am eligible to take the CPC without taking the AC first. Civil Engineering Degree + 5 year experience. I also have 12 credits completed towards my MS in Building Construction but not sure if they consider graduate level courses without an actual degree?

Question: If I take the CPC - should I be studying the AC and CPC study guides? Or just the CPC? I have not directly compared both of them and would probably skim the AC guide at a minimum, but wondering if I should hit them both? 

themandan40 said:

I have considered taking this test. I just took my PE last month and if I passed, I may try to take this in the Fall.

I think I am eligible to take the CPC without taking the AC first. Civil Engineering Degree + 5 year experience. I also have 12 credits completed towards my MS in Building Construction but not sure if they consider graduate level courses without an actual degree?

Question: If I take the CPC - should I be studying the AC and CPC study guides? Or just the CPC? I have not directly compared both of them and would probably skim the AC guide at a minimum, but wondering if I should hit them both? 

Click to expand...

I just used the CPC study guide.  I ran through it twice in detail (highlighting important topics), then skimmed though the highlights the week of the exam.  The sample questions at the end of each chapter are very similar to the questions on the exam. Note: I was surprised on how many questions were based on the document search section in CPC study guide, so pay attention to that section and sample questions on pages 25 to 30.  I found that section of the test most time consuming.

Thanks for feedback, I'll start digging into this more as soon as I get positive results on my PE exam!