NCEES SEII Practice Exam

I have a few questions regarding the NCEES practice exam. For the most part I understand what they are doing, but some things I just can't figure it out.

These are building questions

Question 450 (the full question is found here: SEII Errata)

part ©

They are asking you to design the column for the seismic loads. From what I gather they are taking the shear that's applied to that particular braced frame and instead of distributing the shear forces to each brace member (they are using a cross brace) they assume that the full shear is going into one brace member to get the axial load on the column. Why don't they split the shear load over the two braces? Are they assuming a conservative approach in that one brace has already failed? I noticed that in the 2006 IBC Seismic Design combo, in Vol 3 they distribute the shear over the two braces.

Can anyone suggest which method is more proper?

If my wording doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to reword it and maybe throw in a sketch or two, if need be.

As for my other question... I just answered it while I was typing it in. If I come across any others I will post them here... and others are welcome to do so too. I assume everyone taking the SEII has done the practice exam so far.

Thanks!

See the link- that has same discussion.

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=7154

Thanks, when I read that a month ago I hadn't done the exam so I glazed over it intending to come back to it. Obviously I forgot about it. I should look around this forum section to see what else I have missed.