actually, day one was okay… day two was AWFUL!
it was hour after hour of my brain running as fast as it could and too much adrenaline and i couldn’t get my heart rate to slow down all day. it’s so horrible to have this massive task in front of you and only 4 hours to do it (then lunch, then you start over on a different timed task) and feeling every second of the clock.
it really doesn’t feel like a test of what you can do, but rather can you do it FAST!!
for those confused, the first day of testing is 7-1/2 hours of multiple choice questions, which sucks, but it was more than enough time to answer them and go back though and reread all the ones i have no idea on (about 1/3 of them… cool) and it’s the kind of test i’ve been taking my whole life… just really, really long.
but then day two is called the practicum.
as described on the ncidq’s website here: “The NCIDQ examination also features a practicum section, Schematics and Design Development, that requires candidates to produce a design solution. Candidates receive a program based on a multifunctional facility including at least three of seven areas of specialization (residential, corporate/office, hospitality, retail, healthcare, institutional and educational). The problem requires candidates to (a) interpret the program into schematics; (b) produce plan drawings; and (c) develop appropriate specifications. Work products must address the principles of universal design.”
which basically means they give you a folder saying, this is the client, they want a ridiculous mish-mash of spaces (like, retail, offices, and an apartment) all within this given building which is gutted, except for the existing plumbing line. but also, they want to enter this space from this street, and that space from anywhere but this door, and this room needs to be by that one, and these rooms need to be close to each other, but that one can’t be in view of the other…. etc, etc, etc.
it’s just so much to absorb really, really quickly, and then you have to get everything laid out and hand draft the whole thing, and also specify wall types and finishes. and, about 2/3 of the rooms required are given minimum square footages that you must conform to, yet others have required furniture that must fit, and the entire shebang obviously has to meet ADA requirements and building codes.
it’s something i’m sure everyone in the room could do with their eyes closed, if they had a day or two and A COMPUTER. but 4 hours is realllllly quick and FLIES by. by the time i was ready to start drafting i was so freaked out that i only had two hours left that my hands were shaking so bad it would be hard to recognize my handwriting.
after that whirlwind we broke for lunch. i had two people from my office taking the test as well so we ate together while realizing mistakes we had made that were too late to change. also, i found out i wasn’t the only one with the hand-shaking-issue so that made me feel better.
after lunch, it was time for part two of the practicum which consists of a new space with a new program to absorb really fast. then you produce a lighting plan (with switching… which is weird because that’s something the electrical engineer would always do…. maybe residential designers have to do their own switching diagrams?? i dunno), and a power, voice, data plan (easy enough except i usually don’t have to do it with time breathing down my neck…) and also every fire-life safety device had to be placed… and then they describe a piece of millwork located in the space that you draw an elevation of and a section for showing how it’s constructed, which basically just means i throw in blocking wherever i think it looks pretty and hope that seems legit.
everyone keeps asking me how i think i did, and i seriously just have no idea. i think i did fine on the multiple choice, but not sure if i did fine enough. and as far as the practicum goes, i really just can’t even guess. it was SUCH a whirlwind. i could have missed some major, major thing and not even known. it’s just fast and hectic and then over.
so i guess i’ll just wait and see.
wait 14 WEEKS that is, because that is how long it takes to grade them.
maybe when people ask me how i did i’ll just say, “ask me again in 2010.”
and now i’m going to go flush these all down the toilet:
