Preparing for the LEED® Green Associate Exam - Exam Information

A LEED® Green Associate is an individual who has passed the exam and possesses the knowledge and skill to understand and support green design, construction, and operations. GBCI contracts with a test development firm to develop and deliver the LEED® professional credentialing exams.

The development of a valid exam begins with a clear and concise definition of the knowledge, skills and abilities needed in order to successfully serve as a LEED® Green Associate. Psychometricians work with experts in the green building industry to identify critical components of the roles and responsibilities of an individual supporting the LEED® certification process.

All LEED® professional credentialing exams are valid and reliable. Validity means that the exam is able to measure that which it is supposed to measure. Reliability is an index of how accurately the exam measures a candidate’s skills. A test must be both valid and reliable to be considered a well-developed exam. The LEED® Green Associate exam accurately assesses each candidate’s ability to carry out the required responsibilities of a LEED Green Associate.

RMC Green Building Training offers a variety of LEED® Green Associate Exam Prep products, courses, and software tools to meet your needs in PASSING THE LEED® GREEN ASSOCIATE EXAM ON YOUR FIRST TRY!

Exam Item Development
Extensive test statistics are calculated in the process of determining test validity and reliability. This includes careful analysis of every item on all LEED Professional Credentialing exams. Exam questions are developed and validated by global work groups of Subject Matter Experts, are referenced to current standards and resources, are developed and monitored through psychometric analysis, and satisfy the test development specifications of a job analysis.

All LEED Professional Credentialing exams assess candidates’ abilities at three hierarchical cognitive levels:

Recognition, Application, and Analysis. It is not necessary to know an items’ cognitive level, and an item’s cognitive level may not be obvious. It is only important that candidates understand that these different cognitive levels are assessed so that candidates can demonstrate both the breadth and depth of their knowledge as it pertains to the test specifications. The following definitions do not represent strict divisions between item types but are meant to be explanatory guidelines so that candidates understand the various levels at which they may have to demonstrate knowledge.

• Recognition Items: These items assess a candidate’s ability to recall factual material that is presented in a similar context to the exam references.
• Application Items: These items provide the candidate with a novel problem or scenario that the
candidate can solve using familiar principles or procedures described in the exam references.
• Analysis Items: These items assess a candidate’s ability to break the problem down into its components to create a solution. The candidate must not only recognize the different elements of the problem, but must also evaluate the relationship or interactions of these elements.

Exams are comprised of both scored and unscored items. All items are delivered randomly
throughout the exam and candidates are not informed of an item’s status, so candidates should respond to all the items on the exam. Unscored items are placed in an exam in order to gather performance data to inform whether the item should be scored on future exams.