How to Become a

LEED Professional
Basic Information Guide Updated: June 2015
Table of Contents

Why Green?
LEED Terminology
LEED Certification
Basics of Green Associate & LEED AP Credentials
- Difference between two levels
- Eligibility requirements
- Comparison Summary
Candidate Handbook
Register
Schedule
Study
- Green Building Education Services
- AMPAJEN **Note: Links in gold and animated slides only work in the
Day of Exam slideshow viewing option, which is recommended for this
deck.

2
Why Green?
What makes a building Green?

Site Planning: Material Use:

- Site selection minimize disruption to - Storage & collection of recyclables
environment - Materials reuse
- Access to public transportation reduce
emission Indoor Environmental Quality
- Increased ventilation
Water Management:
- No-smoking policy
- Water use reduction
- Construction IAQ use of low-VOC
Energy: materials
- Optimize energy performance lighting - Lighting & thermal comfort
power reduction
- Use of energy efficient equipments

5
Benefits of Green Buildings

Environment
Health & Safety of Building Users
Community Sustainability

Economic Benefits

10
Benefits of having LEED certification

Studies have shown

25- 30% better in energy efficiency
Rent premiums of $11.24 per square
foot
3.8% higher occupancy
3% increase in rent ratio
3.5% increase in occupancy ratio
7.5% increase in building value

Source: Studies by New Buildings Institute (NBI) and CoStar Group

12
LEED Terminology
What are these abbreviations?
The U.S. Green Building Council is a non-profit trade
USGBC organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are
designed, built and operated.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green
LEED Building Council, provides a suite of standards for
environmentally sustainable construction.

Founded by U.S. Green Building Council in 2008, the

GBCI Green Building Certification Institute administers the LEED
Professional Accreditation exam.

Individuals recognized for their knowledge of the LEED rating

system are permitted to use the LEED
AP Accredited Professional designation after their name,
indicating they have passed the accreditation exam given by
the USGBC.
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 Get it right!

Buildings are certified. People are accredited. For example:

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exam.NowNow
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building.
building.

15
LEED Certification
What is LEED certification?

A building rating that provides independent, third-party verification to signify

that a building meets the highest green building and certification standards

Some of the LEED projects JLL is involved in:

- First LEED Platinum certified high-rise in the United States:
Bank of America at One Bryant Park, New York
- First LEED building registered in India:
Sohrabji Godrej Green

17
Today, LEED is

Most widely-accepted evaluation system for

sustainable properties
A flexible system that can be applied in different
countries and building categories

One Bryant Park, New York

LEED Platinum Pre-certified (CS)

22
Required Points for the 4 Levels of Certification

25
LEED Credit Categories & Distribution*

*Scorecard for LEEDv4 EBOM

Mandatory Requirements

Minimum Program Requirements (MPR)

- Must Comply with Environmental Laws
- Must be a Complete, Permanent Building or Space
- Must Use a Reasonable Site Boundary
- Must Comply with Minimum Floor Area Requirements
- Must Comply with Minimum Occupancy Rates
- Must Commit to Sharing Whole-Building Energy and Water Usage
Data
- Must Comply with a Minimum Building Area to Site Area Ratio

*MPRs must be fulfilled, as well as Prerequisites for

each credit category in order to continue with the
certification process.

27
Each Prerequisite and Credit are laid out the same way

Intent
Requirements
Submittals
Potential Technologies & Strategies

28
LEED Online V3: Submission & management of LEED project
Accreditation Basics
 Three Levels of Excellence

Tier 3: Tier 3:
Extraordinary
Accreditation LEED Fellow Knowledge

Tier 2: LEED Tier 2:

AP with specialty Advanced

Tier 1: Green Associate Tier 1: Basic

33
 A Closer Look

Think of the 3 levels as reflecting a CAREER PATH...

- LEED Fellow denotes an elite LEED professional based on one's body of

work and contribution to the field; very few individuals qualify

- LEED AP with specialty denotes greater depth of knowledge than a LEED

Green Associate with specialization in one of the LEED categories

- LEED Green Associate for those seeking a basic, general knowledge of

green building; meant for those not directly managing LEED projectse.g.,
real estate brokers or administrators; this designation is appropriate for
many people at JLL

34
LEED AP with Specialty Options
LEED AP Operations and Maintenance
- Provides a standard for those working in operation
and maintenance of existing buildings
LEED AP Building Design and Construction
- For professionals who design and construct high-
performance buildings
LEED AP Interior Design and Construction
- For professionals who design and construct
commercial spaces and tenant improvements that
provide productive and less costly places to work
LEED AP Homes (not applicable to JLL)
LEED AP Neighborhood Development
- For professionals who design and develop
sustainable neighborhoods

35
Accreditation Details
(focus on Green Assoc. & AP)
Details
Title LEED Green Associate LEED AP with specialty
Basic less technical knowledge of green Depth of knowledge with specialization in
Description design, construction, operations and LEED AP BD&C; LEED ID&C; LEED AP
LEED O&M, etc.

100 Multiple Choice questions to be

100 Multiple Choice questions to be
Exam completed in 2 hours
completed in 2 hours
Pass LEED Green Associate exam*
No eligibility requirements No eligibility requirements
Disciplinary policy Disciplinary policy
Credential Maintenance Credential Maintenance
* Candidates can take Green Associate
exam at the same time as the specialty
exam; however, you must pass both
Eligibility exams to receive the LEED AP with
specialty credential.
Requirements ** LEED project experience is no longer
required, HOWEVER, it is very helpful in
passing the exam

37
Details, continued
Title LEED Green Associate LEED AP with specialty
Registration
Fee $400 (Specialty & GA exams)
$200
(USGBC National $250 (Specialty exam only)
Member: JLL rate)

Study Materials
$42+ (study materials)
and Reference $42+ (study materials)
$169 (pdf reference guide)
Guides
Renewal fee
paid every 2 $85 $85
years
12 hrs of generic green building 24 hrs of generic green building
Continuing education every 2 years education every 2 years
Education 3 hrs of LEED-specific qualified 6 hrs of LEED-specific qualified
(CMP) education every 2 years education every 2 years
Requirements For a total of 15 hours of For a total of 30 hours of education
education every 2 years every 2 years
Note you can get all of your hours for free through JLLs USGBC webinar subscription

38
 LEED Exam Fee Reimbursement Policy

Be clear and up front in obtaining support from manager

- Does you getting LEED accredited support business goals of your group?
- Is it in alignment with your job?
- Does the group have the budget to defray your costs?
- Is it possible to get time during the work day to study?

There is no single corporate policy for supporting your candidacy

b because the needs of business groups differ

39
LEED Exam Fee Reimbursement Policy

There is no single corporate policy regarding reimbursement because the

needs of business groups differ. Usually funding is available through a training
budget, if covered by JLL. Sometimes this is a client reimbursable expense
and sometimes it is not.

Please speak with your manager about reimbursement.

40
Candidate Handbooks
 The place to start for Green Associate and LEED AP

USGBC home page: http://www.usgbc.org/

Navigate to candidate handbooks

- Click on Resources > Credentialing Resources, then scroll to your book
- Save to desktop and review

42
Lots of important information....

Including:
- Exam processes
- Pre-Exam Checklist
- Contact Information
- A handful of sample test
questions *have these memorized
because they may be on your exam

Contains official USGBC and

Prometric (testing center)
policies and procedures

43
Register for the exam
Registration

Create an account with USGBC (no cost) (www.usgbc.org)

- Click on Sign In and then click on create a site user account
- Our corporate ID number: I22910DPDQCNHPB
- Make sure your first and last names match what is on an official ID
click here for details on identification

- Its best to register with your JLL email address to ensure you dont get removed
from our corporate membership
Once you have registered for a credential you will have 1 year to take the
exam; This step includes exam fee
If you do not schedule your exam during this step, you can follow the
Scheduling Your Exam steps in the next section at a later date

45
Scheduling your exam
Setting the Date

Follow Scheduling your exam instructions in the

Candidate Handbook
Set target date for exam
- 4 weeks +/- is a reasonable goal for Green Associate
- Approximately 30-40 hours of study time
- 8 weeks +/- is a reasonable goal for AP
- Approximately 40-60 hours of study time

Save confirmation number and note from

emailconfirmation@prometric.com

47
Sample study plan

48
What to study
Resources
Many JLL colleagues have passed using the following combination of resources

LEED Green Associate LEED AP with specialty

GBCI Candidate Handbook (free) GBCI Candidate Handbook (free)

------------------ USGBC Reference Guide ($)

Green Building Education Services ($)

-Practice Tests
-Green Associate Study Guide
-----------------------------------------------------
AMPAJEN ($$)
-18.5 hours of class room instruction
Green Building Education Services ($)
-Practice Tests (both GA & AP)
-Green Associate Study Guide
*Currently GBES study guides not available for AP
exams. The reference guide is your study guide.

We encourage you to choose the resources that best fit your learning style.

50
Resources, continued

USGBC and GBCI Materials

GBCI Candidate Handbook (free)
- Handful of sample questions
- References
- List of exam content areas

USGBC Reference Guides ($ AP only)

- Detailed manuals
- GBCI states primary reference for exams

51
Resources, continued

3rd Party Vendors

52
Resources, continued

Study techniques
- Everyone learns differently
- People create all sorts of
mnemonic devices
- Some create study matrices of key
information
- Visual learners often create
cartoons to help memorize key
information

53
Resources, continued

Study techniques, continued

- Use practice exam category scores (GBES only) to see where you need to focus
your studies
- Do not just memorize the practice test answers. Understand the origin of the
question and why the answer is correct.
- On the day of the exam, take your time and read each question carefully (be careful
of NOT questions)
- Read the material as if you had to teach it (How would you teach it?)
- Set your test date to curb procrastination
- Make the material easy to memorize by making it memorable to you
- Aim to be scoring high 80s -90s on all categories of the practice exams (GBES
only)

54
 Resources, continued

Heed this advice

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*Note: Through Green Building

Education Services (GBES), you can
only take practice questions within 120
days of your exam date.
Take
Takesample
samplequestions*
questions*

55
What to study
(Green Building Education Services)
Green Building Education Services

Purchase the tools you would like to utilize to study and enter GBESJONES at checkout for discount on most study packages (JLL employees only)
- At minimum select the Practice Tests package. Many colleagues have passed with just this option.
- If you feel you need additional support, their Online Live Class or Online Anytime Class options provide a good overview of the study guide material.

57
Green Building Education Services

Once you have purchased your study package, log in to your account to get started studying.
- Log in to your profile: https://www.greenexamprep.com/user_account/login.php

Start studying!
Download the study guide, listen to the mp3s, download the flashcards (if purchased)
and click on take a practice test to start taking your practice exams.

WARNING: If your exam is more than 120 days away, do not select Start a new test. This will begin your 120 day trail
period. You may however, use the flashcards (if purchased) and study guide at any time.

58
Green Building Education Services

View the Expires On date to verify when your 120 day access will expire

59
Green Building Education Services

Customer Care at Green Building Education Services

214.614.8171 x 2
customercare@greenexamprep.com
888.414.998

60
What to study
(AMPAJEN)
AMPAJEN

One of the biggest differences between AMPAJEN and Green Building Education Services (GBES) is the amount of instructor time (for those who select a class or recorded class study material).
AMPAJEN has more than 2x the amount of class time with the instructor.
Therefore, for those of you who might struggle with staying focused and studying significantly outside of class, this might be a good option for you.
Contact Amanda Timmons for current live class dates and to get signed up. Make sure she knows you are with JLL.

Amanda Timmons, LEED AP

Member, Sustainable Specialist
Ampajen Solutions, LLC
1368 26th Street
Denver, CO 80205
C. 720.339.6164
atimmons@ampajen.com
www.ampajen.com

62
Day of exam
Day of Exam

ID requirements
- First and last names on ID must match registration names
- Examples to bring to testing center include:

64
Day of Exam, continued

65
Day of Exam, continued

Results are immediate!

- Cannot see the questions you got wrong
- Pass the exam with a scaled score of 170 or higher;
retake via new registration

Certificates available to download in GBCI account a few days after passing

the test
Be aware for the LEED AP exam
- If you are taking both parts (Green Associate and specialty exam), you do NOT
get a break in between
- With permission from the testing center staff, you may get out of your seat, but the
timer does not stop

66
Now that you are set up to take your exam-

Start studying!

After you have taken your exam, notify Sustainability University

for important information on the database, business cards, etc.

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