Hundreds of practice questions mapped to all LEED BD+C credit categories, including integrative process, location & transportation, sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, materials & resources, and indoor environmental quality. Scenario-based questions with worked explanations.
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A project team is pursuing the Optimize Energy Performance credit under LEED BD+C. The energy model shows a 32% cost savings compared to the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline. During construction, the contractor substitutes a less efficient chiller due to lead-time constraints. What should the LEED AP recommend?
A new office building in a dense urban area has limited site area for stormwater management. The project is targeting the Rainwater Management credit. Which strategy would be most effective for managing the 95th-percentile rainfall event on a constrained site?
During a LEED BD+C project review, the team discovers that the adhesives used in the flooring installation exceed the VOC content limits required for the Low-Emitting Materials credit. The flooring is already installed. What is the most appropriate course of action?
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Continue practicing for freeLEED AP Building Design and Construction is a CBT exam of 100 (v4 format, see the v5 handbook) questions over 2 hours (v4 format).
9 practice areas in the LEED AP BD+C question bank, each with its own questions and analytics.
Every question in the bank is written in one of these formats.
LEED AP Building Design + Construction (BD+C) is the specialty credential for professionals who work on new construction and major renovations certified under the LEED BD+C rating system: commercial and institutional buildings, core and shell, schools, retail, hospitality, healthcare, and warehouses. It is owned by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), and delivered at Prometric test centers or as a remote-proctored online exam.
The credential is moving to LEED v5. The last day to sit the v4 LEED AP exam was June 28, 2026. The v5 LEED AP with Specialty exam launched in beta on June 30, 2026, with a beta testing window that runs to October 27, 2026 and beta scores released around February 2027. The final v5 exam follows. Where the Green Associate tests general green-building knowledge, the BD+C specialty exam tests whether you can apply the rating system on a real project: which prerequisites and credits apply, what each requires and how it is documented, how the referenced standards define compliance, and how a decision in one credit category moves the points in another. The practice bank on this page is organized around nine knowledge areas with an emphasis on the scenario-based questions that make the specialty exam harder than the Green Associate.
Source: USGBC: LEED v5 exam information (GBCI)
| Knowledge area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| LEED Process | Applying the BD+C rating system and its project-type adaptations, minimum program requirements, prerequisites, registration and certification review, credit interpretations and pilot credits, documentation and roles during design and construction. |
| Integrative Strategies | The integrative process, early energy and water discovery analysis, team coordination across disciplines, life-cycle and carbon thinking, and how credits interact. |
| Location and Transportation | Sensitive-land protection, high-priority and equitable development sites, site density and diverse uses, access to quality transit, bicycle facilities, a reduced parking footprint, electric vehicles and transportation emissions. |
| Sustainable Sites | Construction activity pollution prevention, site assessment, habitat protection or restoration, open space, rainwater management, heat-island reduction, light-pollution reduction, and the school and healthcare adaptations. |
| Water Efficiency | Outdoor and indoor water-use reduction, building-level and sub-metering, cooling-tower water use, baseline calculations and fixture strategies. |
| Energy and Atmosphere | Fundamental and enhanced commissioning, minimum and optimized energy performance, operational carbon and electrification, energy metering, grid interaction and demand response, renewable energy, refrigerant management. |
| Materials and Resources | Storage and collection of recyclables, construction and demolition waste planning, whole-building life-cycle and embodied-carbon impact reduction, environmental product declarations, raw-material sourcing, material ingredients. |
| Indoor Environmental Quality | Minimum and enhanced indoor air quality, tobacco-smoke control, low-emitting materials, construction IAQ management, IAQ assessment, thermal comfort, interior lighting, daylight, quality views, acoustic performance, occupant well-being. |
| Project Surroundings and Public Outreach | Innovation and exemplary performance, regional priority, resilience and equity assessment, the environmental and economic case for the project, and stakeholder engagement. |
These nine areas follow the domains of the GBCI candidate handbook and are how the practice bank is organized. The v5 handbook is the authority for the v5 domain list and the number of scored questions per domain. Read it before test day. The v5 references GBCI lists for LEED AP BD+C are the LEED v5 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction (February 2026 Edition), Foundations of LEED, and the Guide to Certification: Commercial. Energy and Atmosphere, Water Efficiency, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality are the most technical areas and the ones that distinguish the specialty exam from the Green Associate.
The specialty exam uses the same scaled standard as the Green Associate, with 170 out of 200 required to pass. GBCI does not publish the number of correct answers this corresponds to. Candidates who take the final v5 exam receive results immediately, with the official score report posted to the USGBC credential account afterward and performance by domain shown when you did not pass.
Beta scores are deferred. GBCI has said LEED AP beta scores are released around February 2027, after the beta window closes on October 27, 2026, so a beta candidate leaves the test center without a result. The beta exam is English-only and standalone. The combined Green Associate plus AP sitting is not offered during the beta. All questions are multiple choice, and there is no penalty for wrong answers.
The plan below assumes eight weeks at roughly six to ten hours a week. It starts with the process and integrative material, then works through the credit categories from the most technical to the least. Study from the v5 BD+C reference guide, because the v4 guide describes an exam that is no longer offered.
BD+C specialty questions are written one level below the Green Associate. The stem gives a project type and a design decision, often with a number attached, and asks which prerequisite or credit is affected, what the project must document, which standard governs, or at which review stage it is checked. The wrong options are engineered from the same material. One is the equivalent credit from a different rating system (the ID+C or O+M version, with a threshold that is close but not the same). One is a prerequisite presented as if it earned points. One is the right credit at the wrong stage (design review versus construction review). The last is a strategy that helps a neighbouring credit but not the one the stem asked about. On a specialty exam the difference between two plausible answers is usually a single word in the stem: healthcare, core and shell, enhanced, prerequisite.
That is the skill PassExams trains. Every question explains the option you chose as well as the right one, so a miss on the ID+C threshold tells you which rating system the stem actually named and why the number differed. On the Pro plan each miss is also tagged with its trap type (reading trick for a missed enhanced or except, scope confusion for the right rule on the wrong rating system or project type, partial solution for the credit that satisfies only half the requirement, misconception for a prerequisite remembered as a credit), and your analytics show which traps recur in which knowledge area. Reviewing by trap instead of by topic is how you learn the BD+C rating system well enough to pass, and it carries straight into documenting credits on a real project.
Base your prep on the v5 BD+C reference guide, because the v4 exam ended in June 2026 and older material carries thresholds that have changed. Push past Green Associate level, because the specialty exam wants credit requirements, documentation, review timing, and the standard each credit references. Watch the project type in every stem, since schools, healthcare, retail and core-and-shell work carry adapted credits. Confirm the current question count and the number of pretest items in the GBCI candidate handbook before you schedule, and review each wrong answer for the trap it was built on.
LEED v5. The last day to test on the v4 LEED AP exam was June 28, 2026. The v5 LEED AP with Specialty exam launched in beta on June 30, 2026. The beta window runs to October 27, 2026 (opt in by October 21, 2026), beta scores are released around February 2027, and the final v5 exam follows.
The first release of the v5 specialty exam. Beta candidates take the exam in a two-month window, receive their score around February 2027 instead of immediately, and get a 50% registration discount, CE hours on passing, and 50% off a second attempt. The beta is English-only and standalone, so the combined Green Associate plus AP sitting is not available during it.
The v4 specialty exam was 100 multiple-choice questions in two hours, some of them unscored pretest items. GBCI publishes the v5 count and the number of pretest items in the current LEED AP candidate handbook. Confirm there before you schedule.
170 out of 200, the same standard as the Green Associate. GBCI does not publish the equivalent number of correct answers.
Yes. You need a current Green Associate credential, and a v4 Green Associate is accepted for the v5 AP exam. The combined sitting that delivered both exams in one appointment was not offered during the v5 beta. Check the current handbook for its return. No project experience is required, though USGBC strongly recommends it.
Yes. It covers the same knowledge areas but at the level of credit requirements, thresholds, referenced standards, and documentation for a specific rating system, and more of the questions are scenario-based. Plan for roughly twice the preparation time.
BD+C is the right specialty if you work on new construction or major renovations. Choose ID+C for interior fit-outs, O+M for existing-building operations, ND for neighborhood-scale planning, or Homes for residential. The Green Associate is the prerequisite for all of them.
Earn and report 30 continuing-education hours in each two-year reporting period through your USGBC credential account, at least six of which must be LEED-specific. The period starts on your exam date.
Plan on six to ten weeks at six to ten hours a week with the v5 reference guide. Professionals who have documented BD+C credits on a real project sit at the lower end. Candidates coming straight from the Green Associate should plan for the upper end.
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