So I passed the IES exam last month on my second try and wanted to share what made the difference, because honestly the first time I had no idea what I was walking into. I'm a lighting designer with about four years of experience and figured my on-the-job knowledge would carry me. It did not. I failed by 11 points and was pretty devastated.
The second time around I gave myself 10 weeks and actually followed a real study plan. The biggest game-changer was working through an IES practice test every weekend and reviewing every wrong answer — not just checking the answer, but understanding the underlying principle. I also found a solid study guide that organized the NCQLP content outline by domain, which helped me stop randomly reviewing and start filling actual gaps. Photometry and the energy code sections were brutal for me personally.
Anyone else finding the calculations section harder than expected? I keep seeing people say it's mostly conceptual but there were definitely more math-heavy questions on my exam than I anticipated. Happy to share more tips if anyone's prepping right now.