If you design or build high-performance buildings, the LEED Accredited Professional with Building Design + Construction specialty (LEED AP BD+C) is the credential that shows you know the LEED rating system inside and out. It’s also in the middle of a big change. In 2026, the exam moved from LEED v4 to LEED v5, which means new credits, new prerequisites, and a new content outline to study from.

The new outline is detailed and public, and a plan built around it makes a first-try pass very realistic. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the exam format, all eight knowledge domains and how many questions each is worth, the official resources to use, and the questions candidates ask most often.

What Is the LEED AP BD+C Exam?

The LEED AP BD+C is a specialty credential awarded by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the credentialing body that works alongside the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It builds on the entry-level LEED Green Associate credential and focuses on the LEED rating system for new construction and major renovations, including core-and-shell projects.

The exam checks whether you can apply LEED v5 BD+C requirements on a real project, from choosing a rating system to making trade-offs between credits. The LEED AP With Specialty Candidate Handbook sorts questions into three cognitive levels: recall, application (solving a new scenario with familiar principles), and analysis (breaking a problem into parts to reach a solution).

What Is the LEED AP BD+C Exam Format?

Here’s the exam at a glance, based on the candidate handbook and USGBC’s LEED v5 exam information page:

  • Questions: 100 multiple-choice questions, each with one correct answer.
  • Scored vs. unscored: The exam mixes scored and unscored questions at random. The v5 outline assigns 85 scored items across the eight domains, so plan on roughly 15 unscored questions you won’t be able to identify.
  • Time: 2 hours, plus an optional 10-minute tutorial.
  • Delivery: Computer-based through Prometric, at a test center or online with remote proctoring.
  • Scoring: Scaled scores range from 125 to 200. You need 170 or higher to pass, according to GBCI’s exam results page.
  • Results: For the final (non-beta) exam, your score appears on screen right after you finish, with a formal score report emailed within 24 hours.
  • Language: English only during the v5 beta.

With 120 minutes for 100 questions, you have about 72 seconds per question, so practice scenario and calculation items at pace.

What’s Happening With the LEED v5 Beta Exam?

This is the most important timing detail for 2026 candidates. The last day to test on the LEED v4 AP with Specialty exams was June 28, 2026. Since June 30, 2026, the LEED AP BD+C exam has been based on LEED v5 and delivered as a beta exam.

  • Beta data-collection window: June 30 to October 27, 2026, followed by a testing-only phase from October 28, 2026, into January 2027.
  • Delayed results: Beta scores aren’t shown at the test center. USGBC expects to release them around February 2027, after it analyzes the exam and sets the passing standard.
  • Beta perks: A 50% discount on registration, a 50% discount on a second attempt, and CE hours if you pass.
  • Beta limits: English only, no combined Green Associate/AP exam, and your eligibility ID (EID) is valid for two months instead of the usual 12.

After the beta, GBCI will publish the final v5 exam and immediate results will be returned. If you want your score right away, consider waiting; if you’d like the discount, the beta is a good deal.

What Content Outline Does the LEED AP BD+C Exam Use?

The current exam follows the LEED AP BD+C v5 exam specifications in the LEED AP With Specialty Candidate Handbook (v5), first released in February 2026. It covers eight knowledge domains. Here’s how the 85 scored items break down:

  • LEED Process: 7 questions
  • Integrative Process Planning and Assessments: 8 questions
  • Location and Transportation: 8 questions
  • Sustainable Sites: 9 questions
  • Water Efficiency: 9 questions
  • Energy and Atmosphere: 18 questions
  • Materials and Resources: 13 questions
  • Indoor Environmental Quality: 13 questions

Notice what’s missing. The v4 outline had separate Innovation and Regional Priority areas. In v5, those ideas live in the new Project Priorities category and are tested mainly under LEED Process.

LEED Process (7 Questions)

This domain covers how LEED works as a system.

  • Minimum Program Requirements (MPRs) and the extra requirements for Platinum.
  • Avenues to meet LEED goals, such as credit interpretation rulings, project priorities, and LEED equivalencies.
  • Project boundary, LEED boundary, and property boundary.
  • Rating system selection, including the 40/60 rule, and how LEED evolves through addenda and development cycles.
  • LEED occupancy terms, such as full-time equivalents, transients, visitors, and residents.

Study tip: Know the 40/60 rule cold. If a rating system fits less than 40% of the floor area, don’t use it. Between 40% and 60%, the team decides. Above 60%, use that rating system.

Integrative Process Planning and Assessments (8 Questions)

LEED v5 front-loads planning. Every BD+C project must complete three assessment prerequisites before design decisions lock in.

  • Integrative design process: timing, charrettes, discovery, interdisciplinary collaboration, and LEED goal setting.
  • Climate resilience assessment of site-specific natural hazards.
  • Human impact assessment covering health, cultural and heritage context, and community engagement.
  • Carbon assessment across operational, embodied, transportation, and refrigerant emissions.
  • Core and Shell considerations, such as tenant guidelines and green leases.

What questions look like: Expect “when” questions. The best answer usually moves an activity earlier, such as holding a goal-setting charrette during discovery rather than after schematic design.

Location and Transportation (8 Questions)

This domain rewards projects for where they’re built and how people get there.

  • Development constraints, including prime farmland, floodplains, and habitat.
  • Walkability, street design, and surrounding density.
  • Access to quality transit and the calculations behind it.
  • Transportation demand management: parking capacity, bicycle storage, and electric vehicle supply equipment.
  • Economic and social vitality, such as equitable construction and supporting the local economy.

Sustainable Sites (9 Questions)

Sustainable Sites covers site assessment and protection during and after construction.

  • Site assessment, habitat conservation, native vegetation, and invasive species.
  • Construction activity pollution prevention, including erosion and sedimentation control plans.
  • Exterior lighting, light trespass, and uplight.
  • Heat island reduction through vegetated roofs and high solar reflectance surfaces.
  • Rainwater management, extreme climate events, and accessible open space.

Water Efficiency (9 Questions)

This domain tests how you cut and measure potable water use.

  • Irrigation demand and irrigation system efficiency.
  • Fixtures and fittings, including prescriptive versus performance paths.
  • Appliance and process water, such as cooling towers and washing machines.
  • Potable versus nonpotable and alternative water sources, and water reuse.
  • Metering, submetering, and leak detection.

Study tip: Practice percent-reduction math. Several items ask you to compare a design case to a baseline.

Energy and Atmosphere (18 Questions)

This is the largest domain, over a fifth of the scored exam, and it reflects v5’s focus on decarbonization.

  • Energy performance and efficiency, referenced standards, and reduction of peak thermal loads.
  • Electrification, limits on on-site combustion, and electrification readiness.
  • On-site and off-site renewable energy, including Energy Attribute Certificates.
  • Refrigerants and Global Warming Potential (GWP) benchmarks.
  • Commissioning roles and documents, such as the commissioning authority (CxA) and owner’s project requirements (OPR).
  • Advanced energy metering, grid-interactive strategies, demand response, and energy storage.

Materials and Resources (13 Questions)

Materials and Resources now centers on embodied carbon alongside health and waste.

  • Whole-building life-cycle assessment: stages, modules, and standards.
  • Procurement of low-embodied-carbon materials using environmental product declarations (EPDs).
  • Carbon emissions from construction activities, and building and material reuse.
  • Low-emitting materials and material ingredient reporting.
  • Construction and demolition waste and ongoing operational waste.

Indoor Environmental Quality (13 Questions)

This domain covers occupant comfort and health, including during emergencies.

  • Thermal, sound, and lighting environments, including daylight and lighting controls.
  • Biophilic design and quality views.
  • Accessibility and inclusion.
  • Construction indoor air quality management, ventilation, filtration, and air testing.
  • Management modes for risk events, such as infection risk, wildfire smoke, and power outages.

How Should You Use the Blueprint to Build a Study Plan?

Treat the outline as your checklist and let the item counts set your priorities.

  1. Take a baseline. Answer a mixed set of practice questions before you review so you know where you stand.
  2. Weight your hours. Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality make up 44 of the 85 scored items. Start there if your baseline is weak.
  3. Learn what’s new in v5. If you studied v4 for the Green Associate, focus on the three assessment prerequisites: electrification, refrigerant GWP, embodied carbon, and Project Priorities.
  4. Map every miss. Tag each wrong answer to a line in the outline. Patterns show up fast.
  5. Finish with timed practice. In the final two weeks, answer mixed sets at about 72 seconds per question.

What Official Resources Should You Use?

Commonly used references:

  • LEED v5 Building Design and Construction rating system
  • LEED v5 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction (February 2026 editions)

Frequently Asked Questions About the LEED AP BD+C Exam

What is the passing score?
You need a scaled score of 170 on a scale of 125 to 200. GBCI maps the minimum competency level to 170, so it doesn’t equal a fixed percentage correct.

How soon will I get my results?
On the final exam, right away. On the v5 beta, USGBC expects to release scores around February 2027.

Can I still take the v4 exam?
No. The last day to test on the LEED v4 BD+C exam was June 28, 2026. Current credential holders don’t need to retest because of the v5 update.

Can I take the Green Associate and BD+C exams together?
The combined exam normally lets you skip the separate Green Associate step, but it isn’t offered during the v5 beta. Check USGBC’s support pages for when it returns.

What if I don’t pass?
Each retake requires a new registration and fee. After three unsuccessful attempts within 12 months, you must wait 90 calendar days before registering again.

How do I keep the credential?
Earn 30 continuing education (CE) hours every two years, including 6 LEED-specific hours related to BD+C, and pay the renewal fee.

Start Preparing for the LEED AP BD+C Exam With Pocket Prep

Pocket Prep’s LEED AP BD+C practice questions give you 300 exam-style questions, each with a detailed explanation so you understand why the best answer wins. Start with a Quick 10 to find your baseline, then use Weakest Subject quizzes to target the domains that need work. With the Candidate Handbook as your map and consistent practice, you can walk into exam day confident.