LEED AP BD+C Practice Questions: Sustainable Sites

Sustainable Sites is worth 9 of the 85 scored questions on the LEED AP BD+C exam, and it rises from 8 on the Green Associate paper. There are 9 questions below, one for each scored question this domain carries. Accessible Outdoor Space is a share of a share — 30% of the site as outdoor space, then 25% of that vegetated. Candidates who take 25% of the site instead get an answer nearly three and a half times too large, and it looks perfectly reasonable.

It covers Minimize Site Disturbance, Biodiverse Habitat, Accessible Outdoor Space, Rainwater Management, Enhanced Resilient Site Design, Heat Island Reduction and Light Pollution Reduction.

This domain is arithmetic disguised as ecology. Several credits are a share of a share, and one is an equation that candidates routinely run in the wrong direction.

9 Sustainable Sites practice questions

Attempt all of them before checking the explanations. Write your answers down — deciding in your head and then reading the explanation is how a candidate convinces themselves they knew something they did not.

Take the quiz — get your scored results by email

Welcome to the LEED AP BD+C  practice quiz. Enter your details, then work through all 9 questions — we'll email you the score and a full explanation for every question.

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1. A design team completes a detailed preconstruction site assessment covering plant inventory, habitat characterisation, soils and hydrology, and submits it with a site plan. Because the site is well under an acre, the team decides no erosion and sedimentation control plan is needed. How does this affect Minimize Site Disturbance?

A.The prerequisite is met, because the site assessment is the only mandatory deliverable.

B.The prerequisite is met, because small sites may instead rely on local dust control rules.

C.The prerequisite is unmet, because the assessment must be finished before schematic design begins.

D.The prerequisite is unmet: a control plan is required at any project size.

None

2. A site assessment identifies a stand of vegetation listed as rare by the state. Under Minimize Site Disturbance, how must the project treat it?

A.Conserve 100% of it on site.

B.Conserve at least 40% of the area it occupies.

C.Relocate it to a protected zone elsewhere on site.

D.Remove it together with the invasive species identified nearby.

None

3. A project occupies a site that is mostly previously developed but retains an undisturbed greenfield portion at one edge. The team restores 40% of the previously disturbed area following the soil and vegetation restoration requirements, but builds across the entire greenfield portion. What is the consequence under the preserve and restore option of Biodiverse Habitat?

A.The higher restoration tier is claimed, because the restored share reaches the 40% figure.

B.Only the lower restoration tier remains available, because developing greenfield costs one step.

C.The greenfield portion may be left out of the calculation because it is smaller than the disturbed area.

D.No restoration tier can be claimed, because greenfield must be preserved where it exists.

None

4. A project sits on a 240,000 sq ft site, measured to include the building footprint. The team is sizing the outdoor space to satisfy Accessible Outdoor Space. What is the smallest vegetated area that will meet the requirement?

A.60,000 sq ft

B.18,000 sq ft

C.72,000 sq ft

D.54,000 sq ft

None

5. A project provides accessible outdoor space equal to 32% of its total site area, plants 28% of that space with three vegetation types, and dedicates part of it to community food growing. Nothing else has been added. What still stands between the project and Accessible Outdoor Space?

A.A second qualifying element drawn from the list under urban outdoor space requirements.

B.An increase in the vegetated share to at least 30% of the outdoor space that is provided.

C.Seating for at least 5% of the project's occupants placed within the planted portion of it.

D.An element such as public daylight access, local artworks, or a soundscape response.

None

6. A zero lot line project retains on site the runoff from the 80th percentile local rainfall event, using infiltration and green infrastructure. It then collects part of that same volume and pipes it to flush fixtures. What does the reuse achieve under Rainwater Management?

A.It lifts the project one tier above the level the credit otherwise allows.

B.Nothing further, because the retention already sits at the credit's ceiling.

C.It is disallowed, because water that is collected and reused does not count as retained.

D.It counts only toward the Water Efficiency credits and cannot be claimed under this credit.

None

7. A project's climate resilience assessment identifies extreme heat and flooding as its two highest priority hazards. The site design provides shaded external spaces beside the building and paving with an initial solar reflectance of 0.35, and it raises critical utilities above the design flood elevation plus freeboard. What is the outcome for Enhanced Resilient Site Design?

A.The credit is achieved, because best practices are applied to two priority hazards.

B.The credit is partially achieved, in proportion to the hazards that are fully addressed.

C.The credit is not achieved: the flooding response needs two or more measures.

D.The credit is not achieved, because a resilience assessment cannot set the hazards to design for.

None

8. A project has 30,000 sq ft of site paved area and 45,000 sq ft of roof. It provides 18,000 sq ft of qualifying nonroof measures and will make up the balance with high-reflectance roofing. What is the minimum area of high-reflectance roof needed under the nonroof and roof option of Heat Island Reduction?

A.29,250 sq ft

B.39,000 sq ft

C.52,000 sq ft

D.19,500 sq ft

None

9. How do the Model Lighting Ordinance lighting zones function within Light Pollution Reduction?

A.LZ0 is the most permissive zone, and the limits tighten as the zone number rises.

B.The zones set the backlight and glare limits, which relax as a luminaire nears the boundary.

C.LZ0 is the darkest zone, and uplight and sign luminance limits loosen as the number rises.

D.The zones govern internally illuminated signage only, with luminaires assessed on another basis.

None

Time's up

Recall, Application, Analysis — and why it matters here

The candidate handbook names three cognitive levels: Recall, Application and Analysis. It publishes no split between them, so nobody can tell you what share of your paper will be which. What we can tell you is that only the first is fixed by more reading. Past a point, re-reading the material stops helping and worked problems start.

Each answer in this set is tagged with the level it was written at, so you can see which kind you are losing. If your errors cluster in Recall, revise. If they cluster in Application and Analysis, do more questions — those are the only thing that moves them.

What these questions test

Where candidates lose marks in this domain

• Assuming a small project does not need an erosion and sedimentation control plan. The prerequisite requirements still apply.
• Confusing special-status vegetation with general habitat preservation. Different protection requirements apply.
• Restoring disturbed land while ignoring existing greenfield. Under the preserve and restore route, the requirements work together.
• Taking 25% of the entire site for Accessible Outdoor Space. The vegetation requirement is 25% of the required outdoor space, not 25% of the whole site.
• Stopping after satisfying the area and vegetation requirements. Accessible Outdoor Space includes additional requirements that must also be checked.
• Assuming rainwater reuse can push a project beyond the highest tier. A bonus cannot take the credit beyond its ceiling.
• Addressing two resilience hazards but providing too few measures for one of them. The hazard-specific requirements still have to be satisfied.
• Running the Heat Island Reduction equation backwards. Weighted value and actual qualifying area are not the same thing.
• Reversing the Model Lighting Ordinance zones. LZ0 is the darkest and most restrictive end of the scale.

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