LEED GA Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: B

1. 1. Start with the points attempted: 64 points.
2. 2. Subtract the denied credits: 64 − 3 − 4 = 57 points awarded.
3. 3. Compare with the levels: Certified 40–49, Silver 50–59, Gold 60–79, Platinum 80+.
4. 4. 57 points falls in 50–59, so the project is LEED Silver.

Certified: Certified covers 40–49 points; the project keeps 57 points.

Silver: Correct. 64 − 3 − 4 = 57 awarded points, which falls within the Silver range of 50–59 points.

Gold: Gold (60–79) would apply to the 64 points attempted, but the level is based on the points awarded after review.

Platinum: Platinum starts at 80 points, far above this total.

The level is set by points awarded after review: Certified 40–49, Silver 50–59, Gold 60–79, Platinum 80+.

Answer: C

Lower the filter efficiency rating: Weaker filtration reduces fan energy slightly but undermines the air-quality goal.

Install a larger cooling plant: A bigger plant meets the higher load but does nothing to reduce the energy used.

Add energy recovery ventilation: Correct. Energy recovery ventilation transfers heat and moisture between exhaust and incoming air, which cuts the cooling and dehumidification load of the extra outdoor air, so the team keeps the air-quality benefit with far less energy use.

Add operable windows throughout: In a hot, humid climate, uncontrolled outdoor air raises cooling and moisture loads.

More ventilation helps EQ but costs EA energy; energy recovery resolves the trade-off.

Answer: D

LEED v5 BD+C: New Construction: New Construction suits projects where the owner controls the design of the whole building, including interiors.

LEED v5 ID+C: ID+C is for the later tenant fit-outs, not for the base building the developer is constructing.

LEED v5 O+M: O+M certifies an existing building in operation, not a building under construction.

LEED v5 BD+C: Core and Shell: Correct. Core and Shell is the BD+C option for projects in which the developer controls the core and shell (structure, envelope and base systems) but not the tenant interiors.

Developer controls the base building only → BD+C: Core and Shell; the tenants can later use ID+C.

Answer: D

It omits the building's annual energy use intensity: Energy use intensity is an energy performance metric for EA, not part of a natural hazard assessment.

It omits the code-required design wind speed: Code design loads are a code-minimum input; the assessment goes beyond code to rate site-specific hazard risk.

It omits the cost of the owner's property insurance: Insurance cost is a financial consideration, not a hazard, exposure or vulnerability rating the prerequisite calls for.

It omits projected hazards over the building's service life: Correct. The Climate Resilience Assessment prerequisite must cover current and projected future hazards (such as sea level rise and storm surge) under a stated climate scenario across the project's service life, then pick priority hazards for design; past records alone understate future risk.

Climate resilience looks forward: assess projected hazards over the building's whole service life, not just the historical record.

Answer: D

Enhanced Refrigerant Management and Electric Vehicles: Both depend on equipment choices that the team controls equally at either site.

Heat Island Reduction and Rainwater Management: These SS credits depend on on-site design (roofing, paving, green infrastructure) and are achievable at either site.

Biodiverse Habitat and Light Pollution Reduction: Both are site-design credits; an undeveloped field may even offer more habitat to work with.

Sensitive Land Protection and Compact and Connected Development: Correct. Previously developed land meets Sensitive Land Protection, and the downtown location with transit access supports Compact and Connected Development; both depend on where the project is, which design cannot change later.

Location credits are won or lost at site selection; design credits can be pursued anywhere.

Answer: D

Sensitive Land Protection: The site may earn this credit as previously developed land, but the credit does not recognize remediating contamination.

Minimize Site Disturbance: This SS prerequisite limits construction disturbance and pollution; it is required of every project and does not reward brownfield sites.

Compact and Connected Development: This credit rewards density, transit access and walkability, not cleanup of contamination.

Equitable Development: Correct. Equitable Development's priority-sites option rewards locating on a brownfield where the authority with jurisdiction requires remediation, which returns contaminated land to productive use in the community.

In v5, brownfield redevelopment is recognized under Equitable Development (priority sites).

Answer: A

Address the top hazards: flooding and heat: Correct. Enhanced Resilient Site Design aims to reduce the risk of damage from natural and climate hazards; it builds on the IP Climate Resilience Assessment by requiring best-practice site measures for the highest-priority hazards that assessment identified, here flooding and extreme heat.

Give equal design effort to every hazard in the region: The credit relies on the assessment to set priorities; spreading effort evenly ignores the hazards that matter most for this site.

Address hail first because insurers often ask about it: Hail was not identified as a priority hazard; choosing hazards for insurance reasons ignores the assessment.

Buy flood insurance rather than change the site design: Insurance moves financial risk to someone else but does nothing to make the site more resilient.

The IP Climate Resilience Assessment identifies the hazards; SS Enhanced Resilient Site Design addresses the top ones on the site.

Answer: D

Transplant the stand to a new vegetated roof: Moving special-status plants to a rooftop does not conserve them in place, and roof growing media rarely support the same plant community.

Buy and protect a similar habitat parcel off site: Off-site compensation does not meet the requirement to conserve the special-status vegetation on the project site.

Clear the stand, then replant natives after construction: Replanting generic natives later destroys the protected stand, which the prerequisite requires to be conserved.

Move the parking and fence off the stand: Correct. Minimize Site Disturbance requires conserving all on-site special-status vegetation and protecting healthy habitat with physical barriers during construction, so the layout moves around the stand and a fenced exclusion zone keeps equipment out.

Special-status vegetation found in the site assessment is conserved in place, and the design adapts around it.

Answer: B

1. 1. Baseline: toilets 250 × 1.6 = 400 gal; urinals 200 × 1.0 = 200 gal; faucets 100 × 0.5 = 50 gal; total 650 gal/day (about 2,460 L).
2. 2. Design: toilets 250 × 1.28 = 320 gal; urinals 200 × 0.125 = 25 gal; faucets 100 × 0.35 = 35 gal; total 380 gal/day (about 1,440 L).
3. 3. Reduction: (650 − 380) ÷ 650 = 270 ÷ 650 ≈ 0.415, about 42%.

20%: This is the toilet reduction alone (1.28 vs 1.6 gpf); it ignores the urinal and faucet savings.

42%: Correct. Baseline = 400 + 200 + 50 = 650 gal/day; design = 320 + 25 + 35 = 380 gal/day; reduction = 270 ÷ 650 ≈ 42%.

58%: This is the design use as a share of the baseline (380 ÷ 650), not the reduction.

88%: This is the urinal reduction alone (0.125 vs 1.0 gpf); urinals are only part of total use.

Total all fixtures first, then reduction = (baseline − design) ÷ baseline.

Answer: A

Efficient heat pumps on a grid that gets cleaner: Correct. Heat pumps deliver several units of heat per unit of electricity, and Electrification and the Operational Carbon Projection look at emissions over decades: as the utility adds renewables, the all-electric building’s emissions keep falling, while emissions from on-site gas combustion stay locked in for the life of the boilers.

Electricity has no emissions at the point of use: Point-of-use emissions are zero, but grid generation still emits, so the grid source does matter.

Gas boilers lose much more efficiency as they age: Boiler efficiency can drift with poor maintenance, but that is not the main reason; the advantage comes from heat pump efficiency combined with a decarbonizing grid.

Gas boilers have a higher ODP than heat pumps: Ozone depletion is not the reason; natural gas combustion emits CO₂, not ozone-depleting substances.

Electrify with efficient heat pumps: an all-electric building gets cleaner as the grid decarbonizes; on-site combustion does not.

Answer: A

It supports a renewable claim, not lower use: Correct. A REC represents the environmental attributes of 1 MWh of renewable electricity delivered to the grid; buying RECs lets the owner claim renewable electricity, but the building’s own energy use and peak demand are unchanged.

It reduces the building's metered electricity use: RECs are certificates; the meter still records the same consumption.

It generates renewable electricity on the site: Unbundled RECs come from generators elsewhere; nothing is produced on site.

It lowers the building's peak demand from the grid: Peak demand depends on the building's loads and controls, which RECs do not change.

RECs change the claim about the energy source, not the building's energy use; reduce use first.

Answer: B

Specify high-efficiency condensing gas boilers: Efficiency comes after load reduction; a more efficient boiler still serves an unnecessarily large load.

Improve envelope insulation and airtightness: Correct. Reduce Peak Thermal Loads rewards cutting heating and cooling demand at its source; a better-insulated, tighter envelope lowers the load itself, so every later system can be smaller and use less energy.

Purchase RECs to cover heating energy: RECs address the energy source and claims, not the size of the heating load.

Add rooftop solar to power the heating plant: Renewable supply is the last step of the hierarchy; it does not reduce the demand it must meet.

Follow the energy hierarchy: reduce loads first, then serve them efficiently, then supply them with renewables.

Answer: D

1. 1. Total waste generated = 210 + 30 + 40 + 120 = 400 tons (362.9 metric tons).
2. 2. Diverted waste (recycled or salvaged) = 210 + 30 + 40 = 280 tons (254.0 metric tons).
3. 3. Diversion rate = 280 / 400 = 0.70 = 70%.

30%: This is the landfilled share (120 / 400); the diversion rate is the complement.

52.5%: This counts only the concrete (210 / 400); recycled metals and salvaged lumber are also diverted.

60%: This leaves out the salvaged lumber (240 / 400); materials salvaged for reuse count as diverted.

70%: Correct. Diverted waste is 210 + 30 + 40 = 280 tons of 400 tons generated, so 280 / 400 = 70%, the metric tracked for the MR Construction and Demolition Waste Diversion credit.

Diversion rate = (recycled + salvaged weight) / total waste generated.

Answer: B

An environmental product declaration (EPD): An EPD reports LCA-based environmental impacts such as GWP; it does not list ingredients and their health hazards.

A Health Product Declaration (HPD): Correct. An HPD discloses a product's ingredients and the health hazards associated with them, which is exactly the ingredient transparency the owner wants when comparing products.

A Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate: FSC certification addresses responsible forest management for wood, not chemical ingredients.

An ENERGY STAR product label: ENERGY STAR addresses energy performance of equipment and appliances, not material ingredients.

HPD = ingredients and health hazards; EPD = life-cycle environmental impacts.

Answer: A

Demountable partitions and modular services: Correct. Designing for flexibility and disassembly lets layouts be reconfigured with the same components instead of demolishing and rebuilding, which avoids new material manufacture and waste each time the program changes, a core MR life-cycle strategy.

Fixed gypsum walls with high recycled content: Recycled content lowers the impact of the first installation, but fixed walls are still demolished and replaced at every change.

Higher-efficiency fume hood exhaust fans and motors: Efficient exhaust fans reduce operational energy (EA); they do nothing for the materials consumed by repeated renovations.

A recycling contract for future renovation debris: Recycling demolition debris ranks below avoiding the demolition in the first place; it manages waste rather than preventing it.

Design for flexibility and disassembly keeps materials in use through program changes, avoiding repeated demolition and new manufacture.

Answer: A

Low radiant temperature from cold glass: Correct. Thermal comfort depends on surface (radiant) temperatures as well as air temperature; cold glazing draws body heat by radiation and causes downdrafts, so occupants feel cold even at the air setpoint. High-performance glazing or perimeter heating addresses it.

An outdoor air ventilation rate set too low: Low ventilation causes stuffiness and CO2 buildup, not a cold sensation near windows.

High levels of VOCs from interior finishes: VOCs affect air quality and health, not the sensation of cold.

Excessive daylight glare from the glazing: Glare is a visual comfort problem, not a thermal one.

Thermal comfort design considers radiant temperature and drafts, not just air temperature.

Answer: C

Lower-VOC wall paint in the lobby: Low-VOC paint reduces off-gassing from the paint, not tracked-in dirt and pollen.

Higher-MERV filters in the air handlers: Better filters catch some airborne particles after they enter, but they do not stop dirt and moisture tracked in on shoes.

Permanent walk-off grilles at entries: Correct. Permanent entryway systems such as grates or grilles at regularly used entrances capture particulates and moisture at the door, keeping them out of the occupied spaces, a source-control IAQ strategy.

Daily vacuuming of the reading rooms: Cleaning removes dirt after it has spread through the building; entryway systems stop it at the source.

Stop contaminants at the door with permanent entryway systems.