Most LEED study advice published this year opens with LEED v5, and for Neighborhood Development candidates it is aimed at the wrong exam. USGBC moved Green Associate, BD+C, O+M and ID+C onto LEED v5 during 2026 and left Neighborhood Development exactly where it was. GBCI's candidate handbook, updated September 2026, still heads its section "LEED AP ND v4 exam specifications". So your exam is unchanged: 100 questions, 120 minutes, 170 out of 200 to pass.

That single fact decides what you should buy, read and practise for the next two months. It also explains why so much recent commentary is unusable: a reference guide written for the v5 credit library will teach you credits that your exam does not test, and a course sold as "updated for LEED v5" may simply not cover the Neighborhood Development rating system at all.
This guide is written for planners, landscape architects, civil engineers, developers and municipal staff preparing for the LEED AP Neighborhood Development specialty. It sets out what USGBC confirms about the exam's version, what the five content areas actually contain, how the combined and specialty-only routes differ, and an eight-week plan you can start this weekend.