Daybreak Blog - Feb. 22nd
Happy Thursday! Today, I wanted to chat about the ARE (Architectural Registration Exam) in general, and what makes it difficult for those who don’t know!
For those of you who are not familiar, the ARE is the suite of exams required to become a licensed architect. This is just one of a few hurdles needed to become licensed. You also need to receive a Master’s degree from an accredited university, and complete 3,740 hours of professional experience in different areas. It is a long road to licensure, but the exams are particularly difficult for a few reasons.
1. It takes time to find the time
The first reason is that it takes time to find the time to start studying for them and understanding the time commitment of studying. During the education portion, that is your main life focus and you complete all of your assignments because you have to. The experience requirements come naturally as you work in an architectural office for so long, you likely will gain experience in all of the right areas at some point. The exams, however, are an additional effort that you have to attempt to fit into everything else going on in your life, and it is completely up to you if you even want to pursue the exams. This is easier said than done, and it is difficult to fit 2 hours of studying into each day after already working 8 hours in an office.
2. Amount of study material available
Another reason the exams are difficult to complete or start, is the amount of study material available. It was a little overwhelming to choose a path of studying that I thought could work for me. There is no one size fits all studying resource for the most part (even though there are many resources that claim there is). In reality, you’re going to have to mix bits and pieces of many different materials to fully get a grasp on the information you’re trying to learn. This makes it hard in the beginning because you truly don’t know what will work best for you, and there is a high cost for a lot of the materials out there. You really just have to dive in and try a few out to see what will benefit you the most.
3. Amount of information
Lastly, what makes the ARE difficult is the amount of topics covered in the relatively small amount of questions. Over-studying is typically the case when it comes to an ARE exam. You are expected to know a wide range of information and how to apply that information under many different circumstances. This level of understanding takes a lot of studying to achieve, but it is necessary if you want to be able to answer whatever they throw at you. Sometimes you will have studied a topic for days, and not even see it on the exam! You truly need to be prepared for everything.
I’ll continue to talk about the ARE and my experience with it so far, what I’ve used for studying, and more! Are you in the process of taking the ARE? I’d love to hear what you think about it in the comments!
Join our community for future posts about navigating the ARE, and to chat with others: https://links.geneva.com/invite/a98f1e3b-ef2d-423a-9a09-19851f254946
