ARE 5.0 Community Guidelines

Welcome to the ARE 5.0 Community! This is a space where current and former candidates can come together to ask questions, share best practices, and interact with our experts. All individuals can view and learn from the community. Posting on the ARE 5.0 Community requires the contributor to be an NCARB recordholder.  

Any content you provide will be governed by these Guidelines and our Terms of Use. Individuals who violate the community guidelines can lose the privilege of posting on the community for a period of no less than 30 days or for longer periods based on the severity of the violation.  

While we do not have the obligation to monitor each post, we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to remove off-topic, argumentative, out of context, spam, or any other content that we deem objectionable or to be a violation of any law. 

Commenting and Moderation Policy 

In a continued effort to engage the architecture community, NCARB encourages users to ask questions and share their own tips regarding being successful on the ARE. We are dedicated to this community and strive to maintain a respectful, engaging, and informative conversation. If you wish to participate in the community, you must follow the guidelines below: 

• Be polite, and courteous, even if you disagree. Name calling, profanity, fighting words, discriminatory epithets, sexual harassment, bullying, gruesome language, or the like will not be tolerated.  
• Be professional. Treat others on the Community with respect and provide accurate information to be constructive and helpful. 
• Stay on topic. Keep the conversation relevant to the ARE and contribute to the dialogue.  
• All comments must come from a real person. Postings from fake profiles will be deleted. 
• No promotion or sale of test prep materials.  Promotional postings of test prep provider materials or services or attempting to sell test prep materials is not allowed and will be removed. 
  
  

Moderator Response Times 

Our moderators will engage with the community throughout the business week, Monday through Friday. We will try to respond to questions within 48 hours. 

Exam Security 

All NCARB exam content is held in strict security and confidence and are protected by U.S. copyright laws. Per the ARE Candidate Agreement, ARE candidates are personally responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of all information relating to the exam. 

What does this mean for you? 

• Community users can ask questions about general exam content and policies. Think of the ARE Community as a virtual outreach event. 
• We encourage you to link to your favorite blogs or articles, with the understanding that NCARB does not endorse third-party study materials. 

Here are some sample questions: 

• How long do I have to wait to retake a failed division? 
• What’s the best strategy for tackling the case study part of a division? 
• Can someone help clarify the Practice Management objective 1.4 related to the standard of care in a given situation? 
  

Thread/Post Lifespan 

NCARB periodically removes older posts and threads to ensure the most up-to-date ARE information is being shared and discussed by candidates. A post or thread will remain on the Community for one year from the creation date if there is no recent activity or two years from the creation date if there is recent activity. 

Promotion and Social Media Distribution 

NCARB will promote the ARE Community via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other relevant social platforms. We encourage users to do the same! By contributing to the community, you grant us the right to use your name in promotions and other publications. 

Individual posts or threads that violate any portion of these Guidelines will be immediately closed or permanently removed from the Community.