ARE 5.0 Community Guidelines

Updated on February 19, 2021

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 a My NCARB account holder.  

Any content you provide will be governed by these guidelines and our Terms of Use. Individuals who violate the community guidelines and repeatedly post comments that need to be removed will lose the privilege of posting on the community for a period of no less than 30 days or lengths even greater based on the severity of the violation.

While we do not have the obligation to monitor each post, we reserve the right to remove content that is off-topic, false, misleading, argumentative, out of context, promotional, or spam. In addition, we may remove 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, false or misleading content, fighting words, discriminatory epithets, harassment of any kind, bullying, gruesome language, or the like will not be tolerated and these posts will be removed.
• Be professional. Treat others on the community with respect, and provide accurate information to be constructive and helpful. Disrespectful or inaccurate comments will be removed.
• Stay on topic. Keep the conversation relevant to the ARE and contribute to the dialogue. Comments not related to the ARE or NCARB’s licensure programs will be removed.
• All comments must come from a real person. Postings from fake profiles will be removed.
• No promotions or sales, including test prep materials. Promotional or sales postings of test prep provider materials or other goods and services are not allowed and will be removed.
• No spam. While users are encouraged to contribute to the conversation, content, links, or comments that are repeated across multiple threads may be designated as “spam” and 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 is 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 necessarily endorse the material you share.
• For more help understanding what is and is not acceptable to share with regard to ARE content, read our article on the NCARB Blog.

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. 

NCARB may close a thread at any point if the commentary is no longer productive or the content is out of date, or to otherwise ensure that candidates are directed to the most helpful information on a given topic.

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.

NCARB reserves the right to remove or close any individual posts or threads that violate any portion of these guidelines.