The new ARE 5.0 with Online Proctoring Demonstration Exam is now available through your NCARB Record!
This new demo exam features 75 practice items, a three-hour testing duration, and includes all the updated navigation features and tools you’ll see when testing from December 14 onward—including the new break feature, updated PDF reader, and digital whiteboard. The demo exam is unscored, but you can find rationales and correct responses for most of the items within the updated ARE Handbook.
In an effort to create a full-length ARE demo, NCARB has added 10 practice items and a case study to the exam that are not included in the current Handbook. We are planning to add these items, along with their correct responses and rationales, to future releases of the document.
In the meantime, here are the correct responses for only those demo exam items that do not appear in the Handbook:
Case Study #1 - Items and Correct Responses
The client has reduced the original project budget by two million dollars. They would like to keep the program space as planned and instead reduce the building efficiency factor. The building is estimated to cost $500 per square foot.
- 1.3
- 1.4
- 1.6
- 1.7
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There has been significant turnover in the university board of directors. The new board wishes to allocate more resources to the university's academic departments and has requested that the architect make significant reductions to the Event Center program:
- Each Concessions/Retail space must be reduced by 10%.
- The seating capacity of the Main Event Space will decrease to 4,000, reducing the square footage by 15%.
- The building efficiency factor will decrease to 1.4.
Additionally, the area of the Exterior Plaza will be capped at 4,000 square feet.
What is the new gross square footage of the building?
- 92,610 gross square feet
Case Study #2 - Items and Correct Responses
After reviewing the change in the program that eliminates the spa in favor of additional hotel suites, the contractor submits a change order for $25,000 and 15 days. The client approves the change order.
Assuming that the document and permit revisions can be obtained concurrently with the existing schedule, when will the client obtain occupancy?
- May of Year 3
- June of Year 3
- July of Year 3
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The Architect's Fee Budget is being prepared when construction documents are 80% complete. The architect needs to manage and maintain the remaining allotted hours.
At the current pace of work, how many project hours will remain after completion of construction documents?
- 420 hours
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The owner's directive to replace the spa with additional hotel suites will include an extra floor of suites and an expansion of the building footprint, necessitating changes to the project costs and the construction documents associated with the portion of work for which the structural engineer is responsible. The structural engineer has not yet requested any documents from the architect or any other members of the design team.
Which of the following is the architect contractually obligated to furnish to the structural engineer? Check the two that apply.
- Electrical floor plan
- Plumbing schedules
- Updated estimate on the cost of work
- Geotechnical report
- HVAC drawings for the additional hotel suites
- Owner's updated program
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The hotel renovation project is in September of Year 2 and construction has proceeded according to schedule. The owner, however, loses an important source of funding and informs the architect that the project cost must be cut by 10%.
Which of the following options to reduce project costs should the architect offer to the owner? Check the three that apply.
- Evaluate the qualifications of other contractors and invite them to submit bids.
- Work with the contractor to provide value engineering services.
- Agree on a reduction in the scope of work and request that the contractor resubmit a price.
- Reduce the contractor's general conditions costs and request that the contractor resubmit a price.
- Request that the contractor lower the price to meet the owner's budget requirements.
- Identify deductive alternates and reissue to the contractor for revised pricing.
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The general contractor has submitted a change order for $273,500. The gross square footage of the project remains unchanged.
Excluding furnishings, fixtures, and equipment, what is the revised total cost of construction per square foot?
- $40 per square foot
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After receiving the schematic design submission, the owner takes a six-week trip and reviews the submission while touring international hotel properties. The architect anticipates changes from the owner and stops production work on the design development documents. When the owner returns in February of Year 2, the owner approves the schematic design but insists that the project milestones remain the same.
Which one of the following strategies allows the architect to absorb the document production delay and minimize the risk of additional costs?
- Ask the contractor to perform a constructability review prior to completion of the design development phase.
- Direct the design team to produce multiple prime bid construction documents.
- Add staff or direct existing staff to work overtime during the design development phase.
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The firm principal is using the total hours spent to date in the Architect's Fee Budget to determine the progress of the project. The project is currently on schedule.
Click on the month in the project schedule to indicate the point to which the project has progressed.
Discrete Items
Refer to the exhibit:
Construction on a laboratory in a suburban office park is set to begin and the architect must confirm that the information on the Contractor's Application for Payment is acceptable to the firm.
Drag the dollar amounts from the left into the corresponding boxes of the Application for Payment form. Not all dollar amounts will be used.
Comments
36 comments
In Case Study #1 answers: The building efficiency factor is a measurement of Usable Square Footage/ Gross Square footage. I am confused about how this can be taken into consideration for cost savings since the building's program and square footage hasn't changed.
Hey Michael,
I can help with this! Per the question, the client does not want to change the program, so the building needs to become more efficient (same NSF, lower GSF). By reducing GSF, the overall cost of the project will be reduced by $500/SF.
Thanks, NCARB but just a heads up so others don't get confused. The cost is $500/SF and the reduction is $2,000,000.
Where can I find the correct answers? The link above does not take you to the ARE Handbook, it takes you to the ARE Guidelines and it doesn't contain the answers. Can you direct me to it please?
Hi Blecille,
Here is a link to the ARE Handbook. Also, the link in the above post has been updated. Thanks for the heads up!
Hi,
For Case study #2 question below, I'm trying to get to the 420 hours answered but however I solve it I get 430 hours.
At the current pace of work, how many project hours will remain after completion of construction documents?"
Answer approach:
Remaining CD work 20% x 952 budgeted hours = 190.4 hours needed for 100% CD
Hours over/ under for CD = 152 hours remaining at 80% CD - 190.4 hours = -38.4 hours
Hours remaining after CD = (-22 hrs SD)+(-105 hrs DD)+(-38.4 hrs CD)+119 hrs Bid + 476 hrs CA = 429.6 hours
Case study #2, I get 430 hours as well.
Rational is :
- If he/she's at 80%, it means that at the current pace he/she's 4% over, which means 38 hours over.
- Total of hours over are: 38 + 105 + 22 = 165.
- Hours remaining at current pace: Remaining phases (595) - Total of hours over (165) = 430 hours.
Please let us know what's NCARB Rational.
Youstina and Daniel, I believe the emphasis is current pace.
If 80% of the CD phase so far took 800 hours, then with that current pace, 100% would be 1000 hours.
260 (SD) + 700 (DD) + 1000 (CD) = 1960 hours spent to date after completion of CD phase at the current pace.
2380 (total hours budgeted) - 1960 (hours spent to date) = 420 hours remaining
That's how I solved it. I'm guessing that's what NCARB had in mind. Good luck to us all!
I am a bit confused. Is there a reason to not provide a list of correct and incorrect questions at the end of the demo exam so that we have an idea of how we performed?
Hi Elsiana,
The ARE Handbook contains correct responses and rationales for 65 out of the 75 items that are included on the demo exam. The correct responses for the remaining 10 items are located in this post. We plan to add these 10 items to future Handbook releases.
Do you know where I can find the process of Answer 2 from Case Study 1 of the Mock Exam? I am having a very hard time understanding how you got to:
Thank you!
Andrea,
It gives you these reductions:
Calculating these 1-by-1:
To combine all of these reductions, you will first reduce the Net Square Footage by the calculations done above. 72,350 - 200 - 6,000 = 66,150 NSF. This is your new Net Square Footage. To achieve the new Gross Square Footage, you multiply by the new efficiency factor provided in the 3rd reduction above, 1.4. 66,150 NSF * 1.4 = 92,610 GSF.
Hopefully this helped!
Thank you Samuel, much appreciated!
For Case Study #2, the question about the updated Cost per Square Foot shows the answer is $40/sf. My answer came out to $37/sf. Usually questions will say to round to the nearest whole, but this didn't? Does NCARB have a rationale for this?
Thanks!
Hi Jessica,
Here is how you calculate the correct response:
Total cost (excluding FF&E) $2,926,500 + change order $273,500 = new total $3,200,000.
Next, take $3,200,000 and divide it by 80,000 gross square feet = $40 per square foot.
@NCARB, thank you! I think this must've been a simple mistype in my calculations. Seems pretty straight forward. Thank you for clarifying!
Daniel Magharious & Youstina Youssef, regarding to case study #2, please see below:
I think we need to ignore whatever says on there for "%over/under", as the question stated CD are 80% complete, and the 80% took 800 hrs to complete.
Thus, if 800 hrs represent 80%, then 100% would then requires total of 1000 hrs to complete (800/0.8, or use cross multiply) --> this step helps to calculate how much total hour is needed to complete CD phase with its current pace
Use the originally allotted hours 2380 hrs to deduct what was already spent and use 1000 hrs for completion of CD phase: 2380 - 260 - 700 - 1000 = 420 hrs
hope it helps!
Out of curiosity would most of these questions in case study #2 fall in the PCM or PJM category of exam questions? Thank you
Hi Charles,
Case study #2 falls under the Project Management division of the ARE.
Can someone please explain how we get 1.4 for the first question in Case Study #1?
Rubi, I am a little brain dead right now - been studying and working a lot. I have read and re-read and it still does not make sense to me. Can you explain?
@Elizabeth Hagberg
none net area that need to be reduced to meet the budget
2million / 500(unit price ) =4000 sqft
use Programmed building area - 72,350 NSF / 108,525 GSF, client doesn't want to change program area so net stay the same
new GSF(108525GSF-4000reduction)/72,350 NSF=1.4
Rubi Xu do you know if this question falls under PjM or other subject? thank you!
@Mu-Yen Lee it is for PA i think, casestudy #1
@Rubi, thank you very much for helping me with this. I just realized that a good deal of my confusion was assuming that this problem was using the equation:
Building Efficiency = Net Assignable Area/ Building Gross Area
I am still not clear why the fraction is flipped, but at least I now understand the math.
Hi! Any chance of posting the answers to all the other case study questions that are not listed here? I remember there was a couple fill-in-the circle, which programs have to be on the ground floor, and point-to-location-on-siteplan type of questions on the demo exam that i would love to know the correct answers of. Thanks! NCARB
Hey Han,
Check out pages 148-154 of the ARE 5.0 Handbook. You will find the answers to the other case study questions on these pages.
Hi, NCARB! When can we expect to receive explanations for the answers provided above?
I'm particularly interested in an explanation for this answer:
Which one of the following strategies allows the architect to absorb the document production delay and minimize the risk of additional costs?
According to AHPP, under the heading "Internal Practices: The Workplace," the text reads:
Avoid overtime: Well-managed firms will strive to schedule deadlines to align with staff resources. Respect evening and weekend time for respite and not for additional shifts for salaried employees.
There are several other references in the AHPP to working overtime that shed a negative light on it or encourage additional compensation, which would not keep the cost of the project down. Please advise.
Thank you! NCARB
Hello... THis is for the Case Study, where the S.F. was reduced to 4,000 : I was thinking of it differently so wanted to ask. @ 40,000 n.s.f., and 5,000 seats, would mean the max area per occupant is 8 net. If the seats are now 4,000, I was thinking the new nsf would be 4,000 * 8 , making it 32,000 s.f (opposed to the 40,000 x .15, = 6000, making it 34,000). I got 89810 s.f. However - I dont see anywhere in the chart of using 8 as an occupant load. Just curious how the Occupant load is factored into these calculations. Thank you!
Additionally, the area of the Exterior Plaza will be capped at 4,000 square feet.
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