ARE x 6 within 2 months – a recent graduate's studying & testing diary
Background:
- What is the most optimal time to study for the AREs? Right out of school, studying skills are fresh and time is least precious, but the material will be alien and uncontextualized. With each passing year of work experience, the material becomes easier to understand yet there is less time to study. I am a recent grad with 2 years of work experience. I have invested ~400 hours into the exam over the past year. I am grateful for the knowledge that I've gained, but also relieved to finally have my spare time back after passing. PA, PPD, PDD, CE were scheduled together in quick succession. PcM was done a month earlier than the others as a scout, and PjM was scheduled 2 weeks late due to time slot availability issues.
Difficulty per Division:
General test taking Strategies:
- Digital Whiteboard – Explore every feature. Learn it like a software platform that you have to use for work. Do all of your practice questions with it open on the other monitor. Know its quirks and bugs – like the fact that you need to deactivate the text window before click on the next question in order to not have your text erased. Practice panning around, zooming in and out, drawing shapes and arrows, changing colors, etc. Try to produce a CAD drawing or an excel chart on it as a learning exercise. You want to be intuitive and familiar with the Digital whiteboard come exam day.
- Calculations – Write your steps in text on the digital whiteboard so that they can be checked later, and so that a calculator mistake doesn’t force you to restart from the beginning. Shorten numbers with many zeros like 137,000 to 137k and 5,100,000 to 5.1M. This way you can type “5.1*3.5” instead of “5100000*3.5”. You can type in commands directly for the calculator, instead of pressing on the buttons with your mouse.
- Online proctoring setup – Put a note on your door telling people not to knock or call. Turn off all devices. Close all applications and Chrome before launching the exam. Disable integrated alerts, notifications and email systems on your computer. Make sure the power plug to your laptop is secure. Don’t drink too much water before the exam, and avoid eating things that might upset your stomach within 36 hours.
- What I didn't study – I would always ask; is this reasonable as a test question? I had probably ~1-2 structural questions across all divisions, and they were rather basic. I didn't study structures.
- Fun studying methods – Youtube and podcasts are more enjoyable than reading. This matters, because morale is important for getting through the mountain of ARE materials. Reading the small print at the bottom of IBC tables and charts for hours on end is not mentally sustainable, and might lead to burnout quickly.
- Textbooks – I didn't use them much. I read ~33% of PPI, ~10% of AHPP, ~25% of Studio Companion, ~25% of BCI, ~0% of MEEP, ~0% of Site Design. I had no time left for the last 2; maybe they would have made the PA easier.
- Exam sequence – I scheduled my exams haphazardly based on whatever was available. But if I had to do it all over again, I would probably choose to do PA>PjM>CE>PA>PDD>PPD.
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PcM
- Difficulty Ranking: #3
- Date of exam: 12/02/2020 – In Person
- Before Exam:
Although I studied as well as I could, I went in with no expectations. This was my first NCARB exam. I wanted to at least see the format and nature of the questions to better structure my studying for future attempts and the other divisions.
- After Exam:
Passed, but probably barely (~60% correct?). I made multiple rookie “testing mistakes” relating to time management.
- Resources & Strategy:
- AIA contract documents – I read and tried to memorize key provisions in A101, B101, and A201. Skimmed the G series documents and the alternative delivery 101s. Memorized the “structure” of the nomenclature system; A series were for contractors, etc.
- Youtube videos by the AIA Contract Documents channel, and CSI construction Podcasts (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1C96ECBA6E9D457A). I played these in earbuds while cooking, shopping, walking, sitting in uber.
- Online websites & wikis outlining business tax structures and accounting concepts. These subjects are discussed and studied broadly by non-architects, so content is widely available online.
- PPI or Kaplan. The most comprehensive ARE 5.0 prep guide, with the best practice exams. The guide book tends to err on the side of too much information. There’s a lot of golden content, but it’s mixed in with rambling paragraphs of generic filler, personal opinion and esoteric technical material far beyond what will be tested.
- The Amber Book respects your time, and errs on the side of providing too little rather than wasting your time. You can safely invest in memorizing / understanding its content, knowing it will show up on the exam. However, they mostly focus on PA, PPD, PDD. The PcM, PjM, CE exams just involve memorizing AIA contracts and Googling 101 business concepts. There’s less value-add opportunity for study guides on these 3 exams.
- Easiest Part:
The Multiple choice questions were predictable, and tested exactly what I thought they would – AIA contract document knowledge and 101 business concepts. I probably had ~80%+ of these correct.
- Hardest Part:
The case studies. I probably had ~33% of these correct. As a novice NCARB test taker, I did not understand the concept of skipping difficult questions, or “skimming” material. I spent 30 minutes just reading the case study materials like a high school student reading Shakespeare before even looking at the first question. I ended up having almost no time to think about my responses – at one point I had 11 minutes left to answer 10 questions and was breathing rapidly.
But rookie testing mistakes aside, I genuinely felt the case studies were testing for familiarity with sensitive management and financial documents that we simply won’t encounter in real life as early-career professionals. We also can’t Google for these since no firm will publish “real” financial and management material online. Textbook versions of financial documents are cartoonish. The actual ARE case studies for PcM are gritty and realistic, just like for the other divisions.
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PA
- Difficulty Ranking: 2
- Date of exam: 01/21/2021 – Remote
- Before Exam:
I expected this to be the easiest of the three “Architectural” divisions (PA, PPD, PDD) since it is the least detail oriented.
- After Exam:
I was surprised by the austere minimalism of the questions. Each one felt like the tip of an iceberg, with 90% of its content implied and hidden. I didn’t have any feel for how many % of questions I got right. Maybe I passed by only 1%, or maybe it was by 15%.
- Resources & Strategy:
- 70% of my time was spent on Amber Books. There is very little reward for memorizing stuff here, so deep understanding is essential. For that, you need a good studying guide. The core concepts of environmental design, human comfort, cost efficiency and site design are mixed together and tested in ways that require context-specific optimization.
- 30% of my time was spent on PPI or Kaplan, Black Spectacles and online articles.
- To get better at the infamous puzzle game questions, I tried to do as many practice exams as possible by buying them from every provider I could find; WeARE, Eric Walker, Designer Hacks, Black Spectacles, PPI.
- Urban planning basics from AHPP.
- The planning department website of 3 different municipal governments across the country. I browsed through these just to get a feel for what their regulatory steps and terminologies are for small residential projects, and for big commercial projects.
- Easiest aspects:
There were no calculations, complex drawings or gritty technical material.
- Hardest aspects:
It’s easy to over-think questions, and spend lots of time inventing mini-stories in your head that turn out to be slightly (but fatally) different than the exam writer’s version of the same story. The wrong answers are not obviously wrong. The second best answer is often cunning and seductive – I probably selected a lot of these.
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PDD
- Difficulty Ranking: 1 (hardest)
- Date of exam: 01/26/2021 – Remote
- Before Exam:
I went in without any expectations, knowing it to be the hardest exam. This was the first of three in a row, so I told myself that even if I failed PDD, I could probably at least pass PPD tomorrow or CE the day after.
- After Exam:
The content was hard as expected. It was essentially PPD, but with more detailing and architectural trivia. I was also interrupted multiple times due to technical issues. Passed, but probably barely (~60% correct?).
- Resources & Strategy:
- Environmental design, code, document organization and professional practice concepts are tested here just like in PPD. Amber Book, PPI Kaplan, and Black Spectacle were useful.
- ADA routes, clearances, angles and thresholds etc. are worth ~5 points.
- Code provisions like egress separation, number of exits and fire protection are worth ~10-20 points. Knowing this stuff in context is important – they might just show you a big floor plan and ask you to click on the problem without providing any hints.
- Manufacturer details and brochures helped me a lot for weatherproofing details. Weatherproofing in general is worth ~10 + points.
- Knowing the names and purposes of construction detailing components is worth ~5-10 points. This knowledge can come from work experience, or you can just memorize standard details from textbooks and websites.
- There is some architectural trivia regarding construction systems and details that required hard memorization. I didn’t invest much time in memorization, so I lost ~2-3 points on these questions.
- Easiest aspects:
PDD is the most straightforward exam. You’ll know on the spot if you got a questions right or wrong. It’s very much the opposite of PA where everything is relative. Brute forcing and memorization works better here than anywhere else. By internalizing standard details, MEP diagrams, IBC, ADA, you’ll pick up ~10 points.
- Hardest aspects:
Barely knowing stuff is not enough for many PDD questions. Familiarity within context is required. The sheer amount of content also makes studying inefficient. There were some calculation questions that required work experience to solve efficiently within ~2 minutes.
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PPD
- Difficulty Ranking: 6 (Easiest)
- Date of exam: 01/27/2021 – Remote
- Before Exam:
This was taken 1 day after PDD. I heard it was easier than PDD, and was comforted by this going in.
- After Exam:
Even without provisional feedback, I knew I had passed by a safe margin. Easiest division by far if you already studied for PA and PDD, and have some SD & DD work experience. I had 2+ hours left when I got the cast studies.
- Resources & Strategy:
- See PA & PDD. I studied for this exam in the same “basket” as PA and PDD, and since this is the middle exam, much of its content also appeared in PA or PDD.
- Amber Books will helped a lot with the environmental design questions.
- I Browsed through the drawing sets of my firm’s projects that have gone through SD, DD and CD, seeing what changed from phase to phase, and noting which new sheets were added over time. I had to do this for setting up my own project at work in Revit anyways – to get the general “feel” for what a project’s level of development should look like across various stages of its lifecycle.
- I went through the entire IBC side by side with Building Codes Illustrated as my jungle guide. This was not fun or efficient, and took me 20+ hours in total. I just don’t like having blind spots. There’s a difference between forgetting most of what you read but vaguely knowing that a concept exists versus being completely astonished upon discovering it for the first time on the exam. I lingered on the 10-20 most commonly used tables from the first few IBC chapters, and tried to understand why these are setup the way they are. NCARB won’t test for the footnotes and exceptions written in small print.
- Easiest aspects:
This is the most architectural exam, with the most predictable contents. It’s obvious what to study for: Environmental design, code, document organization and professional practice.
- Hardest aspects:
Lots of raw studying time required across a broad spectrum of subjects. There’s a bit of everything from every other division. PPD is a war of attrition with no easy hacks. If you passed the other 5 divisions you’ll probably pass this one too. Don’t start PPD as your first exam if studying one division at a time.
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CE
- Difficulty Ranking: 4
- Date of exam: 01/28/2021 – Remote
- Before Exam:
This was the last of 3 exams taken in a row, so I was desensitized.
- After Exam:
Somewhat hopeful (66% of questions correct?) Passed, but probably with a narrow margin of safety.
- Resources & Strategy:
- Same as PcM & PjM (see above).
- Youtube videos provided by manufacturers designed to teach contractors how to properly flash windows, lay brick, install panel systems and apply sealant. It’s more fun to watch videos than it is to read books, so studying via Youtube is more mentally and emotionally sustainable for me.
- The “Gandalf” of construction Scott Wadsworth has created a video series on Youtube explaining how to build a house nail by nail, stud by stud, beginning with site selection & financing, going into material selection, means & methods, cost efficiency comparisons, industry norms & jargon, site safety, different trades, acceptable tolerances, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGCC-_Cuhhw&list=PLRZePj70B4IwyNn1ABhJWmBPeX1hGhyLi
- Easiest aspects:
~50%+ content overlap with PcM and PjM, ~33% overlap with PDD. Besides building commissioning, post occupancy, RFI, CO/CDD/ASI, there’s not much unique content here.
- Hardest aspects:
Some scenario questions require you to have done a specific task or used a specific product during work, otherwise they’ll look like Egyptian hieroglyphics. These questions are not common, but they are inefficient to study for without work experience.
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PjM
- Difficulty Ranking: 5
- Date of exam: 02/16/2021 – Remote
- Before Exam:
Tense, even though I was confident in the material. This was my last exam, so I felt like I couldn’t afford to fail. I had told too many people about the other 5 divisions, and risked looking ridiculous if I stumbled on the last one. I celebrated too early.
- After Exam:
Passed with a decent margin of safety (70-75% correct?). It felt like an easier version of PcM, with more than 60% knowledge overlap.
- Resources & Strategy:
- Same as PcM (see above), but more time spent on PPI / Kaplan flash cards and quizzes compared to the other divisions.
- AHPP chapters on PjM, delivery method pros and cons, contractual relationships & roles.
- American Society for Quality failure types & cost concepts.
- 10+ Online articles with examples of project monitoring metrics, calculations, terminology. I found the definitions for EAC and JTD and other such PM concepts from study guides unsatisfying, because I kept imagining trick questions that would offer slightly different definitions and punish the test taker’s lack of familiarity with their usage in context. I didn’t encounter any such questions in my version of the exam.
- Easiest aspects:
50% of the questions were focused on AIA contracts, directly or indirectly. Know the DBB contract series line-by-line, and know why they were written that way.
- Hardest aspects:
Many of the mini-scenarios presented in the multiple-choice section seemed to have open ended answers like in PA. It was easy to get stuck.
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Yea studying efficiently for so much material is a huge issue.
1. Before truly starting to study (as in actually doing the NCARB demo exam, paying for Amber books, PPI, etc.) I spent a lot of time listening to podcasts, and casually browsing Youtube for construction related videos whenever I was bored.
2. I forced myself to skim IBC 2018 start to end - side by side with Building Codes Illustrated - also before starting my studies.
With the above 2 strategies, I had a general framework of knowledge before starting to study. I tend to get demoralized if I keep running into new stuff and have to revise plans as I study, or if I feel like I don't even know what I don't know. That's why I front-loaded the pain of discovering new material by just going through IBC 2018.
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Congratulations! This is great! Thanks for sharing.
Gang Chen, Author, Architect, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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