6 Tests in 7 Months (PASS)

Everything that follows is my experience. It may or may not work for others.

Background/Experience: I graduated with a Master's in Architecture two years ago and have roughly 6-7 years of varied office experience. I usually lean more toward the design end of projects than the technical end, but I have completed projects from start to finish. 

Setting a goal: I set a goal for my birthday: "I will be a licensed architect by my next birthday." I gave myself one year to complete the AREs. I then set a stretch goal: Could I do it in six months? 

Order of Tests: PcM, PjM, CE, PA, PPD, PDD

As many others do, I recommend this test order. The pro-practice tests are a good way to understand NCARB’s language. The technical exams, especially PPD and PDD, are on another level and should not be attempted right away. 

Order of difficulty for myself: PA, PcM, PjM, CE, PDD, PPD

Breakdown of hours/time: On average, I spent three weeks studying for each test. If I gave myself any longer, I wouldn’t use that excess time very well and would do minimal studying outside of 3 weeks. Once I was under three weeks left, I would study effectively. I studied 25 hours a week on average, with about 2-3 hours every weeknight, except Thursday. I would usually teach on Thursdays and would not have the brainpower to study those nights. On Friday nights, I would study for about 5-6 hours; Saturday for about 6-8 hours; and Sunday, I would study for about 4 hours. That comes out to 450 hours in total. This is alongside a full-time job.

Study Material:

All Tests: 

PPI ARE 5.0 Exam Review All Six Divisions, 2nd Edition (Kaplan Ballast Yellow Book)

PPI2Pass Learning Hub (online)

Hyperfine (this is an incredible resource value-wise)

NCARB Practice Exams (the most important resource)

ProPractice Exams (PcM, PjM, CE): 

The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice 15th Edition (use the Wiley provided online pdf to find what chapters to read)

Professional Practice: A Guide to Turning Designs into Buildings (I would recommend reading this first; it’s a good introduction to every step of a project on the pro-practice side of things.)

Every contract that is listed in the NCARB Reference Guide (read them once and then read again while rewriting them into your shorthand version)

ArchPrepAcademy Quizzes (Formly AREPracticeExams.com) I used these for my tests. They were pretty good but used some non-standard language, which was somewhat confusing. 

NCARB Model Rules of Conduct

AIA 2020 Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Technical Exams:

PA:

Problem Seeking: An Architectural Programming Primer (read in one sitting)

Site Planning and Design Handbook Ch.1-3, 7-9, Appendix A

Relevant AHHP chapters

arequestions.com (The Elif Exams)

NPS Guidelines

PPD: 

Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Strategies

Towards Net Zero Architecture (relevant chapters)

Mechanical & Electrical Equipment for Buildings (relevant diagrams)

Site Planning and Design Handbook (did a light review of some of the PA chapters)

Relevant AHHP chapters

arequestions.com (The Elif Exams)

FEMA 454 PDF, chapters 4 & 5

PPD:

Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods (read over 5-6 days)

Architectural Graphics Standards (I skimmed through some chapters)

Relevant AHHP chapters

arequestions.com (The Elif Exams)

The books above are all I used for the exams. I did have Building Construction Illustrated and Building Codes Illustrated, but I didn't use them during my studies. I found my other resources covered the material that would be in those books. But they are great day-to-day reference books! (edit: I forgot to include The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice in the photo, critical for the Pro Practice Exams.)

Study Strategy:

I’m more of a book learner than a visual learner. (I know some may say that myth has been busted, but I could not learn how to drive a stick shift behind the wheel, but the moment I read how to do it, I got back into the car and immediately understood it.) So, I knew that subscribing to one of the video-based platforms would not be the best way for me and that I would just have to get into the books. 

I spent the week before I started studying, researching the tests, and collecting general information about the NCARB tests. Between social media websites, blog posts, a Young Architect intro Zoom session, and this forum, I gathered a lot of helpful information and understood the pros and cons of the tests, what order to take them, which ones are more difficult, which ones overlap, etc. 

For my first week of studying for every test, I read the Ballast book chapters while also doing more in-depth research on the forum about what to expect on the test. This week was about showing up and ramping up. I signed up for the PPI2Pass learning hub, used the short quizzes there, and understood the general topics of each exam. 

In week two, I went in-depth and took quizzes/practice tests. I also started to create my own flashcards. I would usually make 15-60 flashcards per test. I began to find my weaknesses and reread those topics. Then, about 7-10 days before the test, I would take the NCARB practice test in as test-like conditions as possible. I passed all practice exams the first time, except PjM and PDD. 

During my last week, I reviewed the practice exam about four or five times, identifying weaknesses, rereading, and understanding mistakes that could have been avoided by reading the questions closely and understanding what NCARB really wants you to know. Finally, the day before the exam, I would do an hour's review, prepare my material to review in the morning, get my favorite ramen meal, and relax. 

I always went into the exams cautiously confident. I usually passed the practice exams, and since I would give myself enough time between the NCARB practice exam and the real thing, it would give me enough time to review my weaknesses. I theoretically should have been good to go for every exam, and it ended up being accurate. I will say, though, that the PPD exam gave me a real run for my money. I found it to be VERY difficult compared to the rest. PA was frankly fun to take. The key for the PA exam was that 70% of the time, the answer was in the question/exhibit/diagram/etc… 

I did it in 7 months instead of 6 because life got in the way. I had a house fire, got COVID three days before my first scheduled exam, holidays, vacations, friends from out-of-state surprise visiting me, rendering side gigs, etc. But the total time spent studying was six months, so I’m pretty happy with that outcome. I would recommend a two-week break between PA and PPD. I didn’t mean to take one, but I did, and I think I needed it. 

TIPS:

• Set a goal and then a stretch goal.
• Know how you study best (whether reading, watching videos, or notetaking).
• Showing up to study is the most crucial part during the first week. Even if it’s just 20-30 minutes the first day, that’s good. It’s about creating a routine, sticking to it, and ramping up to more intense study sessions. 
• Create a Google Doc per test. It should include a rough outline of your study schedule, links to helpful blog posts, specific pages/chapters you are reading, screenshots of valuable diagrams, etc.
• The answers lie in the questions. I used the highlighting tool liberally during the exam. Calling out the variables in the questions. (winter versus summer, design-build versus design-bid-build, etc.)
• You can rotate items in the drag-and-drop questions by right-clicking on the item. 
• Make sure you are using the latest version of the NCARB handbook. It was updated twice during the seven months I was studying. The date is usually at the bottom of the page.
• At the end of the test, make sure you give the system time to load so you can see your preliminary results. The screen that loads before the preliminary results sometimes takes 10-15 seconds, and you may try to click again. I think this results in you inadvertently clicking past the preliminary results. This happened to me after my CE exam, and 7-10 days now is a long time to wait for the official results. 
• Take the multi-division practice exam immediately to understand how all the tools work, including the calculator, whiteboard, references, etc. Know that the exam UI is not the greatest, but it does work and shouldn’t be an excuse for failure. 
• Sort the NCARB forum by votes. It's beneficial to get the best posts to the top.
• I recommend studying for each test separately and not trying to overwhelm yourself. You don’t know that all the tests feed into each other. When you are studying for PPD, you are studying for PDD simultaneously. Studying for PcM feeds both into the CE and PjM. All the tests overlap a little. I would be overwhelmed if I tried to study multiple at once, but maybe it would work better for others. It clearly has worked for some others in this forum.
• I was prepared to fail. My stretch goal of 6 months ultimately allowed for a few failures to complete all tests in under a year. I did not want to fail, but I was prepared to. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. 
• I highly recommend Hyperfine. I was skeptical at first, but once I actually got into the content, it was invaluable. I did not use it as intended, but I would look at the questions, try to answer them in my head, and then just skip right to the answer and analysis.
• You should be able to read code tables easily. These questions should be easy points on the test.
• I never encountered a question (at least in the tech exams) in which I needed to remember a formula for an obscure thing. They will usually include the formula if needed. In the pro-practice, you must remember some financial formulas (which hyperfine is great for).
• Don’t create your scenarios for the questions. The scenario is in the questions; do not create your own variables and overthink. The discrete items (non-case study questions) should be answered in 2.2 minutes or something like that. So, the questions aren’t too long or confusing unless you make them long and confusing by creating your own scenarios. 
• Be able to tell what NCARB is looking for. This comes after taking a few tests, but once I got to studying for PA, PPD, and PDD and reading longer books, I would skim past some paragraphs or chapters simply because I guessed that NCARB would not be testing candidates on that specific topic. This comes with practice but becomes second nature and can save you time.
• I would complete as many questions on PPI2Pass's online learning hub QBank per test as possible, usually 20 questions at a time. The questions were pretty effective and at a similar difficulty level as the actual test. ELIF exams were much more difficult, but difficult is good.
• Take the exam in person if you can—this forum has too many horror stories about online proctoring. The exam will probably lose connection or crash once during your tests, but the staff are usually good at recovering it, at least in person. I also recommend taking the test in the morning. I had 9 am starts. I did Saturday morning for PcM, PjM, CE, PA, and then Thursday morning for PPD and PDD. (They did not offer those two on Saturday because they had longer exams.)
• For people in NYC, the testing center near Times Square was fine enough for me. It was a 20-minute subway ride. It was nothing fancy, but the proctors were respectful and helpful. I heard the one near Fulton Center is nicer. 
• I never really used any "testing strategies." I would walk in and start at the first question, mark the questions I was unsure of, and keep going until the end. I would review the marked questions once and then hit submit. In some cases, you may get something helpful in the case studies that could help with your discrete items, but I never counted on it. I only took a break for the PPD exam, but I could power through the others. The least remaining time I ended up with was 10 minutes for PA; I think the others averaged about 30 minutes.
• Use the highlight tool! I think I used it on 90% of my questions. When you are at question 85 out of 100, your mind gets tired and starts skipping/forgetting important pieces of information you just read. If you use the highlight tool effectively, you keep the variables at the top, helping weed out the answer.

I learned a lot while studying for these exams. Overall, it was a good experience, and I enjoyed the process. It got tedious at times, but I wanted to finish before the Summer kicked off, so finishing in mid-June felt great. 

Thank you to everyone in the forums for your insights. I’m glad to have completed the journey. Good luck, everyone!