ARE PjM Questions
I took the PjM section of the ARE 5.0 this weekend and it was forecasted that I would fail. I've been beating myself up about this as I studied extensively and used multiple resources to prepare myself. I also set a goal to pass each one without failure so I'm really taking this one personal. I just wanted to gauge the community about some questions I have.
Is the predictive option at the end of the exam usually spot on?
I'm using a combo of the Ballast ARE 5.0 Exam Review, Architect's Handbook of PP, Black Spectacles and review videos from the Tube. Are there any other free useful websites or books I can/should supplement with?
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Hi joserod619,
I'm so sorry to hear about your provisional feedback result for PjM. Unfortunately, this feedback is an accurate indicator of the exam result. I know how disappointing this news is, but know that it is very common. You are not alone and many architects have had a miss or few along their journey towards licensure.
Once you receive your official score report, I encourage you to identify your scaled score and review your performance in specific content areas, as this will help you develop a game plan for your retake. If you'd like assistance with this, our team is happy to assist you. Please reach out to me at kiaragalicinao@blackspectacles.com.
As for additional resources, take a look at the NCARB-recommend resources in the ARE 5.0 Guidelines (starting on page 115).
Keep your head up! You will overcome this obstacle, I know you will :)
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Black Spectacles
ARE Community -
Have you been reading the AIA contracts from the PJM reference matrix in the ARE Handbook? The primary resources like those and AHPP are your pillars to understand the content of this exam. Secondary resources are helpful to digest and understand some of the ideas better, but it's best to familiarize yourself with the source documents and text readings the exams are based on.
Archizam was a big help for me; their pop quiz style questions helped me to understand where I was falling short or not grasping the concepts of the exam, and where I could improve or bolster knowledge of the topics to know.
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Did you already take PcM? I did find PjM slightly harder.
If you haven't already, read A101, A201, B101, and C401 all the way through and highlight as you go. I read one per night (they range from 10-40 pages each). I also listened to the Hanahan lectures (covers the same content but with a little explanation in layman's terms) on youtube during the same week where I was reading the contracts. However those lectures are close to 20 hours of content on their own, and it was not very fun listening to that at work for 2-3 hours, then going home and studying 2-3 more hours. But in the end it was worth it.
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Kiara, I immensely appreciate the direction and advice. I'll look into my stats and reach out if I have any questions. The matrix will guide me moving forward.
I'm familiar with contracts and yes, I've been reviewing NCARB source material and even taken the practice exams available. I was pretty confident with my answers for these types of questions. I def However, I do recall some of the questions I had a hard time with and would love to know where I can find similar questions that focus on the following:
**If this is against community rules I do apologize ahead of time.**
- Scheduling/work plan questions regarding adding weeks and delays --I've never worked on work plans or scheduling in my professional life and so this is not coming easy for me.
- A question regarding a site plan (160 x 160) with contour lines (highest point at 80 then down 79, 77, 76, 78. find the unit cost of infill material at $15.00 cubic foot with a settling of 25% -- I spent the most time on this question and had a nightmare about it the night after. Yea...
- Case study questions -- I'd like to focus more on these before my next exam.
Thanks everyone.
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For adding up delays in a text based question, you just need to know which category the delay falls into, contractor's fault, or not contractor's fault. When there's a chart, understand how tasks affect each other.
I never had the site plan question but I can guess the volume calculation was probably easier than it seemed, they aren't trying to test you on your ability to do complex math.
My advice for case study questions is that the answer may need to be interpolated from 2-3 sources. I had a question that asked for an employee's utilization rate, where I needed to reference 3 difference documents to find the figures I needed to calculate. It took me like 10 minutes to figure this question out lol!
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