I believe extra hours in some categories will still count for the additional hours category.

Question for you, are you submitting one report or breaking the 2+ years into multiple reports?

Yes, you should report ALL of your units. If you don't, then NCARB will flag your report because they'll think you didn't work enough hours for the amount of time you're reporting. And you never want NCARB coming up with any reason to ask for "clarification", because every time that happens it adds at least 4 months to their processing of your record.
Many people end up with huge numbers of extra units at the end. I had more than twice as many as I needed total.

i agree - i went way way over in cds, but just kept on marking them anyway. i think i have over 800 units right now instead of the 700 to fulfill all of the requirements

thanks all. so in my case i will have literally hundreds of units in schematic design...but it will add up to 2 years of working ~40 hrs/wk .

i am not sending in multiple reports. they havent yet made it mandatory to send in reports every 6 months (although, it seems they will be enforcing that in the near future) so i am just filling out one report for 2.5 years....and hopefully continue to do it a little better after that. i have heard from many friends that as long as you send the report it and it adds up, and its signed, they'll take it, even if its for years of working.

Yes, it's true that they'll take it even if it adds up to years. I reported about 5 years of experience that way, and it added up to more than 1200 units.

Be aware though that there's a good reason not to wait until the last minute to start a council record and report huge amounts of experience retroactively: NCARB has a "late application fee" of over $500 (in addition to all the usual fees) if you request transmittal/approval to test within the same year that you start your council record.

Also, the more experience you add up retroactively, the more potential for problems. NCARB will ask you to "clarify" if you have any gaps in your work history of more than a week or so, and if you have any overlapping dates between jobs (and don't even think of trying to report two simultaneously-held jobs - because then you have to get both employers to write letters stating that each knew of and approved of your employment at the other...) Anytime they find anything to "clarify" it will always add several months of processing.

I wonder when NCARB will start 'clarifying' that the registered architects signing off on completed units aren't allowing the rampant fraud of registering inaccurate hours.

Met several people that don't submit a thing and after 3-4 years of work they have someone sign off on full hours for everything.

formerlyunknown - thansk for all the tips. i have been at only one job for almsot 3 years, so i will just be submitting that. the other job i had previously, i already documented. and i opened a council record a while ago....and still have time left on it (before i pay again to keep it open) so i think im ok for now. unfortunately, i am only around 65% done, so no fear of me testing in the same year....

but i will keep in mind all you said about adding up the hours, and i will ensure that it adds up to the right # = all the years. does it pay to add a note that clarifies anything that might seem odd? i guess it can't hurt, right?

No, I know this sounds weird, but usually you should not call attention to anything odd. You should try very hard not to HAVE any oddness about your reports. Do not have any gaps. Do not have hours that add up to too few per week (if you ever go below 35 for full time or 20 for part-time you will have to start a new report, as if it's a different employment, and you may end up with units that are disqualified.) Never report overlapping dates on different reports. If you work for more than one firm and you took off any time between the two jobs make sure to fill out a form that says you were "unemployed" during that time (if it's more than a week or two), otherwise they'll ask you for an explanation.

There's never any reason to explain why you have so many units in one category or things like that. They don't care, as long as you ultimately fulfill all the required units in all the categories. Giving them things to read will just slow things down.

Basically you don't want to give them any reason to ever hold your form up for extra examination. It always adds time to the process.

I think it would look more suspicious if all your units fit perfectly into the requirements and you didn't have an abundance in any category.

I have been in NCARB hell since March, when I submitted three years' worth of work from two different firms. It DOES take four months to clarify ANYTHING...

The most frustrating 'clarification' so far occured after I left a job that required too much overtime for my taste (less than many people do, I'm sure, but the projects/clients/situation in general just wasn't worth it); NCARB couldn't believe that anyone could possibly work 55-hour weeks in an architecture firm and demanded that I 'check my records' and resubmit the Form 123. I had to have my old supervisor write a detailed letter as to why on earth anyone would work that much (which I honestly can't believe is that unusual). WTF?

Another good 'clarification request' I got just last week had to do with time worked at a developer/construction company (training setting E). Before submitting the forms in March, I called NCARB and told them I had many more hours in training setting E than the allowed 117; they instructed me to just submit everything so that there doesn't appear to be an employment gap. Now they want me to submit exactly 117 TU's; totally ridiculous and inefficient.

so, if one takes vacation for more than 2 weeks a year....one must explain this to NCARB so they dont think you were unemployed??

No - not unless this causes your hours to drop too low during the total duration.
You'd be better off NOT reporting a vacation like that, because if you do then they'll consider it to be the break between two employment periods, and you'll have to fill out multiple forms (and you have to satisfy the minimum duration rules each time you report a different employment situation/period.)

Remember: NCARB doesn't collect your spreadsheets or time sheets. So they don't know your actual hours and vacation schedule for any given week. They just care about the totals.

so if you take time off between employment, you have to clarify that to them? what gives? cant they infer from the employment verification forms that job A ended in June and job B started in July?

If you take time off between employments - or if you take maternity leave, extended sick leave, vacation of more than a few weeks, etc. - then you must fill in a form stating that you were "unemployed" or whatever for those dates. If you leave a gap of more than a week or two then they'll ask for clarification and it will slow everything down.
You also have to file reports for periods of time when you were working in fields unrelated to architecture, or you were in school. Once you start a council record they need to know what you were doing for EVERY date from then on (and it doesn't end with IDP. If you apply for NCARB certification once you're licensed then you need to fill in more forms for all the time since last you reported - though you don't need to get them signed by the employer anymore - and you have to keep this up basically forever - because any time you request that your record be transmitted they send you new forms to update what you've been doing.)