I'm pretty bummed, I took my first ARE today and I'm pretty sure I failed from not focusing on studying the correct stuff, I feel pretty stupid right now.
BUT
For those in the fence about taking the exams it's awesome. Someone somewhere referred to it as "the poor man's grad school" and it's so true. My school and after watching other new interns as well, apparently like most just didn't prepare me at all for an actual architecture career. But even just studying for one test I feel like I'm actually becoming a valuable team member beyond just being a drafter. Instead of spending years slowly acruing tid bits of information it's a crash course of everything directly related to doing a better job, in the month leading up to the exam I really felt so much more valuable. I hope I'm not stuck retaking and retaking but regardless it's worth it and I totally recommend it.
chigurh
Jan 19, 16 5:28 pm
AREs are nothing like grad school.
Congrats on taking your first exam though - my advice - keep on it, take one a month till you are done - none of this 15 years to finish shit.
null pointer
Jan 19, 16 6:10 pm
I failed my first 2 AREs.
After that, I said fuck it and started reading the references listed in the ARE exam guides. Totally started destroying them after that. Do what Chigurh said.
I can't count how many times I've done "ugh, weird, that was a test question" mid-client call. Focus on learning not just regurgitating and you'll be ok.
David Cole, AIA
Jan 19, 16 6:11 pm
Agree with chigurh. Grad school teaches you how to design; IDP and the AREs teach you how to be a practicing architect. Studying for the AREs was an incredibly valuable learning experience for me.
In my experience, the hardest exam divisions were the first one and the last one; everything else was filler material. The first one was hard because I had no idea what to expect, and the last one was hard because I had passed the other six and everything was riding on it. I took one division per month between February and August of last year, and on the two divisions I failed on my first try (SD and PPP -- each because I made a stupid mistake in the vignette portion), I worked the re-takes into my schedule without pushing back the other divisions I had already scheduled.
Don't wait until you get your score report from the first division before you schedule the next ones. If you can, go ahead and schedule all seven as soon as you can, and this way you won't keep looking for excuses to put them off. I was lucky enough to have an employer who reimbursed me for each division, so I'd schedule the exam and pay the fee, submit my expense report, schedule the next division as soon as I deposited my expense check, and so on. (I had to cough up my own money for the two re-takes, though.)
Good luck...
Everyday Intern
Jan 19, 16 6:36 pm
Good job on getting started. Even if you do have to retake this one, it sounds like you've gotten something out of the effort. You're already ahead of the curve.
Also, I completely agree with the points above.
StarchitectAlpha
Jan 19, 16 8:03 pm
Null pointer thanks for the tip I'll definitely do that, the sections I studied from the AIA doc's and my own research I nailed, everything that I counted on my purchased review guide to cover, I bombed.
poop876
Jan 19, 16 8:06 pm
Awesome job! You will kick ass next time for sure!
tduds
Jan 19, 16 8:13 pm
Grad School : Literature :: ARE : Book-binding
Good luck on your next round! I'm about to start mine... goodbye social life.
SpontaneousCombustion
Jan 19, 16 8:32 pm
Relax. You might have passed. There was one that I came out of feeling absolutely sure I failed. But I passed. The %s required to pass probably aren't all that high (NCARB won't tell anymore exactly what they are, but years ago when they did reveal that info the cut scores were only in the 55% to 70% range on various divisions). Also some of the test content doesn't count at all - it's evaluation content being test-driven for inclusion in future versions. So there's always the chance that the questions that seemed impossible are ones that didn't count.
shellarchitect
Jan 19, 16 8:46 pm
good luck. hopefully you get the results back soon too.
I also felt way more useful after studying. Its never a wasted trip, now you are familiar with the testing center and somewhat used to studying again
citizen
Jan 19, 16 8:52 pm
Great attitude, OP. Even if you did fail that particular exam (and maybe you didn't!), you gained very useful "studying" of the whole exam-taking experience... which is important to successful completion. Good job.
Josh Mings
Jan 19, 16 9:17 pm
We've all failed one. Don't worry about it.
Smile of Fury
Jan 20, 16 10:21 am
Great thread, a lot of good, positive advice here. About to start prepping for the first exam myself.
Probably common knowledge, but for those of us just starting, if you take CD&S, PPP and SP&D in the current 4.0 model, you'll only need to take two more exams when 5.0 comes out. If you aren't trying to get licensed this year it might be a good way to save some pain and money.
SneakyPete
Jan 20, 16 11:04 am
You don't need to take SPD to only take 5 exams. Only CDs and PPP.
Smile of Fury
Jan 20, 16 11:28 am
Good point. Looks like that one stays the same, with a new name. So you can take 3 in 4.0 and 2 in 5.0 or the other way around, still getting it done in 5 exams. Guess it depends on which format you prefer more. I have no idea which is better. Thoughts?
Regardless, I'd stick with ARE 4.0 only because it will take a little while for the study guides to catch up to the new exams. Pass rates tend to go way down for the first year
shellarchitect
Jan 20, 16 12:25 pm
just looked back at some of the other posts... in case anyone hasn't clicked on the link above, you DO need to take CDS, PPP, and SPD in ARE 4.0 in order to have 2 exams left in ARE 5.0
Donna Sink
Jan 20, 16 12:31 pm
Congrats on taking that leap, StarchitectAlpha. Even if you failed, no big deal, you'll pass next time. I had to retake 3 of 9 of my exams. I always tell students and friends who aren't started yet "Just take one exam as soon as you are eligible. Think of it as a practice test. Learning what the exam is like - the test itself, as well as the process of the testing center - is a huge part of the battle."
Getting registered is so great. Kudos to everyone who does it!
Sam Apoc
Jan 20, 16 12:46 pm
I honestly felt like each time I walked out of the testing center it was a toss-up whether I passed or failed. Ended up failing one based on the vignette, but shocked myself and passed all the others.
Point being, you just might surprise yourself, so don't write it off as a failure just yet.
Also agree with the advice above to schedule one exam a month and just keep moving. It's way too easy to put them off otherwise. I found it really hard to force myself to study without the looming deadline.
Good luck.
Smile of Fury
Jan 20, 16 12:52 pm
Shuellmi, yes, take those three exams in 4.0 and you'll only have two left in 5.0. But SneakyPete was right...if you skip SPD in 4.0 you're still only left with three exams in 5.0, so 5 exams total either way. Check out this calculator:
no doubt. I had already scheduled SPD when it got the "fail" on PPP. If i'd failed two in a row I'd be in a major depression. arecoach is a great source. I found some good youtube and vimeo videos for the vignettes as well
SneakyPete
Jan 20, 16 4:50 pm
Could you link them or pm them to me?
shellarchitect
Jan 20, 16 5:15 pm
sure, look for it late tonight
SneakyPete
Jan 20, 16 6:51 pm
Thank you!
awaiting_deletion
Jan 20, 16 6:57 pm
its a READING exam, read carefully.
s=r*(theta)
Jan 20, 16 7:09 pm
Sorry to hear about your fail, but great way to view it. I probably have the worst record in the history of a.r.e. testing, I have taken 10, yes 10 exams, and so far only passed 4, yep only 4!!!! I dont want to complain (actually i do but NCARB doesnt care) but the software is straight TRASH!!!! I passed all areas of BD&CS, except roof vignette, have no idea what i did wrong, but im like for the $$$ you pay and the time to study and seeing how i passed the MC, stair, & ramp Vignette, you fail me over the stupid roof!?!? & it seems like I get an exam that is relative to the study material and the next exam is from waaaaaay left Field!!! like only 30% of the related study material. Any how, like everyone else has stated, keep getting on with the get on, #ArchitectOrBust
Wilma Buttfit
Jan 20, 16 8:23 pm
The ARE is a test of how well you use their really bad software. Should be able to substitute experience at least for the vignettes.
archanonymous
Jan 20, 16 8:53 pm
Congrats SA! I'm sure you didn't do that bad.
this is all pretty good advice.
As a whole, I would focus more on the vignettes when studying.
Definitely schedule your appointments 1 per 4-6 weeks and just stick to it. As others have said, schedule the next before you get your score report back. I did this and ended up working some 90-100+ hour weeks before several exams, and even in a few cases where I didn't study at all, I still passed. Which leads me to...
Just take your first exam if you haven't yet. Treat it like practice and just get it over with.
A quick search found a couple of the ones that i used. lots of others as well i'm sure. i actually used to work with the vimeo guy a few years ago. his wife got pregnant and he never got around to making more vids
good luck and if anyone has a specific question i;m happy to help
shellarchitect
Jan 20, 16 10:51 pm
not a specific content question tho!
SneakyPete
Jan 21, 16 11:59 am
Thanks, shuellmi!
Quentin P
Jan 21, 16 4:45 pm
I failed my first one (CDS), passed my second (PPP). Gonna retake CDS on the 30th! Good luck to you. They are a bare, to say the least.
s=r*(theta)
Jan 26, 16 4:02 pm
anyone passing a.r.e.'s without studying is a mind freak, you should probably have your own show in Vegas and take the stage right behind chris angel.
im not sure how the office is like a vignette drafting when you cant, mirror, array, copy, offset, trim, zoom dynamic, pan, etc. thats what eats up all the darn time!!!!
shellarchitect
Jan 26, 16 10:59 pm
Maybe for the multiple choice, but the vignettes are too retarded to pass w/o practice
molten
Jan 28, 16 9:16 am
OP, I thought for sure I had failed my first exam (PPP) but just found out I passed. I've been told this before, but it's really difficult to gauge how you did...no one ever walks out of the room feeling good.
I'm pretty bummed, I took my first ARE today and I'm pretty sure I failed from not focusing on studying the correct stuff, I feel pretty stupid right now.
BUT
For those in the fence about taking the exams it's awesome. Someone somewhere referred to it as "the poor man's grad school" and it's so true. My school and after watching other new interns as well, apparently like most just didn't prepare me at all for an actual architecture career. But even just studying for one test I feel like I'm actually becoming a valuable team member beyond just being a drafter. Instead of spending years slowly acruing tid bits of information it's a crash course of everything directly related to doing a better job, in the month leading up to the exam I really felt so much more valuable. I hope I'm not stuck retaking and retaking but regardless it's worth it and I totally recommend it.
AREs are nothing like grad school.
Congrats on taking your first exam though - my advice - keep on it, take one a month till you are done - none of this 15 years to finish shit.
I failed my first 2 AREs.
After that, I said fuck it and started reading the references listed in the ARE exam guides. Totally started destroying them after that. Do what Chigurh said.
I can't count how many times I've done "ugh, weird, that was a test question" mid-client call. Focus on learning not just regurgitating and you'll be ok.
Agree with chigurh. Grad school teaches you how to design; IDP and the AREs teach you how to be a practicing architect. Studying for the AREs was an incredibly valuable learning experience for me.
In my experience, the hardest exam divisions were the first one and the last one; everything else was filler material. The first one was hard because I had no idea what to expect, and the last one was hard because I had passed the other six and everything was riding on it. I took one division per month between February and August of last year, and on the two divisions I failed on my first try (SD and PPP -- each because I made a stupid mistake in the vignette portion), I worked the re-takes into my schedule without pushing back the other divisions I had already scheduled.
Don't wait until you get your score report from the first division before you schedule the next ones. If you can, go ahead and schedule all seven as soon as you can, and this way you won't keep looking for excuses to put them off. I was lucky enough to have an employer who reimbursed me for each division, so I'd schedule the exam and pay the fee, submit my expense report, schedule the next division as soon as I deposited my expense check, and so on. (I had to cough up my own money for the two re-takes, though.)
Good luck...
Good job on getting started. Even if you do have to retake this one, it sounds like you've gotten something out of the effort. You're already ahead of the curve.
Also, I completely agree with the points above.
Null pointer thanks for the tip I'll definitely do that, the sections I studied from the AIA doc's and my own research I nailed, everything that I counted on my purchased review guide to cover, I bombed.
Awesome job! You will kick ass next time for sure!
Grad School : Literature :: ARE : Book-binding
Good luck on your next round! I'm about to start mine... goodbye social life.
Relax. You might have passed. There was one that I came out of feeling absolutely sure I failed. But I passed. The %s required to pass probably aren't all that high (NCARB won't tell anymore exactly what they are, but years ago when they did reveal that info the cut scores were only in the 55% to 70% range on various divisions). Also some of the test content doesn't count at all - it's evaluation content being test-driven for inclusion in future versions. So there's always the chance that the questions that seemed impossible are ones that didn't count.
good luck. hopefully you get the results back soon too.
I also felt way more useful after studying. Its never a wasted trip, now you are familiar with the testing center and somewhat used to studying again
Great attitude, OP. Even if you did fail that particular exam (and maybe you didn't!), you gained very useful "studying" of the whole exam-taking experience... which is important to successful completion. Good job.
We've all failed one. Don't worry about it.
Great thread, a lot of good, positive advice here. About to start prepping for the first exam myself.
Probably common knowledge, but for those of us just starting, if you take CD&S, PPP and SP&D in the current 4.0 model, you'll only need to take two more exams when 5.0 comes out. If you aren't trying to get licensed this year it might be a good way to save some pain and money.
You don't need to take SPD to only take 5 exams. Only CDs and PPP.
Good point. Looks like that one stays the same, with a new name. So you can take 3 in 4.0 and 2 in 5.0 or the other way around, still getting it done in 5 exams. Guess it depends on which format you prefer more. I have no idea which is better. Thoughts?
http://www.ncarb.org/ARE/ARE5/ARE5-CreditModel.aspx
Regardless, I'd stick with ARE 4.0 only because it will take a little while for the study guides to catch up to the new exams. Pass rates tend to go way down for the first year
just looked back at some of the other posts... in case anyone hasn't clicked on the link above, you DO need to take CDS, PPP, and SPD in ARE 4.0 in order to have 2 exams left in ARE 5.0
Congrats on taking that leap, StarchitectAlpha. Even if you failed, no big deal, you'll pass next time. I had to retake 3 of 9 of my exams. I always tell students and friends who aren't started yet "Just take one exam as soon as you are eligible. Think of it as a practice test. Learning what the exam is like - the test itself, as well as the process of the testing center - is a huge part of the battle."
Getting registered is so great. Kudos to everyone who does it!
I honestly felt like each time I walked out of the testing center it was a toss-up whether I passed or failed. Ended up failing one based on the vignette, but shocked myself and passed all the others.
Point being, you just might surprise yourself, so don't write it off as a failure just yet.
Also agree with the advice above to schedule one exam a month and just keep moving. It's way too easy to put them off otherwise. I found it really hard to force myself to study without the looming deadline.
Good luck.
Shuellmi, yes, take those three exams in 4.0 and you'll only have two left in 5.0. But SneakyPete was right...if you skip SPD in 4.0 you're still only left with three exams in 5.0, so 5 exams total either way. Check out this calculator:
http://arecalc.ncarb.org/
Now to focus my energy on studying instead of how to take the fewest tests...
I would suggest that the lack of study guides specific to ARE 5.0 is offset by the lack of a need to learn the asinine vignette "software".
I see how you're looking at it, not a bad idea
I blame the software for having to retake PPP, it makes what should be the easiest vignette way more difficult than it should be
AMEN!
I am currently in procrastinating hell because I failed the PPP vignette.
I DO THAT SHIT FOR A LIVING.
haven't failed one yet but i am pretty sure i am bound to.
hint, this forum is KILLER. use it.
http://arecoach.com/coachforum/
no doubt. I had already scheduled SPD when it got the "fail" on PPP. If i'd failed two in a row I'd be in a major depression. arecoach is a great source. I found some good youtube and vimeo videos for the vignettes as well
Could you link them or pm them to me?
sure, look for it late tonight
Thank you!
its a READING exam, read carefully.
Sorry to hear about your fail, but great way to view it. I probably have the worst record in the history of a.r.e. testing, I have taken 10, yes 10 exams, and so far only passed 4, yep only 4!!!! I dont want to complain (actually i do but NCARB doesnt care) but the software is straight TRASH!!!! I passed all areas of BD&CS, except roof vignette, have no idea what i did wrong, but im like for the $$$ you pay and the time to study and seeing how i passed the MC, stair, & ramp Vignette, you fail me over the stupid roof!?!? & it seems like I get an exam that is relative to the study material and the next exam is from waaaaaay left Field!!! like only 30% of the related study material. Any how, like everyone else has stated, keep getting on with the get on, #ArchitectOrBust
The ARE is a test of how well you use their really bad software. Should be able to substitute experience at least for the vignettes.
Congrats SA! I'm sure you didn't do that bad.
this is all pretty good advice.
As a whole, I would focus more on the vignettes when studying.
Definitely schedule your appointments 1 per 4-6 weeks and just stick to it. As others have said, schedule the next before you get your score report back. I did this and ended up working some 90-100+ hour weeks before several exams, and even in a few cases where I didn't study at all, I still passed. Which leads me to...
Just take your first exam if you haven't yet. Treat it like practice and just get it over with.
https://vimeo.com/50457422
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC7wHUEyciM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACPHyq70lDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPR52pCRjcw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lMWKP0mUaI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6oKIhX1UTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy_1YHEZBnA
A quick search found a couple of the ones that i used. lots of others as well i'm sure. i actually used to work with the vimeo guy a few years ago. his wife got pregnant and he never got around to making more vids
good luck and if anyone has a specific question i;m happy to help
not a specific content question tho!
Thanks, shuellmi!
I failed my first one (CDS), passed my second (PPP). Gonna retake CDS on the 30th! Good luck to you. They are a bare, to say the least.
anyone passing a.r.e.'s without studying is a mind freak, you should probably have your own show in Vegas and take the stage right behind chris angel.
im not sure how the office is like a vignette drafting when you cant, mirror, array, copy, offset, trim, zoom dynamic, pan, etc. thats what eats up all the darn time!!!!
Maybe for the multiple choice, but the vignettes are too retarded to pass w/o practice
OP, I thought for sure I had failed my first exam (PPP) but just found out I passed. I've been told this before, but it's really difficult to gauge how you did...no one ever walks out of the room feeling good.