The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards recently named and shamed eight people it said shared or received content from its Architect Registration Examination, a grueling, six-part test required to become a licensed architect — and which it says ensures people’s safety isn’t put at risk by sketchy designs. — New York Post
Licensing exams are standard in many professions. However, to what lengths will people go in order to pass? The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) announced that eight individuals had been outed for cheating by a whistleblower from the group. Test materials were said to be shared via email forwarding, however one of the individuals affiliated with the incident claims what they had done was common in the industry. "It’s not like we snuck into the exam and took photos. We didn’t remove any content from any of the exams. We just had conversations,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In any office, people talk about exams."
Board certification is a requirement for those who wish to practice legally as architects. NCARB's CEO Michael Armstrong expresses the license as "a contract between the state and government. [...] If somebody has been inappropriately qualified … then that contract between the government and the public has been broken.”
The eight individuals were said to be formerly employed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill were penalized for their actions. Two have had their certificates suspended while the other six have been barred for two years from receiving board certification.
10 Comments
As someone posted on my twitter feed about this issue: Why isn't the exam open book? We professionals spends our days looking things up in the code book, consulting experts, comparing to previous projects, studying context...none of that is testable with a multiple choice exam.
Knowing *how* to find out the answer also means knowing what the correct question is to be asked. I think the ARE should be an open book essay test, not multiple choice.
Agree.
Yes, it doesn't make any sense to learn this stuff by heart, it is updated and tweaked so often that all you basically need to know is where to look and how to apply it.
Donna, my Code exam was open book. You were even allowed your own personal copy complete with post-its and margin notes.
Engineering licensing exams are open book.
Back in the day, when Calif did its own exam, the big, hairy, 12-hour design portion was open (UBC) book. (B.Y.O. drafting board, supplies, and food, kids!)
This was helpful, because the assigned program was specific and devious enough to end up requiring a pass-thru window to be rated, and the slightly larger of three conference rooms to have two exits, not one. ("Why two conference rooms of 300 sf and one of 350 sf?" my youthful self wondered. "Aha! Bastards!" I mused to myself after finding the answer in the code.)
I have to say, it was very satisfying to be able to design and draw a competent (though not gorgeous) 2-story, multi-purpose public building in that short a time.
I hope the NCARB gets sued for defamation. I don’t think the exams are any measure of competence for an architect, and I’m also sure everyone discusses questions.
If ncarb was really concerned about cheating, maybe they should look at dishonest IDP/AXP category reporting..
a deeper dive into k-college education needs to occur.
K-12 encourages collaborative work and thinking to a far greater degree than when the test went digital, let alone when it was conceived.
“Groupthink” has gotten to a point where cohorts game online exams by taking them serially. One student takes the exam, and then the rest “learn” from them based on their correct answers. Then they rotate which persons take the test first again. This is seen as ok, because there is no way of enforcing this online (there is but it is time consuming for the exam writer).
So it is time to rethink the conventions for testing if the individal is more important than collaboration.
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