The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), as of June 1, has begun re-opening testing sites for architectural licensure examinations. Starting on Tuesday, June 9th, 2020, prospective exam takers will be able to schedule an appointment at any open test center offering “All Programs” or “Essential Only” services, which include the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) .
Prometric, the company that actually administers the tests, has, according to a recent NCARB announcement, "been able to resume testing at locations where local and state mandates allow" as states across the country begin to reopen following the two-month-long COVID-19-related closures.
You can view Prometric’s current site openings on the company's website; This list is set to be updated daily with new re-opening information. The shift comes as NCARB and Prometric lobby to change the designation of ARE exam takers from "non-essential" to "essential" in the wake of the pandemic.
NCARB writes, "Unfortunately, currently scheduled exam appointments may still be subject to cancellation if your local test center is not able to reopen, if local mandates change, or if further social distancing measures need to be put in place."
According to NCARB, Prometric is assessing its testing calendar on a rolling two week basis and will make any necessary testing appointment cancellations "hopefully with two weeks' notice," an action that will come with a "seat credit" so that test takers can reschedule their exams at no additional cost. In addition, NCARB has put in place a new policy that will offer refunds to test takers who have had their exams cancelled multiple times.
According to NCARB, new testing exams will require both social distancing and face coverings, though the face coverings do not need to be medical grade.
5 Comments
Are they going to make Prometric provide masks, or clean the computer keyboards before test takers arrive?
Come, now. Prometric only hires the best, most attentive proctors.
This write-up glosses over the HUGE issue it has been for candidates in recent weeks to schedule and take their exams because NCARB and Prometric didn't classify architecture as essential. There have been a number of people in ARE study groups complaining that they had a test scheduled only to get bumped from the slot because Prometric was prioritizing essential test takers from other professions. NCARB was slow to respond and tried to push it off as not their issue. They seem to have sorted it all out though and are giving seat credits and refunds back to candidates to make up for cancelled tests. Why this wasn't handled a month ago is really only NCARB's failure.
Is it really NCARB and Prometric that get decide whether to "classify architecture as essential"? Imagine business orgs of course can certainly lobby one way or the other, but...
Prometric has an Essential Client Program that NCARB chose not to enroll in initially because they were viewing the issue as a larger lobbying issue. Criteria for programs that qualify is defined by the US Cybersecurity and Intrastructure Security Agency, but NCARB still had to chose to enroll in it. NCARB apparently just didn't even try, or if they did, they didn't try very hard to get in this program. They did finally get enrolled in the program and are listed in it now, but it took way too long to get there. NCARB acknowledges this if you know what to look for in their announcement.
Others have dived into this much deeper than I have, I'm just getting my information second- or third-hand. If you're so inclined, there are a couple of lengthy, ranting videos Michael Riscica (the youngarchitect.com guy) made about the failure. It's a lot to sit through, but he's got the whole timeline and issues outlined fairly well from what I understand. Part 1 and Part 2 videos.
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