ARE's under way!

It has been a long while since my last post, so I thought I would put some personal updates in here as a filler until I find something more profound to report.

I started taking the ARE's last month and am scheduled for my second exam on Tuesday.  This past week I received the confirmation letter that I had in fact passed the first one (Schematic Design), so that gives me some confidence for this next one.  I studied close to 60 hours so far for it and feel mildly confident.  There's a TON of information for this one (Building Systems) - it includes everything about plumbing systems, HVAC systems, fire protection, acoustics, environmental influences, lighting, electricity, some accessibility, vertical transportation, code information and regulations, it's like every imaginable component or factor aside from anything structural (which, by the way, is my next exam on December 5th).

I would like to offer insight on studying for this exam, but I do not feel qualified to do that until I know I have passed it.

I will offer, that for the Schematic Design exam, the most important part was being familiar with the NCARB software.  I recommend doing the NCARB practice exams first, then doing any hardcopy exams you can get your hands on, and then finishing up by taking the NCARB exams again.  That is what I did, and by the time I got to round two of the NCARB exam, I had totally forgotten the program and spaces.  (I did probably 10 other practice exams in between)

BOO!

It's that time of year. When scary things are everywhere and Architecture is not excused.






ok. the last one is just funny.