Sudden Focus to Conquer the AREs
Smitha C. Vasan
Exams Completed 2018
With new rules for the licensing process, professionals can now complete their exams before their internship hours or other state requirements are completed. As the goal of ArchStories is to capture personal stories about the exam process, we may occasionally post stories from professionals who are not licensed yet, but on their way. This post comes from one such person, Smitha Vasan who completed her exams in 2018 and is working to complete her other licensure requirements by within the next year.
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I remember how I began to study for the AREs. Upon graduating in 2017, I already had it in mind to complete the exams as quickly as possible, thanks to a few select mentors. What I didn’t expect was the one experience, during my first summer working full time, that would fuel my determination and propel me to accomplish my goal.
I was out with friends one July Sunday (yes, that is correct- you did in fact read Sunday, as in the night before the workweek begins) evening, and things went from fun to out of hand very quickly. I was at a bowling alley, celebrating their new and intentional states of unemployment. (I, too, furrow my brow in reflecting on that particular situation, as we were all recent graduates, and “funemployment” was nothing to be celebrating at that stage.) After a few games and more than a few beers, no one seemed to have any awareness of the impending Monday. I suppose that isn’t a surprise, as I was the only one with a job to worry about. I intended to wake up very early after staying at a friend’s place, but I of course overslept and left with just enough time to get on the highway and… immediately get landlocked in the parking lot that was northbound traffic. By the time I arrived home, got ready, and made my way to work, it was nearly 10 AM, a horrifying concept for someone used to arriving between 8 and 8:30 AM.
Queue the onslaught of dramatic and thorough self-shaming and disappointment: What was I doing? Why were these the people I made decisions around? (Yeah, I got judgmental too.) Why was I drinking on a Sunday? Why was this the appropriate move to set up for the inevitable impending workweek?
My annoyance over this one incident spiraled, naturally, into annoyance with myself and my standing as a human being. Here I was, transitioning so poorly and irresponsibly from college student to adult. I was embarrassed that I had such a lack of concern for my full time, adult job. (The concept of being an adult was and is so foreign and strange to me, that it’s something I remind myself of at every opportunity.) I went through that workday notably hung over, a constant and miserable reminder of my grave irresponsibility the night before. I do recognize, looking back, that this is a rather dramatic reaction to one little summer night out, but this is the drama that pushed me through the AREs.
I had to make a plan. I had to convince myself that I would never again sink so low. Having gifted myself the summer to enjoy having graduated and being employed, it was time to buckle down and throw myself into studying. The intention was to complete all the exams by August of the following year. That mark was looking nearer and nearer, and my recent actions had me thinking it was really time to start acting serious. The way I saw it, if I was productive enough during the workweek, I could make whatever I wanted out of the weekends. So I adopted four priorities for the week: studying, working out, sleeping, and work. And thus, a plan was born.
When I was realistic with myself, I recognized I was never going to come home from work and study. Beyond that, I knew I was never going to get myself to study on the weekends with all the distractions of being 23 and in the city constantly presenting themselves. I decided I would go to sleep at 9 pm on the weekdays, get a solid 7.5 hours (count those sleep cycles!), then wake up at 4:30 AM, giving myself time to study for three hours before leaving for work. Studying was my priority above all else. I’d get to work at a cool 9 AM, leave exactly at 5 PM, hit the yoga studio, then head home to eat, sleep and repeat. For the most part, it worked out. Passing all my exams by September of the following year, I let go of that dramatic self-judgment.
My path for success was definitely a little unrealistic, at least in the timeline. I set a structure that bordered on being too strict, but I knew this was what I needed to feel like I was actively headed for that goal. I can’t say that I adhered to it at all times, but having this structure gave me a standard to measure myself against. I definitely had my moments of straying and just having time to myself to blow off steam and let my brain decompress. In the end though, having this extreme structure was what I needed so that I always had something to get back to and make sure I was on the path I needed to be. I’m not saying you have to get to your personal (albeit mildly dramatized and overblown) low in order to set your sights straight and accomplish something, but, hey, nothing wrong with a little catalytic bounceback as you get those boxes checked.
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