Five Days: My ARE Story (set to the sounds of Donna Summer)
Rod Henmi
Licensed 1982
In a place far, far away a long, long time ago, I took the ARE. It was the era of disco and we actually used our hands to draw. It was an incredibly difficult procedure: expensive, exhausting and inconvenient. The full exam was held only once a year. It took five days and the powers in charge of Missouri, my resident state at the time, made the clever decision to hold the exam halfway between the two biggest cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, so that almost everybody was required to drive at least two hours and spend four nights in a cheesy motel. The exam required you to take a week off from work and sit for days straight in a windowless, airless Ramada Inn ballroom. The design exam was twelve hours long and since you were only provided with a table and some blank sheets of paper, people brought drawing boards with mounted “Maylines” (aka parallel bar), boxes of tools, coolers with drinks and sandwiches, lamps and a few even brought drafting stools.
In contrast, you can now take the computerized exam whenever you want, usually in your hometown and one section at a time. It is convenient, less stressful and this is the reason I think fewer people are passing the exam and more people are taking it later. It is easier, therefore it is harder.
Illogical, you say. Consider this: when I took the exam it was almost always a group activity. Since it was held so infrequently, it was likely some of one’s former classmates would also be taking the exam that year. We formed study groups and pointed toward that year’s exam. We made motel reservations and planned the time off from the office. It was a big deal and so we made sure to study hard because we did not want to have to do it again. We all had the same deadline, the same location and the same experience: a group experience, camaraderie and shared goal.
When there are no deadlines and no set schedule, people tend to put the ARE off. Can’t do it in June, then do it in August. Too busy in August, then postpone it till October. Work got busy, so wait till after Christmas. This is how our lives are. The result is that people keep putting it off and for many, the examination schedule is two years, three years, sometimes more. Remember, we did it all in five days.
So, what do I suggest?
- Find a group of friends who want to take the exam and make a group commitment to abide by the same schedule. You should not wait too long after finishing school. Assuming that you have been working full time after graduation, I suggest a maximum of five years.
- Make a decision to take all of the sections within a set time. I suggest a year as it’s a good round figure that is easy to visualize.
- Set a schedule for each section of the exam and commit to that by making reservations at the testing agency.
- Set a regular study schedule for each section. It will probably mean at least weekly sessions for the entire year. This is a lot of work but means that hopefully you’ll be done at the end of the year.
With such a procedure, more of you will take the exam within a shorter period of time and earlier in your career. It will help to demystify the exam and focus your efforts. In the end, it will help you to pass and I look forward to greeting you as ARCHITECT. Good luck!
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This story was first shared in 2010.
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