Daybreak
By Ya Vaughn Harlston
Licensed 2020

Getting licensed was important to me because I dreamed of being an Architect since I was 10 years old. I also want to pursue additional certifications which I could not do until I had completed my ARE exam and become a licensed Architect. My ultimate career goal is to become a board-certified Healthcare Architect and become a board member in a hospital. My friend/mentor, Bryan Hudson, guided me in starting the NCARB account so that I could start my Intern Development Program (IDP), now known as Architectural Experience Program (AXP), and eventually take the ARE exam.

I completed my IDP hours (now known as AXP) in 2005. I started my ARE journey in 2006 when I took ARE 3.1 Construction Documents & Services as my first exam and I failed. I revisited taking the ARE in 2007 and took Pre-Design and failed. I took one more exam, Mechanical and Electrical Systems, in 2008 and I failed. I stopped studying after this fail because, only 6.5 years since graduating, I felt I did not have enough work experience. I started back studying again in 2010 and then I stopped after a while due to my mother being terminally ill with cancer. After she passed in 2011, I stopped studying altogether and just concentrated on working and helping my father cope with my mother’s death. I ended up revisiting taking an ARE exam in 2013 by taking Structural Systems and I failed. I had been told by several people I knew my stuff and I needed to pursue my license.

In 2016, I decided to start again and scheduled my first exam which was ARE 4.0 Schematic Design. I had a love/hate for the vignette program, but I figured if I stuck with it, I could move on to the next exam. I put my foot down at my job and told my bosses I scheduled my ARE exam and that I needed Fridays off to study and they agreed. I studied for Schematic Design for 3 weeks, took it, and passed it. After that, I started studying for Construction Documents & Services (CDS) and Programming, Planning, and Practice (PPP) by following Michael Riscica’s blog on his Young Architect website. I followed his advice, took CDS, and I failed by one content area. I was so nervous when I took this exam. I took PPP 30 days later and failed, then I switched back to CDS and I passed it on 12/30/16. I took Site Planning and Design (SPD) in February 2017 and failed, PPP in March 2017 and I passed. That was the last time I passed an exam in ARE 4.0. I took SPD four times, Building Design & Construction System (BDCS) two times, Building Systems (BS), and Structural Systems (SS) and failed all attempts. I switched over to ARE 5.0 in June 2018 after my fourth SPD fail and took Programming & Analysis (PA) and failed. I took Project Planning and Design (PPD) and I failed. I got a message from Michael and he suggested joining his YA Bootcamp in January 2019 and I joined.

I am so glad I joined YA Bootcamp. I met some amazing people in my group. After bootcamp ended, I took Project Design and Development (PDD) in March and I failed. It was not because I did not know the material, it was because I was not confident. I second-guessed myself which caused me to change my answers and my anxiety also kicked in which made it worse. I took PPD in April and I failed due to testing anxiety. I decided to take the plunge in June 2019 and took PDD and PPD 15 days apart. I passed PDD and failed PPD on my third attempt. I switched over to PA and studied with several study groups. I took PA and passed in September 2019. I revisited PPD in December 2019 and I failed. I rescheduled for April 2020. COVID-19 happened, so my exam was canceled. I continued to study from December 31, 2019 to August 7, 2020 studying a total of 451 hours. I went in to take my PPD exam on August 8, 2020 and I was so nervous that I was shaking, and my heart was literally beating outside my chest. I failed PPD. I took it again in October and I failed.

I decided to wait until January to take PPD again, but when NCARB decided to push up the new exam format, I decided to jump back in and take my exam in December. It was scheduled for December 12th at 12pm. It was asked if I had ever thought about seeing a hypnotherapist for testing anxiety. I decided to go ahead and attempt to do something about my anxiety and try hypnotherapy since I had nothing else to lose. I contacted a licensed therapist, told her about my testing anxiety and scheduled two hypnotherapy sessions. Hypnotherapy helped me get through my anxiety. As I was preparing for my PPD exam, NCARB/Prometric canceled my exam due to social distancing so I rescheduled my exam quickly and was able to take it three days sooner than planned. I decided to do something different this time around in preparing for my PPD exam a week before. I stopped working on practice questions three days before my exam, reviewed only notes two days before and relaxed the entire day the day before my exam. On my relaxed day, I listened to two meditation audio files that the therapist emailed to me after my sessions ended. After a good night’s rest, I got up the next day and went to take my exam.

I took the exam with a clear mind and was able to read the questions carefully and answered every question. I felt good overall after the exam but waited until the next morning to look at the results. I knew that I answered 50% of the questions correctly and the remaining 50% of the questions I was unsure of. I knew my chances of passing were higher than before. The next morning, I looked and saw that I passed my last exam. I was in complete shock. It still feels surreal right now and I cannot believe I am done. I know my mother is looking down from the heavens above and is smiling from ear to ear. I can finally say I am a Registered Architect, and I am among an elite group of number of Licensed African American Women Architects.

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Image courtesy the author.