So I’ve been sworn to secrecy that I cannot divulge any information about the licensing exam section I took yesterday. But I can discuss my preparation, my opinions and the testing center. I’ve spent the last few weeks splitting my time between looking for work and studying for the Construction Documents and Services ARE section. My studying consisted of the NOVA AIA study sessions, Kaplan prep books, and the NCARB study materials available on their website. As I was told at the AIA NOVA roundtable, the NCARB study questions were the most helpful, they focused more on content and less on tricky grammar hang-ups which seemed to be similar to what I experienced. The Kaplan book was really helpful as a kind of general overview and primer for the exam, but its questions were very much the opposite of the NCARB questions and were more helpful as a general kind of review of each chapter. The study session I attended focused on the AIA documents and while duplicated a lot of the information I read in the book, was very helpful because it was organized in a much easier to understand way. As far as the vignette was concerned I [...]
I am now scheduled to take the Construction Documents and Services exam on Thursday March 26, 2009 at 5pm. Now that I have a firm calendar date, this should put the heat on my studying.
So my new plan is to cash out my safety net and spend the next few months studying for my ARE’s as a full time job and spend 1-2 hours a day doing job hunting. If I get any freelance work it can be like a part time job. But my real job is getting licensed. Once I am there seem to be more opportunities for licensed architects than interns right now. Plus i can always strike out on my own and hang my own shingle so to speak. The only real hitch is I cannot fail any exams. If i do i will need to wait 6 months to re-test. So, look forward to a lot more ARE based posts.