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Here are five ARE test strategy techniques to consider when preparing for and taking ARE 5.0 exams

• This is an architecture exam, always look for an architectural answer, especially on structural problems
• Don't worry about missed questions. You can miss a lot and still pass. It's a marathon, try not to get too high or too low on yourself
• Take lots of practice tests, but don't worry about the score
• Look for answers to some questions in the questions or resources from other questions
• Trust yourself, don't be shy, join the community

SUMMARY

The ARE exams are tough. Now that I'm done, I want to share a few things that helped me finish the 2+3 method with no fails.

here's the detailed version – ARE test strategy

ARE 5.0 TEST STRATEGY #1 – this is an architecture exam

This is an architecture exam – you're not a structural engineer or mechanical engineer, electrician, a plumber, or a lawyer. You're not any of those things but you do have to understand how to talk to those people and how to coordinate their jobs in a “big picture” kind of way. Keep that in mind as you're answering questions, especially on the structural side. Don't worry about memorizing every single formula, but if a structural answer doesn't seem obvious just given the structural things that you know, consider the architectural implications and a lot of times the answer will become obvious. For example, in your studies on lateral support structures (moment frames, braced frames etc) you read that symmetry is best. Then on the exam you get a question where symmetry is not possible. WTF?

Consider the architectural implications of these systems. I would definitely read FEMA 454 – that's a free download – I answered questions on PPD and PDD specifically because I was familiar with Chapter 5 of that resource.

ARE 5.0 TEST STRATEGY #2 – you will miss a lot of questions and that's ok

Don't worry about missed questions! We all miss questions, we all miss a lot of questions. On every test I took there were some questions where I had no idea what the information was – I couldn't even begin to do an educated guess. Even worse was when it was a subject that I was really strong in and I found the diagram to be really bad or the required information wasn't where it should have been, so I couldn't answer that question. It was frustrating but remember, NCARB has said that the passing score is anywhere from 57 to 68 percent. We don't know which of those scores go with which exams but let's take the worst-case scenario. If you need to get a 68 percent on PDD that means that out of 120 questions you only need to get 82 questions correct – you can miss 38 questions!

So don't worry if you feel like you're missing a lot! I don't say this to make people feel bad, but the highest passing score is a 68 – that's a D! I have faith that you're a D student and you can pass this test. These tests are marathons, so try to not get too high or too low. I have had both of the following experiences

• first 20 questions so easy I thought I would ace the test followed by 100 impossible questions making me certain I would fail
• first 20 questions so impossible I was certain I would fail followed by 100 questions that I had a good idea about and restored my confidence

So do your best to keep your focus through the whole exam. Don't even try to keep score while you're taking the test. Just do your best to stay levelheaded.

ARE 5.0 TEST STRATEGY #3 – TAKE LOTS OF PRACTICE TESTS…DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR SCORE

I recommend taking lots of practice questions, but I don't recommend worrying about your score.. A 90% on a practice test really doesn't mean anything when you get into the actual exam. When I was taking CD&S and PPP in 4.0 I was scoring 90% plus on Kaplan test and 65% on Ballast tests. Neither of them really had anything to do with the skills required to pass the real ARE. Practice tests are great for two reasons though:

• first is that the ARE (and really any standardized exam) is testing you as much on your ability to take a test as it is on your actual knowledge of the subject, so getting as many test questions as you can beforehand and practicing reading and thinking critically about the questions is really going to help you when you get to your actual test day.
• The second great thing, I think, about practice tests is that they're good for little research items. If you're taking a test and you get to a question you don't really know about, don't worry about trying to guess the answer in a minute, or whatever your allotted time is. Instead open up one of your resources like Architectural Graphic Standards or Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings and spend some time searching for that information. That, I guarantee, is going to help you retain a lot of information that you wouldn't otherwise have had just by trying to get a high score on the practice test.

If you're curious, I used the following practice tests for my exams

CD&S and PPP: Kaplan, Ballast, Architect Exam Prep
PA: Kaplan
PDD & PPD: Brightwood, Designer Hacks and my own ARE study questions

ARE 5.0 TEST STRATEGY #4 – LOOK FOR ANSWERS IN OTHER SECTIONS OF THE TEST

Look for answers to some of the questions in other questions! All six of these ARE exams are long, comprehensive tests and a lot of information is covered more than once in more than one question. You may find that a question is asked in a different way or from a different angle, so if you don't have everything memorized (like you don't know all your egress widths and egress distances and door clearance and that kind of stuff) look to see if that information is actually given to you in another question. Especially look for multiple-choice answers in the resources you get with the case studies. If you don't know some of that code information, you're going to get that code snippet over in the case study so try to go through the test and keep in mind the questions you weren't so sure about and see if that information is given to you elsewhere.

ARE 5.0 TEST STRATEGY #5 – you know a lot. don't be shy

Don't be shy! You know a lot, so join the conversation! What I mean is, I'm encouraging you to join active online communities like the ARE 5.0 forum or ARE coach (or whatever other forums are out there that you might be reading about the ARE exams). Just to be able to sit for this exam, you have a lot of knowledge and if you think that what you know is just really basic and simple or you don't actually have something to share, keep in mind that what is simple to you might actually be new and really valuable information to someone else. Don't take for granted the amount of knowledge that you have just to be able to sit for this exam. I found that when I stopped just reading the forums and started asking questions, and even better started trying to answer questions for other people, it really helped me focus on the things that I knew I didn't know. Basically I always did a little bit of research on a question before I posted it on the forum which helped me get a little bit more background on that one specific topic and I found that was really, really, helpful when it came to testing. I do primarily residential architecture so I do not use the IBC regularly. One other note is I also don't work with steel or composite decks a lot. If you work at a large firm that does commercial or institutional projects (like are commonly used for ARE questions) you probably have a lot to share with those of us who don't!

here's the VIDEO

HERE'S THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO

For anyone who'd prefer to study in silence, here's the full video transcript:

“I'm Ben and this is Hyperfine; resources and tutorials for architects, by architects. Today I'm sharing five test strategies to help prepare and pass the ARE 5.0! I passed my last exam in October 2017: I did the two plus three method, so I had five exams overall. It took me 11 months to get through them with no fails. When I passed my last exam, my daughter was almost 2, my wife was 9 months pregnant…I also worked full-time and taught an evening class so if I can do it, you can do it! These tests are difficult but they're passable. I'm going to share with you today what worked for me.

Before we get to these strategies, I want to share two free resources with you. The first is my eight-week PDD PPD study guide. I took these tests about 10 days apart and so I was preparing for both of them together and I was pretty nervous about them, so I made a very specific study plan…a really strict guideline for what I should be studying and when. I was very active on the NCARB ARE 5.0 forum and since then a lot of people have been emailing asking for this study plan, so I've added some information and it's now a free download on my website, check it out!

The second free resource is my review of the study materials I used. Right, there's so much out there – third-party study guides, books, practice tests, videos and we can't use them all – many seem to be really expensive. So I can tell you what I used, I had access to quite a bit, either through things I purchased or a lot of books I had left over from school that happened to be in the ARE matrix. I'm going to tell you what I liked about them what I didn't like about them and whether I would or not buy these again – that's on my website as well.

Heads Up! #1 Coming At You…

Ok ARE 5.0 test strategy number one! Remember, this is an architecture exam – you're not a structural engineer or mechanical engineer, electrician, a plumber, or a lawyer. You're not any of those things but you do have to understand how to talk to those people and how to coordinate their jobs in a “big picture” kind of way. Keep that in mind as you're answering questions, especially on the structural side. Don't worry about memorizing every single formula, but if a structural answer doesn't seem obvious just given the structural things that you know, consider the architectural implications and a lot of times the answer will become obvious. I would definitely read FEMA 454 – that's a free download – I answered questions on PPD and PDD specifically because I was familiar with Chapter 5 of that resource strategy.

#2

Number two: don't worry about missed questions! We all miss questions, we all miss a lot of questions, actually. On every test I took there were some questions where I had no idea what the information was – I couldn't even begin to do an educated guess! Even worse was when it was a subject that I was really strong in and I found the diagram to be really bad or the information wasn't in the section that was supposed to be in, so I couldn't answer that question. It was frustrating but remember, NCARB has said that the passing score is anywhere from 57 to 68 percent. We don't know which of those scores go with which exams but let's take the worst-case scenario. If you need to get at least a 68 percent on PDD that means that out of 120 questions you only need to get 82 questions correct – you can miss 38 questions! Right, so you can miss a lot of questions, don't worry if you feel like you're missing a lot! I don't say this to make people feel bad, but the highest passing score is a 68 – that's a D! I have faith that you're a D student and you can pass this test.

#3

ARE test strategy three is take lots of practice tests and don't worry about the score you get. A 90% on a practice test really doesn't mean anything when you get into the actual exam, but practice tests are great for two reasons: first is that the ARE (and really any standardized exam) is testing you as much on your ability to take a test as it is on your actual knowledge of the subject, so getting as many test questions as you can beforehand and practicing reading and thinking critically about the questions is really going to help you when you get to your actual test day. The second great thing, I think, about practice tests is that they're good for little research items. So if you're taking a test and you get to a question you don't really know about, don't worry about trying to guess the answer a minute, or whatever your allotted time is, instead open up one of your resources like graphic standards or MEEB and spend some time searching for that information. That, I guarantee, is going to give you a lot of information that you wouldn't otherwise have had just by trying to get a high score on the practice test. (If you're looking for jam-packed, nearly-free practice questions, try my 8-week guided study course!)

#4

ARE test strategy number four! Look for answers to some of the questions in other questions! All six of these ARE exams are long, comprehensive tests and a lot of information is covered more than once in more than one question. You may find that a question is asked in a different way or from a different angle, so if you don't have everything memorized (like you don't know all your egress widths and egress distances and door clearance and that kind of stuff) look to see if that information is actually given to you in another question. Especially look for multiple-choice answers in the resources you get with the case studies. Right, so if you don't know some of that code information, you're going to get that code snippet over in the case study so try to go through the test and keep in mind the questions you weren't so sure about and see if that information is given to you elsewhere.

#5

ARE test strategy number five is definitely don't be shy! You know a lot, so join the conversation! What I mean is, I'm encouraging you to join active online communities like the ARE 5.0 forum or ARE coach (or whatever other forums are out there that you might be reading about the ARE exams). Just to be able to sit for this exam, you have a lot of knowledge and if you think that what you know is just really basic and simple or you don't actually have something to share, keep in mind that what is simple to you might actually be new and really valuable information to someone else. Don't take for granted the amount of knowledge that you have just to be able to sit for this exam. I found that when I stopped just reading the forums and started asking questions, and even better started trying to answer questions for other people, it really helped me focus on the things that I knew and didn't know. I always did a little bit of research on a question before I posted it on the forum which helped me get a little bit more background on that one specific topic and I found that was really, really, helpful when it came to testing.

Let's get the conversation rolling right here! Leave or answer a question in the comments below!

Wrap Up

That's it, my five ARE test strategy techniques to help you prepare for and pass the ARE! Good luck with your test and if you’ve got any questions, leave a comment or contact me through the website – then pass your tests so you can quit studying and get back to doing real architecture!”

BLUF = bottom line up front