Best ARE Exam Study Tips from ARE Study Warrior

 

This is our popular list of important Ninja Warrior ARE Exams/study tips, in no specific order. These tips apply to all 6 ARE NCARB Architecture exams for licensure.

Take what you would prefer to take from this list, leave what you would prefer to leave. Think of this as a small grocery store. When you go to the grocery store you don’t buy everything off every shelf do you? I mean you definitely could. Feel free to pick and choose what you think will help you!

 

For instance, if you have failed a couple exams, maybe now is a good time to start trying something different for your exam day, or during your weekly studies.

 

Probably 70% of these ARE exam tips are for exam day, however there are plenty of tips to help you while studying/prepping for your 6 Architecture exams for licensure in the weeks leading up to your scheduled exam.

Most importantly when studying or taking these exams, remember to feed yourself confident thoughts. You will pass this exam. You will study more than your peers for these exams. You are a badass architect that is worthy of being licensed.

Keep feeding yourself these thoughts each morning as you rise out of bed. Train your mind to start your day with positivity and that positivity will very likely follow you throughout each work day until your head hits the pillow that night. Most days will be a morning battle with your mind, but the more you win that battle, the easier it becomes to win that battle day in and day out.

 

TIP 1:

Start your exam with a good tempo/speed. It’s important to manage your time well on ALL 6 of these exams. You may find yourself using up the full time for each test, and that is fine as long as you have sufficient time to at least make an educated guess.

 

TIP 2:

Make sure to make an educated guess on every single question, even if you have no idea. There is no reason to leave anything blank. It isn’t one of those tests where you lose points for guessing at an answer vs leaving it blank.

 

TIP 3:

Do not spend time memorizing long equations. The ARE really won’t test you on your memory of equations and will often provide full equations if they are truly necessary to answer the question.

• • That being said, you should still be familiar with most equations and be able to recognize them quickly. If study material has an equation, knowing what common symbols like E, M or f stand for is important.

 

TIP 4:

There are some simple calculations you should know like pythagoreans theorem, how to find the area and circumference of a circle, triangle and rectangle. You should know very simple equations like R = 1/U  and  U = 1/R. Also replace U with K on those same equations.

• • Every Architect should know their times tables by heart, especially multiples of 12 up to 12 x 20. Knowing these calculations quickly and by heart will help you avoid using the calculator, and using the calculator often will only slow you down.
  • Moment = Force (x) distance.
  • With slopes it is always rise/run, but you already knew that.

 

TIP 5:

You are not able to use a second monitor for the exams, at least at the time of writing this. Everything needs to fit on one computer screen and that can be challenging for the Case Study portion at the end of each exam where you often need to use a calculator, whiteboard, and scroll through drawings or documents all at the same time on one screen.

• • You will adapt your own method of on-screen organization. This on screen management is more important for the P&A, PDD and PPD section where you have to use the calculator and whiteboard more frequently.

 

TIP 6:

The most time consuming portion of these exams is undoubtedly the two Case Study portions at the end of each exam.

• • 6a) Since it is the most time consuming and arguably the toughest questions, skip to that section of the exam first (before anything else) answer all questions to both case study sections first and then jump back to the very first multiple choice question.
  • 6b) Case Study questions can be tricky. They may seem very difficult but the answer may actually be obvious if you think it out and apply your study knowledge. For instance, you may think you have to look through all the documents to find the answer, when in reality the answer is actually already in your head.
  • 6c) With the Case Study portions, be sure to “CNTL/COMMAND F” certain things while searching documents and drawings. Everyone under 35 years old knows what CNTL/COMMAND F does, but if you haven’t used it much, practice using it. This will save you a tonnn of time ! When you do this, make sure to still read over what you find, because the ARE test writers know that you can CNTL F certain words. They may try to trick you by putting the incorrect answer at the first CNTRL F that you find. Just beware that the test writers know that many of you are using this command and they may take advantage of that.

 

TIP 7:

Be sure to study material from multiple very different sources because there is no one source that the ARE exam material pulls from.

 

TIP 8:

Exam material from Project Management, Practice Management, and Const. & Eval tends to overlap to some degree. Try to take these three exams back to back with a 2 to 3 month break in between each exam. Know your different AIA contracts as well for these exams.

 

TIP 9:

Exam material from PPD and PDD tends to overlap, try to take those two exams within a few months of eachother if you can while the material is still fresh in your mind.

 

TIP 10:

The Programming & Analysis exam is kind of on it’s own material wise, mostly site related material. Know your site contours, recognize the location & climate of the referenced site, and always look at the North arrow direction !

 

TIP 11:

It isn’t always an easy process to take a break during the exam. If you take the test from home, you have to go back through the check in process basically and it can be distracting and bit of a hassle. Use the bathroom and drink plenty of water and eat something all within an hour before your exam start time. Try not to interrupt yourself with a break if you don’t need it.

 

TIP 12:

Focus on one exam at a time! However if you have one exam that you are having difficulty with and have failed twice in a row, maybe consider taking a break from that exam and moving on to the next one. Pass the next exam on your list, then come back and pass the one you have had difficulty with.

Dust off your nunchucks and study sword (aka your best mind) and lets slice threw some material and have fun doing it! Because remember… this knowledge is not just going to help you for your ARE exam but also for your long career as an Architect!

 

 

 

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Written: Study Warrior Staff