architect54

During last Monday’s exam, I got to question 25 (of 85) and I thought to myself, “I am not the child of NCARB. Only one born from the womb of NCARB, and raised in the ways of the ARE could know for certain what choice to choose.” Maybe I’m exaggerating.

Another way to put it: The questions were really simple. The answers were not. Probably a good 10 questions were one short sentence, (seven or so words long). Then I’d get one or two word answers (four of ‘em). The best I could do is narrow down to two and I was uncertain of those!

I don’t come from a planning background, and that might help a little on this exam. Only a little. These questions are sort of out of the blue. Imagine driving into work and paying a toll across the bridge and the clerk asks you about the Ahwahnee principles. (I didn’t get that on my exam.) It’s like, “What?” Or better yet, you go into Starbucks or a local coffee shop and grab a coffee (or tea). The guy behind the counter, with whom you normally exchange a “Good Morning”, mentions he wants to know more about Greek planning. Unless you’re fascinated with Greek town planning, the first thing you’re thinking is, “Please leave me alone, I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

The questions on the exam are great for open discussion during a class. That means BEWARE!!! Those are the questions that seem to have no wrong answer. The ones where encouraging thought takes place. The thing is on the exam only one of the four choices is correct. 

I’ll write more about my exam experience in a later post. Honestly, I needed to prepare better for this exam. I do take back something I said in an earlier post. I said that over preparation is good for these exams. I’m not too sure about that. Programming Planning and Practice is what I consider a loose exam. If it were a person, (and you overprepared for it) you’d be tempted to slap her/him for their slackness. If you really sit down with some history books to prep for this bad boy, you’d be angry when they ask certain questions. If you hold theory dear, like most architects, (even tho’ they know it’s nonsense words) you’d damn near get up and walk out during your exam. “Enough!”

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 11:16 am and is filed under Architectural Registration Exam Journey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.