architect54

I took my Schematic Design exam, Monday. The interior layout went down without a problem. There was a small obstruction to one piece of furniture, but I think it was okay. The total opposite to my first time. (All the furniture was in there this time!) I finished with time to check, re-check, and shift furniture each time.

I left the building layout with two, what I thought were, minor concerns. One room may have been too far from another and the shape aspect of another room was not adequate. Those were my only concerns. Now, I’m a little panicky about that last item.

All in all I think I passed. That leads me to my advice to you. Practice. Practice. Practice. I had time to adjust my building layout, but couldn’t quite see a better alternative. More practice would have helped. So practice, practice, practice. Much of what you learn of this exam is learned thru practice.

If everything is going as planned, I should be taking my exam right now. The roughest part is the interior layout. I must admit I’m concerned, but more than anything I hope I pass this exam and I complete my 4th of 7 exams.

It has basically been a year since I have been really actively studying to get thru this exam. I hope my efforts with this exam are fruitful and encouraging towards completing the remaining 3 exams, (Building Design & Construction Systems, Structural Systems, and Building Systems.)

A long time ago, I downloaded the NCARB study guides to use to study. They are now called exam guides on their website. A few days back I came across this AREforum post on the limitations of the NCARB study guides. It made me aware that the given NCARB exam solutions, both passing and failing, need to be examined as much as possible. It also alerted me to the fact that there have been changes to the exam guides. I was aware of actual architectural registration exam (ARE) changes, but I was less aware of changes to the exam guides.

Yesterday I fully read that AREforum post and took time to review the difference in the current Schematic Design exam guide to the one I was looking at, (a 2008 study guide for exam 4.0). I saw the furniture layout has changed from the 2008 guide I was looking at. The conference table has more space around it and the entry to Smith’s Office has more clearance to get to the entry. Clearance issues have been addressed from the previous passing solution. This is an important issue I need to be aware of when I take the exam. Just as the passing solution has been changed, grading allowance in the actual exam could have changed too. I don’t know, but it is possible. I’m going to do my best to achieve the 36″ clearance as described in the code when it’s time to adjust my Interior Layout. They did that for their solution, I think it wise I should do it for mine.

The point I want you to take away from this is to stay current and up-to-date on NCARB’s latest exam guides. You never know when something might change that could give you insight to improve your opportunity to pass.