architect54

If I don’t pass an architectural registration exam, I’ll just take it again. This is an attitude I like to encourage. It is easier to have this attitude after passing an exam or two.

Look at architects around you. After approaching a prospective client and not securing a project, a firm principal architect will do their best to approach another prospective client.

It is a cycle. This is something of the process to survive. In the process, try to adapt and find what brings the results you are seeking.

I am now scared about being close to my license and not passing or letting something get in the way of me passing my last two exams. I have to take Schematic Design soon. This issue of exam-opportunities versus exam-preparedness keeps popping into my head too.

These exams are managable. Some study/practice is recommended and necessary. I need to practice some(meaning a little bit) and just take Schematic Design. Just find a groove somehow of a few good practice days and then setup a test date.

I’ve taken this architectural registration exam before, so I know what I’m getting in to. This exam doesn’t have any multiple choice and should really be the strong point for most architects. I consider myself an architect and I need to overcome any anxiety for this exam like I have with the others.

If I can just get in two or three good study days and relax from my exam anxiety, then I’ll only have to overcome one more exam! Come to think of it, after finishing this post, that’s the feeling I should focus on. Instead of two steps away, I should reach for the feeling of being even one step (exam) closer! I can’t wait. Good luck on your exams everyone!

Practicing for schematic design, my next architectural registration exam, has been bumpy. I was able to analyze the building vignette passing floor plans in the NCARB guide book. I discovered some interesting things.

I discovered that the interior floor area for most rooms is below the listed program floor area. In looking at the plans I also noticed a common dimension on the first floor. I haven’t put any trace over the plans yet, but it looks like there is vaguely some parti on the first floor. (Parti: The basic scheme or concept of an architectural design. From dictionary.com.) Or a diagram that describes the overall organization of a plan. This is my more restrictive definition. A parti does not have to be in plan, but typically is.

Now don’t go and say, I should have seen the parti, or there really isn’t a complete organizing parti. I didn’t have any trace and I didn’t want to draw on the plans. And well I just couldn’t tell if there was (what I consider) a legitimate parti. Any parti is legitimate, just some more completely describe the form they create. Sometime this week I should have sketched over it to find any organizing elements, proportions, or dimensions. This isn’t really practicing, but onwards with my approach to pass the schematic design exam.