Architecture Registration Exams Story: Alex Keiser

Welcome to the Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) experience stories series! This series is to share experiences, timelines and advice of professionals that have completed their AREs. We know it can be a daunting task to get started and overwhelming on the number of resources out there. We hope you find this information helpful in organizing how you proceed through your exams. Good Luck!

This is the experience, timeline, and advice from:

Alex Keiser, RA

Alex Keiser, an architect who graduated from Penn State’s Bachelor of Architecture program in 2020. He holds a Bachelors of Architecture degree along with a minor in Residential Construction and has a strong background in woodworking, having worked in the PSU Architectural woodshop during his studies. He served as director for the PSU Digital Beehive peer-to-peer learning group.

Alex is currently working for DesignGroup Architects in the Pittsburgh office, where he has been splitting his time between the healthcare and education/office market sectors. He has been instrumental in the successful completion of several challenging architecture projects.

Aside from his professional work, he is an avid mountain biker and skier who enjoys spending time with his family, friends, and his beloved black cat, Boo. He is also an active member of PALM groups and enjoys mentoring architecture students at Penn State.

“Sometimes it can be difficult to stay motivated. Reward yourself, find time for stress-release and physical activity – studying will become less arduous.”

Alex’s drive to succeed and push through the exam/studying challenges was from significant life events. Such as preparing for his destination wedding on May 21st of this year and purchasing a house last July. While the journey was not without its difficulties, he persevered by taking breaks when needed and maintaining a healthy balance between his personal and professional responsibilities.

February 13, 2021	In person	PcM	Pass
April 24, 2021	In person	PjM	Pass
August 27, 2021	In person	CE	Pass
January 21, 2022	In person	P&A	Pass
August 27, 2022	In person	PPD	Pass
February 4, 2023	In person	PDD	Pass

I often get asked “why do I need to get licensed?”. Why did you decide that you wanted to be a licensed Architect?

I feel that I personally viewed it as an extension of my education, and I knew that I wanted licensure to be the first major step in my career. It has allowed me to progress quicker in my career and gain exposure to more aspects of the architectural process.

Often people don’t know where to start, do you have any advice for those looking to start their exams -or- how did you start?

I delayed starting the licensing process right after graduating school for about 6 months – It was the height of Covid and started working full time was consuming enough of my time. I felt that wintertime at the end of 2020 was a great time for me to start – work had become more manageable and the bad weather encouraged me to stay warm inside with my study materials 🙂

What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?

I primarily used Brightwood, Ballast, WeARE, free NCARB Exams, and DesignerHacks free quizzes. I used various smaller materials and a few online resources as well. The bulk was provided by my employer, and I purchased WeARE and Elif Bayram ‘ARE Questions’ online courses for various exams – found both to be effective resources.

How did you fit study time into your schedule? Was there anything in particular that worked well for you?

Planning time each night to look at materials (1 hour or so, then a bit more when closer to exam time). Skipping nights if I felt like it, but picking back up consistently. I also studied with some friends and tried to make it more fun and interactive.

Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?

Sometimes it can be difficult to stay motivated. Reward yourself, find time for stress-release and physical activity – studying will become less arduous.

I also maintained my scores for practice exams/ quizzes and often retook them to see my improvement leading up to test time. Keeping a schedule also worked for me to stay on task. I would schedule my exam date and then work backwards giving a task to each day in order to get through remaining study materials. I would also schedule days off studying for Holidays, PTO, and some weekends – as consistent rewards for staying with it.

We hope that this information helps you through our ARE journey, setting goals, and giving you some insight on how to get started.

Thank you again to Alex Keiser for sharing your story!

Edited by

Katelyn Rossier, AIA, LSSBB