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:
Aaliyah Stevens, RA, NOMA
Aaliyah Stevens is a licensed Architect in the state of Texas. While originally from Houston, Aaliyah attended Louisiana Tech University graduating with her Masters of Architecture in 2015. After graduating she went backpacking around Europe for 2 months before moving back to Houston and starting her job with VLK Architects. In December of 2017 Aaliyah moved to Austin, TX to help VLK open a central Texas office and has been instrumental in the growth of that office. She has been an avid resource and mentor to the growing team and throughout her 7.5yrs with the firm she has been heavily involved in many renovation, addition, and new construction projects in the K-12 market throughout Texas.
Outside of work, Aaliyah is an avid reader and a member of a few different book clubs, loves traveling, and enjoys spending time with her family which includes her husband Trent, 2yr old daughter Trinity, and their rambunctious husky Kira.
“Push through and don’t let the amount of fails stop you from reaching your goal.”
Exam Order
I started studying after completing all my AXP hours about 1.5 years after I started working. I jumped in full force and started studying with others at work and scheduled my first few tests within a few months of each other to keep myself accountable. Failing these tests back-to-back definitely hurt my confidence but also made me realize that I couldn’t study the same why I was used to studying in school and that just memorizing things was not going to work.
| February 18, 2017 | In Person | CE | Fail |
| March 25, 2017 | In Person | PjM | Fail |
| May 27, 2017 | In Person | PcM | Fail |
Before I attempted any retest I got engaged and started planning a wedding but made a goal to attempt 1 more test before my wedding which is when I got my first pass. This pass was the boost in confidence I needed and the affirmation that my new study techniques were working, and I went on to pass 2 more test and finished my first grouping of test. I moved on to PA and failed my first attempt but didn’t let that stop me from rescheduling as soon as I could manage.
| June 30, 2018 | In Person | CE | Pass |
| January 5, 2019 | In Person | PjM | Pass |
| April 12, 2019 | In Person | PcM | Fail |
| August 24, 2019 | In Person | PA | Fail |
| November 16, 2019 | In Person | PA | Pass |
After my PA pass, I didn’t want to let up and schedule my first attempt at PPD for early 2020 and started studying immediately, then covid happened and it got pushed a month and then it got canceled. Then I was unable to schedule it again until Fall of 2020. At that point I had lost all momentum and had stopped studying regularly and just took a gamble and took the test anyway. I failed. No surprise there. I did reschedule it again but before that test I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and my focus shifted and I ultimately failed the test again.
| August 29, 2020 | In Person | PPD | Fail |
| November 6, 2020 | In Person | PPD | Fail |
At this point I decided to wait until after my daughter was born to take any more tests.
This was by far the hardest part of my testing journey. It was the hardest 2 tests for me personally and it was the hardest time up to this point to find time to study. After failing PPD again, I tried switching to PDD and failed that too, but just kept going and it took about a year but I was finally able to get a pass for both after a lot of struggles.
| March 18. 2022 | In Person | PPD | Fail |
| April 1, 2022 | In Person | PDD | Fail |
| July 21, 2022 | In Person | PPD | Pass |
| August 5, 2022 | In Person | PDD | Fail |
| March 3, 2023 | In Person | PDD | Pass |
Advice for you!
What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?
I used a mix of everything I could find when I was studying. At the beginning of my journey my firm had hard copies of various study materials and flashcards and there was also a bunch of resources saved on our local drive from coworkers. Most of our resources were for the 4.0 test so it was a little difficult figuring out was I needed for the 5.0 test.
After my first few test fails, I was so thankful that our firm graciously gave us access to black spectacles and later amber books both of which I found extremely helpful for their lectures, practice quizzes, and tests available. I also reached out to friends from architecture school who were testing, and we shared resources among ourselves which was a super cost-effective way to access more study material. Having friends who were testing and having others in the office who were also testing became a built-in support system and accountability group.
For PA I highly recommend ‘Walking the ARE’ by Erik Walker, this was a practice test that gave lengthy explanation to each answer and pointed you in the direction of where to get more information if you needed it. I also struggled a lot with PPD & PDD which were the last two in my journey, so for those I also used the Erik Walker test, but also used Hyperfine which was great if you need more of a guide of what to study each day as well as Elif Bayram ‘ARE Questions’ which I would highly recommend to anyone who needs more practice questions or prefers that method of studying.
How did you fit study time into your schedule? Was there anything in particular that worked well for you?
Finding time to study was by far the hardest part of the entire testing journey. When I started testing, I would study after work a few hours each night but as my responsibility increased both at work and in my personal life, I found that I needed a new strategy.
I tried a bunch of different ways to fit in study time, like listening to lectures on my commute or while doing chores. There was also a time in which I listened to black spectacle lectures while on the treadmill at the gym because that was the only time, I could fit it in. Throughout the studying process I learned that for me I remembered the information best when it was my sole focus and I had minimal distractions, so I worked hard to find that time within my busy schedule.
What ended up working best was when I made the time to study an hour before work while everyone in my house was still asleep and gave up my lunch break to try to get another hour in. This was in no means easy or fun, but it did provide me with enough uninterrupted time that I was able to retain a lot more information than any other study time I had tried previously.
Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?
If you are a recent grad then my biggest advice would be to get a gameplan together and start studying sooner rather than later, because right out of school is going to be the easiest time to make the time to study.
To everyone else who hasn’t started or has started and stopped throughout the journey I would encourage you to make time for it like you would with any other project deadline and don’t stop until you are done, push through and don’t let the amount of fails stop you from reaching your goal.
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 Aaliyah Stevens for sharing your story!
Edited by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB
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