Architecture Registration Exams Story: Kierstyn Feldlavy

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:

Kierstyn Feldlavy, AIA, EDAC

My name is Kierstyn Feldlavy. I am a Registered Architect in the State of Iowa, although I now live in Colorado. My licensure journey took approximately 3 years post-graduation.

I’m happy to share my story to help inspire intern architects and designers looking to receive their registration. There are many different paths people take as they pursue licensure – what worked for me might not work for you, and that’s okay! Everyone is on their own journey, and I hope my story will provide another perspective.

The key elements I would stress to anyone pursuing licensure is to maintain good study habits and even better boundaries. It’s important to have goals and pursue them, but also to be cognizant of personal needs and mental/physical health.

“Learning how to study for the exam took some time, and I wasn’t prepared for my first ARE.”

I graduated college in May of 2019 and was eager to begin taking my ARE’s. Countless mentors had stressed to me the importance of licensure and that life could get in the way of passing my exams. I wasn’t sure what the tests were like, so 6 months after graduating, I took my first exam.

Learning how to study for the exam took some time, and I wasn’t prepared for my first ARE. I had been a natural test taker throughout high school and college – I was fortunate in the sense that I had never had to study. Figuring out how to study for the ARE’s was a major learning curve for me.

December 16, 2019

In Person

PcM

Fail

After my first exam, COVID hit full force. There was so much going on around me that was outside of my control, and I ended up very sick from the virus. I took time to heal and pause on my ARE journey as I didn’t need more stress at this time. My husband and I also bought a house, and we were very busy learning how to be homeowners.

After we settled into our new home, I studied and passed my first ARE. However, after learning how to study in a way that worked for me, I realized the time commitment didn’t fit into the renovations we were doing to our house at that time. I needed to pause on my journey again to focus on more pressing priorities.

October 13, 2020

In Person

PcM

Pass

A year later, I felt settled in our house, and our renovation work slowed down. I had more time to revamp my study efforts and strategize on an order of test taking that would make me the most successful. I wanted to study for multiple tests at the same time because I realized there was relevant overlap in the material.

I grouped PM, CE, and PA together as the topics shared information. I wanted to get into a serious study mode and focus on passing the tests in groups. I was fortunate to pass these 3 exams in a time span of about 5 months. After I passed one, I would immediately move to the next so that I didn’t lose my study routine or habits.

July 23, 2021	In Person	PjM	Pass
September 13, 2021	In Person	C&E	Pass
November 19, 2021	In Person	P&A	Pass

I took a break for the holidays and a few minor surgeries then followed a similar strategy in spring. It was incredibly important for me to take a break as needed to maintain a work life balance and good quality of mental/physical health as I recovered from a tonsillectomy and broken nose. The next two tests, PDD and PPD, were also different than the others. I revised my study strategy again to work i

n a way that would allow me to pass my exams.

January 10, 2022	In Person	PPD	Fail
March 11, 2022	In Person	PDD	Pass
April 13, 2022	In Person	PPD	Pass

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

It was very important to study material from different resources for the exams. The best materials I found were Ballast, the practice exams from Black Spectacles, Hyperfine, and Elif’s Notes. One study resource did not effectively cover the material on the exams. Figuring out what to study was the most difficult part of the ARE’s – once you know what works for you, stick with it.

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

Completing my tests back-to-back was an effective strategy for me to maintain my study habits and not lose information I learned for one test like I may have if I took breaks in between. I would wake up early in the morning and study from 5-6:30 with a cup of coffee in my living room cozy chair.

It didn’t work for me to study during the workday over lunch – I found that I would be focused on what was going on at work and not truly retain the information I was reading. After work, I would make sure to go for a walk or do something active to decompress and clear my mind. I would eat dinner and pick up studying around 7:30-8 at night, until 9:30-10 in the evening. It was important for me to be in a relaxed state for studying – the more pleasant I could make the experience, the quicker I learned.

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 Kierstyn Feldlavy for sharing your story!

Edited by

Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB