Architecture Registration Exams Story: Vasilies Beseau

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:

Vasilies Beseau, AIA

Crying isn’t really a fun event, but the day I passed my California Supplemental Exam had me in tears. Balling. I couldn’t control myself to the point where I was forced to sit on the parking lot curb. My mom called me from Greece (where we are from) and although it was very late for her, I couldn’t even talk and hung up the call. I’ll never forget that crazy experience. Passing the architecture tests and fulfilling my childhood dream will always humble me. It still means everything to me.

My name is Vasilies Beseau, I’m 34 years old and live in Oceanside, California. I’m an Architect.

“Architects, Lawyers, and Doctors all need licenses to ensure they protect people.”

Essentially right after grad school I took project management without any experience from my company. I barely studied… maybe one resource and just went for it. I had a Senior Architect ask me what in the heck I was thinking!

Rightfully so – so I took a year to gain experience and studied for the first test, thinking this would be easier. However, I was studying only one resource and did not study hard enough. Although this was my fault, it really discouraged me for a few months.

I began learning about all the other resources available and was able to pass Practice. Around this time, I began leading AIA San Diego’s study group. These resources, and an influx from my company led me to great study paths and outlets to give a well-rounded intake of info. This helped me pass two tests. The other two I failed in 2020 were barely failed, by a few points. These were simply carelessness on my part during the test.

After those two fails, I passed all other tests easily. Without the community, structure, and resources from AIA San Diego, I don’t think I would have passed in the time I did. I owe a great deal to this program. All tests were in person. I had no interest in taking the tests at home. It became tradition and fun riding my motorcycle down to the testing facility in San Diego.

December 15, 2017	In Person	PjM	Fail
December 3, 2018	In Person	PcM	Fail
June 3, 2019	In Person	PcM	Pass
November 20, 2019	In Person	PjM	Pass
March 2, 2020	In Person	C&E	Fail
August 3, 2020	In Person	P&A	Fail
March 9, 2020	In Person	PPD	Pass
May 3, 2021	In Person	P&A	Pass
June 29, 2021	In Person	C&E	Pass
August 31, 2021	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?

Architects, Lawyers, and Doctors all need licenses to ensure they protect people. Architecture should be about creating fantasy and magical spaces, like how a doctor creates miracles for people. However, at the end of the day, being responsible for people’s lives matters, and no one wants to be operated on by doctor without a license.

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 recommend starting with the first test. NCARB has done, in my opinion, a great job of introducing architecture as a business (PcM), how a job starts and is managed (PjM), how you begin the design process (PA), how you incorporate other disciplines into architectural design (PPD), how to fully document the design intent (PDD), and finally how to ensure the design intent is built (CE). There is no need to jump around or reinvent the wheel.

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

If you can acquire Black Spectacles for practice tests, do so. Carefully read NCARB’s handbook for their resources. Join a study group to gain different perspectives. Amber book was great. Francis Ching books should already be on your bookshelf. Finally, bug your Project Managers, Principles, find Engineers, do whatever it takes to gain knowledge from people. Take practice questions to them. Challenge them. Learn any way possible. Do not be bashful.

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

You must place these tests above everything else. Sometimes that meant no surfing… no hanging out with friends after work. Sometimes it meant no working overtime at your job… it must be held at the highest level in your day to day. At least for me it had to be there.

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

A little quote that got me through the day was this: “remember it’s not ‘if’… it’s ‘when’ ”

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

Thank you again to Vasilies Beseau for sharing your story!

Edited by

Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB