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:
Dani Kolker, RA, EDAC, LEED AP BD+C
Dani Kolker is a Healthcare Planner at Page in Austin, Texas. She graduated in 2021 from the University of Kansas with a Master of Architecture and a certificate in Health + Wellness Design. After graduating, Dani began working as a Tradewell Fellow/Healthcare Planner at Page. Because of the Pandemic, Dani was not able to get the internship experience (and AXP hours) she originally planned for and therefore waited a year and a half after graduating to start studying. Because of her study tactics and exam schedule, she was able to complete all the exams before completing her AXP hours.
Dani is excited to share her story to help inspire others going through this process!
“Take the time to figure out what works best for you! Your journey may look different than someone else’s and that is okay!”
Exam Order
I started studying with Amber Book right after Thanksgiving in 2022. Learning how to study for the exams took a little bit of time, but I ultimately decided it would work best for me to do the entire Amber Book course (study for all the exams together) and then break out my studies for each exam for a shorter period of time. Because of the information overlap between all the exams, I think that this study tactic worked extremely well. I only had to spend 2 weeks – 1 month between each.
My PPD fail was extremely upsetting, but after receiving my score report, I realized I was 1-3 questions away. I think I failed this exam because I was going through the exam too fast and got too confident. Ironically, this had been the only exam that I felt confident when hitting submit. Instead of waiting two months after failing to take PPD again, I decided to still move forward with PDD. This was extremely beneficial because of the exam content overlap, and I think it helped me to pass PPD on my next attempt.
| January 26, 2023 | In Person | PcM | PASS |
| February 9, 2023 | In Person | PjM | PASS |
| February 27, 2023 | In Person | C&E | PASS |
| March 22, 2023 | In Person | P&A | PASS |
| April 19, 2023 | In Person | PPD | FAIL |
| May 24, 2023 | In Person | PDD | PASS |
| June 22, 2023 | In Person | PPD | PASS |
Advice for you!
I often get asked “why do I need to get licensed?”. Why did you decide that you wanted to be a licensed Architect?
I had no idea where to begin! I was very lucky that I had a good friend who had started studying a few months prior to me and she suggested Amber Book. I did a lot of research on this program and others to decide what would be the best use of my money and my time. After doing the research and concluding that Amber Book would be best, I made sure that studying and taking exams was something that I could be committed to for the foreseeable future. I had no major life, personal, family or work commitments, so I knew I could dedicate my time to this.
What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?
My main study material was Amber Book. Amber book is a mix of animated, informative videos, practice questions, note cards, and practice exams. If this type of study material is what works for you, I would HIGHLY recommend it! I would not have been able to pass all 6 exams in the span of 5 months without it. I would say 90% of my time was spent on Amber Book and then the other 10% was on other supplemental materials.
Here is a list of other study materials I used:
- Black Spectacles Practice Exams
- AIA Contracts
- NCARB Forum
- NCARB Practice Exams
- ARE Questions – by Elif Bayram (used only for PPD and PDD)
- Books – I never read any of these cover to cover, I would just look for specific information I needed help on
How did you fit study time into your schedule? Was there anything in particular that worked well for you?
I did most of my studying on the weekends. I found that working out and getting a coffee would lead to a very productive, uninterrupted day of studying. This worked way better for me than studying on workdays.
I definitely recommend finding what works best for you! It would have been a waste of my time to study for 1-2 hours at night after work because I know I would not have been as focused as I was studying on the weekends. I also deleted social media for the week prior to an exam and replaced the time that I would have been aimlessly scrolling with Quizlets or notes on my phone!
Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?
Take the time to figure out what works best for you! Your journey may look different than someone else’s and that is okay!
Have a support system – this process is hard; it was helpful to have family and friends to encourage me and keep me going. I only told my support system (and not all of my friends and coworkers) when I was taking an exam and that helped to take the pressure off of having to pass/ telling everyone results right after the exam.
Take care of yourself – make sure to keep a normal life routine, eat healthy, workout, etc. I found that I was able to study and test better when I felt better!
Lastly, enjoy the process! Taking and passing an exam is a HUGE deal! Make sure to celebrate the wins and learn from the failures.
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 Dani Kolker for sharing your story!
Edited by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB
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