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:
Ashley Thornberry, AIA
Ashley is a licensed Architect in Indianapolis, Indiana and currently works as an Associate Partner at StudioAXIS. Her strong leadership skills and eye towards public service have led to her keen interest in Civic and Public Safety buildings. Ashley has worked on nearly a dozen fire stations over the span of her career and has used her deep study of the safety features and configurations of those spaces to become a leading voice in the sector. She has numerous speaking engagements at Fire Station Design Symposiums as well as at both State and Regional AIA conventions.
Ashley brings a minimalist design style to her work, shaped by authenticity. Designing with the end user in mind, she is always examining how non-stakeholders will feel upon entering a building and believes that emotion is a crucial metric for good design. These considerations of how people will feel and experience space shape many of her decisions.
Ashley is a leader in the AIA from the local to the national level, currently serving as the Indiana Young Architect Representative as part of the Young Architects Forum.
“You only fail, when you stop trying.”
Exam Order
| December 16, 2016 | In Person | CDS (4.0) | Fail |
| February 25, 2017 | In Person | PPP (4.0) | Fail |
| April 8, 2017 | In Person | CDS (4.0) | Pass |
| July 10, 2017 | In Person | PPP (4.0) | Pass |
| March 2019 | In Person | SITE (4.0) | Fail |
| October 19, 2017 | In Person | SITE (4.0) | Pass |
Programming, Planning & Practice (PPP)
Construction Documents & Services (CDS)
Site Planning & Design (Site)
Transitioned from ARE 4.0 to ARE 5.0
| March 31, 2018 | In Person | PPD (5.0) | Fail |
| July 10, 2018 | In Person | PPD (5.0) | Fail |
| July 20, 2018 | In Person | PDD (5.0) | Pass |
| October 13, 2018 | In Person | PPD (5.0) | Fail |
Took a break to re-evaluate my study habits and concluded it was more stressful for me to read textbooks instead of focusing on practice exams.
| April 6, 2019 | In Person | PPD (5.0) | Fail |
| July 10, 2019 | In Person | PPD (5.0) | Pass |
Advice for you!
What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?
When I first started studying, I used almost anything I could find as a resource (Ballast, old textbooks, Architect Exam Prep, etc.) It took me a long time to find a study strategy that worked best for me, someone who was never great at taking tests.
As I started to transition from ARE 4.0 to 5.0, I shifted my focus towards more practice exams, Amber Book, and Hyperfine. Both Amber Book and Hyperfine were helpful as the study material took more of a “homework approach” with assignments given for different topics. I was able to understand all of the different topics much better by working through these problems instead of just reading about them.
By the time I took my last two exams, I only used practice exams as study material. These exams helped me get out of my head and made me realize I really did know all the information.
How did you fit study time into your schedule? Was there anything in particular that worked well for you?
My typical study schedule would be 6-8 weeks per exam. I started with 2 hours Monday-Thursday after work, and usually picked one day on the weekend for about 4 hours. Throughout my exam journey I started studying with other people, which helped keep us accountable. My favorite part was meeting a friend I worked with at a local coffee shop on Saturday mornings to work through topics we struggled with and read questions back in forth.
It was important for me to hear how others who were testing read questions and had a different perspective on study habits. I also learned early on it was okay if I couldn’t study 5 days a week. I didn’t want to put my life on hold to take all my exams, so I gave myself forgiveness if my schedule had to shift.
Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?
Find a support system that can encourage you along the journey and do not be afraid of failing an exam. My biggest fear before I started taking my exams was to fail one, and I ended up failing more exams than passing. I struggled with that for a long time during my journey, until I was told “you only fail, when you stop trying.” I would not change my ARE path in any way, as each exam gave me the opportunity to refine my skills in different topics. I am a much better architect today because of this path.
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 Ashley Thornberry for sharing your story!
Edited by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB
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