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:
Laurie Hoffman, AIA, NCARB, CDT
Laurie is a Project Architect / BIM Manager for Bancroft Architects + Engineers in Northbrook, Illinois. Originally from Brooklyn, NY. She went to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago where she received my BArch in 2011; with specializations in Architectural History & Theory and Landscape Architecture. As the market then wasn’t the best in 2011, she ended up pursuing a Masters of Infrastructure Planning and Management online with the University of Washington through their College of Built Environment in 2013. She became a licensed Architect in 2022 and has recently earned her Construction Documents Technologist (CDT) certification through the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). Most of her professional work centers around K-12 Education and Healthcare, but has worked on Residential, Commercial and Tenant Improvement projects over the years. She is currently the President of the Northeast Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and have been serving on the Board of Directors for that chapter since 2019.
“If you wait until you’re ready you’re never really going to be ready.”
Exam Order
| January 23, 2016 | In person | CDS (4.0) | Fail |
| December 2, 2017 | In person | CDS (4.0) | Fail |
Construction Documents & Services (CDS)
Transitioned to ARE 5.0. This was when they were still beta testing 5.0. If I had failed, I would have been able to retake the exam for free, there was no downside to taking it. I also hated the vignette software that was used in 4.0, the fact that the vignettes were not part of ARE 5.0 was also an incentive to transition at this point.
| January 27, 2017 | In person | CE | Pass |
After the first pass, I told myself I was going to stick to a schedule, I was going to take an exam every other month, and if necessary, retake during the in between months as necessary.
| March 31, 2017 | In person | PcM | Fail |
| May 12, 2017 | In person | PjM | Fail |
| June 23, 2017 | In person | PcM | Fail |
| July 14, 2017 | In person | P&A | Fail |
This was the lowest point in my test taking timeline. I had completely burnt myself out and started questioning everything about my career path.
I ended up changing jobs in 2019, still in architecture just a different type of firm. I wouldn’t start testing again until 2020. When I restarted studying, I decided to try out study groups. I joined one with Architect Exam Prep in January of 2020. It helped me re-focus and bring a different perspective to how I was looking at the exams.
| March 2, 2020 | In person | PjM | PASS! |
This was a HUGE confidence boost, HUGE!
But then the COVID lock downs started. I didn’t have the best setup at home to take the exams virtually, so I worked with the protocols set up with the testing centers here in Chicago and continued testing in person.
I also started a new job again in April of 2020.
| July 2, 2020 | In person | PcM | Pass |
| November 18, 2020 | In person | P&A | Fail |
| March 1, 2021 | In person | P&A | Fail |
I decided to try another study group to help tackle PPD & PDD. In April 2021 I decided to join the Young Architect ARE Bootcamp. I had been following the Young Architect Podcast since 2017, and one of my co-workers was a bootcamp alumna and spoke very highly of it. It was a tremendous help in figuring out how to process the information for PPD & PDD as they are the two with the largest content pool that questions are pulled from.
| May 1, 2021 | In person | P&A | Fail |
| July 6, 2021 | In person | PPD | Fail |
| August 9, 2021 | In person | PDD | Fail |
| October 1, 2021 | In person | PPD | Pass |
| November 29, 2021 | In person | P&A | Pass |
| December 18, 2021 | In person | PDD | Fail |
| February 22, 2022 | In person | PDD | 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?
- Architecture wasn’t something that I knew I wanted to do from a young age, there was never an “AH HA” moment. I was taking advanced classes in Math and Science in high school and was decent in my art classes. My art teacher in my junior year of high school recommended it as an option during a parent teacher conference.
- Architecture school was hard, when I started at IIT they were still doing the Mies Van der Rohe hand drafting curriculum. I didn’t start using a computer for drafting work until my 3rd year of study. During 2nd year it was brought to my attention that compared to my classmates my hand drafting was severely lacking, to the point where the professor I had my fall semester couldn’t tell if it was because I wasn’t understanding the curriculum or if I just didn’t care. Not the best conversation to have during finals week of the semester after pulling an all-nighter…I was essentially put on probation for my spring semester that year. They gave me drafting exercises to do during winter break, and for the spring semester I was watched like a hawk when it came to my hand drafting assignments. Safe to say they quickly realized it wasn’t because I didn’t care. If I didn’t succeed, I was going to have to make a choice between having to repeat 2nd year studio or change majors. As it turned out I did well enough where they decided I could advance to third year studio with my peers, and I never had to make the choice.
- In 2011, finding a job after graduating college was also hard. Nobody was really hiring that year, I ended up working at Macy’s for a year after I graduated before I was able to get a full-time architecture job.
- The license is the reward that shows that all the hard work it took to get to this point was worth it. That the late nights, the emotional stress, the money spent, the lack of money earned, and long hours meant something.
- I wanted to be a licensed architect because I earned it.
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?
There is never a good time to start. Honestly, I don’t think I was ever ready for the exams, you just have to jump in and test out the water. If you wait until you’re ready you’re never really going to be ready.
What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?
- Hyperfine, Amberbook, Young Architect Boot Camp, Young Architect Academy, Architect Exam Prep, PluralSight, Black Spectacles…and those are just some of the ones available online. The reading list NCARB provides for the exam is very helpful.
- Amberbook, Young Architect and Architect Exam Prep would be my main recommendations. The videos and test questions for Hyperfine and Pluralsight are great, but I got the best holistic study approaches to the exam from Amberbook, Young Architect and Architect Exam Prep.
- As far as actual printed books, Francis Ching Building Construction Illustrated & Building Codes Illustrated were clutch. So were Problem Seeking, Sun Wind & Light, and the Architects Handbook of Professional Practice.
How did you fit study time into your schedule? Was there anything in particular that worked well for you?
Audio files were a life saver! That was one of the reasons why I like Architect Exam Prep, they made an audio book companion for their study guides. Those were great to listen to during commuting or even to listen to while I was working. Gave me the opportunity to multi-task. The main thing that I needed to do was just to schedule time that was dedicated to either studying or practice questions. I think that’s part of the reason why the study groups helped; it was dedicated time during the week just for studying.
Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?
Do not burn yourself out and Do not OVERTHINK the questions! The exams don’t care about what happened at your jobsite last week or what weird turn of events happened to you on a project based on the something the client requested. The questions are all perfect world scenarios, out of all the options in front of you, what is the straightforward answer to the problem based on the resources and reading material that has been made available to you.
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 Laurie Hoffman for sharing your story!
Edited by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, LSSBB
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