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:
Mitchell Woldt, RA
My name is Mitchell Woldt. I am a licensed Architect at CO-OP Architecture in Rapid City, South Dakota. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019 and Master of Architecture in 2021, both from South Dakota State University. Outside of work, I serve on the AIA South Dakota Committee for Emerging Professionals to help other architectural graduates work their way towards licensure.
“The advice that helped me most was to treat the exams as a single test with 6 sections rather than 6 individual ones.”
Exam Order
| February 27, 2023 | In Person | PDD | Pass |
| February 28, 2023 | In Person | C&E | Pass |
| March 1, 2023 | In Person | PjM | Pass |
| March 1, 2023 | In Person | PcM | Pass |
| March 2, 2023 | In Person | PPD | Pass |
| March 3, 2023 | In Person | P&A | Pass |
Advice for you!
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?
My best advice when it comes to where to start is to, first, set a goal for yourself, and second, talk to others who have gone through it. Setting a goal will give you a way to hold yourself accountable. Getting tests scheduled to meet that goal will force you to prioritize studying. Finally, talking to others who have gone through it will give you confidence and hopefully advice on how to best approach it.
What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?
I am very much a visual learner (as I’m sure many architectural graduates are). Because of this, I found The Amber Book was the easiest to follow and understand resource out there. In addition to the Amber Book, I used the NCARB practice exams, sample AIA contracts, and the book Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching.
How did you fit study time into your schedule? Was there anything in particular that worked well for you?
I found that if I waited until I had time to study, I was never going to study. After procrastinating getting started for months, I finally sat down and made a plan, starting with when I wanted to take the exams and worked backwards from there. I ended up studying for about 6 weeks before scheduling my exams. The study schedule within the Amber Book course does a good job of organizing concepts and can be adapted to your individual timeline.
Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?
The best advice I can share, and what helped me the most, is to treat the exams as a single test with 6 sections rather than 6 individual ones. This gave me a more holistic approach to studying and revealed the relationships between each section. Same thing goes for taking the tests. I would recommend taking them close together. It keeps you familiar with the test taking process and allows you to learn from previous exams.
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 Mitchell Woldt for sharing your story!
Edited by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB
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