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:
Nick Greenaway, RA, NCARB
Hi I’m Nick and I am a licensed architect in Youngstown, Ohio. I graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in May 2017 and a Master of Architecture in August 2018. Currently, I am a Project Manager and DPH Architecture in Canfield, Ohio working in the financial, higher education, entertainment, and adaptive reuse markets.
“Challenge yourself to learn something new daily.”
Exam Order
| February 5, 2022 | In Person | PcM | Pass |
Due to the transition from Prometric to PSI as a test provider, my local testing center no longer offered the ARE and the nearest PSI location was about an hour away from my area. Because of this I opted to switch to virtual test appointments
| September 24, 2022 | Virtual | PjM | Pass |
| November 19, 2022 | Virtual | PA | Pass |
| January 28, 2023 | Virtual | PPD | Pass |
| February 18, 2023 | Virtual | PDD | Pass |
| April 29, 2023 | Virtual | CE | 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’ve wanted to be an architect since I was a little kid and for me once I started down that career path when I began college, I knew that my goal would be to get licensed. I spent all this time and effort to get my degrees and I always felt that becoming licensed was the ultimate gift I could give myself for all of my hard work.
What type of study materials did you use? Any particular ones that you’d recommend?
When I started preparing to test, I purchased the PPI2Pass books and I was also using their online study platform for quiz questions and study plan generation. I used the books and the online platform exclusively for the first two exams (PcM and PjM) and found a lot of success with this method. My strategy was basically to read the chapters of the book and isolate areas I felt that I needed more reinforcement in and then I would dedicate more time in those areas.
For the last 4 exams I changed my study and preparation method to utilize the online system where needed but I primarily used the practice tests offered by NCARB to identify areas where I was weak and I would use that as guidance for a study plan.
Once I identified areas I didn’t understand or areas that I didn’t feel confident in, I worked with my colleagues at my firm and asked them questions about things I didn’t have much experience in or things I needed help understanding. Typically, the Principal or other Registered Architects would help me better understand a topic or they would find ways for me to get some experience in a particular area.
It was at this time that I realized how important collaboration and open office culture is in this profession. I am thankful to work in an office that promotes asking questions and involves employees of all experience levels in all parts of the architecture process. I spent the last three and a half years working and listening to how other people were managing projects and collaborating on design and construction documents and through that process I feel that I gained a lot of knowledge and understand that I was able to utilize during exams.
Do you have any other advice for someone studying for their exams?
I think one of the most important things is to listen to yourself and understand what motivates you to learn. I have always learned better through experience than I have through studying in conventional ways with books, notes, flashcards, etc. I used this mindset and applied it to my daily life in the office and tried to gain experience and knowledge in topics I didn’t quite understand or areas where I didn’t have a lot of firsthand knowledge.
For the last 4 exams I would take the NCARB practice exams and see how I performed on those and then spend a few weeks gaining knowledge in my weaker areas and then I would take the exam. Minimal “conventional” studying and maximum experience-based studying was the key to success for me. Something I’ve learned is that you have more knowledge inside yourself than you think. The best way I found to utilize that knowledge was to relax during the exams was to try to relate exam questions to something I had experienced, ask myself what was learned in that experience, and know what happened during that experience to achieve the final result.
Every day is a new opportunity to learn something so the best advice I could give would be to challenge yourself to learn something new daily, even if it’s something small or not even related to architecture.
Most importantly is to celebrate your successes, you’ve come this far in your career path and accomplished great things up until this point and it’s important to reflect and congratulate yourself for your accomplishments!
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 Nick Greenaway for sharing your story!
Edited by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB
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