The conversation I had with my husband took place sometime in mid-January, 2014. About three and a half years before that, while expecting my first child, I decided to take Prof. Thaddeus seminar. What in the world was I thinking? I had not been studying, nor had I taken any exam yet, but the thought of having a few months of freedom before welcoming my baby, just seemed perfect to try an cram in any ARE division! It didn’t matter which one. The seminar was coming to Baton Rouge and it just felt like a good reason to get back on that horse. Although the intention was good, the execution was impossible! Within one month, I was put on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. I had to kiss the idea of taking any test prior to the delivery date goodbye! My consolation prize was purchasing the KAPLAN study guides in hopes that I would put them to use as soon as my baby could go to daycare and I could have a little time for myself.
One and a half years later, when I felt like life was finally manageable again simply because I had a good routine going, I was invited to teach a class at LSU School of Architecture as an adjunct professor. That combined with a second pregnancy and the project for a new space for my husband’s practice proved to be impossible to squeeze in study time.
It wasn’t until the fall of 2013 that I had begun organizing all the study material I had purchased three years earlier or gathered during all the years of working at an office. I also had some notes from the times I was able to begin studying, but for one reason or another had to abruptly interrupt it. And out of those notes, the one set I managed to finish was for Construction Documents and Services. I cannot even remember when I started to compile those notes or how I even finish them, but I was sure of one thing: I took them straight from the AIA documents. In other words: I had read those documents myself! I did not rely on someone else’s notes on them. So in a very broken up manner, I had covered a good chunk of the CDS material.
When it was time to schedule, the choice of exam was a no-brainer. On a whim, I scheduled CDS for the first week of February 2015. That was only three and a half weeks away. Somehow I felt confident on the notes I had just gathered a few month before. I decided I would study Kaplan, Caroline’s notes, my notes, Archiflash cards, and the A201 and B101 Commentaries. I hadn’t discovered Jenny’s notes, or Schiff Hardin’s lectures, or any other mock exams. I was a bit naive and very much stuck in time. I had browsed arecoach.com, but became overwhelmed with all the information posted. Without any time to waste, I decided to go with the material I had and the notes I had taken. If there was one thing I learned from taking the LEED test was that I could not brush through this material. I really had to learn it, to spend time with it, to practice. Even though I didn’t use a lot of different materials for this specific exam, this was the one exam I had done a bit of studying prior to scheduling, so it just felt right to begin with this one.
I practiced all of Kaplan’s mock up exams over and over, until I became familiar with the language and concepts. I started off by testing in the 50% range… I would review the questions I got wrong over and over again, until I could second-guess anymore. I timed myself. I dedicated a good chuck of the last week of studying to getting proficient with the vignette. I felt prepared going into the exam. I felt really nervous and stressed going in, but over all, prepared. However, that confidence was blown out of the water within the first 10 questions. Oh. My. God. The first ten questions. They were like a slap on my face. Every time. And it happened with every single exam. I don’t know if it is just my nervous jitters, but it always took me more than 10 questions to get my heart beat to calm down and for me to think clear. Here’s another interesting observation: the questions are worded very differently than the sample tests and mock-up exam we find in study guides and such. One has to read these questions really carefully.
Either way, I left that multiple choice portion of the exam feeling very deflated. I had marked almost half of the questions, even though I felt like I made conscious, well educated guesses on most of them. Still, because they way it was written, or because of a vocabulary use I didn’t know, or because of a subject that seemed to pertain to another division… whatever the reason, I would mark any question I had the slightest hesitation on, even though I knew that, upon review, I would unlikely change my answer. But I marked them anyway in the hope that I would have time to review. However, I finished that portion of the exam with less than five minutes to spare, so I couldn’t review more than 10 questions marked. I was devastated.
I remember talking to another ARE candidate about the frustration I felt. It seemed to me like he could relate. He agreed with me that CDS seemed more conceptual and less matter-of-fact type of exam. It is the kind that you have to read and interpret the question. It was not about identifying a picture and knowing what it is. Little did I know that all of the exams are that way. In my experience, very few questions are matter-of-fact, the kinds that you either know it or you don’t. Most of them seemed to be the kind that leaves you hanging… and doubting, and debating in your head: “it could be this, but it kind of could be this too… NCARB, what exactly are you asking here?” I couldn’t tell how many per exam felt that way. All I know is that I went in feeling prepared and I left feeling awful.
The saving grace was the vignette portion. That part was straight forward. I felt like it was really on par with the NCARB practice version. No big suprises there, I felt like I did ok. However, that was not enough to shake off the bad feeling I had from earlier… I left the testing center certain that I had failed it. One week later, I received and email stating that my score had been posted. With lots of hesitation I clicked on the link. To my surprise, I found out I had passed. I remember screaming so loudly that my throat hurt for a few minutes after. My hands were shaking. I was in disbelief.
But a couple of days later, as I had time to reflect on the test, I think the positive result came my way for a simple reason: I was adequately prepared for the multiple choice AND the vignette portion of the exam. Even though I freaked out about the questions and how unfamiliar they sounded to me during the exam, I took the time to read each one of them carefully and realized I was answering them to the best of my ability. What first seemed like wild guesses, because of the number of marked questions I had at the end, turned out to be my weird way of handling stress.
Next up: PPP.
Side note: Lots of people will suggest to begin with the triad: CDS, PPP, SPD. I suggest starting with whatever subject you feel more comfortable or confident with. There are no easy exams, and one needs to prepare almost equally for every single one of these tests. Some exams are more draining than others, but the path to prepare for them is almost the same. Study, study, study… and practice, practice, practice those vignettes!
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