March 30, 2011 – Vignette Seminar

The IAC committee will be offering a free study session for Intern Architects who are preparing for the ARE Exams. This seminars emphasis will placed on approaches for working through the vignette portions for PPP and SPD, focusing on problem-solving and time management strategies.

This seminar will run from 6:00PM to 7:30PM at the AIBC Architecture Centre. The seminar will provide strategies and other tips for each exam, and are not intended to cover specific exam content. It would be helpful to have some familiarity with the exam materials and some experience with the graphic practice program prior to attending the respective seminars.

Introductory material and resources can be located at Intern Architect Exam Process and Resources,

To reserve a spot for this seminar, or if you have any questions, you can contact Emily Tyler, Registration & Licensing Administration Assistant, at 604 683 8588 ext. 324 or etyler@aibc.ca.

Programming, Planning + Practice (PPP)

This exam has one graphic vignette– Site Zoning.

Site Planning + Design (SPD)

This exam has two graphic vignettes – Site Grading and Site Design

2011 ARE Preparation Seminars

Building upon the success of last year’s ARE Preparation seminars, the IAC committee continues to offer free study sessions in 2011 for Intern Architects who are preparing for the ARE Exams. This year, the emphasis will placed on approaches for working through the vignette portions of each exam, focusing on problem-solving and time management strategies.

Each seminar will generally run from 6:00PM to 7:30PM at the AIBC Architecture Centre. These seminars are designed to provide strategies and other tips for each exam, and are not intended to cover specific exam content. It would be helpful to have some familiarity with the exam materials and some experience with the graphic practice program prior to attending the respective seminars, except of course for the introductory seminar.

To reserve a spot for one of the seminars, or if you have any questions, you can contact Emily Tyler, Registration & Licensing Administration Assistant, at 604 683 8588 ext. 324 or etyler@aibc.ca.

March 9, 2011 – Introduction Seminar

This seminar will give you an overview of the Exam Process and study techniques for the NCARB ARE Exams. Information about AIBC study resources and external study resources will be laid out. Learn how to prepare for, book and take your ARE exams. Much of the information that will be covered can be found on the AIBC website here at Intern Architect Exam Process and Resources.

March 30, 2011 – Vignette Seminar

Programming, Planning + Practice (PPP)

This exam has one graphic vignette– Site Zoning.

Site Planning + Design (SPD)

This exam has two graphic vignettes – Site Grading and Site Design

April 14, 2011 – Vignette Seminar

Building Design + Construction Systems (BDCS)

This exam has three graphic vignettes – Accessibility/Ramp, Stair Design and Roof Plan

May 18, 2011 – Vignette Seminar

Schematic Design (SD)

This exam has two graphic vignettes – Interior Layout, Building Layout

June 1, 2011 – Vignette Seminar

Structural Systems (SS)

This exam has one graphic vignette – Structural Layout

Building Systems (BS)

This exam has one graphic vignette – Mechanical and Electrical Plan

Construction Documents + Services (CDS)

This exam has one graphic vignette – Building Section

ARE Resources NOW AVAILABLE

There are a vast amount of existing resources to prepare Intern Architects for the ARE, many at no cost. The AIBC has complied an extensive list and this is now available for review. The information covers everything from obtaining your Authorization to Test letter, booking an exam, the exam location rules and conduct, to available study resources.

IA Exam Process and Resources

ARE Structures Seminar

Professor David Thaddeus is back!

November 12th to the 14th, 2010
Friday: 9am - 7pm, Saturday: 8am - 8pm, Sunday: 8am - 7pm
At the AIBC office boardroom

Registration is now open! During this intense three day class, Prof. Thaddeus will be presenting his Structures Seminar at the AIBC offices. This lecture offers three full days of workshops, mock exams and questions & answers that focus on preparing Intern Architects for the Structural Systems division of the ARE 4.0. These workshops present the technique, strategy and skills invaluable to all interns preparing for their exams. If you have any questions, please contact the AIBC Registration & Licensing Administration Assistant Emily Tyler.

Registration is limited and closes November 5th!

Gustavo's Buildings

The first Mibelli Building Seminar in Vancouver was a big success, thanks to Gustavo!

The participants enjoyed the two day class. Gustavo focused time on the vignette, showing the class what to and not to do. The building seminar exam content was invaluable.

- "The participants had a good time, they felt that it really helped"

Next up: The Structural Seminar!
This is scheduled for early November. The registration date will be announced soon.

Architecture ARE Flashcards for your iPod

Studying for the AREs just got a lot cooler!

On September 7th gWhiz released the latest version 2.1 of the Kaplan flashcards for your iPod, iPhone, iPad...
Check it out!

2010 ARE Preparation Seminars

The Intern Architect Committee will be holding a series of free ARE preparation seminars over the coming weeks and months to help interns prepare for the exams. The seminars will be held approximately every two weeks, and will generally run from 6:00pm to 7:00pm at the AIBC Architecture Centre in Vancouver. Dates below are still subject to change. Please check back regularly to confirm that the seminar schedule is accurate.

These seminars are designed to provide strategies and other tips for each exam, and are not intended to cover specific exam content. It would be helpful to have some familiarity with the exam materials and some experience with the graphic practice program prior to attending the respective seminars, except of course for the introductory seminar.

Introduction to the AREs Wed Mar 10
Programming Planning and Practice Mon Mar 15
Site Planning and Design Mon Mar 22
Schematic Design Wed Apr 07 **
Building Design and Construction Systems Mon Apr 19**
Structural Systems Mon May 17
Building Systems Mon May 31
Construction Documents and Services Mon Jun 14

** Please note these two sessions have swapped dates.

Potential ARE Building Systems Seminar

There is a possibility of bringing in a presenter to give a two-day seminar for the Building Systems exam, in a similar style to the recent Structures Seminar given by David Thaddeus. This seminar will be presented by Gustavo Mibelli, and from all appearances seems to be helpful to some of the interns in the Building Systems forums. We are looking at scheduling this seminar in the spring, if there is enough initial interest. Please let us know if you have any interest in taking a course such as this. Thanks!

ARE 4.0 Exam Seminar Presenters

The Intern Architect Committee would like to invite interns who have written (and passed) some of the ARE 4.0 exams to serve as volunteer presenters for this year's exam preparation seminars. The 30 to 45-minute seminars are designed to provide topical exam-taking advice to interns who are about to write each exam, and thus will focus more on strategy than on specific content. Please contact us if you are interested in volunteering for any of these positions. Thanks!

ARE Study Groups: Preparing for the AREs Outside Vancouver

ARE study resources at the AIBC library are available to all interns. However, out-of-town ARE candidates may find it difficult to attend ARE preparation seminars held in Vancouver. In some cases, these ARE seminars provide some much-needed encouragement to take an exam. For those of us who cannot attend, motivation can be the biggest challenge to studying and completing the seven divisions of the ARE.

So why not study as a group? A study group is an excellent resource for those who function well under “peer-pressure,” encouraging them to study for these exams. You will also find yourself responsible to others and not only to yourself. A regular ARE study group may start with as few as four people and grow to as many as fifteen. Members may join for just one exam or continue for all of them.

The ARE Forum, a web-based bulletin board, is a good resource when searching for interns in your area who are preparing for the same ARE division. Upon registration, you may post your call under Areforum > Miscellaneous Forums - Not a place for debate just listings > Study Groups

One example of the many ARE Forum postings is a 15-member ARE study group in Albuquerque, NM. They started with PPP, then CDS, SPD and are now preparing SS. So far, they have passed 2 and failed 1. This is how they work together:

As a group we decide on an exam to study for; then we determine how long we want to take to study 4-8 weeks depending on the exam; then we break the readings out according to the schedule; we are using the Kaplan material as our main study material with the PPI material as a second source ... Once we determine the reading, we take a week to read the material and do the quiz at the end of each lesson and then meet each week to discuss the answers to the questions, we talk about why we chose an answer and where we found it in the reading ... As we get closer to the end of the study time for that exam we begin to look at the graphic portion and work through the problems available as a group and discuss why we decided to do certain things and not to do certain things. We then take a week or two for each member of the group to take the exam before moving on to the next exam and then we start it again.

If you are working with a study group, how do you study? Please share your experiences with us. It will be helpful to other interns trying to start a study group.

Gastón Castaño IA (Victoria, BC)

Structures Seminar 2009

The AIBC will once again be hosting Prof. David Thaddeus, AIA, NCARB in November 2009. Prof. Thaddeus will be presenting his Structures Seminar at the AIBC offices on November 6 - 8, 2009. This seminar offers three full days of workshops, mock exams and questions & answers that focus on preparing Intern Architects for the Structural Systems division of the ARE 4.0. These workshops present the technique, strategy and skills invaluable to all interns preparing for their exams. The registration form is now available on the AIBC website. The registration deadline is October 28th. Please contact AIBC Registration Coordinator, Roisin O'Neill, at roneill@aibc.ca if you have any questions.

Solid Footing for General Structures Seminar

by Jeff LeMay IA.AIBC

The recent ARE General Structures workshop featuring David Thaddeus, AIA, NCARB, provided an excellent overview of structural concepts and solid preparation for the ARE General Structures exam. The 3-day workshop hosted by the AIBC in Vancouver November 7th -9th was attended by 27 intern architects from B.C., Washington, and as far away as California.

David Thaddeus’s amicable and engaging communication style made the three full days in seminar not only bearable but often enjoyable.

David’s extensive collection of 2D models made for the overhead projector clearly depicted the transformations that occur in structures under various loading conditions. His use of colour coding for different types of forces in his digital presentation was consistent throughout the seminar and made note taking and review easy. David never hesitated to pause for questions and confirm we were all on track eliminating our anxiety over being left behind.

David’s presentation was a thoughtful balance of structural concepts, equations and example questions from the exam. The concepts presented formed a useful review of the structures courses taken in school, but David presented them in a way that made them accessible for interns with or without a structures-heavy education. These concepts were underscored by a slide show including images of innovative design solutions and arresting structural failures.

The equations David presented served to consistently and cogently underscore the concepts. Eemphasis was placed one those most often featured in the exam. David successfully straddled the line between the 3.1 and 4.0 exams, ensuring a useful seminar for interns on both exam tracks. Significant time was allotted for practice questions. David also offered useful time saving strategies such as eliminating impossible answers from multiple choice questions and thereby avoiding unnecessary math operations.

This engaging and useful seminar is a recommended event not only to interns studying for General Structures but also to those who wish to enhance their structural knowledge for use in practice.

Testimony from Abdel Amin IA.AIBC:

"The things I found useful were the techniques Thaddeus presented to save time and eliminate needing to calculate every math question. He offered an exam taking plan of attack which I thought eliminated the need to ‘think’ during the exam and tempt misinterpretations. He made it simple and quick so you weren’t prone to confuse terms, especially when the equations were involved. I also felt that he explained the concepts more clearly where the Kaplan Study Guide was unnecessarily math heavy and light on explanations. He explained the theories better and we were better equipped to do the exam because of that. There isn’t too many calculations in that exam compared to the theory so if you don’t have the theory down, you may have trouble with the majority of the questions.

Also, the 2D structural models that he had were very useful. You can see clear as daylight what happens when forces act on the systems that are under consideration. I need to see it to believe it. You can talk for hours but if I can’t see it/ visualize it I won’t believe it and it becomes much harder for me to even remember it for the exam. I don’t think I am alone in thinking like this.

If I were to do all this again, I would schedule the Thaddeus course to be 2 weeks before my exam. I feel you need to do some studying before to get the most out of the course but leave yourself enough time to be able to read and review new concepts that you weren’t aware of after the course. I ran out of that time and had to wing it as much as I could as it was eating into my review time. I scheduled the exam for the Friday after the course so I ran out of time to thoroughly review the additional readings that he recommended.

The money for the course is well worth it. For the amount of time that you are there, a total of almost 30 hrs I think, it works out to be around $10/hr. Less than half of what you would spend on a tutor or another course which isn’t catered to passing the ARE specifically."

The Intern Architect Committee will be arranging for Prof. Thaddeus’ return for 2009. Stay tuned for further details.

LAST CALL - Registration for David Thaddeus’ Structures Seminar

On Friday November 7th, David Thaddeus will begin his 3-day (Friday – Sunday) intensive Structures workshop to help prepare interns for the ARE Structures exam. There are still spaces available for this seminar and, in fact, David Thaddeus would like to see more registrants come forward. This course is great for people who want to absorb structures concepts in a hands on format prior to taking the ARE Structures exam. If you are interested please click here for the registration form. The deadline for registration has been extended to Thursday, October 30th at 5:00 pm. If you have any questions you can email the AIBC’s Registration Coordinator, Róisín O’Neill at roneill@aibc.ca. For a full description of the course please see last month’s blog.

David Thaddeus ARE Structures Workshop

The AIBC Intern Architect Committee is bringing David Thaddeus, AIA, NCARB to Vancouver in November to present his hugely popular ARE Structures Seminar. David Thaddeus is Associate Professor of Structures and Architectural Design at the College of Architecture, in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Before that, he was at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston. While teaching at the University of Houston, he developed a review course for the General Structures and Lateral Forces Divisions of the Architect Registration Exam (ARE) and first offered the course to interns in 1989. Professor Thaddeus continues to teach his ARE Review course across North America.

This Structures (ARE) Exam workshop is three full days of workshops, mock exams and questions and answers that focus on preparing Intern Architects for the two structural exams required for licensure: General Structures and Lateral Forces. These workshops present the technique, strategy and skills invaluable to all Intern Architects preparing for their exams. Professor Thaddeus recommends that interns be familiar with the materials for the Materials & Methods Exam before attending the seminar.

Following is a testimonial from a BC Intern who attended one of professor Thaddeus' recent workshops:

He explains basic concepts in a very user friendly way - after the lecture it all started to fall into the right spot. We were shown some tricks - how to tackle some seemingly hard/sneaky questions. I'd call those three days a great primer of basic knowledge we should have in order to make the rest of the material more understandable. It would take me at least two or three times longer to digest the material he covers just studying it on my own. His lecture is worth every penny, also he should come before the ARE’s are updated again next year. With every change the passing rate drops a lot. It's about 67 percent right now and used to be well over 80 percent if I remember correctly.

To see a review by Sean Ruthen, IA who attended the seminar in Vancouver last year, click here: http://aibc.ca/member_resources/intern_resources/pdf/intern_update_november07.pdf.

The workshop will be held at the AIBC offices in downtown Vancouver. Click here to download the registration form. Once registered you will be emailed information about what to bring with you to the workshop. This seminar is not limited to AIBC Interns.

If you have any questions about this seminar you may contact Róisín O’Neill, AIBC Registration Coordinator at roneill@aibc.ca.

ARE 4.0 Study Material

The AIBC has two complete sets of the Kaplan ARE 4.0 Study Materials as well as a complete set of Ballast Study Materials. These are available for loan (one week maximum). If you reside outside of Vancouver, the AIBC will cover the cost of couriering the material to you. However, you will be responsible for any return courier arrangements and costs. Plan ahead and make sure the study material you require is available before you book your exams. If you or the firm you work for would like to purchase a set of study materials, they are available at a discounted rate. For the Kaplan Study Guides, go to kaplanarchitecture.com where they can be purchased at 20% off. Each study guide costs approximately $200 and the entire set is $1300. For the Ballast Study Guides, go to ppi2pass.com where they can be purchased at 15% off. The prices of individual books range from $29 - $67, but if you are looking for a “one-stop guide” you can acquire the ARE Review Manual, which covers all seven exams, for $127. Don’t forget that the NCARB website has some free practice questions.