ARE: You don't have to spill the beans

"...but at that moment I set it in stone that I'd finish all seven exams before I announce anything to anyone!"

These words ran through my mind the moment I received my first and thankfully my only exam failure letter. The Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) already has a mental exhaustion characteristic associated with it. There's no sense adding to your misery. My advice is think a minute on who you announce your ARE journey to. The below is a synopsis of my pledge of secrecy during my testing period.

In June of 2010 I embarked on a major step in my professional career: The ARE. I was uneasy about how the experience would be. From the Prometric facility, the difficult multiple choice questions or the lack of user-friendly CAD program, I knew this was going to be a tough battle. After two months of studying, I scheduled and took my first exam. At the time, there were no digital exam results so my uneasiness only continued further following the exam with a 4 week minimum wait period.

After weeks of pacing the door awaiting the snail mail, it came. With shaky fingers I opened it. Reading the words "FAIL" almost brought me to tears. I didn't know what my next step would be but at that moment I set it in stone that I'd finish all seven exams before I announce anything to anyone!

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