Six-Month Rule Goes Into Effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT 1 July 2010
The final phase of the Six-Month Rule will go into effect for all interns who established an NCARB Record prior to 1 July 2009 at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 1 July 2010. The Six-Month Rule is already in effect for interns that established an NCARB Record on or after 1 July 2009.

The Six-Month Rule requires interns to submit their training hours in reporting periods of no longer than six months and within two months of completion of each reporting period. Once interns have submitted their training hours to their supervisor through the electronic Experience Verification Reporting (e-EVR) system in My NCARB Record, those hours are protected while under review. To be protected, you must have a "submitted" status on the upper right of the report. A report that has a "saved" status is not protected.

Your supervisor does not need to approve your experience report by 1 July 2010. A supervisor can return a report for edits and still have the report be safe from the Six-Month Rule. However, submitted training hours can be lost if they are deemed invalid by a supervisor, or if they are not earned in accordance with the rules of the IDP.

Here's how it works:
Example 1: Standard
An intern taking maximum advantage of the reporting and filing periods would have through August 31 to report training hours that were earned during the six-month period starting January 1 and ending June 30. While the reporting period is a maximum of six months, the filing period could be any time on or after June 30 through August 31.

Example 2: Administrative Delay
Same example as above, but there is an incidental problem with the report or supplementary information is required and it takes additional time for NCARB and the intern to resolve. The intern may still count the time between January 1 and June 30 once the problem is resolved and accepted by NCARB.

Example 3: Missed Filing Period
If an intern attempts to file an experience report on October 3 for a period covering January 15 through July 14, the report will not be accepted. The intern must recalculate and resubmit the report.

In this example, February 4 is the earliest possible start date for an experience report submitted on October 3 and any training hours accumulated from January 15 through February 3 would be lost. If February 4 was used as the start date, then the reporting period would end on August 3, six months later, and the intern could file his or her report on October 3.

Six-Month Rule Extensions
Extensions are available for the birth or adoption of a child, military service, or serious medical condition. An extension form with supporting documentation must be submitted to NCARB. Extensions apply only to the experience-filing period.

Examples:
Birth or Adoption of a Child
An intern has become a new parent or adopted a child on January 15. Before taking a leave of absence on January 1, the intern had completed six months of work (July 1 — December 31). Whereas the intern would normally be expected to file the experience report by February 28, following a documented and approved request the intern would be given until August 31 to file this report.

Active Military Duty
An intern has been called to active military duty on January 15. Before this event, the intern had worked until December 31, having completed six months of work (July 1 — December 31) that could be reported for training hour credit. Whereas the intern would normally be expected to submit the experience report by February 28, following a documented and approved request, the intern would be given a reasonable extension for filing this report following the intern's end of active military duty.

Serious Medical Condition
Similar to Example 6, an intern who has experienced a serious medical condition could, with appropriate and approved documentation from a licensed medical doctor overseeing the intern's care, be allowed a reasonable extension of the two-month filing period.

There are no exceptions or extensions granted for missing the deadline to establish an NCARB Record by 1 July 2009 or the 12:01 a.m. EDT 1 July 2010 deadline in accordance with the requirements of the Six-Month Rule.

Do you need more information? Check out the Six-Month Rule section of our web site here. It includes more examples of how the Six-Month Rule will work as well as links to webcasts, podcasts, and other resources.

Report your experience today!

Attention:
NCARB anticipates heavy volumes of experience submissions and related requests for Record evaluation throughout the coming months. If you are documenting the completion of IDP between now and 1 July 2010, this increase will most likely translate into extended service processing times. Please submit your experience through the e-EVR system at your earliest opportunity to avoid extended processing delays.

My NCARB Record Login
Login to My NCARB Record to access the e-EVR and report your experience today!

Emerging Professional's Companion
In July 2009, AIA and NCARB launched an updated version of the Emerging Professional's Companion (EPC). An IDP training enrichment resource, the EPC provides free web-based training opportunities outside of the studio environment. EPC 2009 was linked to IDP through the 2009 EPC Linking Study. The 2009 Linking Study evaluated the EPC and determined what content was eligible for credit toward completion of IDP. Qualifying content was identified as either an exercise or activity, with only activities being eligible to earn minimum (core) credit toward completion of IDP. More than 200 exercises and activities were posted on the EPC web site for use by interns.

NCARB recently completed a quality control review of the EPC 2009. During this review, it was discovered that 11 exercises and/or activities were not properly aligned to the results of the 2009 Linking Study. Four additional exercises were published in multiple chapters. NCARB has carefully reviewed the anomalies and is currently in the process of working with the AIA to update the content on the EPC web site. NCARB has removed the affected items from the e-EVR pull down menu while these adjustments are being made. Interns impacted by these adjustments will be notified. For a complete listing of the 15 exercises and activities please click here.

Coming Soon!
Special Edition IDP e-News - IDP 2.0: Phase Three
Learn about the implementation plan and the new experience settings to take place in Phase Three. For more information on phase three of IDP 2.0, read the Spring 2010 Direct Connection.

Updated IDP and IDP Supervisor Guidelines
Several updates to the Intern Development Program (IDP) went into effect on 1 January 2010 as part of phase two of IDP 2.0. All the changes can be found in the January 2010 IDP Guidelines, and IDP Supervisor Guidelines.

NCARB Expert Series
NCARB staff may be coming to a school, firm, or AIA chapter near you! Through NCARB's expert series, our staff will explain how NCARB works as an organization, how to successfully progress through the IDP, how to obtain a license, and the value of an NCARB Certificate. They will also explain all the new and upcoming rule changes affecting NCARB's programs and services and answer your questions.

Events will be posted on our home page. Some events listed (particularly those held at a college campus or a firm) may be closed events. Please check with the contact person for event details.

Not coming to a location near you? Contact Martin Smith at msmith@ncarb.org to find out about NCARB outreach opportunities. Also, check out our webcast and podcast series for more information on NCARB programs.

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