NCARB is making several changes to the Architectural Experience Program® (AXP®), effective November 18, 2025. These updates allow the program to better reflect the capabilities necessary at the point of initial licensure as an architect and address common administrative impediments faced by candidates on the path to licensure—including the experience program’s reporting requirement. 

Learn more about the new reporting requirement and how it may impact your licensure journey. 

The Current Reporting Requirement 

Under the current requirement, candidates must report all experience within eight months of earning it for 100% credit, and within five years for 50% credit; any experience older than five years does not receive any credit.  

The New Reporting Requirement 

Under the new policy—effective November 18, 2025—candidates will be able to earn 100% credit for experience up to a year old. Experience older than one year will be worth 75% credit, with no limitation on how old that experience can be.  

This change will apply to previously approved and new experience reports. Many candidates will automatically receive additional AXP credit when the updated policy goes into effect.  

How This Impacts You 

If all your existing experience has been approved and qualified for 100% credit, this new policy will not impact your current AXP progress. Keep submitting your hours regularly! 

If you have previously approved experience that was older than one year at the time of submission that qualified for 50% credit, your 50% credit hours will be automatically updated to 75% credit after November 18, 2025. Over the coming months, NCARB will share personalized emails with you outlining what your new AXP credit totals will be once this change goes into effect. 

If you have previously approved experience that was between eight months and one year old, that experience will be automatically updated to 100% credit as of November 18, 2025. However, you may need to take additional action after November 18, depending on how you reported your experience: 

  • If you have an approved experience report where the hours were reported only within eight to 12 months of performing the work and none of the experience on that report was older than 12 months at the time of submission, your 50% credit hours will be automatically updated to 100% credit after November 18, 2025.
    • For example: You worked from August 1, 2024, to November 15, 2024, and submitted the experience report for that work on July 20, 2025. 
       
  • However, if you have an approved experience report where some of the hours were reported within eight to 12 months and some of the hours were reported more than 12 months after performing the work, you will need to contact NCARB after November 18, 2025, to have the report manually split. The hours that were reported within eight to 12 months of being earned would be worth 100% credit, and the hours reported more than 12 months after being earned would be worth 75% credit.
    • For example: You worked from June 1, 2024, to November 15, 2024, and submitted the experience report for that work on July 20, 2025. This would need to be split into two reports: one reporting hours from June 1 – July 20, 2024, for 75% credit, and one reporting hours from July 21 – November 15, 2024 for 100% credit. 

Note: You should wait until the updated policy goes into effect on November 18, 2025, to contact our Customer Relations team to split your report.  

If you’re done with AXP but not licensed yet, well done! There is no action you need to take. Please note that your hours will not be automatically updated in your My NCARB account since you are AXP complete. If you would like your hours to be adjusted to reflect the new reporting policy, you can contact NCARB’s Customer Relations team after the new policy goes into effect. 

 Learn more about all the upcoming AXP changes, effective November 18, 2025.