A new version of the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) 5.0 Guidelines that reflects upcoming changes to the exam effective on April 27, 2026, is now available. Download the ARE Guidelines to learn more about minor adjustments to 12 out of the 91 exam objectives, clarifying revisions to several objective descriptions, and formatting changes to case studies.

The changes will not impact the ARE’s overall division structure, number of items per division, or testing time per division. Candidates’ passed divisions, including divisions reinstated through the retirement of the former rolling clock policy, will not be impacted. 

Read the ARE Guidelines

Exam Objective and Description Adjustments

As part of NCARB’s effort to align the ARE with the NCARB Competency Standard for Architects, 12 of the 91 exam objectives identified in the ARE 5.0 Guidelines have been adjusted. Three objectives include minor revisions to narrow the competency expectations assessed in the exam, and nine objectives include clarifying adjustments to better reflect the Competency Standard. The ARE 5.0 Guidelines also includes a descriptive paragraph below each objective; these paragraphs have also been updated as appropriate.

The objectives being narrowed are:

  • Practice Management Objective 3.3: Currently, this objective assesses both the risks and rewards of a potential project. The Competency Standard has removed project rewards as a knowledge area for initial licensure.
  • Programming & Analysis Objective 4.5 and Project Planning & Design Objective 5.2: Currently, these objectives assess the ability to create a project budget, schedule, and cost estimate. The Competency Standard has narrowed expectations for initial licensure to the ability to review budgets, schedules, and cost estimates as prepared by others.

The objectives being updated to clarify their alignment with the Competency Standard are:

  • Practice Management Objectives 4.1 and 4.2
  • Project Management Objectives 4.1, 4.3, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4
  • Project Planning & Design Objective 5.3
  • Construction & Evaluation Objective 1.1

The updated language for each exam objective and its associated description is:

Practice Management

  • 3.3: Understand potential project risks and how a practice can mitigate those risks. You must be able to evaluate a potential project to assess the risk it may bring to the practice and how that risk can be mitigated to reduce its impact.
  • 4.1: Identify and compare practice and business structures relevant to an architectural practice. Architects must be able to examine various ways to structure a practice to achieve the firm goals.
  • 4.2: Identify and compare processes, policies, and resources used in the design, coordination, and documentation of different project types. You must also be able to examine the various ways a firm completes a project. This may include practice-wide policies that guide a firm's design principles, standard processes for project documentation, and resources for coordinating project components.

Project Management

  • 4.1: Monitor the project throughout its design and documentation for compliance with the construction budget.As the project is designed and documented, architects must review and assess each new or revised construction estimate to ensure the project aligns with the construction budget.
  • 4.3: Implement appropriate policies and procedures to document a project for a specified delivery method. In the Practice Management division, you looked at practice-wide policies and procedures that provide guidelines and instructions for project documentation. Now, you must be able to implement the appropriate policy or procedure for a project based on its delivery method so that project information is conveyed in a clear and coordinated manner.
  • 5.2: Identify processes, policies, and resources for quality control and risk reduction in the project. Description remains the same.
  • 5.3: Implement quality control processes to ensure project coordination and constructability. You will need to implement and manage the review process and procedures identified in the previous objective. This includes ensuring a sound process is in place for assessing the project documentation in regards to coordination and constructability.
  • 5.4: Implement quality control processes to maintain integrity of design objectives. Description remains the same.

Programming & Analysis

  • 4.5: Review and assess the feasibility of the project budget and schedule to meet the project scope. As an architect, you must be able to compare available project information (master plans, existing documentation, program requirements, site information, etc.) to the client’s budget and schedule in order to determine the feasibility of the project and provide appropriate recommendations.

Project Planning & Design

  • 5.2: Evaluate cost estimates based on the project design. This division focuses on preliminary design decisions to meet the client's program requirements and goals. As these initial decisions are made, you must be able to evaluate project cost estimates prepared by others. It's important to understand how these estimates vary based on relevant cost estimating methods, as well as how to reconcile the estimates with the construction budget through the consideration of design alternatives.
  • 5.3: Evaluate the project design based on cost considerations. Building on the previous two objectives, architects must be able to evaluate the cost effectiveness of design decisions in meeting the client's priorities, both for upfront costs covered by the construction budget as well as future maintenance and replacement costs after the project is completed.

Construction & Evaluation

  • 1.1: Understand the architect's role and responsibilities in advising the client during the bidding process based on project delivery method. Description remains the same.

To support candidates preparing for the ARE, NCARB has also revised the descriptive paragraphs for three other objectives to clarify these existing objectives’ alignment with the Competency Standard. All ARE items are written to one of the 91 objectives. The descriptive paragraphs are provided to assist candidates in preparing for their exams but are not used in the exam development process. Learn more about how the ARE is developed.

The updated language for each revised objective description is:

Project Development & Documentation

  • 5.1: Objective remains the same. This division focuses on the integration of systems, materials, and assemblies into a coordinated set of project documents. As detailed design decisions are made, you must be able to evaluate construction cost estimates prepared by others. It's important to understand how these estimates vary based on relevant cost estimating methods, and how to reconcile the estimates with the construction budget through the use of value engineering or material substitution.

Construction & Evaluation

  • 1.2: Objective remains the same. You will need to understand the criteria for reviewing contractors’ bids, including accuracy and completeness. Based on these criteria, you will then need to evaluate contractors’ bids and compare contractors’ qualifications to each other.
  • 1.3: Objective remains the same. You must understand the process through which changes can be made to the project cost, scope, or schedule during the bidding phase. This will include evaluation of the contractual implications of any changes and the impact on project design, timeline, and/or design and construction budgets.

NCARB does not expect that these changes will affect your study materials or other exam preparation. 

Refreshed Case Studies

The format of the exam’s case studies has also been refined, with an end goal of reducing exam loading times as well as time spent reviewing case study resources during the exam. Effective April 27, case studies will feature fewer items per case study and one to two resources per individual case study, rather than three to six resources. You should still expect to see approximately the same total number of case study items per exam division.

Updates to the Guidelines include changes to the ARE 5.0 Case Studies section (pages 60 to 63), as well as updates to each division’s number of case studies and case study items—each division includes the same number of maximum items, but no longer includes a range.

Updated Practice Exams

NCARB will also release updated practice exams that reflect all these changes in late February. The updates to the ARE Guidelines will become effective on April 27, 2026.