FAQs

Many U.S. licensing boards, as well as the AIA, require architects to earn continuing education hours (CEH) in topic areas of Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) every year. Most NCARB CE courses meet HSW requirements. Find out if your board requires CEH in HSW through our Licensing Requirements Tool.

Setting O includes experience opportunities that can be performed outside an architecture firm. Some of these opportunities allow you to gain AXP experience while unemployed or working in a non-architecture field. There is no minimum number of hours required for opportunities in this setting, although each has a maximum limit.

Administered by the NAAB, the Education Evaluation Services for Architects (EESA) compares your academic transcript to the NCARB Education Standard and determines whether your education meets the requirement for licensure or NCARB certification. You may need an EESA evaluation if you do not hold a degree from a NAAB-accredited program. Learn more about EESA evaluations.

Any work experience that is integrated into your academic program, whether as a requirement or an elective, is considered an academic internship. You can report work experience earned in academic internships as long as it meets the AXP’s rules, including the employment requirements.

Some jurisdictions have a minimum employment duration requirement for initial licensure. For example, if your jurisdiction has a three-year duration requirement, you’ll need to document three years of qualifying experience, with experience reported through the AXP counting toward this requirement. Find out if your board has a duration requirement through our Licensing Requirements tool.

Candidates are expected to maintain a private testing area throughout the entire exam appointment. If the privacy of the testing area is broken, the online proctor will pause delivery of the ARE and address the privacy issue with the candidate. Failing to maintain a private testing area may cause the administration to be terminated by the online proctor, and the candidate's attempt would be scored based on the items completed.

If you lose internet connection during your exam and are disconnected, you can restart Bridge when your connection stabilizes, and you will be assigned to the first available proctor. The exam delivery software has been designed to suspend testing time until the computer is operating again.

There are no penalties for not attending scheduled test run appointments. However, in an effort to be respectful of proctors’ times and provide our entire community with up-to-date appointment availability, we encourage candidates to cancel or reschedule their test runs ahead of time.

NCARB's ARE 5.0 Handbook has been merged with the ARE 5.0 Guidelines. You can find the information formerly contained in the Handbook in the Guidelines. 

You’ll need a well-lit, private room, free from distractions and clutter (no adults, children, or pets can be present); high-speed internet connection; live audio and visual feed; a laptop or desktop that meets current system requirements; an external webcam with autofocus; ability to download the secure testing browser onto your computer; and at least a 19" monitor. Learn more.