Navigating NCARB and IDP

If you’re an architecture student like I am, you probably already know about NCARB. If you don’t NCARB stands for the National Council of Architecture Registration Boards, and they will basically determine your fate out of architecture school. Architects are held up to a standard like doctors and lawyers when it comes to education and certification. NCARB has a list of requirements you must meet in order to become licensed and call yourself an architect.

NCARB Record

Before you do anything, you gotta set up your NCARB record. There is a $300 registration fee, but you only have to pay $150 to start your record and the remaining when you want to submit it. Shelling out that much money as a young college student seems a bit much, but you better get used to it because there are fees associated with most things you’ll need to eventually register for.

On your NCARB Record you’ll find your Profile where you can update your basic contact information. You’ll find your IDP record (More Below) where you can document experience and view your progress. You’ll find a tab where you have to record your educational experience by mailing in your High School transcript and college transcript(s). When you get to the point where you can take your exams you’ll use the ARE tab where you can view your exam history, schedule exam appointments, and download your score reports. And finally, Registrations. When you eventually become registered you can view the registration information you have on file or enter new registrations issued from a U.S. jurisdiction, a Canadian province, or another country.

IDP (Intern Development Program)

Currently, IDP controls my life. It seems complicated, but in reality once you get it setup it’s not that difficult. IDP is how you record your experience working in architecture related fields. The IDP handbook (find it here http://www.ncarb.org/~/media/files/pdf/guidelines/idp_guidelines.pdf) is your new bible. It explains everything you could ever want to know about recording hours for IDP. Currently, you need 5,600 “experience hours” before you can become registered. Let me repeat that, 5,600 HOURS. Last year I had an internship at an architecture firm in RI, and I was able to record almost 400 IDP hours across various categories. That’s means my record is about 5% complete.

And before I forget I’ll mention this, if you have an internship at an architecture firm, make sure you keep a record of everything that you do there. Most firms should require you to keep a calendar of some sorts for them that says the things that you've been working on. Because to record those experience hours in setting A, you need to split them up by category and by day. It took me hours to enter my experiences into my NCARB record at the end of last summer. You really need to do this because the firm that you work for will be approving these hours. So if you work say 400 hours total for the summer doing various things, and you record them all in one category, the firm can say “wait, hold up” and they won’t approve that experience. The last thing you want is to be in a battle with your employer and NCARB about the hours you worked so keep an active record of the things you do and record them responding to the categories in the IDP handbook.

There are many other ways other than an internship in an architecture firm to earn IDP hours. Do you volunteer at home over summer or winter break? You can record that. Did you enter an architecture design competition? You can record that? Work for a construction company/interior design firm? You can record that. Did you visit a site with a mentor? You can record that. You can record experiences now regardless of how long they were (there used to be an 8 week minimum time period) as long as you record them within eight months of completing it. I've been recording everything I possibly can for hours because everything counts in the long run. NCARB also has an app, "My IDP" so you can record hours on the go. 

ARE (Architectural Registration Examination)

Currently, the ARE 4.0 is comprised of 7 that include multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and check-all-that-apply questions as well as graphic vignettes. You have to check your jurisdiction to see what the requirements are for your eligibility to start taking the ARE’s. In Rhode Island for example, they allow concurrent IDP and ARE. It’s around $210 for each test and its nonrefundable. You must schedule each exam through your NCARB record.

BUT if you won’t start taking your exams until 2016, like me, you’re in luck. The “ARE 5.0 will launch in late 2016 and incorporate new testing technologies to replace the graphic vignette software, which has been in use since the exam was computerized in 1997. This new version will have six divisions that align closer to how an architect practices today.”( http://www.ncarb.org/ARE/ARE5.aspx) So, one less test and it’ll be more aligned to how architects work today? I’ll take that. There is also a transition plan in place for those who are currently testing in the 4.0 and will not finish by the time the 5.0 plan takes effect.

According to NCARB, “On average, it takes about five years to complete the Intern Development Program (IDP).” And the time “between graduation and licensure is about seven years.” This can be slightly disheartening, but it sounds about right. Many of the architects I worked with last summer gave me the same advice. They said to try are take your exams as soon as your eligible. Otherwise life will get in the way. And they’re right. People get married, have kids, move, travel etc. etc. By trying to get your exams done quickly, you’ll still have time to do all those things and be less stressed.

You can find any and all information about how to become an architect by going to NCARB’s website, http://www.ncarb.org/  . Please feel free to comment, share thoughts and experiences on navigating IDP!