study guides

I am currently studying for the exam and I've been using this book as a basis. The individual chapters are fairly short and each one has a short quiz at the end to test your newly gained knowledge. This is helpful because it makes asborbing the information much more manageable - much better than trying to read Architectural Graphic Standards from cover to cover.

Beware: some sections are somewhat spotty so count on having to use other resources as well.

I found this guide to be extremely valuable. It covers a broad range of topics in the appropriate detail. Of course, it doesn't have all the answers to the ARE, but those tests are meant to have many "unanswerable" questions. But this guide will give you a strong base from which to work. It also has valuable information and rules of thumb that apply to practicing architects. I leaned most heavily on this resouce in order to take my exams.

I found that this book was very helpful in preperation for the ARE. Although the book did not cover all the topics on the actual exam, it proved invaluable on the areas of study that were tested. The chapters were highly organized and easy to follow while the content was neither too broad to be ambiguous, nor too precise to be cumbersome. The only gripe I had with the book was that some information (minor in detail) was contradictory to current trade manuals and other study material. Other than that, I highly recommend this book as an aid to studying for the exam - and it makes an excellent reference book for your library.