LARE TESTING HOAX!?

The process is the absolute worse, I’ve been stuck on grading and drainage for years. I have done every practice test problem out there 3 or 4 times each, went to two different intensive study courses, red line reviewed, studied all of CLARB recommended study material. Now, with in the past two administrations of the test they have introduced a new type of problem w/ no study problems that resemble those, I checked w/ CLARB and those type of study tests wont be out for a year or so. I don’t understand why this process is stuck in the the early 1990’s, the architects have a far better process. Why is it easier to pass the BAR Exam(50% Pass rate) than it is the LA exam(+/-30%for G&D)? Why do I have to wait 6 months between tests? Has anyone ever went to red line review and asked that a problem be re-graded and have it overturned? I could go on and on but the more I dwell on this the madder I get. The worse part is I do Grading plans at work and they work, LARE has no relation to the real work world, the limits and structure of the actual vignettes is not a test in grading and drainage but a test on how good you can take a LARE test. Another thing, why do they nickel and dime us for everything, practice vignettes,test, review, redline review, re-review, yea yea I know its already subsidized, I would like to see this breakdown as financial statement of CLARB, money is being made I can find nothing that says they are a non-profit.

I am registered to take sections C & E in December. A few days ago I received a letter advising me that CLARB had increased the cost of these sections and that I was required to send in a check for an additional $20. What other organization retroactively increases fees and sends you a bill after you have already paid? I could understand increasing the cost for future offerings of the exam sections… but to charge people who have already registered (and paid) seems riduculous to me!

I’m moving to canadia.

I think the 30% pass rate is more a reflection of how weak many of the University programs are with teaching construction courses, most notably grading and drainage since we all know this is the section that seems to be most struggled with. It also reflects poorly on many firms out there that don’t even provide grading/drainage plans as part of their scope and depend on engineers to provide such plans.

Remember, the LARE is designed to test the minimum skills necessary, not whether or not one is the greatest grader on earth. I think the one element that has the most affect on he results is the time constraints in the testing environment. The exam is designed to not only see how well one can follow directions and problem solve, but to to see how well one makes decisions under pressure. If that has no relation to the real work world, then I want to come work where you do.

What does that say about the industry and/or qualifications to practice if the exam is somehow made “easier” for no other reason than to have more people pass it? I would even argue that the exam has been made easier in recent years with the lowering of the number of vignettes to complete in the same window of time.

Perhaps this is not what anyone is suggesting by saying it is “flawed”, maybe there other aspects of the test that do add to the lower pass rate.

My only “real complaint” about the process is that neither LARE nor CLARB seem to be on the same page as anyone else who is administering practice material or study courses. I bought the PPI books, took the UCLA prep courses for C & E, came across piles of study material from colleagues and past test takers…and really studied it. A lot. For months. Then I took all 5 sections and realized that 90% of what I had studied wasn’t tested on the exam. Not that it was the end of the world, after all I had learned a lot in the previous months even though I had nothing tangible to show for it.

While taking the UCLA course, the professor even stated that LARE frowned upon the prep courses because they didn’t want other courses offering up tests which were similar to those that are administered in the exam. So, my question is…why doesn’t CLARB or LARE or ASLA…or someone with “authority” in the matter not step in and regulate the prep courses? Why can’t LARE offer prep courses for these exams, where they could teach and demonstrate practical knowledge needed for the exams? I would take a LARE prep course over a 3rd-party course, if they were offered. Plus, it could be another avenue for them to take our money…it’s win-win!!

Someone who shares most of your frustrations(grading inadequacy) and financial pinch CLARB put us thru, I would gladly signed an Appeal to CLARB.

The LARE is a test that measures your abilities technically and intellectually. It doesn’ matter if you perform a surgery and it is 99% correct if you leave a sponge in a body. You have a critical fail. Any test that concerns public health SAFETY and welfare is a critical fail test. Percentals are not what matters. If you create a wall that fails, you fail. I don’t care how beautiful it is or how great a drafter you are, or if you have everything there except the right calculations. If it fails it is a critical fail, and not a cumulation of points. I think that every candidate needs to realise this for the begining and stop using the numbers to justify their perceptions. This is not a “test,” it is a measure of compentancy.

If you take the test understanding the reason the test exisits, then you can prepare better. It is important to take prep classes because practice and speed and understanding the problem are key to passing.

Good luck and hopefully you will find a good prep class and the right mindset and move through the complaint period. As a licensed landscape architect the “complaint” period is called a “lawsuit.”