Search Results for 'sections'

[Matt Mathes PLA]

Brad,

Congrats on your great analysis – yes, a few candidates like you who can read a list of CLARB recommended books then pass the exam by only adding the right 1 study guide. In assisting candidates  now licensed in US and Canada, it’s clear many candidates need a wider array of prep resources including a proven success strategy for passing on first attempt. Most candidates have a wide variety of learning styles, regional bias factors, varied time since graduation, a current job role unmatched to the exam format, or need to diagnose and then break a pattern not resulting in a passing score, along with needs for motivation, reassurance and confidence.

Fortunately, wider aspects have been packed into one economical LARE live instructor prep workshop format made available by ASLA Chapters committed to serving Emerging Professionals.

For most candidates – adding 1 study guide for $35, 1 panel discussion for $100, or one 50 minute webinar is just not enough, but this upcoming Fall, 2016 event serves a wide array of needs described above:

LARE Prep Session – Saturday October 8, 2016 – Milwaukee

Hosted by Wisconsin ASLA Chapter, this prep session has 3 tracks – Full day for all 4 sections, or Section 1 & 2 in AM, or Section 3 & 4 in PM including lunch.

Here’s the event and sign-up details: http://wiasla.com/meetinginfo.php?id=12&ts=1471018642

[Tosh K]

Turnaround in exam has partially to do with them analyzing the ‘tryout questions’ – the small body of volunteers available to write and review exam questions makes it difficult for rapid turnaround.  I’m assuming you’re heavily lobbying local veteran professionals to help chip in on the process.

Exam study books are the books the writers of the questions are referencing (part of the question writing process is identifying where the information was found).  I found that the study materials from the 70s and 80s were far more comprehensive than the more recent literature (and I’ll say Landscape Architecture Graphic Standards is pretty comprehensive in its scope; I’d argue between that, Site Engineering for LAs and Chapters 9/10 of Heinze’s Construction Contracts you should be able to pass all 4 sections).

Exam fees are comparable to architecture ($1470 + state authorization ~$150 for ARE, 1780 for LARE); again we suffer from smaller bulk discount.

Most chapters of ASLA are busy with dealing with the state boards and state legislature (many of whom limit our practice or are trying to remove our license) – it’s how we ‘stick up’ for the profession: increase our ability to practice by adding ‘landscape architecture’ to the list of qualified professionals on legislation, limiting other under qualified groups from practicing landscape architecture (surveyors, interior designers, landscape designers), protecting liability in emergency response, etc.  Also, note that it is a volunteer organization and relies on participation by its members.

[Brad Alexander]

All,

I recently sat for section 3 on the first day offered. This means I am enduring a 7-9 week wait period. I check the scores multiple times daily. I have a high level of confidence in my performance; however, it is still hard to wait this long for results.

I sat for 4 separate tests for the Certified Irrigation Designer tests by the Irrigation Association. Very similar test formats with all electronic questions. The results were instant. I was able to take all 4 sections of 100+ questions in less than a year. While I do not request an immediate result, I do think the wait time was initiated for the original vignette style tests and never got updated. The time it gives you to begin preparing for the next section are concerning.

(Just my vent)

[J. Robert (Bob) Wainner]

June 29, 2015

Thank you, Leslie, for your very detailed comments here! 

Thinking through this issue further; I believe there are a few other KEY problems that have existed from even when I was an LA student (and even today).  I believe way too many students are graduating and are not really prepared to face the real world of “Landscape Architecture”.

I won’t mention my source, but, before I graduated, I was told by a very reliable source. that at least 50% of my fellow LA graduates will most likely NEVER become successful Landscape Architects.  Well, I think the TRUTH here is that without a certain number of LA students…….LA professors will lose their jobs at major universities (Though, stating that, I intend absolutely no disrespect for ANY University LA Professor); I think LA Professors have an extremely difficult job! 

The other problem is that our economy has always run in cycles.  I was fortunate, in that that the U.S. economy really was pretty strong between 1977 and 1991.  At the end of 1990, the economy began to sag.  And, there were no LA jobs out there to be had.  I was placed in a position where I HAD to create my own start-up LA firm – and it takes at least (2) years to get any start-up business up and running (regardless of how much talent, experience & money you have). From about 1993 to 2008, I feel the U.S. economy was again strong and a great environment for Landscape Architects, and my private practice kept me extremely busy!.  But, the past 7 years have (as I understand it) have been very difficult for most LA’s across America.

In fact, just last week, I was reading on an “Indeed” job board where there were hundreds of comments posted.  The most recent comment was posted by a female LA graduate who stated that she is STILL searching for her first LA job & she graduated 4-1/2 years ago!  About 2 years ago, I remember reading on-line, that some LA graduates from a couple of major Universities on the East coast…that their entire LA graduating classes (some as large as 50 graduates) could NOT find an entry level LA job.  I even personally know of an LA graduate from a (5) year LA program on the East Coast, who after working maybe 2+ years for a couple of different Landscape Design Build companies, has left Landscape Architecture & is now an Insurance Salesman.

But, I’m now beginning to see what “might” be a bit of an economic turn around for the U.S. and I’m seeing many more LA jobs showing  up on various job boards, like Indeed.com and ASLA.org.  But, I feel sure, competition for the LA jobs available is making it very difficult on new LA grads. LA firms have the luxury of choosing only the best and brightest of the bunch.

I guess, my thinking, with regards to the State LA Licenses is, that they should have more VALUE than they currently hold.  The CLARB Exam (from everything I have read about it) is out of control & just too expensive.  Constant changes to the test, where candidates have to re-take sections they have already passed.  I believe all LAs now have to maintain a CLARB file – more money for CLARB.  I just believe STATES need to ensure that their Licensed LA’s really are “competent” to practice. I’ve seen where very experienced LAs have set up CLARB review workshops, yeah, for about $500.00 for a 3 day seminar, just so the candidates can learn HOW to take and pass the CLARB exam. One young LA friend of mine told me he spent at least $10,000.00 before he finally passed the CLARB Exam (Cost of seminars, travel expenses, etc.). 

It’s my Professional opinion is that there are just too many Licensed LA’s out there who have no idea what their doing.  Because, the system failed them.  4 or 5 years of LA education at a major University is one type of education…then, as a graduate enters the REAL world of Landscape Architecture, they learn to design with budgets, deadlines, deal with clients, learn to write legal contract proposals, produce cost estimates, preliminary designs that are creative & functional, learn how to produce full sets of contract documents that are in full compliance with local, state & Federal codes, deal with legal & safety issues, how to produce construction details, etc. When I think back on my own LA career, it probably took me between 5 to 8 years to reach a level where I really was a “competent Licensed Landscape Architect”.  AND, I have seen some Portfolios from some LA graduates here on this site, who, in my Professional opinion, should NEVER have been issued a “Degree in Landscape Architecture”. All it did was give those graduates an unrealistic belief that they will one day become a successful Landscape Architect….and they won’t.  And, I truly feel badly for them.

And, these are just my “opinions”, I don’t in any way wish to hurt the feelings of ANY Landscape Architect, here on LAND8.  In fact, I would be more than happy to counsel or advise any young LA who feels they needs some input.  Landscape Architecture has been very good to me & I’m very willing to give back. I have helped a couple of young LA’s get up to speed on “Grading”, as they were having a lot of difficulties passing the Grading section of the CLARB exam…both have now passed the CLARB exam and are both Licensed LAs in their home states.

[Tosh K]

I second this, although the newest format has this a bit skewed for site work (Masterformat separates by trade, or at least is intended to – which may be an issue for some manufacturers as they do items across sections, say lighting and site furnishings or green walls and planters).  Most suppliers will list their pertinent sections on their catalogs/specs.

[Anonymous]

It’s mostly suburban sprawl.  I would say, yes, it does create more work.  Every day I design subdivisions, master planned communities, and town centers.  It’s an unappreciated / step child of design that’s not really done by any one profession.  I have a non-design planning degree but it could be done by LAs, engineers, surveyors, architects, and others.  

Sprawl is not necessarily a bad thing, despite heavy criticisms from APA, ASLA, AIA, ULI, etc.  I always have the same defense: as long as I am not violating the “health, safety, and general welfare” (land use law term) I am free to improve the land that meets my clients needs.  In this case, it is market demand for single-family detached housing.  

The demands for this type of work will vary from one metro area to another.  I have largely worked in Chicagoland, Wichita, and now Houston.  The exurbs of Chicago are still a fraction the size of Houston when it comes to suburban development.  Despite recent (and hopefully temporary) drops in oil prices, Houston is still the energy capital with plenty of new jobs (and much higher demands for new housing construction).  Houston is extremely entrepreneurial with little regulation.  Chicagoland is highly regulatory.  At my current job, I can pick up a marker, turn it into a CAD drawing, plat it, and build it.  There are very few layers of agency review.  

Yes, suburban development can be very monotonous at times.  I am managing physical land planning on a +2000 acre master plan, among many other projects, and I have redesigned the same sections at least 20 times over the past 2/12 years.  The built product is not very noticeable 1′-2′ from the ground.  It’s not a streetscape or a park or a healing garden or a sports complex.  I think there is always a need.  If you REALLY want to stand out, I would learn AutoCAD Civil 3D.  It doesn’t help directly as a landscape architect, but there is always a demand for CAD monkeys in oil/gas.  Hope this helps-

[Robert Anderson]

I can personally tell you that with my consulting services I have successfully guided one firm through the transition from AutoCAD with Land F/X add on to Vectorworks Landmark. The latest iteration of Landmark is by far much better than earlier versions and this firm is working with Architects that are using Revit and AutoCAD on complex urban mid-rise and high-rise buildings.

1. With regard to BIM, if you working with other firms that are using Revit, my client has not had any issues. The only one would be that the exchange file (an ifc file) will be much larger as it is uncompressed. However the architects we are working with have greatly appreciated the fact that they have not had to re-draft the site walls and paving on their projects.
2. We don’t have that much experience with collaborating with Civil 3D other than exchange TIN’s to get a terrain model that we can use in Landmark. I have personally used the grading features and have found them to be very easy to use. My client has leveraged the new interportability with Autocad files as these can be referenced directly into VW without conversion and the resulting file will have the same line weights and line types from the original Autocad file. I’ve already touched on Revit. As for Archicad I have not had the opportunity to work with this file format but given the opportunity I could work something out.
3. As discussed above another of my clients has received TIN’s from surveyors and we then produced proposed grading plans that we have then sent the resulting DTM to the Engineer to use in producing a final grading design. One particular project that I worked on was for a 75 acre site which had everything from streets to urban plazas with ramps and stairs.
4. Detailing is simple and depending on the complexity of your projects there are numerous opportunities for leveraging some of the best qualities of VW. One of these is that VW has built in smart objects like fasteners, steel members, hole patterns in 2D and 3D, as well as a repetitive unit tool. With regard to graphics another great feature of VW as opposed to Autocad is that the interface is more like Adobe Illustrator in that you can have layers of managing opacity and you don’t have to double up on polygons with some showing line work and other containing hatches. VW allows you to do both with the same object and control their visibility, even allowing you to control the appearance through viewports where one VP will have just the line work (which could be changed) and the hatches or tiles or gradients can be changed and shown in another VP.

I was an autocad user since 1996 and even had the opportunity to work in early AutoCAD Map and Civil as well as Microstation V8 with Geopak and can tell you that VW has been the best by far! There is a learning curve and rather than just getting my perspective I could give you some references to get their impression. If you like I can inquire with one of my clients to see if I can share with you some pdf’s for your review.

I have even started to move away from using sketchup and using the 3D design within Vectorworks. One of the best things about Vectorworks is that when you are working on conceptual designs in 2D you can start adding elements that are available as smart objects that will give you sections easily and efficiently. As for you list of concerns I will respond to each as best I can.

My firm provides contract design, drafting, QA/QC and training services. Should you move to VW I can provide you with CAD a manual to fit your firms style as well as creating drawing templates and title block templates that leverage some of the great features of VW. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss these services.

[nca]

Anyone out there using VW Landmark 2014/2015?

We are considering migrating from AutoCAD to VW for our very small office. We are a relatively new practice (about 3 years) and working on everything from small residential spec homes to urban design, subdivision planning, parks, mapping, and signage projects.

Our clients are mainly architects using Archicad, Revit, and AutoCAD. We also work with GIS data and frequently AutoCAD surveys/base information. We do alot of conceptual work that requires going from hand drawn sketches to ‘hard lining’ in CAD and quickly to rendering programs.

My main concern is:

1. Participating in the IDP process, as many of our colleagues are using BIM.

2. Integrating and sharing data between Civil 3D, Revit, Archicad, and AutoCAD..interoperability is extremely important. We want to be an integral part of the process.

3. Terrain and grading modeling. We want to protect our ‘turf’ from Civil3D (civils) users and model our own grading, including detailing.

4. Detailing and BIM functionality–We’re not necessarily looking for out of the box graphics. We want a program that offers a high degree of customizability in terms of symbols, blocks, lineweights, raster graphics, etc..We want a program we can control, we dont care much for ‘sketchy line graphics’ etc.

So far, VW looks like it offers the most of what we are looking for. Anyone have any trouble with file sharing? How steep is the learning curve after coming from 10 years with AutoCAD? How well does VW generate site details–wall sections, paving, custom constructions?

Any feedback or guidance is appreciated.

Thanks!

[Joshua Elam]

I have a full box of materials.  Literally an entire box filled with all the information you could ever need to study for all the sections.  I’ve accumulated this great collection over the years.  If you are interested in buying it all, send me a message.

[Jonathan P. Williams, RLA]

Edward I think you touch on a good point. I have passed all sections and although I feel the test does not always match up to what a LA really does/ or needs to know I think it is there for testing the basics. 

The biggest area I think people are having issues is that they think they just have to study the material. This is a big mistake! You must also study how to take the test. Watch all the videos on the test, understand how it is put together, understand that most questions have simple answers… 

Just because you know how to be a LA doesn’t mean you can pass the test if you don’t understand how it is put together and what is begin asked for. 

In my opinion at least half of those who fail do so because they over think it.

[misshinson™]

Hello!

I am taking sections 2 & 3 next year, and wanted to know if anyone has any study materials or tips to share?

Anything would be helpful!

Thanks 🙂

Court

[Ray Freeman]

There are a number of LARE review sessions offered around the country and several individuals on this web site (Including myself) have advertised their courses or expressed opinions herein.

These classes are mainly in the classroom, other than Cheryl Corson’s webinar series. Let’s take a brief objective look at some of the offerings…..

Corson: Webinars. Exam overview and sections 3 and 4. A total of 6.5 hours plus five one hour Q&A sessions. Cost is $245 for 11.5 hours. This works out to $21/hr. Half is pre-recorded. It is not clear whether any printed material is included.

UCLA Extension: On site classes. Sections 1 and 2 covered in 8 hours. $302. Section 3 covered in 8 hours. $302. These work out to $38/hr. Section 4 is 14 hours. $530. This works out to $37/hr. They claim great pass rates, but offer no evidence as to what their students actual pass rate is. No details are offered on the amount of printed material included in any of the 3 classes.

Matt Mathes:  On site classes. Section 3: 4 hours. $125 Section 4: 4 hours. $125. Hourly rate is $31/hr. Books offered…Hastings PPI Section E vignettes. Good book of grading vignettes, but oriented to the pre-2012 exam format, with no coverage of Construction Documentation.  One Rowland PPI Section C vignette book: Possibly one of the most atrociously researched and prepared documents ever offered for LARE study by anyone. The vignette solutions rated as “Passing” contain multiple critical fail mistakes. In addition, the book is oriented toward the pre-2012 exam. In fact BOTH of these vignette books are approximately 9 years out of date. Mathes claims his methods are “proven”, but offers no further explanation or evidence.

ASLA: On site classes at the ASLA convention. Sections 1, 2 and 3 covered in 4 hours. Section 4 covered in 4 hours. Information on written material is sketchy, but you can review the written material from previous sessions on the ASLA LARE prep page under “Handouts”. It’s from late 2012. There are 32 pages total.  Each 4 hour session is $125. Average cost, $21/hr.

Freeman & Jewell: On site classes. Sections 1 and 2. 16 hours. 285 page book, updated twice per year. $350. Average cost $22/hr.   Section 3. 24 hours. 294 page book, updated twice per year. $450. Average cost $19/hr.   Section 4. 25 hours. 440 page book, updated 3x per year. $450. Average cost $18/hr.

My advice is this: Do your due diligence prior to selecting one course over another, or even deciding to take a review. There are certainly other LARE courses available, often through state chapters…NY State, Univ. of Georgia, and UT Texas-Arlington come to mind. In addition, Morrison Media and Worthington Publishing sell LARE prep books. Quality of material and quality of instruction DOES vary. If you think you need a prep class, by all means ask pointed questions of the course providers. Ask probing questions of the publishers of study material. Questions such as: Exactly what do I get for my money? How often is the material updated? Is it truly relevant to the new exam format? What is your students pass rate?

There is also an abundance of printed material available through the Google Groups LARE group. However, understand that the volume of documents in this file is overwhelming and some of it is well over 15 years old. No one has taken the time or effort to vet the material. It can take a lot of time and effort to sift out the wheat from the chaff…and there is plenty of the latter.

Finally, on the new (2012) exam, sections 1, 2 and 3 each have a passing rate close to 70%, whereas 4 is around 55%. CLARB charges $515 each for Sections 3 and 4 (raw cost, NIC application fees and CLARB Council Records). That is a huge amount of money ($129/hr.). Failure is expensive. The grading and drainage questions are, IMO, NOT difficult…especially compared to the old pre-2012 vignettes. The killer on section 4 is the breadth of material covered that is not strictly grading and drainage graphic problems. You have resource conservation and management, construction docs, specifications, detailing, and understanding how to use and assemble a wide range of materials. Then there is sedimentation and erosion control, stormwater management, foundation systems, surveying, construction equipment, and maintenance, among others.

Best of luck in your preparation endeavors!

[Cheryl Corson]

Just a note to December candidates that my webinar series is available, with live Q&A sessions beginning next week. I completed my exam process last July and created these webinars to offer support I felt was not available, geared specifically to the new exam format. For more info see: http://www.cherylcorson.com Thanks!

[Carla]

Is anyone studying for the LARE and would like to be in a study group?  I live in Phoenix however I’ve participated in online/conference call study groups for the LARE that were effective.  I plan to take all four sections this December.  If you are interested, please email me at landscape_designer1@hotmail.com.  

[Luke Coughlan]

That’s a really interesting argument. I think a lot of people have come into this discussion with very strong views about 3D, possibly myself included, which is great, but for the most part I made this discussion to try and ascertain as many point of views as possible, not just pick one, that was never the intention here. In all honesty there couldn’t possible be one answer or this probably wouldn’t be a problem. I think your point of view is very relevant and possibly 2D plans etc are a better and certainly a cheaper way of displaying a design, but again I have to come back to the fact that some clients battle to visualize a 3D environment when all they are given is 2D plans and sections. Do you not think that 3D’s communicate a design in a easier to understand way? Obviously at university level we possible go a bit over board with 3D’s, but that’s just because we can, in industry such luxuries aren’t always possible because for budget constraints etc. 

Just to back track and add my opinion with regard to your comment on Site Design and Plant Identification, I think those are very relevant problems. At the moment I’m studying at a university that has quite a large focus on design and plant identification and I must say I have noticed that other institutions don’t really do the same. I’m not sure how one is meant to use plants in a design if they have next to no knowledge about the individual plants they are using. That is of course my personal opinion though, someone with more experience in industry may prove me wrong.

Thanks for your input though, its a very interesting argument.