LARE TESTING HOAX!?

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

…it must be the TA’s!

[Ray Freeman]

The obvious point to take away from this most recent thread is that CLARB expects you to follow their instructions and standards. Generally knowing how to grade or direct drainage does not prove in an objective way that you can execute grading and drainage plans with sufficient skill for them to be fully functional. The 2% minimum standard for softscape drainage is, and has been for years, a requirement that constantly appears on exam vignettes. While one’s first reaction to a failing grade because you hven’t done this in a couple of locations might be “you’ve got to be kidding me”, it’s important to keep in mind some of the things CLARB is testing candidates on by writing and enforcing such a standard:

In a practical sense, less than a 2% slope will not drain well on some surfaces. And meeting minimum slope requirements is going to be more critical in “some” situations as opposed to others. Context can be very important. There are technical reasons why this real world standard can be critical.

CLARB is constantly testing candidates on the ability to “Read, understand and follow written directions” and “Ability to apply codes and standards correctly”. They’ve given you a MINIMUM standard. Therefore, you are expected to meet it. Building inspections have no reservations whatsoever at making you tear out a “non-conforming” handrail that’s, for example, 1 inch too low to meet code.

Following written instructions to the letter and correctly applying written standards to your problem solving effort are two of the most important general expectations that CLARB applies to evaluating solutions. This is just the way it is. As an instructor who has taught LARE reviews for nearly 11 years and spoken with hundreds of students about the exam, I guarantee that these two items are absolutely mandatory in order to pass.

Brandon, who started this thread over two years ago, told me just before he finally passed his last section of the LARE (it was E) that this time he was going to pay close attention and do it CLARB’s way instead of ‘fighting city hall’ so to speak. Not his exact words, but the paraphrase is close enough. It worked for him. What he had been doing previously was not.

Heather, out of curiousity, which University had the great grading class?

[Anonymous]

“Building inspections have no reservations whatsoever at making you tear out a “non-conforming” handrail that’s, for example, 1 inch too low to meet code.”

Ray thanks for real world example of why the exam is designed and graded the way it is. This is an example of something that could get you fired or cost someone a lot of money.

[Keith]

If scoring the test is so cut and dry and only perfect tests pass, then how has anyone successfully overturned a failing grade? A coworker of mine knew he didn’t have enough pipe coverage and he still passed. Sooooo….What’s up with that?

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm? I don’t have an answer for you.

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

Did (s)he pass in the Spring of 2000?

[John J Dempsey]

Phil,

It’s respect and progression of the profession. And shame on you for calling LA’s glorified ‘garden designers’. Ehem, the umbrella of Landscape Architecture crosses MULTIPLE disciplines.

[Ray Freeman]

I do remember you Chad. I was rather taken aback by your statement that my review material did not match up with the questions on the test. Of course the questions won’t be exactly the same. Was that your expectation?

 

I went back and reviewed my records. There were 15 people in your ABD class in 2005. Everyone from your class who took the exam in September 2005, including you, passed section A. You were the only person in the class to fail section B. You and one other person failed section D.

 

I’ll let the readers of this discussion draw their own conclusions from that data.

 

<<You probably don’t remember me, or maybe you do. Anyway, I took a 3 day review course of yours about 4 or 5 years ago, for the multiple choice sections of the LARE. Turned out I was blind sided by what I saw on the exam; what I studied from your review material didn’t come close to matching. That happened again after I took another course held by a registered Landscape Architect in Los Angeles. >>

[Elizabeth Renton]

Wow that response letter was a bunch of technical jargon. I guess it’s supposed to make you feel like they’re being extremely thorough and proficient and scientific about the way they evaluate the exam.

 

What was ASLA’s response to your request for help? Have they been actively working on addressing these issues? I never hear much about what they’re doing to correct the issues that everyone complains about with the LARE (exorbitant fees, etc.)

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Mr. Cockrum,

Perhaps if four out of six paragraphs in your letter to Mr. Penrod didn’t begin with “I”, he might have given you a more satisfactory response. It was entertaining though…

My favorite part was the closing paragraph, “Given the issues I have addressed, can you offer any suggestions as to how I can hit this moving target? Also, what is CLARB’s philosophy regarding help for exam candidates? My experience has indicated this whole exam process is designed to prohibit success. It would be appreciated if the Board would take on a mentoring role.”

What did you expect his response to be, “Order a pizza, I’ll be right over to help you study?”

 

[Dennis J. Jarrard, PLA, CLARB]

Well said!!!

[Anonymous]

“…just because you may pass it, keep it mind you simply played the game right. You satisfied the writers of the exam by picking the answers they think are right.”

 

I think you just had a Eureka moment. I too took a review session and the best advice I was given was, “Forget about everything else you’ve learned in school and in the office. You are now in CLARBland.” That’s just the way it is. Until you pass the exam all of your efforts to fight the system will be looked at as just “sour grapes”.

 

You can’t blame review sessions, “The Man”, or anyone else. It’s on you. Your money, your time, and your blood, sweat and tears.

 

Stay focused on your goal. If you want to pass the LARE you have to eat, breath and sleep in CLARBland, unless you are an amazingly special person. That might mean no T.V., no social life, no posts, etc. You have to have it in your mind that, you will not be denied. There is no trick to passing it, just hard work.

 

Besides once you’ve passed, you’ll probably realize that the exam isn’t really that hard or unfair. In fact it’s no harder than what LAs have to do on a daily basis.

 

Get your head right!

[jennifer Bloch]

because they asked for 2% and they are testing your ability to follow directions.

[Chad Yagodzinski]

Does anyone have any experience studying with Mometrix Media LLC – LARE Secrets Study Guide & the flashcards??

I am planning on taking exam A in March and I am wondering if using this study guide helps??

Thank you

[Jonathan Smith, RLA]

oops. signed in as my husband…University of Idaho. I know it is a little different now, I am not sure if it is as strenuous.

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