LARE TESTING HOAX!?

[Mike Metevier]

Amen

[Mike Metevier]

Yes yes yes.  I also have passed all the sections except grading and drainage.  I am 50 yo and I have NEVER have to spec out a drainage pipe, That is what a Civil Engineer is for.  For me, I pretty much just gave up, but who knows.   Screw clarb. 

[Lisa Zimmerman]

I agree.The examinees should make a statement. Their last Exam B multiple choice had a 61% passing rate. There is something wrong with that. I studied, I assume anyone spending the money is taking the tests seriously too!

[Anonymous]

How can we possibly consider “all possible solutions” in the time allotted?

Easy, by considering the many LAs that passed the section before you in the allotted time.

 

 

 

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

LARE is very hard to pass for the same reason that landscape architecture is such an odd design field. The problem is not the test. The problem is that landscape architect is a blend of left brain and right brain while most people are wired one way or the other.

We all want to make the arguement that only landscape architecture are qualified to blend aesthetics with engineering. If we want to support it by proving that all Landscape Architects are qualified to blend aesthetics with engineering, we have to be subjected to testing.

We are all inherently right or left brained. All of us find some parts of LARE a piece of cake and other parts very difficult. Not everyone is going to have the ability to pass all of it – not because they are stupid, not because they don’t try, but simply because not many people are wired to go deep in both right brained and left brained activities.

LA attracts more artistic types (yup, I forgot which is the left and which is the right) and therefore grading and drainage is most often the most contested section of the test. But you also see people that breeze that and get hung up on other parts.

The hardest thing about it is that most parts of the test are about critical thinking and not informational. That in itself differs from most tests that people have throughout their schooling. That makes studying extremely difficult. It is like testing a skill or discipline like ballet or bowling (yes, in the same sentence) where you can read all you want, but unless you practice doing it, you won’t be good at it.

Another thing that people complain about being unfair is the criteria for sitting for the exam, particulary the internship time. Internship is “practice time” to build your ballet and bowling skills so that you actually can pass the exam. Some can pass it without an internship (I did in Idaho, but had to finish internship for MA reciprocity), but it is a heck of a lot easier after practicing. It is much harder to practice without an instructor and without constant evaluation by knowledgable people.

 

If you want “Landscape Architect” to be a title that defines the ability to blend aesthetics with engineering, you have to accept that the test is going to be hard for most anyone. If you feel like you don’t need the ability to blend those two abilities as deeply as they are testing for, you probably don’t need the title to be effective in your profession.

[Ben Holmes]

Why would I have a problem with a corporation based solely on profiting off of us and not promoting the profession?  I think it is awesome.

[J. Robert (Bob) Wainner]

What I have been reading and hearing about the LARE exam……is the PROBLEMS associated with the fact that the LARE is 100% computerized now.  The computers have GLITCHES and CLARB doesn’t like to admit it.

Sort of like Obamacare computer glitches lately.

I have helped mentor a couple of younger LA’s with the GRADING portion of the LARE.  And, I have looked at the VIDEOS on how to take the NEW LARE via computer.  CLARB has managed to make the test just way too complex!

I’ve been practicing Landscape Architecture since 1977……and I think the way the LARE exam is designed and administered is ridiculous!!!  After all these years….I KNOW the material.  I passed the U.N.E. (what the LARE exam was called back then)…..passed it within 12 months after I graduated from Texas A&M…and was then Licensed in both Texas & Florida a few months later.  The U.N.E. was part hand drawing design problems, hand drawn grading plans, multiple choice questions, etc.  The U.N.E. was graded by hand (by 3 Landscape Architects)….and we rec’d the final results in less than 6 weeks time.  It was a simple, straight forward process.  And, it wasn’t very expensive.

But, today’s LARE looks like it’s almost designed to FAIL as many candidates as possible.  So, they will have to take the exam several times……more $$$ for CLARB!!!

To me…..it’s a similar problem that the Obamacare computer systems are having….they KNOW they have serious problems with the computer systems….but, won’t or don’t know what to do about resolving the PROBLEMS!!!

[Mariane Wheatley-Miller]

I agree with you completely but what are we going to do about it?

CLARB has too much power and they are undermining our industry. I will not join  ASLA and at a workshop a few weeks ago nearly everybody said they same, why spend money we do not have on joining ASLA when we cannot call ourselves landscape architects until we pass the exams so why join an organization that is for LA’s. ASLA is missing out on business because we are disgruntled  with the profession. CLARB should be over-viewed by an outside organization because what they are doing is bordering on dishonest!

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

CLARB has no power on their own. They are empowered because the state licensing boards choose to use them …. that is the outside oversight. The problem, if there is a problem, is that the people on the state boards go with the status quo. That is where to go if you want to get changes. If state boards start dropping the CLARB LARE then they’ll adjust. Another problem is that there is not an alternative exam that a state board could choose to use that I know of.

Maybe a group of landscape architects should get together and put together an alternative exam to lobby state boards with? … I’m guessing that no one wants to put in the time and no one wants to appear to be challenging CLARB. People who already have licenses don’t seem to have a strong interest in the exam since they don’t have to take it again and maybe because the harder it is the less competition it creates?

If such a group ever convenes it should look to find out what the industry as a whole would value on a new exam and design around that. Use the design process to design the exam in other words. Those in business need to feel like they have an incentive to get behind a change. Do you see such an incentive right now? My guess is that right now the biggest interest in the profession is to limit competition, so handing out more licenses is probably not a top priority.

[Jonathan P. Williams, RLA]

As the test as been switched over to the computer for over a year now I would be curious to see if people still have the same impressions on all this.

I agree with you Andrew on some of your reasoning why licensed professionals don’t really care about it. The older LA’s in the office did not even know what CLARB was much less that the test was now on computers. 

It has always been my impression that the LARE is not based on the profession but is a test to be studied for and passed. Once that is done you can get on learning what you really need to know to do this job.

I don’t think the LARE is the best at testing what is needed to know but I think it does at least test minimum competency, which is all the test is supposed to do.

[Edward Flaherty]

Nothing personal here to anyone who has failed any section of the test.  Please re-read my first sentence. Again.

There is another side to a fail and that is that either a person’s own preparation or that person’s education did not come close to addressing the basics required for practicing landscape architecture.  Look hard at yourself and how you have been taught.

There is no automatic entitlement here for a passing grade.  Be harder on your instructors at school.

[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.

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

The exam is like a difficult client that you have to satisfy … the most important skill you can have to be a professional. One more skill set that they are testing for.

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