[Elizabeth Renton]

I agree with Wyatt. Please consider using actual tree stumps in this “nature play area.” It seems laughably ironic that one would put a concrete imitation of a natural item in a children’s space that is supposed to encourage exploration of nature! A concrete seat that resembles a tree trunk is a much less engaging and effective teaching tool than actual wood stumps, which will vary in size, shape, texture and will evolve and decay and change in time! I’ve designed several nature playscapes for preschoolers and the wood stumps are always a hit. And you can usually get them for free!

[Elizabeth Renton]

Get to know the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s playground safety standards.http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf

 

Safety is a HUGE factor when it comes to playground design. I doubt they’re going to ask you how well you know Autocad commands…it seems more likely that they’re going to want to see how well-versed you are in safety standards.

[Elizabeth Renton]

Thanks for contacting them about it. I’m glad they agreed with you and removed the post.

[Elizabeth Renton]

[like] [like] [like]

 

probably a discussion for a whole different thread but one of my pet peeves is when landscape architects and architects slap down a piece of plastic play equipment and call it a playground. If you know ANYTHING about child development you know that those plastic behemoths are not the most engaging play environments. They only encourage physical activity. Children engage in play in a variety of ways, incorporating different cognitive, emotional, and social skills. They need creative, open-ended opportunities for play, which the plastic structures are not good at providing. Think back to the old analogy about the small child at a birthday party, who spends about 2 minutes playing with the toy that came in the box, and about an hour playing with the box instead, pretending it was a spacecraft or firetruck or something else. Landscape architects need to do a better job of creating appropriate play environments that promote creative free play!

[Elizabeth Renton]

[Like!!!]

 

I hate the raised playground equipment surrounded by a moat of black plastic timber edging. And the plastic edging buried in-ground also tends to pop up/out, get run over by lawn mowers, and otherwise go awry. I think a flush  poured-in-place concrete curb is the way to go. Excavate 9-12″ for the wood fiber fill so the whole system sits at-grade. No tripping hazard, not a lot of maintenance, although the wood fiber will still tend to migrate out. But that’s to be expected anyway.

[Elizabeth Renton]

Judy, is failing the written portion the only item keeping you from passing? i had a similar experience last fall. When i took the redline review and saw that i’d gotten a ‘3’ on the ‘predicting environmental impacts’ portion i was floored. I went through the grading criteria listed, and saw that my written portion listed every one of those items, and yet it was redlined/failed as not meeting the criteria. I had to pay more money for the score verification process, but at least i was given a fair accurate assesment the second time around- they gave me credit for the written portion and it was enough to put me over the passing threshold.

 

I would encourage you to look into the score verification process as well, if in your redline review you’ve had the same doubts that i did. If there weren’t any other serious errors on your vignettes it might be enough to pass.

[Elizabeth Renton]

Hi Hagen,

I had spoken to Sadik about doing a LARE review here in Houston sometime this spring. I am an officer for TX ASLA- Houston/Gulf Coast, so i’ll be sending out an email blast to our members to see if there’s enough interest and a large enough group to pay for Sadik to come. I’ll keep you posted! You’re welcome to join us!

[Elizabeth Renton]

I took the test in June, and then took the redline review offered in October. I think the comments on my redline do match the quote from clarb; there were indeed both positive and negative comments. But i wasn’t really interested in the positive comments….if i failed, i really only want to know what i did wrong, not what i did right. My beef, and the reason why i paid for the score verification process, is that there were redline comments about my ‘mistakes’ (reasons why i failed) that DID in fact meet the stated grading criteria. 

I had posted a thread about it last fall http://land8lounge.com/forum/topics/is-clarbs-redline-review

[Elizabeth Renton]

scratch that, they just sent me an email saying that, contrary to the failing score they initially gave me, I actually passed section C last June. Hooray for the ‘score verification process.’ Booo for not grading it correctly the first time!!

So, section E, round 2 in June. Tips? Tricks? Handy pointers i must have otherwise overlooked?

[Elizabeth Renton]

I didn’t see the guy on Oprah you mentioned earlier. Who was he? What was he saying?

[Elizabeth Renton]

UPDATE: I had reason to believe my test was graded unfairly, so i paid the extra $276 for the ‘score verification process.’ Lo and behold, it turns out I was right. My test was graded unfairly, and they just sent me a notice saying my score had been reversed and i actually passed.

 

Lesson learned: ALWAYS take the redline review. You never know what BS redline comments could be incorectly flagged on your exam. If you see something that you think was penalized incorrectly, definitely pay for the extra review process. I’m out $897 for ONE SECTION, but I passed. Just further proof that this is such a terribly flawed system, and a cash-cow for clarb.

[Elizabeth Renton]

I haven’t taken a class yet…I think that’s the next step in this gameplan. One of my old professors from LSU offers a 2 day LARE  review. I think i’ll get a bunch of my colleagues together and see if we can hire him.

 

So what do you think was your trick to passing section C this time? i’ll be re-taking that one in June.

[Elizabeth Renton]

Thanks for sharing. I hadn’t received an email notifying us that the scores were posted. I was lurking on the site yesterday though, hoping they’d be up.

 

Aaaaaand I failed section E. Big surprise. (not really. After my debaucle in June i was fully prepared to go down in flames again in December.) Guess it’s time to fork out another $150 for airfare and $275 for a redline review. 

[Elizabeth Renton]

I used their section D study guide. It seemed pretty reasonable; however there were a few questions in the study guide that i seriously questioned the supposed ‘correct’ answer. But that seems to be a pretty typical fault for the LARE in general. I guess the best benefit of the study guide is just going through each and every answer option that’s listed, and making sure you fully understand the concept.

 

I’ll probably go back to that site and purchase the section C and E study guides as well.

Hope this helps!

[Elizabeth Renton]

I think it sounds like a good idea for anyone who doesn’t have a job in the profession and wants to stay current and fresh and engaged. Like Thomas said, if I already have a fulltime paid job in a landscape architecture office, i think i’d rather put in the extra time (and hopefully get extra pay!) at my existing job. But yes, for a bunch of friends who’ve been laid off and are now paying the bills by working at a coffee shop, I think it’s a good way to keep the portfolio up to date and work on projects that really interest you.

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