[Rob Rosner]

Phil, I disagree with you. I am a licensed landscape architect in two states. Having the license has increased my business tremendously. It has brought me new clients. I am also a planner. So, I am able to sell planning services which require no license and landscape & irrigation design services which do require a license. Since moving to Florida, I went about 2 years without a license. As soon as I got my Florida license, my workload increased. I was able to sell more services to my existing clients and get referred to new clients as well.

As landscape architects, we design much more than just gardens. An yes we are practicing to protect the health safety and welfare of the public. That is the whole point of licensing.

[Rob Rosner]

Civil 3D is a really good product. I am not that familiar with Land F/X, but I find that I can do most of my work without additional software. Irrigation software is probably the one product I wouldn’t mind having. Planting design can easily be done with general AutoCAD functions.

[Rob Rosner]

I personally think that graphics are purely a communication tool. Some folks have natural talents to sketch and other don’t. A designer should use whatever tools they can to get their work done. I agree that time and money are the biggest factors in choosing the right medium for graphics.

However, digital mediums will constantly change with technology. Trends occur because of technology in most cases. I learned this business at the advent of the personal computer age in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Computers were still too slow to be an effective “rendering” tool. CAD had broken into the market strongly at the time. No one doubted the effective use of the computer in CAD. Everyone thought CAD drawings looked very rigid, but loved to quick ability to reproduce it. Hand drawings weren’t so easy to reproduce. You had to be able to draw it by hand if all else failed.

In today’s world, my graphic abilities have changed considerably. I do much more work digitally than I do hand work. It doesn’t change the fact we have to be able to do hand graphics when needed as mentioned by other folks in this thread. There are some things I design that I couldn’t draw using a mouse. I will often print something out, sketch on it, scan back in, and then trace it using a graphic program. They are coming out with more useful tablets now that really make this interface more “touch-based”. I am excited for that technology to be affordable, more common, and easily accessible. I predict that the “versus” portion of this discussion will become moot in the next 10-15 years.

[Rob Rosner]

The LARE is simply a test to ensure that landscape architects know how to protect the public health and welfare. The vignette portions are designed to be done in a short time with a limited pool of possible answers. I took the LARE in 1994 and passed 6 out of 7 tests on the first try. Was it magic? Am I a true whiz at this? No, I spent about $150 going to a LARE test prep course. It made all of the difference in the world in getting my mind ready for the test. Before that prep course, I was worried about what was on the test and not sure what to expect. The test prep course showed me very clearly that you need to know how to read the problem, pick out the primary requirements for the design, and follow the instructions to the letter know matter how silly or different they seem to the way you are used to doing it. It also made it clear that you are not trying to impress the grader with your graphic ability or how “cool” your design is. You need to simply solve the problem by meeting all of the requirements on the test problem, and do it in a certain amount of time.

I ended up retaking the site design section over twice. The first retake, I didn’t prepare well and waited until the last minute to cram, ended up working late at the night before. Not a good idea. Since I scored just one point short of passing, I paid $75 to review my test. It was worth every penny. It showed me that I was not following the instructions of the exam to the letter. That is why I didn’t pass. On the next try, I passed with a 92. I was done.

No matter what, I didn’t give up. I encourage all of you taking the exam to not give up, and keep trying those example problems. Find out how many problems you have to do in however much time and divide it out. Figure how much time you have for each problem and keep track of your time. Time yourself when you doing your practice problems. During the real test, keep track of your time for each vignette.

Good luck and best wishes!

[Rob Rosner]

Let me tell you about a test prep course coming up in May. Here is the link: http://www.flasla.org/lare.htm Give it a close look. It should be worth it.

[Rob Rosner]

I use both RLA & ASLA. Because there are people who are full members who are not registered, I want to instill a sense of legitamcy by using “RLA” and then use “ASLA” promote the ASLA organization afterwards. Also, the engineers use “PE” after their name for the same reason of legitamcy especially in professional settings. I work in an engineering office. It also helps me represent our profession among a predominantly “engineering” company.

[Rob Rosner]

The LARE is simply a test to ensure that landscape architects know how to protect the public health and welfare. The vignette portions are designed to be done in a short time with a limited pool of possible answers. I took the LARE in 1994 and passed 6 out of 7 tests on the first try. Was it magic? Am I a true whiz at this? No, I spent about $150 going to a LARE test prep course. It made all of the difference in the world in getting my mind ready for the test. Before that prep course, I was worried about what was on the test and not sure what to expect. The test prep course showed me very clearly that you need to know how to read the problem, pick out the primary requirements for the design, and follow the instructions to the letter know matter how silly or different they seem to the way you are used to doing it. It also made it clear that you are not trying to impress the grader with your graphic ability or how “cool” your design is. You need to simply solve the problem by meeting all of the requirements on the test problem, and do it in a certain amount of time.

I ended up retaking the site design section over twice. The first retake, I didn’t prepare well and waited until the last minute to cram, ended up working late at the night before. Not a good idea. Since I scored just one point short of passing, I paid $75 to review my test. It was worth every penny. It showed me that I was not following the instructions of the exam to the letter. That is why I didn’t pass. On the next try, I passed with a 92. I was done.

No matter what, I didn’t give up. I encourage all of you taking the exam to not give up, and keep trying those example problems. Find out how many problems you have to do in however much time and divide it out. Figure how much time you have for each problem and keep track of your time. Time yourself when you doing your practice problems. During the real test, keep track of your time for each vignette.

I am training a young landcsape architect right now and helping him with his test prep. I am acting as his grader and giving him advice of how to pass. Find some professional who has passed to do the same for you.

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