The ARB exam is evidence-based. Period. The Examiners are not partial to you if you're a Director, a Pritzker Prize winner or even the next Master Chef. If you can’t demonstrate compliance, you fail. Make sure to substantiate with text, diagrams, annotations, whatever medium carries the message. Make your points so clear that no one has to second-guess.

I don’t struggle with English, but a comprehension error cost me my first attempt. Each GC reflects on very specific instructions and if you don’t hit every part of that request, you’re missing the mark. Examples:

• "GC2.1: The graduate will have knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings"

• "GC3.1: The graduate will have knowledge of how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design".

Poor me, in both instances, thought it was one example of a theory, a practice and a form of technology. That is not the case, there should be multiple theories, multiple practices and multiple forms of technologies in evidence. Moral of the story? Read carefully and if in doubt, get a second opinion, it could save you an emotional rollercoaster.

Examiners have 90 minutes to go through 33 topics, if not less. That’s less than 3 minutes per GC, including: • Reading the GC text• Finding your evidence• Deciding if it’s valid and,• Navigating to the next GC. The last thing you want is for them to be wasting time trying to figure out your overly-complicated formatting.

Pro Tips:

• Use the same template for every project.

• Keep your text in the same place on every page.

• Number your pages for goodness sake

• Add hyperlinks to jump from the content page to each GC.

• Tab the pages so examiners don’t have to guess where to look and

• Add a home button to get back to the contents page.

Trust me, they’ll appreciate it and so will you in the exam.

If there’s one thing I’m glad I did, it was this. At the very start of your portfolio, have a spread that shows:

• All 33 GCs

• All projects that cover the GCs and,

• A different colour to code each of the 11 GC Headings.

Quality over Quantity. This situation can result in a Project Lock—and it’s brutal. Once you have submitted your portfolio you cannot swap out a project and replace it for another one, especially If it didn’t meet any of the GCs. Once reviewed, whether the project complied with one GC or none, all the pages for that particular project become dead weight in your portfolio. The results do not tell you which pages meet which GCs, so learn from my mistake. I had to resubmit a full application because I had 6 pages from a half project that blocked space for the new pages I needed in other projects to satisfy the other non-compliant GCs. 4 or 5 solid projects are enough. If a project doesn’t tick multiple GCs, don’t waste pages on it.

Some GCs like GC 3, GC4, GC6, and GC11 need written evidence. For example, a 2000-word essay can:

• Cover the multiple histories, theories, and practices

• Strengthen your background and rationale for multiple design projects and

• Cover multiple GCs in one go.

Your Support Documents are where you put the extra stuff—like case studies or additional explanations.If an examiner wants to dig deeper, they’ll look here for further evidence. This way, you can make your projects efficient to match the GCs and add any extra fluff in the bottomless pit of support documents.  

Yes, this is an open-book exam, but that doesn’t mean you should waste time flipping through pages.

Pro Tips:

• Have a second screen dedicated to your reference material during the exam, if possible.

• Use a digital board like Miro to organize your portfolio.

• Keep a GC checklist so you can track what they're asking you.

 It’s easy to get flustered in the heat of moment. It happens to the best of us. If you don’t understand a question, take a breath, have a sip of water and ask for clarification. The examiners are not trying to trick you. They just need to know that you did indeed provide sufficient evidence and that you do know your stuff.