I've been using the ARE forum to study and this was a post that probably described very well the painful process of taking these exams to become an architect.

I love to study, I love to study, I love to study.

Gotta do this!!

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For those of you using these notes, along with the notes that I posted in other sections, I received my test results on Friday and am extremely relieved that I passed this final section.

I am now finished with this testing process, and just have to shell out a good bit of cash to the state, NCARB and AIA along with doing a good bit of paperwork and waiting for everything to be processed before I am officially AIA, NCARB, etc.

I cannot describe what a huge relief it is to be done with this. This has taken me about 11.5 year to complete. I know that seems extraordinarily long, but sometimes life is unpredictable. After 3 years of internship I started testing and completed 5 tests (MC) under V3.1. I was preparing for my 6th test (graphics) and had just taken a Dorf seminar to get prepared when I was diagnosed with cancer. I lost five years in the blink of eye. It took a couple of years for me to reestablish myself in the profession, moved across the country to take my dream job. Jan 1 of 2009 I made a New Year's resolution that I was going to finish these exams in 2009. I took 2 early in 2009 and went into a tailspin when I failed Site Design (hadn't failed anything else and it just threw me for a loop). I had one shot at BT under V3.1 or I lost all of my previously passed sections. Thankfully I passed that and was left taking SPD and PPP in V4.0. I took both of those in December.

I found out 1-15-2010 that I had passed SPD which was the last result I was waiting on. I missed my deadline by 15 days, but I can live with that.

I wish everyone in this process the best of luck. It is a hard and demanding process. For me it just boiled down to pure determination and stubbornness. When I was 17 I decided I was going to be an architect and I had to keep at it until I could truly call myself that (which I think is a load of $%&^). By the way I think that very same characteristic - the stubbornness and the determination is what helped be come through 5 years of dealing with cancer, treatments, surgeries, etc.

I will continue to be an active member of this forum and continue to advocate for change with NCARB, AIA and the profession.

Thanks to all who helped me along the way.