The rolling clock is ticking down to zero for candidates who began passing sections of the Architect Registration Exam prior to 2006. Those who passed a section before January 2006 but have not completed the full exam need to do so before July 1, 2014. If they do not, their hard work will be discarded.
The rolling clock idea was initiated by the National Council of Architectural Review Boards (NCARB) in 2006 and revised in 2009. To allow those who had passed earlier versions of the ARE — including those who had successfully completed some tests on the paper versions — NCARB established a grace period. This ends on July 1, 2014.
If a candidate passed one or more sections prior to January 2006 but does not successfully complete the remaining parts of the exam before July 2014, the pre-2006 results will be erased. Candidates then must retake those deleted portions again.
This deadline does not affect those parts successfully completed after January 1, 2006. Those have always been controlled by the rolling clock. The clock starts with the successful completion of an exam segment. From that date, candidates have five years to complete the entire exam successfully. At the five-year mark, the candidate either has passed all portions, or the first exam is deleted and must be retaken and the five-year start date moves to the second successfully completed portion.
Questions may be directed toward NCARB at (202) 879-0520 or customerservice@ncarb.org.