Failing the Practice Management division of the ARE 5.0 has been humbling. Not discouraging, not defeating, but clarifying in a way that success often is not.
My first attempt fell short of the 550 passing threshold. Close enough to sting, far enough to force reflection. My second attempt is complete, but the score has not yet been released. Regardless of the outcome, the process between those two attempts made something unavoidable clear: the issue was not effort, time, or intelligence.
The issue was how I was studying, and more importantly, how I was framing the exam in my mind.
I was still approaching it like a student trying to pass a test, instead of a practicing professional validating competence.
That realization changed everything.
I earned my Master of Architecture in 2017 from Montana State University. Like many graduates, I left school strong in design thinking and problem solving, but with an incomplete understanding of how architecture firms actually function as businesses. Teaching became a parallel track early in my career. I taught Revit I, Revit II, Capstone Portfolio, and later developed a Construction Visualization course. Teaching has a way of exposing every weak spot. When students ask why something works, not just how, surface-level understanding does not survive.
My early professional years were shaped in a design-build environment while working for a general contractor, where I completed my IDP and AXP hours. That experience was demanding and often…