Two weeks have passed since this year's registered architect exam, and I'm only now sitting down to write a debrief. I've been busy. I'll wait for the results in August before doing a proper postmortem.
I sat four papers this year. Most of my studying went into the big design drawing; for the knowledge papers, my habit is to review lightly and then guess a lot. Last year that approach got me through Architectural Economics, Construction, and Design Business Management, while the other three papers landed at 56–58. This year I checked my answers against the key from the prep course I follow. I think I have 69 on the combined structure paper, so I feel fairly confident there. The other two knowledge papers are less encouraging: Building Materials and Construction came out at 58 again, and Architectural Design is hard to score accurately because the questions were out of order, but I suspect I failed. Even so, passing the combined paper would make me happy for a practical reason: it would clear the two papers scheduled in the second week, saving me a week of commuting and about 200 yuan.
I bought textbooks for all three knowledge papers this year, and naturally did not finish any of them. For the combined paper I also bought an online course. At 199, the discount was steep: video lessons, past questions in a mini-program, and access to a teacher's guidance. It was a good deal. If anyone is taking the exam next year, I'd suggest just buying the course and following it to the end; that should be enough to pass. In the group chat I saw some impressively diligent people with study time in the tens of thousands of minutes and every past paper completed. Compared with them, I was beyond lazy: I didn't finish the past papers, didn't get through the videos, and never passed 1,000 minutes of study time. I still got lucky. A little practice each year seems to leave something in my head.
The big design drawing remains the biggest obstacle, but this year I did make progress. I first took it in 2024. I had no idea what I was doing and ended up sketching a single floor plan almost at random; the marker gave me 20. In 2025 I could at least solve the brief, but solving it took more than four hours, leaving too little time to draw. I only completed one floor plan. I also mishandled the column dots, and the sheet smudged; it looked sloppy. The result was 29, only slightly better than the year before. In previous years I had never actually practiced with pen on paper, so this year I copied two complete sets of drawings. The practice exposed plenty of problems, and I corrected them as I went. My drawing did improve: I got both floor plans down. But I still made many mistakes, kept scratching out and revising, ran out of time, left many details unexpressed, and never drew the site plan. After comparing answers, I found three major problems, plus the unfinished drawing. I doubt I passed this year. Even so, the improvement feels real. I'm predicting at least 50. Last year one floor plan got me over 20, so two floor plans should get me to 50, right? Ha.
One conclusion is that I can't be this lazy. No matter how many lectures you listen to, if you don't put pen to paper, you won't find your own problems. In a casual episode of Elevator Night Talk, someone mentioned that he can usually finish inking a drawing in under two hours. Speed at the inking stage comes down to three things. First, practice: only practice raises speed, and copying at least three sets of drawings is a reasonable minimum. Second, know what to draw—what the minimum inking requirements are. Once the mandatory elements are in, the drawing is basically done. If there is time left, you can add extras that aren't required but make the sheet look richer. Third, solving speed. The faster you solve the brief, the more time you leave yourself, and the more confidence you have when inking. If you solve slowly and worry about running out of time, you will get flustered, and flustered work leads to mistakes; the more flustered you get, the worse it goes.
So whether or not the knowledge papers pass, next year's review will still be necessary, and it will center on the big design. My plan is to skip theory classes for now and go straight into practice. I've listened to theory courses for several years, from different providers large and small. The content varies, but the broad principles point in the same direction. Listening more doesn't help much; the key is actual practice, and using practice to raise speed. In both the past two years I solved the floor plan scheme, but too slowly. Some points needed repeated pondering before I could crack the brief. My sensitivity to the information in the brief is not good enough—I can't see a description and immediately think of the answer. I see two solutions. One is to look and learn more, studying more project cases to build experience. The other is to practice more, using past papers and mock questions to improve that sensitivity so that when I see a relevant description I can list the corresponding plan. If I do both, the big design should stop being such a roadblock.
No matter how smart one person is, there are limits. As the saying goes, three cobblers together can match Zhuge Liang. So next year I plan to start reviewing as soon as the results come out. If I scrape through, I won't take it again; it consumes too much time and energy. If I fail, I'll ask a few friends to form a study group and start practicing directly. The first stage would be past papers, followed by mutual review: what did the other person miss, and what did they do well? Which elements were left out? How did they derive the good parts? By learning from each other's strengths and spotting my own weak spots, I can keep cutting down my shortcomings. Then I'd practice several more sets of inking to raise my drawing speed and face the exam with more calm.
If anyone is interested in joining me, leave a comment.
I went back to last year's debrief, 'Notes After the First-Class Architect Exam.' Looking at it now, my predictions were pretty accurate. Ha. The exam also leaves your head foggy, which is a reminder to get enough rest. Good sleep is part of a good result.