2.3 Item Types, Case Studies, Exam Tools, Breaks & Pacing

Content knowledge is necessary but not sufficient. The ARE is delivered through a specific interface with specific rules, and candidates lose points every year to mechanics they could have learned in an hour.

The Three Item Types

ARE 5.0 uses three item types for both standalone and case study items. Every item is worth one point, and there is no partial credit on any of them. (Quantitative fill-in-the-blank items were retired from the exam in February 2024 — if a prep resource still drills them, it is out of date.)

1. Multiple Choice

A question followed by either three or four response options, with exactly one correct answer. Distractors are built from the common misconception, the common arithmetic slip, and the answer that would be right under a different code provision.

Strategy: form your own answer before reading the options, then use the strikethrough tool to eliminate. The strikethrough and highlight tools work on every item type and inside case study scenarios.

2. Check-All-That-Apply (CATA)

A question followed by six response options, with a prompt to select between two and four of them. The stem always states the required number in bold — "Check the two that apply."

Scoring: you must select all of the correct options and none of the incorrect ones. Three right out of four earns zero.

Strategy: evaluate each of the six options as an independent true/false statement, then confirm your selection count matches the stem exactly before moving on. Selecting five options when the stem says three is a guaranteed zero.

3. Hotspot

A question followed by a drawing, photograph, diagram, map, or other image. You answer by clicking on an area or object within the image. If your click falls inside the acceptable scoring area, it is correct.

Strategy: click the functional element the question names — the weep hole, the vapor retarder, the maneuvering clearance — not the general vicinity. Zoom in before placing the click.

Case Studies

Every division ends with a set of case studies. A case study is a snapshot of a project at a moment in time: a scenario describing the project and its key information, plus one to two resources. Resources may be code excerpts, AIA contract excerpts, drawings, budgets and schedules, or program requirements.

Source: NCARB, ARE 5.0 Guidelines (June 2026). The case study format was refreshed effective April 27, 2026: fewer items per case study and one to two resources per case study rather than the previous three to six.

Four mechanics matter:

1. The scenario and resources do not change from question to question within a case study.
2. Questions do not build on each other. Getting one wrong cannot cascade into the next.
3. All resources for a case study are available while viewing any of its items.
4. Case study items are placed at the end of the division, but you do not have to wait — the Exam Summary tool lets you jump to them whenever you want.

Case study items are not lookup exercises. NCARB is explicit that they "require you to find information and then apply or analyze it," which is why they take longer per item than standalone items. That extra time is already built into the division clock.

Strategy: skim the scenario once to learn the project, then work question-first — read the stem, decide what fact you need, and go to the resource for that fact. Watch for modified contract language: an AIA excerpt in a case study may contain owner-inserted edits, and the exhibit text governs, not your memory of the standard form.

Exam Tools

You get three tools, and no others:

• On-screen calculator. Opened from the top menu bar. It handles the arithmetic, trigonometry, powers, roots, and memory functions ARE calculation items require. Critically, the calculator's history and memory reset every time you move to a new item — do not park an intermediate value there and navigate away. Personal calculators are prohibited.
• Whiteboard. Your virtual scratch paper, also on the top menu bar. Unlike the calculator, whiteboard content is saved and viewable for the whole appointment, including after a break. It supports freehand pencil, text boxes, shapes, arrows, lines, multiple pages, zoom, and undo/redo.
• Reference formulas. The ARE does not expect you to memorize structural, electrical, or mechanical formulas. If a formula is required to answer an item, it is provided in the item itself under a "Reference Formula" subheading. Learn to use the formulas in NCARB's published list; do not burn memory on storing them.

Breaks: The Rule That Costs Points

Each division includes allotted break time — 30 minutes on PcM, PjM, PA, and CE, and 45 minutes on PPD and PDD — usable all at once or split across several breaks. Exceeding your allotted break time is permitted, but the exam timer keeps running.

The rule that catches people is this: following a break, every item you have already viewed is locked, including items you marked for later review. You cannot view or edit them again.

So the break workflow is fixed:

1. Finish reviewing every flagged item you intend to revisit.
2. Confirm every viewed item has an answer selected.
3. Only then go to Exam Summary, click Break, confirm, and show the proctor the "On Break" screen.

At a test center you must stay inside the test center during a break; leaving may cancel your exam with no refund. You will be re-screened on return.

Pacing

Divide the clock by the item count before you start:

Roughly two and a half minutes per item, everywhere. Because case study items run longer than that average, standalone items need to run shorter. A workable rule: give a standalone item 90 seconds to two minutes, then commit to an answer and flag it rather than stalling. Reserve the back end of the clock for the case studies.

Exam Tip: There is no penalty for guessing. With one minute left, the highest-value action is not solving one more calculation — it is making sure no item anywhere in the division is blank.