Using a pencil and paper is a basic and necessary tool for an architect and by banning this to allow online testing it is a clear signal that NCARB value profit over people.
A
Alyssa L Vagt
5 years ago
Featured
architects are highly visual and tactile thinkers, processing information and problem solving through sketches, doodles, mind-maps, etc. Not having scratch paper and the ability to think graphically will induce more unnecessary stress on exam takers!!
M
Michael Hoenes
5 years ago
KEEP THE SCRATCH PAPER!
T
Tamzida
5 years ago
Eliminating scratch paper will induce more stress on people taking tests during pandemic we had enough stress with job cuts and crashing economy we don’t need more stress in the exam centers
Y
Ying Qi Chen
5 years ago
Please allow all candidates to use scratch paper.
A
Anonymous
5 years ago
please let us use paper in our ARE exam.
A
Anonymous
5 years ago
I recently took an exam on December 14th. I can with certainty say from actual experience taking the exam that the white board was a total disaster. The whiteboard was useless and negatively contributed to adding major time to the calculations and to fundamentally working through the problems efficiently. Writing with a MOUSE - (not a tablet with a pen!) was beyond slow, messy, awkward and I ended up abandoning it doing calculations in my head instead and relying on the calculator. Let me be clear that I know how to use a whiteboard - so this was not about computer skills. It was insulting to experience and can't imagine doing another exam in this manner. I am so very frustrated that I was not able to take simple notes and jot my thoughts down quickly. Also the whiteboard pops up and blocks the text you are reading - and you need to take unnecessary time to adjust the window to move it to a place you can read both the text and take notes. Every second counts in these exams and I am honestly blown away that this was somehow approved. Please give us back actual scratch paper. This by no means is making the "Playing field" even for those who had scratch paper before and those who basically had none with the whiteboard. This is a real, serious concern and I can not stress enough how important is it to give architects REAL paper to use. If folks doing online exams - they can easily use a pen tablet over the in person exam - where you are only given a mouse. This is not an even playing field. I also do not know if I passed or failed but I know the lack of paper contributed to a lower score by a long shot. I unfortunately feel that I am not going to schedule my next exam until this issue is addressed.
A
Anonymous
5 years ago
I recently took an exam on December 14th. I can with certainty say from actual experience taking the exam that the white board was a total disaster. The whiteboard was useless and negatively contributed to adding major time to the calculations and to fundamentally working through the problems efficiently. Writing with a MOUSE - (not a tablet with a pen!) was beyond slow, messy, awkward and I ended up abandoning it doing calculations in my head instead and relying on the calculator. Let me be clear that I know how to use a whiteboard - so this was not about computer skills. It was insulting to experience and can't imagine doing another exam in this manner. I am so very frustrated that I was not able to take simple notes and jot my thoughts down quickly. Also the whiteboard pops up and blocks the text you are reading - and you need to take unnecessary time to adjust the window to move it to a place you can read both the text and take notes. Every second counts in these exams and I am honestly blown away that this was somehow approved. Please give us back actual scratch paper. This by no means is making the "Playing field" even for those who had scratch paper before and those who basically had none with the whiteboard. This is a real, serious concern and I can not stress enough how important is it to give architects REAL paper to use. If folks doing online exams - they can easily use a pen tablet over the in person exam - where you are only given a mouse. This is not an even playing field. I also do not know if I passed or failed but I know the lack of paper contributed to a lower score by a long shot. I unfortunately feel that I am not going to schedule my next exam until this issue is addressed.
Y
Yongdae Derek Kim
5 years ago
Allow scratch paper for in-person tester
H
Hongyang
5 years ago
Please keep scratch paper for the in-person exam. Whiteboard is super hard to use and time-consuming, which could be avoided.
C
Caleb C Couch
5 years ago
This is by far the dumbest idea for the exam
E
Eric Jenison
5 years ago
This is an absolute nightmare scenario. You're taking away an architect's most important tool, the way most of us think through our ideas to arrive at a solution. Why?! Why?! There is no way to make equal the experiences of testing in person vs. online -- there will be differences, period. DON'T DO THIS.
M
Mahzad Talaei
5 years ago
Please bring back Papers & pencil to the exams. Having ability to write on paper is responding to human nature to solve the problem.
Thanks.
R
Ricardo Lantin
5 years ago
I support this petition.
C
Chris James
5 years ago
The digital whiteboard appears to be the latest of the obvious technical problems with the ARE. I have experienced similar issues to other test-takers, such as extremely slow loading references. I know this has lowered my scores. Scratch paper for in-person testing and a dry erase board for remote proctoring would be equitable. NCARB seems to be overcomplicating the issue.
A
Ashley Aguiar
5 years ago
Remove whiteboard. Allow people to use scratch paper
J
Jeanne Elliott
5 years ago
scratch paper is the extension of the brain for most of us without having to switch into technology mode which sometimes slows or even distracts our method/speed of thinking. Let this be natural the way we have been implementing it before for many years. Nothing has changed since, security, and proper exam content was still met, why change it now. It means then the folks who passed pre-covid will then retake the same exam with whiteboard like the rest of us to be fair...this is not fair. This is re-inventing the wheel, and we are going backwards, not forward.
D
David Salamon
5 years ago
It seems like NCARB is more invested in putting up obstacles than implementing practical solutions. Despite the absurdity of banning scratch paper, the Digital Whiteboard software is terrible. It shouldn't even qualify as a beta release let alone an imperative tool that you must use on a high stakes and expensive exam.
A
Anonymous
5 years ago
Scratch paper is extremely useful.
E
elias ramos
5 years ago
scratch paper is vital for jotting down information seen on the case studies avoiding the on screen back and forth and for performing calculations.. white board will not be efficient with these things..
Using a pencil and paper is a basic and necessary tool for an architect and by banning this to allow online testing it is a clear signal that NCARB value profit over people.
architects are highly visual and tactile thinkers, processing information and problem solving through sketches, doodles, mind-maps, etc. Not having scratch paper and the ability to think graphically will induce more unnecessary stress on exam takers!!
KEEP THE SCRATCH PAPER!
Eliminating scratch paper will induce more stress on people taking tests during pandemic we had enough stress with job cuts and crashing economy we don’t need more stress in the exam centers
Please allow all candidates to use scratch paper.
please let us use paper in our ARE exam.
I recently took an exam on December 14th. I can with certainty say from actual experience taking the exam that the white board was a total disaster. The whiteboard was useless and negatively contributed to adding major time to the calculations and to fundamentally working through the problems efficiently. Writing with a MOUSE - (not a tablet with a pen!) was beyond slow, messy, awkward and I ended up abandoning it doing calculations in my head instead and relying on the calculator. Let me be clear that I know how to use a whiteboard - so this was not about computer skills. It was insulting to experience and can't imagine doing another exam in this manner. I am so very frustrated that I was not able to take simple notes and jot my thoughts down quickly. Also the whiteboard pops up and blocks the text you are reading - and you need to take unnecessary time to adjust the window to move it to a place you can read both the text and take notes. Every second counts in these exams and I am honestly blown away that this was somehow approved. Please give us back actual scratch paper. This by no means is making the "Playing field" even for those who had scratch paper before and those who basically had none with the whiteboard. This is a real, serious concern and I can not stress enough how important is it to give architects REAL paper to use. If folks doing online exams - they can easily use a pen tablet over the in person exam - where you are only given a mouse. This is not an even playing field. I also do not know if I passed or failed but I know the lack of paper contributed to a lower score by a long shot. I unfortunately feel that I am not going to schedule my next exam until this issue is addressed.
I recently took an exam on December 14th. I can with certainty say from actual experience taking the exam that the white board was a total disaster. The whiteboard was useless and negatively contributed to adding major time to the calculations and to fundamentally working through the problems efficiently. Writing with a MOUSE - (not a tablet with a pen!) was beyond slow, messy, awkward and I ended up abandoning it doing calculations in my head instead and relying on the calculator. Let me be clear that I know how to use a whiteboard - so this was not about computer skills. It was insulting to experience and can't imagine doing another exam in this manner. I am so very frustrated that I was not able to take simple notes and jot my thoughts down quickly. Also the whiteboard pops up and blocks the text you are reading - and you need to take unnecessary time to adjust the window to move it to a place you can read both the text and take notes. Every second counts in these exams and I am honestly blown away that this was somehow approved. Please give us back actual scratch paper. This by no means is making the "Playing field" even for those who had scratch paper before and those who basically had none with the whiteboard. This is a real, serious concern and I can not stress enough how important is it to give architects REAL paper to use. If folks doing online exams - they can easily use a pen tablet over the in person exam - where you are only given a mouse. This is not an even playing field. I also do not know if I passed or failed but I know the lack of paper contributed to a lower score by a long shot. I unfortunately feel that I am not going to schedule my next exam until this issue is addressed.
Allow scratch paper for in-person tester
Please keep scratch paper for the in-person exam. Whiteboard is super hard to use and time-consuming, which could be avoided.
This is by far the dumbest idea for the exam
This is an absolute nightmare scenario. You're taking away an architect's most important tool, the way most of us think through our ideas to arrive at a solution. Why?! Why?! There is no way to make equal the experiences of testing in person vs. online -- there will be differences, period. DON'T DO THIS.
Please bring back Papers & pencil to the exams. Having ability to write on paper is responding to human nature to solve the problem. Thanks.
I support this petition.
The digital whiteboard appears to be the latest of the obvious technical problems with the ARE. I have experienced similar issues to other test-takers, such as extremely slow loading references. I know this has lowered my scores. Scratch paper for in-person testing and a dry erase board for remote proctoring would be equitable. NCARB seems to be overcomplicating the issue.
Remove whiteboard. Allow people to use scratch paper
scratch paper is the extension of the brain for most of us without having to switch into technology mode which sometimes slows or even distracts our method/speed of thinking. Let this be natural the way we have been implementing it before for many years. Nothing has changed since, security, and proper exam content was still met, why change it now. It means then the folks who passed pre-covid will then retake the same exam with whiteboard like the rest of us to be fair...this is not fair. This is re-inventing the wheel, and we are going backwards, not forward.
It seems like NCARB is more invested in putting up obstacles than implementing practical solutions. Despite the absurdity of banning scratch paper, the Digital Whiteboard software is terrible. It shouldn't even qualify as a beta release let alone an imperative tool that you must use on a high stakes and expensive exam.
Scratch paper is extremely useful.
scratch paper is vital for jotting down information seen on the case studies avoiding the on screen back and forth and for performing calculations.. white board will not be efficient with these things..