The 5 Reasons AXP is Failing Architect Candidates - No 5

The AXP is the Architectural Experience Program. This is NCARB’s system for helping you, the new design professional, document hours in areas that are important to gain competency in as an architect. As you work, you gain experience. And every hour of time that you work on a particular task that contributes to the competency of you as an architect, contributes to your experience you log that in a particular area.

I'm listing the top 5 reasons the AXP is failing architecture licensing candidate in that effort, and it's failing architecture firms too.

I think this is the most important reason, that's because the AXP is considered a thing in and of itself and that's a big problem.

The ARE, the test, the several exams that every architect licensure candidate takes, really IS a thing. You study for that thing, you sit down, take the test. You pass it, you celebrate that achievement. If you don't pass, you back and you study again, you achieve this thing of passing the test.

But the AXP is not a thing. It's documenting your experience, but unfortunately, it's become a thing in and of itself, and that separates it from its intended goal of helping you build experience.

If you didn't have a way of documenting the experience you were getting as you were working in a firm, how do you know you got the right experience? That's the purpose of the AXP--to organize the experience into areas that help you be diversified in your ability to be an architect someday. you log hours that you work into the system, into the six areas that NCARB created, and get the total number of hours for each of those areas, is kind of weighted, because they're all different.

NCARB has determined that number of hours, plus taking the exam, plus education, should give the candidate the knowledge the competency to be an architect at the initial point of licensure.

What happens with the AXP, though, is it's just checking boxes. You log an hour, you check a box, you log another hour, you check a box, and the goal becomes checking all the boxes. The goal is supposed to be getting the experience.

Mentally, focus yourself on getting experience, not checking the box. When you do your report and you send it to your supervisor who checks it, make sure that you understand you are reporting experience that's going to help you be an architect someday.

And supervisors, check that experience against the time cards, and talk to the candidate, talk to the person you're supervising and whose report you're signing or approving, and ask about what did you actually do? Did you actually do these things? What tasks did you do?

Be diligent about making the AXP about gaining experience, not checking the boxes. It's not a thing in and of itself to complete. It's part of the process.

So that's the most important part, and the most important reason why the AXP is failing architecture candidates, because they don't think of it as experience. I'm generalizing, but keep in mind, this is a very broad widespread attitude that I've seen in many places among many people. So it's a thing.

Let's not make it a thing. Let's make it a real experience documentation process that leads to licensure.