Results Are up!

[Kara Singbeil]

August results have been posted. Good luck!

[H W]

I recently took the Inventory, Analysis & Project Management test in Toronto. The test center staff mentioned he can see the immediate results of all candidates, and apparently, no one has passed it since the summer season. I just got my result—failed at 622. With 8 years of experience and solid prep, most questions in my exam felt completely unrelated. I purchased study materials and practice tests from LarePrep, which I’ve seen good reviews on Reddit. Honestly, LARE and CLARB feel like a scam—doubled fees since 2020 (I took Construction Contract exam in 2020), out-of-scope questions, and setting people up to retake for more money. I’m looking into how to file a complaint. Appreciate if anyone has insights on reporting this scam behavior!

[Kara Singbeil]

I agree with a lot you are saying! I have almost 10 years experience and my bosses have told me that the exams have nothing to do with what we actually do half the time. They've even said its not indication that you can or cannot do your job.  It's frustrating too as a Canadian how much the exams cost. Its outrageous I am paying them over $250/year to be able to take the exams then $750+ on each exam. 

I took Planning and Design in August - noting I also have a degree in urban planning. I used the Clarb practice exams and my lowest score on those was 83%... but I failed with a 630. 

[Douglas Short]

If you feel that CLARB is not doing a great job and that these tests are not a great measure of the work that we do, please email:

Roxanne Blackwell at ASLA 

rblac...@ASLA.org

She is the person in charge of advocacy and licensure at ASLA.

If you choose to email her, please give a clear statement about your experience and how CLARB is not working for our profession.

Obviously many people are failing, but there are people who are passing and getting thru it all.  

Not sure about overall trends--if these tests are more difficult than previous version, but I think ASLA 

should be in the loop with how people are feeling.

[Shaun Hebert]

I can't say I'm happy with the LARE process but I did pass Planning and Design and CD & A in August.  I walked into both fairly confident I knew the material and left defeated and barely had enough time for both.  All I studied were LAREPREP study guides, LAREPREP practice tests, and CLARB practice tests.  As much as I studied and understood the content, there was so much on the test that left me scratching my head, but I guess I knew just enough to get the passing score.  There was so much overlap in material it was tough to discern where one started and the other stopped.  This 4 part exam could surely be compressed into 2 parts.  

Planning to take Inventory & Analysis and Grading in December and will follow the same routine, but as we all know, one of those is the hardest and the other is the easiest. I'm nearly 20 years out of school with a degree in LA with tons of experience in multiple areas.  Never too late, right?

[H W]

Thanks all for sharing your experience and insights! I've requested an appeal. Also plan to try other methods mentioned in the forum here, plus reporting with BBB.

[kourtn...@gmail.com]

What are the odds I got the same exact score as the last time I took the exam? I took the Grading, Drainage exam for the second time and got the same score of 601 with the same subdomain feedback. I am probably in denial, but the first time I took it, I did not even finish the exam. When I took it in August, I felt soo much better about how I did and even had extra time to review my exam. Just feeling very defeated, especially knowing I did not even IMPROVE from the first attempt.

[CS]

The score is not a clear or direct representation of one knowledge, skills, etc. It's really how well you understand the intention of the person witting the question. An getting into that person's mindset is the tricky part. CLARB tests for applied knowledge in the opinion of the person writing the question, not the test taker. Everyday office application is not tested.