The mission of the Emerging Professionals Committee (EPiC) is to foster the growth of emerging professionals and support local chapters through advocacy, education, and service.

Our goal is to provide programming and service opportunities for our members to have enjoyable experiences while building relationships, developing leadership skills, and increasing emerging professionals’ involvement in the profession.

RESOURCES FOR EMERGING PROFESSIONALS

Feb. 2025 Now Ya Know May, 2025 Now Ya Know

NCARB UPDATES | AXP CHANGES

1. Refreshed descriptions of each of the program’s six experience areas: The AXP experience areas will no longer be described by a list of 96 tasks. Instead, the description of each experience area will be updated to reflect appropriate capabilities described in the Competency Standard for Architects. The minimum required hours per experience area will not be impacted. Note: AXP Portfolio applicants will still need to associate exhibits with the current AXP’s 96 tasks.
2. Replacing the five-year reporting requirement with a new reporting policy: Under the current requirement, candidates must report all experience within eight months of earning it for 100% credit, and within five years for 50% credit; any experience older than five years does not receive any credit. Under the new policy, candidates will be able to earn 100% credit for experience up to a year old. Experience older than one year will be worth 75% credit, with no limitation on how old that experience can be.

   This change will apply to previously reported experience as well as new experience reports, and many candidates will receive additional AXP credit. Hours previously reported and approved for 50% credit will be automatically increased to 75% credit for all candidates who are not already AXP complete. Note: Hours will not be automatically updated for AXP complete candidates—individuals who are AXP complete may contact NCARB if they would like their hours to be adjusted based on the new reporting policy.

3. Updating the process through which candidates can gain experience for completing professional development courses: NCARB will expand the “Setting O: Continuing Education for HSW” opportunity that allows you to gain experience for completing continuing education (CE) programs that qualify for HSW. Under the current program requirements, NCARB only accepts courses accredited by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which limits access to this experience opportunity to candidates who maintain AIA membership.

   Under the updated requirements, NCARB will accept both AIA-accredited HSW CE courses, as well as professional development courses accredited by other organizations (these organizations must be pre-approved by NCARB). This will expand access to non-AIA members who complete courses through these approved organizations. More information about approved organizations and required documentation will be provided this fall.

4. ARE Changes

   In addition, NCARB is expecting to launch minor updates to the Architect Registration Examination^® (ARE^®) in April 2026. The changes will focus on minor adjustments to a small subset of the exam objectives outlined in the ARE Guidelines in order to align them with the Competency Standard. NCARB will also make formatting changes to the exam’s case studies to improve the testing experience. More information about these changes will be available in fall 2025.