Class notes of Part-3 lecture course

RIBA ARB Part 3 Exam – the Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice in Architecture (ADPPA)

This post is for anyone who is interested in registering with RIBA and ARB as a chartered Architect. I passed my

exam a few months ago and I thought I would share my research and experience for those who are interested.

Since there are many Part 3 courses you can enrol and each has different criteria on submissions, I am only

focusing on the course I took which is titled RIBA Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice in Architecture

(Part 3) by the Royal Institute of British Architects. If you are not taking the exact course, don’t worry some

information below is still relevant. Feel free to jump to different sections.

Quick check:

When are you ready for the exam?

When you have completed 24 months’ practical experience under the direct supervision of a professional working

in the construction industry post-Part II, which include at least 12 months working in UK/EEA. More detail

information could be found on ARB website.

When are the submission requirements for the exam?

Submission requirement before exams: CV, Self-Evaluation, PEDRS, Case Study Exam submission: 2 days

practical problems – 10 questions in total

1. CV

No surprise! CV is part of the submission. The CV cannot tell everything about you as it is only a summary of the

past but it implies what you can do in the future. I have seen an AA friend presented his CV through timeline

juxtaposed beautifully with project images. Mine is equally beautiful with nice spacing and little motto at the top

of the page. You can do whatever presents you professionally and sell it well.

2. Self-Evaluation/ Career Appraisal

The Self-evaluation is to summarise your architectural background and professional experiences and analysis how

to do better. I wrote it chronologically. Since my Part I study was at the University of Nottingham with Master of

Engineering and part II was at the AA School of Architectural Association, so it gives me a good comparison with

my education in different schools and explaining what I could have focused more on reflecting my practical

experience i.e year out experience at OMA and my post part II experience at Fosters + Partners etc At the end of

each project I had a chart, to sum up, my experience using the plan of work 2013 stage 1-7.

DON’T: I have seen a self-evaluation with a huge paragraph with his architectural interest sparks from age 3

playing LEGOS! Then another paragraph writing his favourite building – Sagrada Familia during a summer
holiday that leads him to enrol the architecture course. I strongly suggest to keeping your interest with few lines

and be more focus on the projects you involved in.

Dos: Be as critical as possible and how you can do better i.e you can talk about the office management.

3. PEDRs ( Record of experience)

This is one of PEDRs sample if you have never done one. Do not leave anything blank especially the office

supervisor comments; do ask for feedback. Also the CPD part!

4. Professional Case Study

Be prepared digging information! It is very time-consuming!

The ideal case study choice is to use the completed project that you have being involved since day one to the end

of construction which is RIBA stage 0 to 7.Also, it is recommended choosing a project that is not too complex!

For my case, the project I have chosen is very complex and it is at end of stage 5 and I was very worried because

it is clearly not reaching stage 7 the day of my interview. It is actually fine as long as you could demonstrate your

understanding of stage 6 and 7 and knowing what to expect.

I think of the case study in two parts – a) Office Operates and b) Procurement, Contract, Tendering

One of the first things I did was to create a content page so I can start filling in each chapter when I obtained

information.

My entire document layout was left side with analytical diagrams/drawings and the right side is always texts. I

have used two colours in each chapter, black colour for the factual, Navy blue for the critical analysis. For

example in procurement chapter, since my project is using construction management, I have listed out the role

of each party in the project and discussed what does this procurement mean to us as an Architect, highlighted

the issues and benefits so far. I created a table of pros and cons for the client, architect and construction manager

using this procurement route. Then it leads me to compare other procurements route i.e the scenarios of using

traditional, management contracting, design and build etc to show my understanding.

5. Tackling the practical problems

To be honest, once you have completed your case study, your revision is 65% done so for the exam is kind of

easy-peasy!

Try to sit down to work on the pass exam paper. You will find out there is a pattern of the set questions and the

topics are never a surprise as they are everyday life issues. Once you have done a set of past paper, you will notice

the time is extremely tight! It is an open book indeed but in reality, there is not enough time to flip any pages

except for the contract questions looking at clauses. I know there is a guy, unfortunately, reset the exam. He is

very bright and joined our study group and shared what he could do better and he stresses time management is
 key and its a good advise. He told us he left his case study in the very last minute and hasn’t got time to revise

and never got the chance to practice the exam paper. He left two out ten questions blank during the exam. So plan

your time.

In order to overcome the timing problem, my simple strategy is to highlight all keywords and identify the type of

questions when I first received the paper, i.e if this question belongs to Code of conducts? CDM Regulations?

Appointments? Then it allows me to pencil down how much time I should spend. Well, I know fees proposal is

my weakness so I tend to put more time for cross checking.

All candidates are given scenario a week before the exam. This is a crucial week to make notes on project detail

and type of contract. Also, it is a good time to set up the agenda, letter, memo, report templates, Fees proposal in

excel etc. If you have made them during your study group, don’t forget to write this in the submission.

6. After Exam

There is a month gap in between the exam and interview. Learn the exam questions, if you made mistakes or you

want to change the answer, it is fine and it is a great opportunity to make notes. Review it with your office

supervisor, colleagues, study group-mates, and the best is to find friends who passed the exam not long ago to

look at your exam answers and case studies! Invited them to be as critical as possible.

7. Interview Day

Kind reminder:
1. Bring along the revised case study and the practical problems
2. Dress professionally
3. Arrive ½ hour before
4. Print out some update photos of the Case study project

I had Stephen Brookhouse and Dyfed Griffiths on my interview panel. I was extremely nervous on that day.

I took a breath… went into the interview room.

The sequence of the interview was as follow:

Work experiences, Case Study, Practical Exam Problems

Work Experience – 10 mins

Introduce myself. Casually talked about the UK planning submission. Discuss what I am missing and the area I

am aiming to get more experience in certain stages.

Case Study – 20 mins

No tricks. There were few areas I did not write it clearly, and examiners asked me to elaborate the Architect

Appointments and contract it was fine. However, be prepared to answer the “what if “kind of question…? Or how

can you improve this situation from your case study as a best practice?
Practical Problems – 20 mins

In this section, I thought they would ask me which questions I think I could do well and to go through them. My

only advice here – be extremely familiar with the answer you wrote so you can catch up quick. Also, there are

certain topics were not in the exam paper this year, i got also asked, for example, novation, the role of Contract

Administrator which you get the idea once you done a few past paper.

Examiners had a poker face, but they were trying to help, for instance when I answered something wasn’t quite

what they were expecting, they re-phrased the questions and gave me a second chance.

8. Where to begin?

Reading! Here is my top book list to begin.