Hi all! Just wanted to share a situation I encountered recently and get opinions/thoughts. I recently failed PPD and PDD after passing CDS, SPD, and PPP in 4.0 previously. I'm preparing to start studying now for my retakes in +/- 60 days. I mentioned to a coworker, who is a fellow architect (around 50 years of age), that I failed my first two 5.0 exams after passing the first three in the 4.0 version. He told me that he expected this to happen to a lot of ARE candidates. He claims NCARB has realized there are too many licensed Architects so they are doing "population control" and making it more difficult to become licensed. I honestly had trouble keeping a straight face when he said this to me. I truly believe I failed my 5.0 exams because I wasn't prepared, but he is telling me to take a look at the pass rates and I will see that they are lower than they should be. I didn't even know how to respond to him at this point.
I'm going to keep my ARE exam process to myself from now on in the office. They don't need to know when I'm taking an exam or if I fail, because I don't need to hear that NCARB is only taking the "best of the best" and doing "population control."