The California Supplemental Exam (CSE) is a unique licensure exam for architects in the state of California. It complements the national Architect Registration Examination (ARE) by focusing on the state's specific legal and regulatory requirements. Passing the CSE is mandatory for all aspiring to be licensed architects in California. It represents the final step towards licensure after completing the ARE, Architectural Experience Program (AXP) hours, and educational requirements.
The CSE is a 100-question, multiple-choice licensure exam that must be taken by all candidates seeking licensure to practice architecture in California. Developed by the California Architects Board (Board), the CSE is in place to help the Board fulfill its mission of protecting public health, safety, and welfare through regulated practice.
The Board now has an online process for applying to take the CSE. Once the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) ARE and AXP have been completed, log in to the California state portal, file the Application for California Supplemental Examination, and pay the $100 application fee. Each application and fee is good for one attempt at the CSE. The Board may take a few weeks to review the application, but once approval is issued, candidates can register an account with PSI, the testing vendor, to schedule their appointment to take the CSE. PSI typically opens new appointments six weeks out.
As with the ARE, ESL and ADA accommodations are available for the CSE. Suppose you are a candidate for CSE accommodations. In that case, you must apply and receive approval from the Board before scheduling your exam appointment with PSI. ADA accommodations are provided case-by-case to meet the candidate's specific needs. ESL accommodations provide a 45-minute time extension and permission to use a translation dictionary. Accommodation approvals are good for three years once issued. More information on the accommodation process and the ADA accommodations application is available from the Board here. If you qualify for ESL accommodations, email the California Architects Board directly via cab@dca.ca.gov. Suppose you apply for accommodations after submitting your Application for CSE. In that case, you should apply at least 90 days before your planned exam date. Approval must be received before you book your exam seat.
PSI administers the CSE at 17 locations in California and 22 others in the remaining lower 48 states. Check testing locations listed in the CSE handbook as you build your CSE test plan because you may need to travel to take the exam. Locations are limited, especially outside California. Find the closest test centers for you here. Currently, there are no international test locations on the list. Once testing eligibility is established with the Board, contact PSI to schedule your exam. Each application for eligibility permits one attempt at the CSE. Once booked, you can cancel your appointment and reschedule at no additional cost if you do so at least 48 hours before your appointment time. If you do not make your appointment time and do not cancel two days before, your $100 exam fee is forfeited. You must pay again to reestablish testing eligibility. On test day, you must arrive 30 minutes before your test appointment to allow for check-in procedures. Be sure to take a valid U.S. or Canadian Driver's License, ID Card, Passport, U.S. Passport Card, or U.S. Military ID card. Your ID should have a recognizable photo, and your name must match your name on the application you submitted to the Board.
The CSE has only one question type–multiple choice–in which you pick the best answer. (The CSE previously used a project scenario section similar to the case studies on the ARE, but it was eliminated at the beginning of March 2024.) As with the ARE, you only have to get enough questions on the entire exam correct to exceed the cut score and pass. The CSE uses a criterion-referenced cut score. The cut score for each exam version is weighted based on question difficulty. This means that the cut score will vary by exam version but sits around 70% correct answers to pass.
As with any licensing test, there are varying levels of difficulty. The thing to keep in mind is that memorization of specifics is only a little important. The CSE seeks to test your understanding of the practice of architecture in California more generally. It is a more text-heavy exam, and many questions will be one or two short paragraphs of text, providing a significant amount of context and background information for the question that you'll need to synthesize to arrive at the correct answer.
The CSE covers California-specific content, differing from the national models and standards. A small amount of content, which the Board considers especially important in California, is shared with the ARE. The CSE covers California law, regulation, and agencies the most. You'll still use knowledge from the ARE – PcM, PjM, PA, and CE. It won't all be new material!
The Board structures the CSE into five weighted "content areas" that represent the progress of a project within a firm. For some, this may remind you of how the six divisions of the ARE are laid out, from initial project planning through the design process into permitting, bidding, and construction administration to final completion. The CSE’s five content areas are weighted based on how important they are to understanding the practice of architecture in California:
Contract Development and Project Planning (25%)
Schematic Design and Discretionary Approvals (30%)
Design Development (15%)
Construction Documents and Permitting (10%)
Project Bidding and Construction (20%)
This means the topics covered on the CSE directly overlap with PcM, PjM, and CE - 75% of the CSE covers those project stages. These phases also represent the most significant difference between the national standards covered by the ARE and California's architecture practice realities.
The Board further divides these 5 broad stage-based content areas into task and knowledge statements defining what a licensed architect should be able to do and must know. There are 30 task statements and 58 knowledge statements distributed into the 5 content areas. Each task statement is associated with a small cluster of knowledge statements. Most have three to five associated knowledge statements. Knowledge statements generally are relevant to more than one task statement. The premise is that a question on the CSE covers one task relevant to an licensed architect's work in California, and any task may require an understanding of more than one knowledge point to successfully complete that task. Each question on the CSE is worth one point, and the Board lists the task and knowledge statements by category. Some task and knowledge statements must be covered by more questions than others and are more likely to be tested generally. Some task and knowledge statements likely represent double the number of questions on a given exam administration. We've included a link here to the CSE handbook. Take the time to read the task and knowledge statements. Plan to revisit these task and knowledge statements throughout your study, as they will prove valuable during testing!
The content of the CSE is easily organized into two major groups – professional practice in California and California building. Professional practice is split into business management and the practice of architecture in California, as well as the standard contracts and their administration. California building covers environmental conditions, California law and building code, how they interact, and last but not least, the different agencies and their permitting and approvals processes.
The CSE is focused on testing your ability to apply your understanding of California codes to scenarios you may encounter in the practice of architecture – both the building code and the California law code. As mentioned earlier regarding the ARE, exam topics are framed in the context of a project moving through a firm. This helps identify what topics an exam like the CSE will cover but is inefficient for study. Regardless of a project's development stage, you must still know how to communicate with clients, agencies, and contractors. You also must understand enough about the technical aspects of the built environment to know when to do further research and how to effectively navigate those resources.
A good CSE prep course will intentionally order course material from most ARE similar and related to the least similar and related. This will ensure the material you review the closest to your exam dates should be the most unfamiliar to you and, most importantly, to the CSE. We've structured the materials so that you'll cover key points from different angles throughout the course to leave you ready to own the CSE.
The CSE focuses on California-critical knowledge points–California law for the practice of architecture, California's Building Standards Code, and agency approvals and enforcement processes for those laws and codes. To fully understand these, you need a working knowledge of basic AIA contracts, site and ecosystem terminology, and principles.
The California Architects Board lists 27 content reference materials for the CSE, most of which are portions of CA-specific laws, codes, administrative structures, and regulations. Critical sections of the California Building Standards Code are highlighted, including many sections that differ significantly from the International Codes (I-Codes) the ARE references. It is critical to be aware of the basics of these differences.
There are many free resources available that are useful study references, some of which we found helpful,
Ventura County's Wetlands Permitting Guide is a good resource for permitting processes and terminology for complex sites
FEMA's Publication 454 will cover almost all of the basic earthquake-resilient design principles you need to know
The California Architects Board's website and their CSE Handbook are critical primary sources that cover both the content and process of the CSE
We link all these key study references in the course at the appropriate time so that you review them in the best context as a part of a broader, more holistic study strategy.
As you're studying, consider your strengths and weaknesses to help you decide what to spend more time on - if you have experience working in California, you likely have experience with the California Building Standards Codes and may have experience with some Agency approval processes - spend more time on the aspects of California practice you know less well. Regardless of your background, be sure of the hierarchy of regulatory agencies, have a working knowledge of the California Building Standards Code, and know how to engage with interest groups for projects on complex sites – such as wetlands and coastal areas – across California.
In addition to the CSE's 100-scored questions, there are typically about 25 unscored pretest questions scattered throughout the 3.5-hour exam. This means you have about 1 minute 40 seconds per question, tops. Some questions are wordy and may include reference documents, so plan to move quickly.
Calculations are not required to answer questions, and a calculator is not provided. Questions focus more on understanding terminology than the ARE and are often multi-paragraph word problems. Focus on answering all the questions you can get correct quickly first, then revisit questions that will take more time to parse. The CSE is fast-paced, and moving on from question to question is critical.
There is no practice exam available on the exam software before test day. However, the CSE does include a 15-minute tutorial before your exam time begins to get to know the exam software - note that the tutorial may consist of a calculator and other exam features that are unavailable and unnecessary during the actual exam. Digital scratch paper is provided.
The CSE's 3.5-hour exam time does not include any break time, so be prepared as you will take the whole test in one sitting. You may take bathroom breaks of up to 5 minutes during your exam, but the exam clock keeps running. You can only access the bathroom during your time away from the exam. If you are in the restroom for more than 5 minutes, the proctor must check on you and will have to note the extended time away from the exam to the Board.
Answer choices are often a matrix where each choice is a short list of items, with minor variation between each choice. Any answer that includes an incorrect item makes the whole answer choice incorrect. Always work to both eliminate wrong answers and to identify the best answer. If you've eliminated 3 of 4 choices, the remaining choice must be correct; mark it and go on. If you review the question and see one answer that is clearly the best, mark it and go on.
In any case, answer every question and mark only one answer. No question on the CSE has more than one correct answer for scoring the exam.
Like on the ARE, questions on the California Supplemental Exam often have multiple 'good' answers. Identify the best answer. It is only the best answer that will be correct. Also, like the ARE, the CSE will tend to ask about topics in a way that favors understanding of the topic over memorization of specific nuggets of information. All questions on the CSE are multiple-choice, with four possible choices and only one correct answer – the best practice for a professional in the practice of architecture in California.
Don't get stuck on a question for too long. With 100 scored questions and 25 pretest items, about every 5th item you see on the exam will be a pretest question, which won't even count toward your score. If you see something you don't know, take an educated guess and move on! There's a decent chance it's a pretest item; don't let it break your stride!
At the test center, you should learn your official results. If you pass, the test center proctor should present you with a stamped certificate.
Once you pass the CSE, submit your Application for Licensure to the California Architects Board and the $400 initial license fee through the California state portal. Additionally, all licensure candidates must also submit fingerprints. More information on that process can be found under fingerprinting here. The Application for Licensure can take 30 days to process, and the license will take another 6-8 weeks to be issued. Remember that you are not yet an architect until the license has been issued.
If you don't pass the CSE, you will receive a score report with some information about your performance on the exam. You'll need to reapply with a new Application for CSE and another $100 fee. You can reapply any time after an unsuccessful attempt. Still, you will not receive authorization to test until 90 days after your unsuccessful attempt. You will not be able to schedule your retake until after you have received reauthorization to test. This should allow plenty of time for you to complete further study to ensure a successful retake.
Once licensed, you must renew your license every two years – your license expires on the last day of your birth month in every odd-numbered year. Note that your initial licensure renewal period will be less than two years. CAB has considered changing how renewals work to eliminate this short initial renewal period – keep an eye out for more information. Every licensure renewal period requires 10 hours of continuing education (C.E.) to be completed and reported to the Board – 5 hours of zero net carbon design and 5 hours of disability access C.E. must be completed. Note that this means you will have less time to complete the C.E. requirement for your first renewal.
The CSE is a licensure exam unlike any other for architects in the United States. It is a thorough review of the architecture practice environment in California. The potential scope of the CSE is vast, but it's a simple exam compared to the ARE. Taking the CSE is more about eliminating, comparing, and contrasting different options. Even more than for the ARE, it is critical to use your professional instincts. You are a practicing professional in the field, and your professional understanding and decision-making are invaluable.
Remember that the California Supplemental Exam is a standardized, multiple-choice test; every tip and trick you've learned is helpful. You've already completed the ARE. You've got this!
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