ARE Project Management (PjM) Exam Prep

A free study guide for the ARE 5.0 Project Management division. Work through 23 original, unofficial practice questions with full explanations, then use the section map and six-week plan below.

ARE PjM practice questions

Resource Management

Answer key

How to read your result: Count your correct answers and look at which study topics they came from. A score on these 23 questions is feedback on these questions only. It isn't an NCARB scaled score, and it can't predict whether you'll pass. With two to seven questions per study group, one miss can swing that result a lot, so use your misses to choose what to review next, not to grade yourself.

Where the PjM points are

This guide is built on NCARB's current PjM objectives (updated April 27, 2026) and the ARE 5.0 Guidelines effective October 1, 2026.

PjM has 75 items in a 3-hour test, spread across five sections. Contracts is the biggest one, so it's the best place to start. (NCARB PjM division page)

NCARB calls these weights typical; your exam form can vary slightly. Your result is based on the whole division, not section by section, so a strong Contracts score can carry a weaker section (ARE 5.0 Guidelines, "ARE Scoring," p. 40).

The rules PjM keeps coming back to

These are the ideas behind the questions above, gathered in one place. Contract provisions are paraphrased for study. On a real project, read the full document.

Budget, bids, and redesign (B101–2017)

The owner sets the budget and keeps it updated. If the budget for the Cost of the Work changes significantly, the owner tells the architect, and the two agree on a matching change in scope or quality (B101 §5.2).

The architect's estimates are professional judgment, not a guarantee. B101 says outright that neither party controls market prices, so the architect doesn't promise that bids will match the budget (§6.2). The architect can still steer toward the budget with contingencies, scope or program recommendations, and design alternates (§6.3). If the architect's own estimate goes over budget, the architect recommends changes to size, quality, or budget, and the owner cooperates (§6.5).

When the lowest bona fide bid comes in over budget at the end of Construction Documents, B101 §6.6 gives the owner five options:

1. Approve a higher budget in writing.
2. Authorize rebidding or renegotiation within a reasonable time.
3. Terminate the agreement under §9.5.
4. Work with the architect to reduce program, scope, or quality.
5. Choose another option both parties accept.

If the owner picks option 4, the architect revises the Construction Documents at no extra charge, unless the overage came from market conditions the architect couldn't reasonably anticipate. In that case, the revisions are paid as an Additional Service (§6.7). That exception is new in the 2017 edition. B101–2007 §6.7 did not contain this market-conditions exception (AIA summary of B101–2017).

Watch the budget before bids, too. Objective 4.1 asks you to monitor cost all the way through design. A quick invented example: the approved construction budget is $2,400,000 and the current Design Development estimate is $2,520,000. That's $120,000, or 5%, over. The right move is to report the variance to the owner and recommend scope, quality, or budget changes now. B101 also has the architect flag estimate changes when it submits the Design Development documents for approval (§3.3.3). The calculation alone doesn't create a fee entitlement or a contractual tolerance.

Supplemental vs. Additional Services, and scope creep

• Basic Services under B101 are organized into five phases: Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, Procurement, and Construction.
• Supplemental Services are listed in B101 §4.1.1. The architect provides them only if the agreement assigns them at signing. Examples include commissioning and sustainable project services.
• Additional Services come up after the agreement is signed (§4.2). Services provided in accordance with §4.2 entitle the architect to compensation and an appropriate schedule adjustment, except for services required because of the architect's own fault.

For the most common kind, such as an owner's change in scope, B101 §4.2.1 requires the architect to notify the owner promptly and not start without the owner's written authorization. AIA's G801 form is designed to give that notice, with the proposed fee and schedule changes (G801 instructions). A separate path, §4.2.2, covers certain services needed to avoid construction delay.

For an owner's scope change covered by §4.2.1: name the change, propose its fee and schedule effects, and obtain written authorization before doing the added work.

Assemble the team and maintain the work plan

Before assigning hours, identify the staff and outside consultants the signed scope requires, the responsibilities of each role, and the owner-retained inputs the team needs. Put deliverables, dependencies, review dates, and responsibility in the work plan. B101 requires the architect to manage its services and submit a schedule that allows time for the owner's review, the work of the owner's consultants, and authority approvals (§§3.1.1–3.1.3).

Here are two invented work-plan rows extending Exhibit 2:

Update the work plan when a dependency, deliverable, or review date changes, and communicate the revised responsibilities and dates. This is the work-plan practice behind NCARB objectives 1.1 and 2.1 (Guidelines pp. 79–80).

Fee, hours, and staff

Two checks catch most staffing problems.

Will the phase fee hold? Divide what's been spent by percent complete. $84,000 spent at 50% complete projects to $168,000 against a $120,000 fee (PJM-01). Find out why before the second half starts.

Does each role have the hours? Compare planned hours with available hours role by role, not in total. In PJM-02, the team has 224 available hours against 210 planned, but the project architect is still 8 hours short. Spare designer hours don't fix that unless the plan changes.

Before staff planning, deduct the consultant costs, nonlabor costs, and contingency that the stated phase fee must cover. Treat separately reimbursable expenses according to the agreement (B101 §11.8.1).

Schedules: critical path and float

Here is Exhibit 2 from the practice set, solved with a forward pass (earliest start and finish) and a backward pass (latest start and finish).

• The critical path is the longest chain, A → B → D → F, at 24 days. Any delay on it delays the finish.
• Total float is how far an activity can slip without moving the finish.
• Free float is how far it can slip without delaying the next activity's early start. C and E both have 5 days of total float, but only E has free float.

B101 also has scheduling rules of its own. The architect's schedule has to allow time for owner review, the owner's consultants, and approvals by authorities having jurisdiction. Once the owner approves it, the architect can adjust it, with the owner's approval, until construction starts (B101 §3.1.3). So if an owner asks for an earlier finish date, don't just cut the owner-review time. Work out which activities can realistically change, get the revised schedule approved, and send the new dates to everyone affected.

Changing the work: Change Order or Construction Change Directive

When a directive's price isn't agreed, it's set using the contract's pricing methods or, if needed, by the architect based on the contractor's documented costs (AIA Contract Documents: Change Orders vs. CCDs). The architect may order a minor change in writing when it remains within the Contract Documents' intent, leaves the Contract Sum unchanged, and does not extend the Contract Time (A201 §§4.2.8, 7.4). If the contractor believes the proposed change affects price or time, it must notify the architect and must not proceed with that change.

Who's responsible during construction (A201–2017)

All citations below are to the A201–2017 General Conditions.

• Contract Documents are the Agreement, the Conditions, the Drawings, the Specifications, Addenda issued before signing, other documents listed in the Agreement, and Modifications issued after. Bidding requirements, including the bidding or proposal portions of addenda, are left out unless the Agreement lists them (§1.1.1).
• Submittals (shop drawings, product data, samples) are not Contract Documents (§3.12.4). The architect reviews them only for conformance with the information given and the design concept. That review doesn't check dimensions or quantities, and it doesn't approve means, methods, or safety (§4.2.7). Approval doesn't excuse a deviation the contractor didn't specifically point out (§3.12.8).
• Means, methods, and safety belong to the contractor (§3.3.1). The architect visits at appropriate intervals but isn't required to make exhaustive or continuous inspections (§4.2.2).
• The contractor's document review is done as a contractor, not as a licensed design professional. Errors it discovers go to the architect as requests for information (§3.2.2).
• The building permit is the contractor's to secure, unless the Contract Documents say otherwise (§3.7.1).
• Communications: the owner and contractor include the architect in anything that affects the architect's services. The architect's consultants are reached through the architect, and subcontractors through the contractor (§4.2.4).
• Schedules: the contractor's construction schedule goes to the owner and architect for their information. The submittal schedule goes to the architect for approval (§3.10).
• Owner's finances: before work starts, the owner must give reasonable evidence of its financial arrangements if the contractor asks in writing (§2.2.1).

Owner's consultants and approvals

The owner provides the site survey and the geotechnical services (B101 §§5.4–5.5). The architect coordinates with the owner's consultants and may rely on the information they provide. When the architect finds an error, omission, or inconsistency, it has to give the owner prompt written notice (§3.1.2).

For approvals, the architect contacts the authorities whose approval the documents need and responds to their design requirements, and it helps the owner with the filings (§§3.1.5–3.1.6).

A simple approval register keeps this under control. List each authority, what it must approve, who prepares the submission, what information it needs, the expected review time, the decision received, and any open comments. Fill it in from your project's actual requirements; there's no national permit sequence to memorize.

Delivery methods at a glance

The CMa and CMc rows come from AIA Contract Documents' CMa vs. CMc overview and its CMc agreement FAQ. Objective 4.3 asks you to document a project to fit its delivery method. That starts with knowing who has signed with whom, because it decides where documents go and who approves them.

Document control for the delivery method

Knowing the contract relationships is the starting point for objective 4.3. The next step is controlling what each package is for, who receives it, and which revision applies. Here is an invented register entry for a CMc project with overlapping design and construction:

When a revision changes another discipline's work, send the affected team the current package, identify what changed, and record the response before the next issue. A coordination issue must not silently become a construction issue. Match the actual recipients and approvals to the project's agreements. AIA's design-development guidance supports stating and sharing deliverables; this register is an original study example, not a prescribed AIA form (AIA: phase objectives and deliverables).

Quality control that actually closes the loop

PjM's quality objectives are about process: set review points and criteria, give every comment an owner, and confirm the fix before you call it closed. When disciplines collide, as in PJM-23, check the change against the owner's approved program, coordinate alternatives, get the owner's decision if the program must change, and recheck the revised set. A checklist supports that review. It doesn't prove compliance on its own. The response-and-verification workflow is described in Bill Schmalz's AIA CCA white paper.

Which AIA documents to study for PjM

Start with these relationships, then use NCARB's list to fill in the rest.

NCARB lists the AIA documents most often referenced on the ARE, with their editions, in “AIA Contract Documents,” printed page 116 of the ARE 5.0 Guidelines:

A134–2019, G714–2017, and G801–2017 are useful companion forms discussed above; they are not entries in this NCARB reference table.

Candidates can find NCARB's link to free AIA contracts in their NCARB Record under Exams → Additional Resources (Guidelines p. 118). The B101 comparison cited here shows 2017 additions underlined and deleted 2007 text struck through; use the current provisions when studying.

Check that list rather than assuming the newest AIA edition is the one tested. NCARB's item writers must be able to point to a recognized reference such as The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice for every answer (Guidelines, p. 49). So read for how a provision decides a project situation, not to memorize clause numbers.

A reading drill that works: for each scenario, write down who retained whom, which agreement applies, what services are involved, what notice or approval is required, and which section supports your answer.

Six-week PjM study plan

Use this schedule as written if you can give PjM about 8 hours a week, or 48 hours in total. That's our editorial estimate, not an NCARB requirement or a guarantee of readiness. With about 4 hours a week, stretch each week to two. With 16, do two weeks' work in each week, and keep the full practice exam in the final study block as one sitting.

Error log

Keep one row for every miss and every lucky guess.

Use NCARB's free PjM practice exam

NCARB offers a free practice exam for each division, with the same number of items as the real one. Results show what you got right and wrong, your percentages by section, and a rationale for every item (NCARB practice exams).

• With active exam eligibility: log in to your NCARB Record, open the Exams tab, and go to Additional Resources, then the Practice Exam Dashboard.
• Without active eligibility: log in to your NCARB Record and choose Practice the ARE under Quick Links.
• Choose the right version: if the dashboard shows two versions, pick "ARE 5.0 Practice Exams (Effective Beginning April 27, 2026)" (NCARB, Feb. 23, 2026).

Use practice mode first to learn the tools and read the rationales as you go. Save test mode for a timed run. The practice exam's cut score is a fixed ~68%; the real divisions use passing standards NCARB sets for each division, so a practice percentage isn't your exam score. The public PDF versions leave out the case study resources, so do the case studies in your NCARB Record.

PjM exam facts and test-day rules

Last verified October 12, 2026, against NCARB's published pages and the ARE 5.0 Guidelines effective October 1, 2026.

Breaks lock what you've seen. After any break, every item you've already viewed is locked, including items you marked for review. Finish the items you've opened before you step away (Guidelines p. 22).

Pace check: 180 minutes ÷ 75 items = 2.4 minutes per item on average. Allow for reading case-study resources; the average is a pacing check, not a time limit for every item.

For ID rules, accommodations, online-proctoring setup, and appointment changes, see the ARE 5.0 Guidelines.

Common questions

Is ARE Project Management the same as PMP? No. PjM is a division of the Architect Registration Examination, which architecture licensing boards use. It isn't a PMI project-management certification. Passing the ARE is one requirement for a license; the license itself comes from your jurisdiction's board (NCARB licensure requirements).

How is PjM different from Practice Management (PcM)? NCARB describes PcM as managing an architectural practice, including ethics and pre-contract work like negotiation (NCARB PcM page). PjM, in NCARB's words, covers the management of architectural projects: the team, the schedule, the contracts, and quality control. The two overlap on contracts, so B101 study helps with both.

Do the April 2026 changes make my older study materials useless? No. NCARB reworded five PjM objectives and changed how case studies are presented, but kept the division's items and time the same and said it didn't expect the changes to affect how candidates prepare (NCARB). Check old notes against the current objective list above.

How long should I study for PjM? Our six-week plan assumes about 48 hours; adjust it using your error log and your practice exam results.

Can I talk about PjM with other candidates? General topics and study strategy, yes. Anything specific you saw on your exam, no. The ARE Candidate Agreement prohibits sharing exam content, including in study groups and online (Guidelines pp. 43–44).

Sources

Checked October 12, 2026.

• NCARB: ARE 5.0 Guidelines, effective Oct. 1, 2026 · Project Management division · Question types · April 2026 objective changes · Implementation notice · 2025 item-type update · Practice exams · Updated practice exams · Fees · Pass rates · Practice Management division
• AIA Contract Documents: B101–2017 partial sample · B101–2007/2017 comparison · Percentage-based fees · B101–2017 summary · G801–2017 instructions · C401–2017 summary · Change Orders vs. CCDs · CMa vs. CMc · Choosing an Owner–CMc agreement
• AIA A201–2017 General Conditions, full sample form
• AIA teaching resources: Review-comment response and verification · Design-development objectives and deliverables

How we checked this page: We compared the exam facts with NCARB's current pages and the October 2026 ARE 5.0 Guidelines. We checked each contract explanation against the cited AIA form or AIA's own published summary, and we recalculated every worked example. The study plan is our editorial guidance. AI tools assisted research and editing; these are source and editorial checks. See our methodology.

By Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team · Last verified October 12, 2026

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by NCARB or the American Institute of Architects. Exam, credential, and document names are used only to identify their subjects; trademarks belong to their respective owners. The practice questions on this page are original and are not ARE exam items. Contract provisions are paraphrased for study; rely on the full document for any real project.