Good morning, everybody. Sorry about the late start. We just had a few technical problems that we were needing to resolve.
So, I should have Rebecca Naughtin joining me for this presentation. But if not, you might have me for the whole time, just depending on if we can resolve the technical issues we're having. But thank you for joining us for today's information session on the Part 1 documents for the Architectural Practice Examination.
So, my name is Fiona Gjoni and I'm the Deputy Registrar at the ARBV. And hopefully joining us will be Rebecca Naughtin, who is an architect and as well as the Victorian Co Convener for the APE.
So, I'd like to first begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land in which we live, walk and work. In particular, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.
So, today's webinar is aimed at candidates preparing for the Architectural Practice Examination, or the APE. We’ll be answering questions at the time, so we have allocated time at the end to answer any of your questions, so feel free to use the Q&A feature as well as the chat function to ask questions throughout. We will endeavour to get to all of the questions, but we may not be able to.
So, if we can't get to your questions through this presentation, you’re welcome to contact us independently. You can, you'll have an e-mail at the end of the presentation on the slide that you can e-mail us at, otherwise you can give us a call. So, this presentation is going to go through all 3 parts, just in a brief overview of the APE, but primarily this is going to be going through the Part 1 documentation in a little bit more detail as well as providing some tips throughout so that we can assist you better.
So, the APE is administered by the Architectural Accreditation Council of Australia or the AACA, with assistance from the ARBV in Victoria. So, the AACA as a body established by the state and territory boards to assure national consistency across the various pathways to registration, as well as the National Standard of Competency for Architects, which is also known as the NSCA.
So, the APE is a pre registration pathway that is a prerequisite to registration.
So, there are a number of other pathways to registration. However, given your attendance here today, the APE is the most likely pathway for you.
So, the APE is conducted in 3 parts. Part 1 is the submission of a logbook and a Statement of Practical Experience. Part 2 is the National Examination Paper, and Part 3 is the Examination by Interview.
It's important to note that to work as an architect or provide architectural services in Victoria, you are required to be registered. This means after you successfully complete the APE, you should be applying for registration if you intend to work as an architect in Victoria, and obviously this applies in all the jurisdictions.
So, with the introduction of the 2021 NSCA for the APE, there are some expanded areas of knowledge that were not previously covered in the competencies. And these are, understanding Country and environmental sustainability, life cycle assessment and whole life carbon. So, these new areas have been incorporated into several performance criteria and they may be areas you know, depending on how recently you graduated, that were not covered by your university education. So, it's important to become familiar with the definitions and the expectations of the competencies. So, we note that you should be referring to the guidance documentation on the NSCA, in particular the Explanatory Notes, that are available on the AACA website to get any further clarification. They also have a range of sources, you know, that you can go and get further information about in the specific PCs.
These dates are obviously for this year, so for 2024, so half of them are no longer relevant as that session has already started, but we do have an upcoming session that will be opening on the 26th of June. So just a general reminder that that has very strict close dates, which is the 8th of July, so we can't accept submissions after that point in time. And that's the final session if you want to submit for Part 1 and 2 for this year.
Alternatively, we have dates released generally towards the end of the year in either October or November if you're looking to submit for the APE in a future year, for example in 2025. So, just look out on our website because the dates are available there.
So, we're going start with the Part 1 documents for the APE.
So, all the details that you'd need and everything that we're going over today is actually contained in the APE Handbook, which is available on the AACA website. There are also some additional resources available on the AACA website, including some video resources that'll help you prepare for the APE. So, we encourage everybody to not only read the Handbook prior to applying for the APE, but also look at the other resources available on the AACA website. And this may mean that you have to read the Handbook a number of times. But all the information that you need will be in there and then in the other resources.
So, there are 4 components that you need, 4 document components that you need for submission in Part 1, and this is the Logbook, the Statement of Practical Experience, Statutory Declaration, and proof of your architectural qualifications. So, we're going to go through each of these in order throughout this presentation, as well as provide you some tips along the way about each of these areas and little things that we found that candidates might struggle with.
So, it's important to note that the Part 1 process is just to determine eligibility to proceed through to Part 2 and then Part 3 of the APE. So, you need to ensure that you've gained the appropriate experience and you've documented that correctly. And obviously have all of the relevant documents submitted as part of your application in order to proceed through in the APE.
Okay, so the AACA Logbook. You're required to log 3300 hours of practical experience, and this will be across all 35 performance criteria from the NSCA and these are the 35 that are relevant just to the APE.
I noted earlier, the specific performance criteria, more detail about each PC can be found in the AACA website and again in the Explanatory Notes.
You must include the minimum of 35 hours in each mandatory performance criteria when you're logging your project experience and a maximum of 350 hours in any one of the mandatory PCs.
You're also now allowed to log 70 hours of non-project work against the mandatory performance criteria and this may include office management, office meetings which are non-project related office training or learning experience and you can also use formal CPD that's used for architects.
Practical experience can be gained in the following ways, so you can be an employee of an architectural firm under the supervision of an architect. You can be an employee in a building design firm. You can be an employee in a firm in an allied field, in the construction industry, you can be working in a relevant government agency, but you can also work independently in a self-employed capacity.
So, you're going to need to log in your Logbook a minimum of two years’ practical experience, which has to be gained within the previous ten years.
So, the 2 years’ practical experience can include no more than 12 months pre graduation experience and no less than 12 months of post-graduation experience, which commences from the completion date listed in your academic transcript. If you intend to include overseas experience in your Logbook, you cannot include more than 12 months of overseas experience and you must have at least 12 months logged experience in Australia.
So, the 12 months referred to in the requirements of the APE Logbook does not refer to calendar months as well. It's actually the equivalent of 1650 hours. So, does it need to be successive months?
So, you can only include projects that are that are less than 8 weeks or you know, less than 300 hours in duration, if the project hours logs have been accumulated while continuously employed with the same employer for more than 8 weeks at a full time equivalent. So, if you've been working somewhere for less than 8 weeks and you are not going to be able to include short projects.
With the Logbook, you're required to log the 303, sorry, 3300 hours of practical experience across the 35 PCs, and you need to obviously apply using the AACA Logbook, which is the online form. So, if you've had the previous Excel document that's no longer relevant and no longer are used, and you'll have to use the online system to log that.
Once you've completed and logged all of the hours that you're required against the PCs, you can then export it as a PDF and then submit that with your application to the ARBV.
So, the details on this slide that go through the specific PCs can actually be found in the APE Handbook, which is on page 31, it's Appendix 1 of that Handbook. So, you should have a look at that performance criteria matrix to identify which PCs apply to which part of the APE, because not all of these are relevant to Part 1, not all of them are relevant to Part 2 and Part 3 and some are across the whole area.
So, the specific competency areas are practice management and professional conduct, project initiation and conceptual design, detailed design and construction documentation, and design delivery and construction phase services. These are then separated into performance criteria or PCs and then they are assigned as a mandatory PC for a specific part of the APE.
So, some tips for going through and completing the logbook. So, there's some tips on the slide there and then just further to that you know you should ensure that your hours are logged against a relevant appropriate project, and that a project, you know, should be determined by its site location. So regardless of how many stages the project involves, you need to be, you know, just determining it by the site address. So, even if a project has two discrete stages, if the site location is the same that would be considered one project. You also cannot log hours across multiple projects to form a bundle. So, if there's the site, the same type of project but different site addresses and you, some PCs might have multiple components to them, will be multilayered. Your minimum 35 hours per PC needs to as the sum of the hours that you include for that specific PC they need to cover all parts of the given PC and the total number of hours logged but not every single hour you have logged necessarily needs to cover all parts of that PC.
And candidates who are applying for the APE after successful completion of either the OQA or the NPrA you know, they are able to, I think there's been some changes in the Logbook which you should get an e-mail about shortly if you're in that portal where there was a previously a requirement to have a graduation date field, I think now you'll be able to success, sorry, indicate that you've successfully completed the OQA or the NPrA and include that date instead.
And the the fields like construction type and things of that nature actually should be defined in the Logbook now, but the construction type refers to construction material. For example, if you're using a timber frame or concrete or you know that sort of thing. And then there's also reference to building type and class in the building topography. So, you just need to be cognizant of what you're specifying when you're submitting the Logbook so that it's consistent with what you're putting in your statement.
So, before submitting your Logbook, it's recommended that you check your Logbook for consistency across all the documents to ensure that the project names are consistent and the details that you've logged are consistent across both the Logbook and the Statement of Practical Experience, particularly like I mentioned, the topography in your logbook, just to ensure that you've got all the same details across that.
So, the Statement of Practical Experience sorry, the Statement of Practical Experience comprises of a 1 page summary CV, project details pages the APE Performance Criteria Report or the PC Report and references where required, as well as verification signatures. So, the CV is not included in the word count for the Statement of Practical Experience, and it should be a 1 page summary of your professional experience, including your personal information, your qualifications, and any relevant employment history. So, the summary should be reflective of the details included in your Logbook and the Statement of Experience. The CV does not need a verification signature and you do not need to provide a full CV, just a summary of your experience. That is, you know, not traditional, such as experience you might have gained that's not under the supervision of an architect and you know, noting why that should be included and considered relevant. So anytime you need to make a comment or justify something, that should be in your Summary CV.
So, you should also begin the Statement of Experience with your CV and like I mentioned, it should be no longer than a page.
The Statement of Practical Experience includes the CV obviously, and the projects which best illustrate your application of the performance criteria, but we'll go into that a little bit more detail in the next slide.
So, the project details pages are meant to be a detailed account of your project experience, and they're expected to be between 2 to 3000 words, but not exceeding 3000 words. So, in that you need to include an outline of the project brief, you need to include a detailed description of the level or type of practical experience gained in each of the APE Part 1 mandatory performance criteria which demonstrate your understanding of the criteria. You need to include evidence that supports your claimed experience in the Logbook, and there needs to be sufficient detail for your Part 3 examiners to appreciate the scope of work the cost, the floor area, and the nature of the construction type.
You must also have the following information for each project. The project name, the location being the project address, the Country, and this is the indigenous Country on which the project is located, the period and this is the period that you, as the candidate, were involved in the project, the area of the construction, the estimated cost, the building type and this is, you know, whether it's single residential, commercial, whether it's a hospital primary school, that sort of thing. The construction, which we mentioned in for the Logbook list construction type is, is it a timber frame with some cladding or is it a concrete frame, things of that nature? Who your supervising architect was, the procurement method. So, is it a design and construct? Is it a lump sum etcetera?
You also need to put in the practice construction admin role. So, was it a full contract administration, partial services, etcetera?
Candidate responsibilities. So, what was your role on the project?
And the Logbook reference.
So, these can just be dot points listed in the statement. They don't need to be in a paragraph, but, however, you want to best set them out is up to you.
And you must include a verification signature of a registered practising architect in your statement of practical experience. And that needs to be per project, so even if it's the same supervisor, you'll need to get them to sign each project. It's your responsibility to confirm that the supervising architect was registered in the relevant jurisdiction when they were supervising you, and you will need to include the details of that person's registration. So, if they’re a NSW architect and you're submitting in Victoria, you'll still need to include those details, you know, we need you to include that information. If you're not able to get the verification signature of your relevant supervisor, there are other options available. In the Handbook it goes through in great detail about those, and we'll talk about them a little bit later.
But as I said, there's still we’ll require a signature, particularly from your supervisor for all the projects.
So, just some tips for the Statement of Practical Experience. So, we suggest that in the statement you emphasise your work that was undertaken in the 2 years immediately before applying for the APE.
You should probably have your name and your contact details on every page. And you should present the Statement in a chronological order of experience. You also need to make sure you're using the correct titles throughout, so you know don't refer to yourself as an architect or refer to somebody who's unregistered as an architect. And when preparing the Statement, you should be referring to the NSCA 2021 Explanatory Notes to look at the level of experience expected and the defined terms in the NSCA to determine the knowledge, skill and application for that PC.
The Statement should not have any photographs, so no concept drawings or sketches.
When including details on your supervising architect, you must ensure you use the correct information about them, including their registration number. So, for example, in Victoria we register companies and partnerships. You cannot include an entity's registration details, you need to include the details of the individual architect.
And under each project, as I mentioned, you have to have the verification signature and the statement that should read “I confirm the candidate's description of the project and the candidate's involvement” must be included for each project, so, and that wording is in the Handbook, so you don't need to note it down now. But you must also note any reason for not having specific details required. So, if you can't include some of the topography details on the costs, for example, there might be a non disclosure agreement or some other provision precluding you from having these details, you'll need to mention that specifically in the project details.
So, the APE Performance Criteria Report is not included in the word count, but it is cross referencing your experience to the mandatory performance criteria.
So, the APE Performance Criteria or PC Report and then the project details pages need to address all 35 of the mandatory PCs for Part 1.
So, this may mean that you know you need to include more than just 2 to 3 projects in your Statement of Practical Experience, because in the PC Report you're going to need to ensure that all projects can be mapped against the relevant PCs. So not every single project needs to meet all 35 PCS, but collectively all the projects included in the SoPE need to address all 35 PCs.
So, to make sure, you know, you need to make sure you understand the PCs that you're mapping against as well. So, if the PC relates to understanding Country, you should not be mapping that to an overseas project.
You also need to ensure that you're using the consistent project name between the PC Report the project detail pages, and the Logbook.
If you are logging experience gained as an, sorry, I'll just move the slide.
All right, so this is the references bit. So, if it's not under the supervision of an architect, you need to include references. This is also the case if you're self-employed.
Within the contract industry, you know, you need to include references. So, at least one of those references needs to be from a current employer. The reference will need to note which project the referee worked with the applicant or with you in that instance and their role in the project.
There is a lot more detailed information in the Handbook and it's important that you go through this in a lot of detail to understand what situation you're in, so if you're not working under supervision of an architect and you're in an allied field working for a builder, for example, an engineer or a building designer, you'll need to follow the requirements of that.
Importantly, if you are working in an allied field but you are under the supervision of an architect, you can consider that to be under the supervision of an architect, even if it's working for a company that's in an allied field and you then will just need the verification signature, not the references. So long as that architect was actually supervising you.
So, the architectural qualifications they’re required to be submitted as well. It's proof to support your APE application. So, if you've completed an eligible qualification, we require that you provide a copy of the academic transcript, so it needs to be the full transcript, not the graduation certificate. If you don't have this at the time that you're applying for the APE, we will accept other proof of your qualifications with the initial application but you will still need to provide the transcript before we can finalise your results for Part 1.
If you've completed the Overseas Qualified Assessment, the OQA or the National Programme of Assessment, the NPrA, you need to provide a copy of the outcome letter issued by the AACA in lieu of a transcript. We don't need copies of your other qualifications, just the relevant qualification that makes you eligible for the APE.
So, the statutory declaration is to attest the accuracy of the Part 1 documents you've submitted. So, it's quite an important document. There is an APE Statutory Declaration available on our website, and that's the one that we request that you use.
You need to ensure that the statutory declaration has been appropriately signed and witnessed by a person that’s authorised to witness a statutory declaration, and you need to ensure that the person who's witnessing your declaration provides their full name, their address and their qualifications. So, if this person for example, is an architect, they need to say that they're an architect and that's the reason why they're able and authorised to witness the statutory declaration. We also request that you don't attach the statutory declaration to the other documents. There will be an upload field for you to upload this separately.
The statutory declaration is very important. It is a document declaring that you're telling the truth, and you know there are penalties that apply if you do lie and submit a false statement. So, keep that in mind.
So that's all of the documents that we require for Part 1. So, they're all of the different documents that are required to be submitted. So, I'm just going to go through a general overview of the next few parts of the APE.
So, the National Examination Paper or the NEP is Part 2 of the APE process.
This part of the APE is held at the same time nationally, and you must have successfully completed, sorry, you must successfully complete Part 2 in order to proceed to Part 3 of the APE.
So, this exam is now 120 minutes long and contains 80 questions. They are scenario based with multiple choice questions and the scenarios used in the exam are based on the National Standard of Competency for Architects and is used to assess a candidate's knowledge and application of their knowledge.
There are some sample scenarios available to give you a better understanding of the structure of the exam. These scenarios are available in Appendix 2 of the APE Handbook. So, I suggest you have a look at those and just a reminder for candidates that have a disability or other health related needs. You are able to request adjustments or reasonable adjustments to sit the NEP. You need to submit that application at the time you're applying for the APE, so the upcoming session in June. You'll need to be applying around the time you're putting in your application for the APE, and you need to make those applications for reasonable adjustments directly to the AACA. The details of this are in the Handbook, but the e-mail address, if you do want it, is nep@aaca.org.au and you need to do that before the closing date of the Part 1 submissions. So, prior to the 8th of July.
So, the last part of the APE is Part 3, which is the Examination by Interview.
So, the Logbook and the Statement of Practical Experience from Part 1 as well as the results from Part 2 are used in Part to help the examiners direct the assessment. So, these questions are not designed to just test what you do know, it's not an opportunity for you to just speak to your skills and experience, it's an opportunity, it's used as an assessment for the examiners to question you about gaps in your knowledge and experience, as well as present you with some hypothetical situations to test the limitations of your knowledge and experience to ensure that you're at the appropriate level to work as an architect in Australia.
So, on this, we will contact you throughout the process to let you know what you need to do next, so we'll contact you once you've successfully completed Part 2 to let you know that you're eligible for Part 3 and when to apply and things of that nature.
So, the interview dates that we put up on our website for the examinations are a guide. The interview days are not scheduled ahead of time until we receive the results of Part 2. So, if you have any commitments, once you've submitted the APE application, you need to ensure that you're available during that time as we're not generally able to accommodate requests for specific dates.
It's also important to understand that successful completion of the APE, and Part 3 in particular, does not mean that you are registered. You are still required to actually separately register in Victoria and in all jurisdictions. So, the APE is just a pre-registration requirement and successful completion of the APE enables you to apply for registration. So, we strongly encourage all successful candidates to apply for registration.
So that's the end of the presentation. On the slide, there is our e-mail address. So, you are welcome to send us any emails about anything that you may have questions about that, you know, I think there's a few questions in the Q&A, so I'll go through some of those now. But if I don't get time to answer them all and you still have questions, you're welcome to contact us directly through there or to give us a call. So, I'll just have a look at some of the Q&A and see if there’s anything that I can respond to.
So, I think somebody's asked about the eligibility requirements for experienced practitioners, or rather the registration requirements for experienced practitioners who are registered overseas.
So, I'm assuming that you might be referring to, and you're welcome to clarify if you can in the in the chat or in the Q&A field, but if you're referring to individuals that might be registered in an overseas jurisdiction or have qualifications from an overseas jurisdiction, you're still able to apply for the APE. You do need to do depending on what jurisdiction you come from, you might need to complete the Overseas Qualified Assessment the OQA first before submitting for the APE. If you're in a jurisdiction that has mutual recognition, such as New Zealand or the United Kingdom, you are able to sit the APE, but you will need to go through for the United Kingdom at least a verification, a verification of your qualifications and that needs to happen through the AACA, so there are more details on their website.
Someone's asked a question about the verification signatures, so they wanted to confirm does the verification signature. Is this verification signature required in all projects saved in the Statement or just to references amongst as the Handbook states, two times references from employees or clients?
So, you need the verification signature for every project. If you're working in allied field or supervised that, you'll only need a signature for, per project, if you're under the supervision of an architect.
There's a question on, so somebody's asked a question about projects in an architecture firm if your clients are owner builders and we don't have a traditional AB or AS 4000 contract.
So, with that question there’s, I'm not sure if you maybe perhaps referring to issues around specific PCs in, in relation to that question but for the purposes of, you know, the APE, you will need to, you can still log those projects, but you might need to contact us directly to have a conversation specifically, but it's more just to basically say that you have a broad understanding of the different procurement and contract types. So, you are still welcome to list, you know if you have some different type of contract or procurement model outside of the standard or traditional contracts. But you'll need to be able to justify why you've included that experience for the purposes of the APE. But you're welcome to come and talk to us directly if you want to clarify that anymore.
Somebody has put a comment in, I’ve worked for a practice for more than 8 weeks. I could log in the short projects that I spent less than eight weeks.
So, as I said in the presentation, you have to be at a practice or employed with the specific employer for more than 8 weeks and then you are able to log projects that are less than 8 weeks.
Somebody's asked if there is a website that we can refer you to for identifying the indigenous Country. There is a few websites that are available and there are some resources in the Explanatory Notes. I'm not quite sure if the Explanatory Notes have the website that I'm thinking of, I'll just quickly have a look. But there are a few websites that you can use to look at what indigenous Country you're in. I think the best one is knowyourcountry.com.au. I think they've got a map and its, you can sort of have a look around and work out the area from there. So, I think that's probably the best one, but there might be some other resources available in the Explanatory Notes for that.
So, somebody's asked about verification signatures for overseas experience and will you still need one?
Yes, you do.
They've asked also asked if you need to get the overseas registration number for the respective governing body?
You can just indicate that the person is overseas registered, but you're also welcome to include the registration number if you have that.
I think that might be all the questions. I'm not sure if I've missed any, just double check.
Somebody's asked, does the examination take place online or in a sit in format?
So, I'm assuming that you're referring to the National Examination Paper, that is online.
It's not, it's a written exam, so it's, you know, computer based, but it is online. At the moment we also are doing the interviews online. So, they're being held via Zoom.
I'll just check the chat and see if there's any more questions, but I think those are all the questions that are in the Q&A function. If anybody else has any more questions, you're welcome to put them in. Otherwise, if I don't get any more questions, I might wrap up. I'll just check and see if anything else has come through the Q&A.
All right. Those seem to be all the questions that we've gotten from the Q&A and in the chat function. If anybody else has any other questions that we haven't been able to answer or something that was more specific to you that you prefer to have a more one-on-one conversation, you're welcome to send us an e-mail or give us a call.
Somebody's asked if there's going to be a recording of this presentation. Yes, there will be. It will be posted on our website on the APE section. It might take a few days for it to be made live, so look out for that next week.
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