CSE Test Plan

CAB must protect the public health, safety, and welfare. The California Supplemental Examination (CSE) assesses whether candidates for licensure demonstrate minimum standards of competency necessary to meet the requirements of current architectural practice in California.

The CSE Test Plan is developed using the results of a periodic statewide survey of architectural practice in California. This survey is called an occupational (or practice) analysis (OA).

The intent of an OA is to eliminate redundancy in the coverage of general areas of practice already addressed by the NCARB Architect Registration Examination (ARE) and to increase the focus on California–specific aspects of architectural practice. It is therefore neither comprehensive nor representative of the full scope of architectural practice.

The CSE Test Plan consists of the critical task and knowledge statements associated with entry–level of practice, as identified through the OA. The task and knowledge statements in the Test Plan retain the numbering assigned to them during the OA.

In the development of the CSE Test Plan, architect subject matter experts review the task and knowledge statements and eliminate those either already addressed by the ARE, or not related to California–specific practice. Accordingly, not all the tasks and knowledge statements included as part of the OA will be found in the final CSE Test Plan.

The CSE Test Plan can be found in the CSE Handbook.