What is Black Spectacles?

Black Spectacles online exam prep for the ARE

Jessica Ritter avatar
Written by Jessica Ritter
Updated over a week ago

Black Spectacles offers online learning tools through individual subscriptions and Group Licenses to help candidates prepare for and pass the ARE (Architect Registration Examination).

Know what to expect on exam day

Practice Exams and Quizzes

Our Practice Exams and Quizzes help you achieve success by practicing your recall. Studies show that quizzing yourself on content helps you learn the content more deeply. Our Practice Exam interface matches what you’ll see on test day, you can practice your pacing, case study strategies, and whiteboard/calculator usage.

All of our Practice Exams and quizzes use the same type of questions (hotspot, fill in the blank, drag and drop, etc.) that are on the actual test, so there are no surprises on test day.

For both Quizzes and Practice Exams, review the answer explanations to get a better sense of why right answers are right and wrong answers are wrong, which further explain each topic.

Videos

Explanations of all the major exam topics, by our expert lecturers, who are experienced and accomplished architects.

Videos are organized by objective and linked to the Practice Exams and Flashcards.

Download or print the Lecture Slides to take notes as you watch the videos.

Virtual Workshops (available with an Expert subscription)

Learn the trickier topics with an instructor walking through each question and concept. Collaborate with peers who are also currently studying for the same exam.

Virtual Workshops are collaborative workshop sessions led by our expert instructors, all of whom are licensed architects.

Each week focuses on one of four top struggle areas on the exam. There are two versions of the workshop for each topic, so you can attend for 8 weeks straight before you see the same exercise twice. There’s no hierarchy to the topics, so you can jump into the cycle at any time.
In each workshop, work through a set of questions in small breakout rooms with a few peers, and as a larger group.

Review an ARE Live episode where a Virtual Workshop instructor walks through a sample exercise from one of our PDD Workshops

Flashcards (available with Pro and Expert subscriptions)

Test your understanding of key terms and concepts from the Videos. Add your own custom flashcards as you watch Video Lectures and review your Practice Exam answers.
Practice them frequently in small batches, marking flashcards as “mastered” as you become fluent with the information on each card.

Flashcards help you practice recall as you're learning and when used in conjunction with our Videos.
Flashcards can be filtered by objective. For a challenge, randomize them, or flip the deck to the back and use the description to guess the key term.


Subscriptions

Access to our learning tools is provided through a paid subscription or through an organization/firm.
We offer 3 subscription tiers for individuals: Expert, Pro and Premium.

Virtual Workshops and Pass the ARE Guarantee are available exclusively with an Expert subscription.

Once purchased, you can update your subscription tier anytime through your account settings and you'll only be charged for the changes based on the time remaining in the current billing cycle.
Changes are effective as soon as payment is processed.

Ready to get started and studying? Buy now

Expert

Pro

Premium

  • Video Lectures

  • Lecture Slides

  • Practice Exams

  • Quizzes

  • Practical Applications

  • Digital Flashcards

  • Study Guides

  • Virtual Workshops

  • Video Lectures

  • Lecture Slides

  • Practice Exams

  • Quizzes

  • Practical Applications

  • Digital Flashcards

  • Study Guides

  • Video Lectures

  • Lecture Slides

  • Practice Exams

  • Quizzes

Questions? Visit our comprehensive FAQ

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