Excellent
Based on 88 reviews
Young Architect Academy5.0Honesty, pricing, process and quality scores appear once 5 customers have rated them.
Young Architect has been helping architects pass the ARE exam and earn their architecture license since 2013. For more than a decade, we have helped thousands of candidates navigate the path to licensure with one mission: make architect exam prep actually work for people with full-time jobs and real lives.After experiencing the challenges of the ARE firsthand, licensed architect Michael Riscica founded Young Architect with a simple belief: nobody should have to navigate the path to licensure alone, guessing what to study, burning out, or wondering if they are even making progress.The ARE Boot Camp is the flagship coaching program and it has been running since 2015. This is not a course you watch by yourself. It is live coaching with a real person guiding you through the entire architect registration exam process.Weekly curriculum. Daily study groups. Real accountability. Boot Camp breaks the architect exam down into small, manageable pieces so you can keep working full-time and still make consistent progress toward passing.After years of coaching candidates through the ARE, we\u2019ve learned something. The fastest way to find success on the ARE is to stop worrying about the minimum you need to know to pass.Everyone wants to pass these exams. That is the whole reason we are here. But we approach it differently. We teach candidates to study with the intention of using this information on real projects with real clients. We use the architect exam as a launchpad toward a successful architecture career, not just a box to check.That is what separates Young Architect from everyone else. They focus on passing an exam. We focus on creating great architects who pass exams.Every course, every practice question, and every video we create is built directly from NCARB's published objectives. Those objectives define the exam, so they define everything we teach.For candidates who prefer to study on their own schedule, the ARE 101 Membership is the most comprehensive set of self-pa
Young Architect Academy (youngarchitect.com) has 88 customer reviews on Folks Told, with an average rating of 5.0 out of 5.
88 approved reviews, newest moderated first
Fahim M.
I don't speak English well. I had to look for a simpler version of ARE materials. Yours are number 1 by far.
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 13, 2026
Fahim, thank you. Plain language is something we work hard at. These concepts are complicated enough on their own without dense writing making them harder. You're taking on the ARE in a second language, which is no small thing. Glad our materials are helping. Keep going.
Sofi
Great experience so far. Comprehensive and honest
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 11, 2026
Thank you! Honest is a word we're proud to see in a review. Glad it's been a good experience so far. Good luck with your exams.
Zoli C.
It's great to have everything brought together in one place without lengthy presentations of 101. I particularly like the broadcasts—they're clear, sharp, concise, and easy to follow and digest. I also think the quiz explanations work really well. However, the quizzes don't quite match the difficulty of the actual ARE exams. To me, Levels 1, 2, and 3 feel pretty similar in terms of difficulty. Even Level 3 is a bit too straightforward. I'd also love to see more landscape-related questions, especially topics like tree protection, Irrigation. Soil exploration, and grading.
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 9, 2026
Zoli, this is thoughtful feedback and it's obvious you're deep in the material right now. That kind of engagement is exactly what gets people across the finish line. Let me clear up how our materials are structured, because there are two separate things here. The ten-question quizzes at the end of each Architect Exam Podcast episode exist for one purpose: confirming you understood the content you just absorbed. The leveled practice questions, Level 1 through Level 3, live inside our ARE 101 courses. Comparing either one against NCARB's questions isn't apples to apples. Our practice questions are a teaching tool, training wheels in a safe environment where you learn to apply a concept before facing it under pressure. We're not trying to replicate NCARB's style, and that's by design. On the landscape topics, we do cover grading inside our ARE 101 courses. Landscape irrigation is a different animal. It typically falls outside an architect's scope of work as a system that doesn't impact health, safety, and welfare. Building plumbing systems are another story entirely, and we go deep there. We recently built out a lot of new plumbing content inside Building Systems 101 and I'm genuinely proud of how it turned out. Worth a look if you haven't seen it. We'll also consider some of these other topics as future podcast ideas. Keep putting in the work. You're building something real here and it's going to pay off.
Maryson W.
The young architect academy has great podcast videos that goes so in depth and always tie it back to the AHPP. Their content keeps you engaged and you can comprehend what you're learning i definetily recommend
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 9, 2026
Maryson, thank you! Tying everything back to the Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice is something we're very intentional about. A lot of ARE exam prep positions itself as a replacement for the AHPP. We go the other way. If your goal is to get through the ARE efficiently without wasting time, money, or energy, learning how to actually use the AHPP is the fastest route. There's a bigger reason too. Getting comfortable navigating a dense technical reference is a skill that pays off well beyond the exam. It carries you into the technical exam divisions. And later into your career, when you're a licensed architect facing a complicated construction problem and the answer is buried somewhere in a thousand-page specification. Sifting through complex information to find what you need is part of the job. Teaching people how to read like an architect is something we've always been proud of. Glad the content is keeping you engaged. Thanks for recommending us. That really means a lot to me and the whole team. -Michael
Kristen M.
YAA is such a great set up because even though architecture school you’re not in studio alone. Using this program, brings you with like minded people in the same platform to share information, educate each other, and work together towards the same goal. The program is full of information but you still have to put in the work! When you want to talk to someone, 9/10 chances Micheal himself, who started it, takes the time to talk to you! On the phone, via email, or even over video. I don’t know many programs that the owner himself will call you and teach you. I’ve done other platforms and this one is my favorite. By far.
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 9, 2026
Kristen, the studio comparison is spot on. Nobody got through architecture school alone and the ARE shouldn't be any different. You also said the thing that matters most: the program is full of information but you still have to put in the work. That's true no matter which platform someone picks, and you've been putting in that work consistently. Really enjoyed our call. We've got a solid plan for the rest of the year and I'm excited to get you into the technical side. Keep going. You've made more progress than you probably give yourself credit for.
Zinnet D.
I’m studying for the ARE while working and raising a little one, so I really appreciate having this podcast. Listening and going back through the show notes helps things stick. Thank you, Michael, for putting this together and making it free for us!
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 7, 2026
Zinnet, working full time and raising a little one while studying for the ARE is a lot. Anyone who's done it knows how hard that juggle is. That's exactly why we keep the Architect Exam Podcast free. Not everyone has hours to sit down with a textbook, but most people can find twenty minutes while the house is quiet. Glad the episodes and study notes are working for you. Keep going. You're doing great.
Deborah D.
I love the podcasts and study notes that the Young Architect Academy produces. They take difficult topics and summarize them into a format that is clear and easy to understand with fun graphics and interesting analogies that make the information memorable.
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 6, 2026
Deborah, it's been great having you in ARE Boot Camp. You're getting close to the finish line now. The analogies are something we lean on hard because a concept you can picture is a concept you'll remember on exam day. Glad they're landing for you. Reach out anytime you want to talk strategy. My door is always open.
Jose H.
I’ve avoided taking the ARE exams for over three decades. With my last promotion at work, I felt I couldn’t put it off any longer. Earlier this year, I scheduled PcM and PjM. My goal was to spend as little time as possible on the process, so I figured I would keep taking the exams until I passed. The firm subscribes to both Amber Book and Black Spectacles. Coworkers suggested taking the practice tests from both and shared their notes and knowledge. It was quite overwhelming. I came close, but I didn’t pass either exam. A peer suggested YAA Bootcamp because it had helped them, but warned me that I would need to commit the time. I’m glad I followed their suggestion. Michael and his team have put a lot of work into the program, and it shows. Having a syllabus and a clear path to follow helped me understand what I needed to study, the concepts behind it, and how to approach the exam questions. The videos, reading guides, practice questions, weekly bootcamp meetings, and additional Pro Practice meetups helped break the material into manageable pieces. Being competitive, the study log also pushed me to study more. Second place in the number of hours studied was not an option. With Pro Practice Bootcamp, I now understand the WHY. I’m no longer just going by gut feeling or work experience. I passed CE on my first try, one week after bootcamp ended, and I’ve already signed up for Technical Bootcamp. Thanks, Michael and the YAA team.
Reply from Young Architect AcademyOct 6, 2026
Jose, congratulations on passing CE on your first try! One week after bootcamp ended is exactly the kind of momentum we want people to walk out with. Three decades of putting it off, and now you're rolling. That takes real guts to start. The part about understanding the WHY instead of going on gut feeling and work experience is the whole thing right there. Experience alone doesn't get people through these exams. You have to know the reasoning behind the answer, and it sounds like that clicked for you. Also, I love that the study log turned into a competition for you. Whatever works. Thank you for being one of our biggest cheerleaders. You're always showing up in the comments and it means a lot. Excited to have you back for Technical Boot Camp.
