There will be several changes, including the divisions of the exams. Therefore, start taking 4.0 now, and PASS! Before they change all the study materials again, and you will have to adapt to their new divisions. Best advice I can give you is to KEEP taking ARE 4.0 before June 30, 2018!
PASS with only 5 divisions:
NCARB says if you pass three of the easier divisions in ARE 4.0:
- PPP,
- CDS,
- SPD
Then in ARE 5.o you will only need to take 2 more ARE 5.0 divisions, and you can pass the ARE with only taking 5 divisions! So the credit for these 3 ARE 4.0 divisions is significant.
The additional two ARE 5.0 divisions are:
- PPD: Project Planning & Design
- PDD: Project Development & Documentation
Here is the planned roll-out of ARE 5.0 by NCARB:
How long will ARE 4.0 be available? –till June 30, 2018.
Will I get credit for ARE 4.0 exams when ARE 5.0 comes out? YES!
When will ARE 5.0 be released?
ARE 5.0 will be moving from concept to development through mid-2014, for an anticipated launch in late 2016. The division and exam structure were finalized in December 2013, and information about the transition from ARE 4.0 to ARE 5.0 will be announced in late spring 2014. Development and integration testing will take place over the next few years. The launch schedule assumes successful modeling and testing of the proposed approach in the coming months.
How many divisions will be included in ARE 5.0? –6 New Divisions, 1 less!
Will there be the same number of exams as in ARE 4.0? The structure, finalized December 2013, includes six divisions:
1. Practice Management
2. Project Management
3. Programming & Analysis
4. Project Planning & Design
5. Project Development & Documentation, and
6. Construction & Evaluation
[source: http://www.ncarb.org/ARE/ARE5.aspx ]