Exam guide · ARE 5.0 / PA

Programming & Analysis (PA)
exam prep.

PA happens before anyone draws a plan. It tests whether you can read a site, a set of regulations and a client’s needs, and turn them into requirements a design can respond to.

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01

What is the PA exam?

Programming & Analysis is the division about understanding a project before designing it. Its focus is the evaluation of project requirements, constraints and opportunities.

In practice that means three kinds of reading. You read the site: topography, soils, climate, access, utilities and surroundings. You read the regulations: zoning, land use and the code requirements that limit what can be built. And you read the client: their goals, spaces and relationships, expressed as a program. PA questions often give you a diagram, a map or a short report and ask what it implies for the project.

PA leads directly into Project Planning & Design (PPD). A helpful distinction: PA asks what the site and program require; PPD asks which design responds to those requirements best.

02

What does PA cover?

The division is organized into four content areas. Building Analysis & Programming carries the largest share of the exam (about 37–43% of items).

  1. 1
    Environmental & Contextual ConditionsThe site in its setting: climate, topography, hydrology, ecology, and the neighborhood and community context that shape a project.
  2. 2
    Codes & RegulationsZoning and land-use rules and the code requirements that set limits on a site or building, such as allowable uses, setbacks and accessibility.
  3. 3
    Site Analysis & ProgrammingEvaluating a specific site and defining what it needs to accommodate: access, circulation, parking, utilities and site-level program elements.
  4. 4
    Building Analysis & ProgrammingDefining the building program — spaces, sizes, adjacencies and performance goals — and analyzing existing buildings and their potential for reuse.
03

A concept worth understanding: reading contour lines

Topographic maps show up across PA, and almost every question about drainage, grading or building placement starts with reading the contours correctly.

Contour lines crossing a stream valley Five contour lines labeled 100 to 108 feet, rising toward the top of the drawing. Each line forms a V pointing uphill where it crosses a stream that flows down the middle. Lines are closer together on the left, showing steeper ground, and farther apart on the right. 100 102 104 106 108 water flows downhill V points uphill = valley V points downhill = ridge Closer lines = steeper ground Wider spacing = gentler slope
Contours at a 2 ft interval. Where they cross the stream, each line bends into a V that points uphill.

Three rules carry most of the reading:

  • Each line joins points of equal elevation. Water flows perpendicular to the contours, from higher to lower lines — never along them.
  • Spacing shows slope. Slope = vertical rise ÷ horizontal distance. Two contours 2 ft apart in elevation and 40 ft apart on the map describe a 2 ÷ 40 = 5% slope; at 10 ft apart the same interval is a steep 20%.
  • The V-rule. Where contours cross a stream or swale they bend into a V that points uphill, toward higher elevation. Where they cross a ridge, the V points downhill.
04

How to study for ARE PA

  1. Practice reading diagrams instead of memorizing labels. Contour maps, sun paths, wind roses and zoning envelopes all carry information that a question will ask you to apply.
  2. Connect each regulation to its design consequence — what a setback, height limit or floor area ratio actually leaves you to work with on a given site.
  3. Run small programming calculations: net-to-gross area, parking counts, occupant loads. Write down the formula each time so the method becomes automatic.
  4. Synthesize, don’t list. When a scenario gives several site reports, practice deciding which constraint actually controls the decision.
  5. Finish with full-length practice exams under timed conditions, then review the latest ARE 5.0 Guidelines so your preparation matches the current objectives.
05

How KPath supports PA

KPath’s PA course is live: a day-by-day roadmap of illustrated lessons whose knowledge points each carry a code and an importance rating. PA practice includes a 200-question fixed set and AI-generated questions drawn from those knowledge points, and each question links back to the lesson and knowledge point it tests, with explanations for every option in English, English + 中文 or English + Español. KPath is currently in private beta.

06

PA FAQ

What is PA on ARE 5.0?

The division about evaluating a project before design: analyzing the site and its context, the codes and zoning that apply, and the client’s building and site program.

How is PA different from PPD?

PA identifies requirements and constraints; PPD chooses and evaluates design responses to them. If a question asks what a site or regulation requires, it is PA thinking; if it asks which design option best meets those requirements, it is PPD.

What site diagrams should I learn to read?

Topographic contours, drainage and grading, sun-path and shading diagrams, wind roses, and zoning or buildable-area diagrams. For each, practice stating what it tells you and what design decision it affects.

How can I improve at programming calculations?

Work small, repeatable problems — net vs. gross area, efficiency ratios, parking and occupant counts — and always write the formula before the numbers. Speed comes from recognizing which formula a scenario needs.

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Study PA with KPath

Learn to read the site before you design on it.

KPath’s PA course works through site, context and programming topics with illustrated lessons and coded knowledge points; practice questions link back to the lesson they come from.

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