LARE Section 1 study guide
LARE Section 1 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Landscape Architect Registration Examination (L.A.R.E.) is the exam administered by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) as part of the path to professional licensure as a landscape architect. CLARB describes its role as designing and promoting standards that ensure people, places and the environment are protected by landscape architecture, and frames the L.A.R.E. within a broader licensure journey that runs from exam preparation to professional practice. The exam is intended for candidates working toward licensure, typically graduates of landscape architecture programs and interns accumulating the education and experience their jurisdiction requires. Because licensure requirements - including education and experience - are set by individual jurisdictions, candidates should confirm their own member board's requirements rather than assume a single national standard. CLARB publishes the examination process, a how-to-prepare section, official L.A.R.E. Topics on this exam: Section 1. The LARE Section 1 study guide has 1 section and about 449 words.
01Section 1 - Project and Construction Administration
Section 1 tests the paperwork and legal mechanics that follow design: bidding, contract execution, submittals and RFIs, payment certification, change management, and closeout. Questions reward knowing who signs what, who bears which risk, and how money and time shift when scope changes. Under standard owner–landscape architect agreements you administer the contract: review submittals and payment applications, answer RFIs, prepare change documents, and visit the site at intervals appropriate to the stage of work to observe conformance with the contract documents. You do not supervise or control the contractor's means, methods, sequence, or safety program, and site visits do not make you a guarantor of the work.
449 words, about 2 minMore study resources for LARE Section 1
- Practice questionsA site plan shows a proposed retaining wall crossing a property line by 0.4 feet.
- FlashcardsCritical path. The longest sequence of dependent activities through a project network; it determines the shortest possible project duration, and any delay to an activity on it delays the project finish.
- Cheat sheetCritical path method (CPM): the longest path through the network; zero total float on critical activities; any delay on the critical path delays project completion by the same amount.
- Key termsBearing capacity. The maximum load a soil can support per unit area without failing or settling excessively.
- Study planMap the Section 1 content outline into a one-page checklist of every skill area you must be able to perform, then rank each area by your current confidence on a 1-5 scale.
- Common mistakesMost candidates have years of practical experience but have never read the statutes, ordinances, and standard contract language that govern practice.
- Exam-day guideBring the original, unexpired ID in the exact name used on your registration.