LARE Section 1 study plan
LARE Section 1 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Section 1
Map 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.
Define Section 1 in your own words: write a 150-word summary of what the section tests (project and site analysis, data gathering, and programming) and where it stops.
Build a personal error log template with columns for question type, reasoning error, and the rule you will apply next time.
Complete one timed 25-question practice set under exam conditions and record your raw score and time per question.
Your checkpoint
A ranked skills checklist plus a baseline practice score and per-question timing written into your error log.
Section 1
Collect and label a set of real site data for a hypothetical project: topographic contours, soils notes, drainage direction, sun and prevailing wind, and existing vegetation.
Practice converting between scale, area, and slope: solve 15 slope-percentage and gradient problems and check every answer against a worked method.
Draft a short site inventory narrative that separates observed facts from inferences.
Review every missed question from week 1 and rewrite the underlying rule in one sentence each.
Your checkpoint
A one-page site inventory sheet with annotated data sources and 15 solved slope and scale problems.
Section 1
Distinguish the components of a program: user groups, activities, space needs, adjacency, and area budgets, and write a sample program for one small public space.
Calculate an area budget that reconciles net assignable area with circulation and support space, showing the arithmetic.
Identify the regulatory and contextual constraints that shape analysis, such as zoning setbacks, accessibility, and stormwater requirements, and note where each enters the process.
Answer 20 mixed analysis and programming questions and tag each miss by cause.
Your checkpoint
A complete sample program with an area budget table that balances to a stated total.
Section 1
Synthesize site analysis into three defensible design implications, each tied to a specific data point.
Practice reading and interpreting graphic data without a legend by describing what each symbol most likely represents and why.
Take a full-length timed Section 1 practice exam and log every question you flagged as uncertain.
Write a one-paragraph process summary connecting data gathering to programming decisions.
Your checkpoint
A scored full-length practice exam with a written diagnosis of your three weakest skill areas.
Milestones
Week 4: Score at or above 65 percent on the full-length practice exam and be able to name your three weakest skill areas with evidence from the error log.
Week 6: Score at or above 75 percent on a second full-length practice exam, with no more than two misses attributable to the same skill area.
Week 8: Score at or above 80 percent on a final timed exam and complete every item on your original skills checklist as verified.