Top 10 mistakes to avoid when reviewing for the ALE
Common pitfalls that reviewees make and how you can avoid them to maximize your chances of passing.
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- Arkitekto Team
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Most people who fall short on the ALE were not outmatched by the material. They started too late, skipped the subject they found boring, or spent twelve weeks re-reading notes without ever testing themselves. Here are the ten patterns that come up most often, and what to do instead of each one.
ALE study priority matrix
A suggested ordering based on subject weights and how often topics recur in practice
High frequency + high weight
Focus here first- NBC occupancy (PD 1096)
- Fire safety & egress (NBC Rule XII, Fire Code)
- BP 344 accessibility standards
- Structural concepts for seismic and wind loads
High frequency + medium weight
Study consistently- Local building materials (CHB, nipa, bamboo)
- Filipino architects (Locsin, Nakpil, Mañosa)
- Architectural practice documents (UAP, SPP)
- RA 9266 provisions (Architecture Act)
Medium frequency + high weight
Don't neglect- Typhoon-resistant structural systems
- Tropical site planning (solar path, monsoon)
- Natural ventilation strategies
- Green Building Code (2015, PD 1096 referral code)
Medium frequency + medium weight
Review last- Bahay kubo vs. bahay na bato evolution
- Metro Manila zoning ordinances
- Advanced structural analysis
- Historic preservation guidelines
Design and site planning carries 40% of the rating, so keep one timed design and site planning session in every week.
1. Starting too late#
Four to six weeks is enough time to cram and not much else, and cramming a syllabus this wide mostly produces anxiety. Give yourself about twelve weeks. The extra time is what makes spacing possible: coming back to a topic after a gap of days or weeks, which a 2013 review of study techniques (Dunlosky and colleagues) rated among the most effective there are. Cramming can get you through tomorrow's quiz; spacing is what keeps it for an exam months away.
2. Neglecting 'easy' subjects#
Some candidates pour their hours into design and structural subjects and coast on history and professional practice, on the assumption that those are easier. The rating rule punishes this. Under RA 9266 you need a 70% weighted general average AND no subject below 50%, so a strong design score won't rescue you if History & Theory or Utilities/Structural drops under that floor. Split your hours closer to the exam's weighting than to your own preferences.
3. Passive reading without active practice#
Re-reading notes feels like studying because the material gets easier to recognize with each pass. Recognition is not recall. In one well-known study, students who practised recalling a passage remembered more of it a week later than students who reread it, even though the rereaders felt more confident (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006). Test yourself on a topic the same day you read it, then again a few days later. A short Arkitekto quiz will tell you whether you learned something or just got familiar with the page it was printed on.
4. Ignoring the National Building Code#
The NBC is dense and technical, so many reviewees work from summarized notes instead. Exam questions ask for specific requirements and exact numerical values, and summaries round those off. Read the actual 2004 Revised IRR, starting with Rule VII (occupancy classifications, Sec. 701), Rule VIII (light and ventilation, setbacks), and Rule XII Sec. 1207 (stairs, exits, occupant loads), plus the 2024 amended IRR of BP 344. Make flashcards for the specific figures, like the 1.10 m minimum width of an exit corridor and the 45 m maximum distance to an exit in a building without sprinklers (60 m with a complete automatic sprinkler system) in Sec. 1207. PRC lets you bring a clean printout of Rules VII and VIII on Day 2, so also practise finding things in it quickly; Rule XII and BP 344 are not in it.
5. Skipping mock exams#
Mock exams are intimidating, so people put them off until there's no time left to learn anything from the results. Sit one full timed paper by about week 9, and full mock exams in weeks 11 and 12. Simulate the real conditions: the PRC time blocks (two 5-hour papers on Day 1, one 10-hour paper on Day 2), no references other than what PRC allows, somewhere you won't be interrupted. Arkitekto's simulated exam follows that two-day schedule. Then actually go through your results and move your study hours toward whatever they exposed.
6. Studying alone without discussion#
Solo review feels focused, but some concepts only click when you have to say them out loud to someone who will push back. Join a study group or an online community. Explaining a topic to another person exposes the gaps you can talk past in your own head. Even a short weekly session helps.
7. Memorizing without understanding#
Rote memorization gets you through quizzes, but ALE questions can describe a situation and ask you to apply a principle rather than recite it. For every formula or rule, know the WHY behind it and how it plays out on an actual project. That reasoning is what carries you through an unfamiliar question, which you will get several of.
8. Poor time management during study#
Spending four hours on topics you're already good at while avoiding the hard ones creates a convincing illusion of productivity. Put your hours where your scores are lowest, especially any subject drifting toward the 50% floor. Find those areas with timed practice sets rather than guesswork, then track your study hours by subject so you can see where they're really going.
9. Neglecting physical and mental health#
All-night study marathons, poor diet, and chronic stress hurt retention and exam-day performance both, and sleep plays an active part in consolidating what you learned that day (Diekelmann and Born, 2010, Nature Reviews Neuroscience). Treat the review as a marathon: at least 7 hours of sleep a night (the adult minimum recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine), some exercise even if it's only a 20-minute walk, decent meals, and one rest day a week.
10. Not having a structured study plan#
Studying whatever you feel like each day leaves gaps you won't notice until the exam finds them, and the closer you get, the more that uncertainty turns into anxiety. Write out a schedule covering every subject, weighted 30/30/40 like the exam, and use Arkitekto's study plan so nothing gets skipped. Track progress daily and adjust weekly. A plan mostly saves you from having to decide, every morning, what to study.
Key takeaways
Most of these come down to the same thing: knowing where you actually stand instead of guessing. Timed practice sets, mock exams, and honest tracking are the unglamorous part of review, and they're what separates a study plan from a reading list. Arkitekto exists largely to make that part harder to avoid.
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