The NCARB Board of Directors has created the Policy for the ARE: Exam Candidate Conduct to address suspected violations of the provisions in the ARE 5.0 Guidelines and the ARE Candidate Agreement. The policy establishes multiple categories of candidate misconduct, professional conduct review procedures, and potential consequences and sanctions for each misconduct category.
Exam candidate misconduct includes the following:
- Copying, recording, obtaining, or sharing ARE content
- Seeking to obtain ARE content
- Neglecting to inform NCARB if you received ARE content
- Failing to maintain the confidentiality of ARE content
- Inappropriate behavior while testing
- Violating any other exam rules or policies established by NCARB
It’s also important to understand that the ARE is copyrighted. NCARB may pursue legal action to recover monetary damages suffered in cases of copyright infringement.
If there is reason to suspect you of misconduct at any point in the testing process, NCARB has the authority to place a “hold” on your exam scores pending further investigation. Misconduct cases may then be referred to NCARB’s Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) for review, according to the rules outlined in the Professional Conduct Committee: Rules of Procedure and to NCARB’s Board of Directors for a decision on potential disciplinary actions, which may include the following:
- Invalidation of exam scores
- Suspension of exam authorization
- Revocation of eligibility to receive NCARB Certificate
- Ethics education
- Public reprimand
If, at any point in this process, NCARB determines that no action should be taken against you, then any closed eligibilities to test will be reopened, scores will be released, and you will be able to reschedule any canceled exams at no additional cost.
If you believe you have observed candidate misconduct, you have an obligation to inform NCARB by contacting our ARE Security Tip Line at ARESecurity@ncarb.org.
