How to Pass ExAC Section 1: Programming, Site Analysis, and the Elemental Cost Method

Take a breath: Section 1 is the most pass-able ExAC section if you study it the way the exam tests it, not the way you do design work at a firm. In our years of working with Intern Architects across every sitting, our team has seen the same Section 1 marks slip in the same three places: programming, formal site analysis, and the elemental cost method. This guide, from Examitect, an independent ExAC prep platform unaffiliated with the CACB, walks you through what Section 1 actually tests, where the silent marks hide, and a six-week plan that fits a working schedule.

Key Takeaways

What to remember about ExAC Section 1.

  • Section 1 tests six categories at the front end of a project. Programming, site and environmental analysis, engineering coordination, cost management, schematic design, and design development. All closed book, and mostly multiple choice: roughly 96 items, plus about eight short-answer prompts, the largest written block on the exam. The full topic list lives on the Section 1 overview.
  • Programming and elemental cost are where working interns lose the most marks. They rarely surface at a firm the way the exam tests them. Drill both with timed scenarios early in your study cycle.
  • You do not memorise cost dollar values. The booklet supplies the cost data; the exam tests whether you can apply the Yardsticks for Costing and RSMeans elemental method under time pressure.
  • Site analysis is a trade-off exercise, not a checklist. Sun, wind, slope, drainage, vegetation, views, access, and zoning all push against each other. The exam rewards the candidate who can weigh them, not the one who can list them.
  • CHOP Chapter 6 and CHING are the primary references. Architectural Graphic Standards and The Architect's Studio Companion are supplementary. Avoid the temptation to study every reference on the official list.
  • Plan 5 to 7 weeks of focused study, 8 to 12 hours per week. Include at least one full timed mock 7 to 14 days before exam day. The 12-week ExAC schedule shows how Section 1 fits into a longer plan.
  • 250 to 400 practice questions beats re-reading CHOP cover to cover. The ExAC tests retrieval. Build retrieval directly with question practice and use the references only on the items you missed.

Overview

Section 1 at a glance

Section nameSection 1: Design and Analysis
Categories testedProgramming, site and environmental analysis, engineering coordination, cost management, schematic design, design development
FormatClosed book; about 96 multiple choice plus about 8 short answers
DurationThree hours, the same as every other section
Permitted materialsPencil, eraser, calculator, water. Required cost data is supplied within the booklet.
Primary referencesCHOP (Chapter 6 and design chapters), CHING
Cost referencesYardsticks for Costing 2014, RSMeans 2012 (study the method, not the dollar values)
Suggested study5 to 7 weeks at 8 to 12 hours per week, plus 250 to 400 practice questions
Best forWorking Intern Architects who want a focused, retrieval-based plan

What ExAC Section 1 covers

Section 1, Design and Analysis, tests the front end of an architectural project. Six categories anchor the section, and the multiple-choice questions move freely between them. The Examitect approach, refined from post-exam debriefs our team runs with Intern Architects across every sitting, is to study all six explicitly, even when day-job experience suggests one or two are familiar.

Category 1

Programming

Client goals, user groups, functional and spatial criteria, performance criteria, budget envelope, and how the program ties to site and code. CHOP Chapter 6 is the spine.

Category 2

Site and environmental analysis

Solar, wind, slope, drainage, vegetation, views, access, zoning, and how each constraint pushes against the program. CHING's site material is the strongest visual reference.

Category 3

Coordinating engineering systems

Structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing decisions at the schematic stage. The architect's role is coordination, not engineering design; the exam expects you to know where systems decisions land.

Category 4

Cost management

Order-of-magnitude estimates, the elemental cost method, escalation, contingencies, and how the architect brings a project back into budget. Cost data is supplied in the booklet.

Category 6

Schematic design

Trade-offs between program, site, and budget. Massing, parti, circulation, and the early decisions that lock in cost and code outcomes.

Category 7

Design development

From schematic to documented design intent. Material selection, system resolution, and the coordination handoff to working drawings.

Every Section 1 question maps to one of these six categories, but many questions blur the lines on purpose. A scenario that looks like a schematic design question may turn on a cost trade-off; a programming question may hinge on a site constraint. Studying the categories as a connected system, rather than six isolated topics, is the difference between a passing score and a near miss.

Why working interns underestimate Section 1

Section 1 is the section that feels closest to daily work. Schematic design and design development are familiar; programming is something the senior architect handed off before the file arrived on your desk; site analysis happened during the proposal phase. That familiarity is exactly why working interns underprepare and lose marks on the categories the firm never asked them to handle.

The reading-to-exam gap shows up in three predictable places. Programming, because most interns produce drawings against a brief rather than write one. Formal site analysis, because most projects have a site report from a consultant by the time an intern starts. And elemental cost, because firms tend to use proprietary spreadsheets that hide the underlying method. The ExAC tests the method itself, not the spreadsheet.

The Examitect framing we share with candidates is simple: assume the section is harder than it looks, study the six categories explicitly, and let the practice questions confirm or deny your assumptions. Working experience is an accelerator on Section 1, not a substitute.

Programming and pre-design strategy

Programming is the single most underprepared Section 1 category. Many candidates have never written a program in practice; some have never read one straight through. The exam expects you to think the way a senior architect or project lead thinks at the pre-design stage, which is a different muscle from drawing production.

The programming framework to memorise

Build a one-page framework you can recall under time pressure. CHOP Chapter 6 organises it cleanly, and the exam questions land squarely on these dimensions:

  • Client goals and project drivers. Mission, vision, operational model, and the non-negotiables that shape every later decision.
  • User groups and stakeholders. Primary users, secondary users, staff, visitors, regulators, and adjacencies between them.
  • Functional criteria. What each space has to do, what activities it supports, and the performance the client expects.
  • Spatial criteria. Area requirements, ceiling heights, daylight, acoustics, and the spatial relationships the program demands.
  • Performance and technical criteria. Environmental conditions, equipment loads, security, IT, and any specialty system requirements.
  • Budget and schedule envelope. The cost-per-area target, the project timeline, and the cost ceiling that shapes every later trade-off.
  • Site and regulatory constraints. Zoning, official plan policy, easements, and the code triggers (occupancy, area, height) that flow from the program.

How programming is tested

Most programming questions are scenario-based. You read a short brief and choose the best programming move from four options: the framework above tells you which dimension the question is testing, and the wrong answers usually attack a different dimension to see if you can tell them apart. Practise reading each scenario for the verb (identify, prioritise, clarify, validate) and the object (user need, spatial criterion, budget constraint). The verb tells you what type of move the question is asking for.

Site and environmental analysis strategy

Site and environmental analysis is the second category where working interns lose silent marks. Day-job site analysis tends to be a checklist exercise (sun path diagram, zoning summary, soils report) but the exam tests it as a trade-off exercise. Two correct constraints can point at opposite design moves, and the exam wants to see which one you let dominate, given the project type.

The eight site dimensions

  • Solar access. Sun path through the year, shading from neighbours, daylight orientation, and passive gain or rejection.
  • Prevailing winds. Seasonal patterns, comfort at entries and outdoor spaces, and wind-driven rain on the envelope.
  • Slope and topography. Grading strategy, accessibility, retaining structures, and the cost implications of a sloped site.
  • Drainage and hydrology. Surface water, stormwater management, on-site retention, and protection of low corners of the building.
  • Vegetation and ecology. Significant trees, root protection zones, ecological corridors, and the regulatory triggers attached to each.
  • Views and visual context. What to frame, what to screen, and how massing serves both.
  • Access and circulation. Vehicular, pedestrian, accessible, and service access; the sequence of arrival; and how access ties to zoning frontage rules.
  • Zoning and regulatory constraints. Use, density, setbacks, height, parking, and the official plan policies that shape the envelope before code does.

The exam expects you to weigh these against each other. A south-facing solar opportunity may conflict with a major view to the north; a sloped site may push the loading area to the wrong frontage for zoning. Practise reading scenarios as competing constraints and choosing the response that protects the project's most important driver. CHING's site material is the strongest visual reference for this; the Architect's Studio Companion's site chapter is a fast secondary read.

Engineering coordination and cost management

Engineering systems coordination and cost management are paired in our team's study plan because they sit at the same point in a project, where early decisions constrain most of what the building will cost later. The often-quoted 80 percent figure is a rule of thumb from the wider cost-planning literature rather than a number the ExAC publishes. Studied together, the two categories reinforce each other.

Engineering systems coordination

The exam does not ask you to size beams or specify chillers. It asks whether you know where the architect coordinates with the structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing disciplines, and what design moves preserve future flexibility. Read CHOP's coordination chapters and CHING's diagrams together; the pictures are doing real work here.

Common scenarios test:

  • Choosing a structural system at schematic stage and recognising the floor-to-floor and bay-spacing trade-offs that flow from it.
  • Locating mechanical rooms, vertical service runs, and horizontal distribution zones early enough that the architecture survives them.
  • Designing for adequate electrical service capacity, including the IT and AV loads that modern buildings carry.
  • Plumbing stack alignment, vent runs, and the constraints they put on bathroom and service-area planning.

Cost management and the elemental method

Cost management is the category most candidates over-study in the wrong direction. The exam supplies the cost data within the booklet; you do not memorise Yardsticks or RSMeans dollar values. What you do learn is the method.

Stage Estimate type What the exam tests
Pre-design Order-of-magnitude (per area or per unit) Whether you can pick the right unit (cost per square metre, cost per bed, cost per parking stall) and apply it to a quick check.
Schematic design Elemental estimate (substructure, structure, exterior enclosure, interior finishes, services, equipment, sitework) Whether you can build, adjust, and interpret an elemental estimate using the supplied data and your design's quantities.
Design development Detailed estimate moving toward unit pricing Whether you can identify where the estimate sharpens (envelope, finishes) and where contingencies wind down.
All stages Adjustments: escalation, location factor, design contingency, construction contingency, soft costs Whether you apply the adjustments in the right order, against the right base, without double-counting.

Practise the elemental method end-to-end on at least two worked scenarios. The Section 1 cost-questions guide walks through the workflow with a Yardsticks-style example, including the adjustments candidates routinely forget.

Schematic design and design development

Schematic design and design development are the two categories that feel most like firm work, and the ones where the exam pushes you to step out of production mode and into decision-making mode. The questions reward the candidate who can see why a design move is being made, not just what it looks like.

Schematic design

Schematic questions test trade-offs: between program and site, between cost and quality, between flexibility and certainty. The scenario will hand you a small set of facts and ask which next move best serves the project. The strongest study moves are:

  • Reading CHOP's schematic chapter for the architect's responsibilities at this stage (drawing scope, level of detail, owner approvals).
  • Practising massing and parti decisions against a tight program and a defined site.
  • Recognising when a schematic decision pre-determines a later cost outcome (envelope ratio, structural module, service zones).

Design development

Design development questions are sharper. The program, site, and budget are largely fixed; the exam wants to know whether you can resolve material, system, and detail decisions without breaking those earlier commitments. Plan to study:

  • Material selection trade-offs (durability, cost, appearance, embodied carbon) and how each ripples into the schedule and budget.
  • Assembly and detail strategy at the envelope, including thermal continuity and water management.
  • Coordination protocol: how the architect manages the engineering disciplines through DD without losing design intent.
  • The handoff to construction documents: what gets locked in at the end of DD versus what remains to be drawn.

The 6-week Section 1 study plan

If you have five to seven weeks before exam day and Section 1 is in your sitting, the six-week plan below has the order our team shares with Intern Architects. Adjust the week lengths to your runway, but keep the sequence: programming first, cost integrated with engineering, and a full timed mock no later than the second-last week.

Week 1
Programming and pre-design foundations

Read CHOP Chapter 6 and pair it with one worked programming example. Build the one-page programming framework. Do 20 untimed programming questions to confirm the framework holds under question stress.

Week 2
Site and environmental analysis

Read CHOP's site chapter and CHING's site material. Practise the eight-dimension framework against three contrasting sites (urban infill, suburban greenfield, sloped lot). Close the week with 30 timed multiple-choice questions on site analysis.

Week 3
Engineering coordination and cost foundations

Cover the engineering-coordination chapters in CHOP and CHING. Begin cost with the elemental method, using Yardsticks 2014 and RSMeans 2012 only as worked examples. Drill area calculations and unit conversions until they feel automatic.

Week 4
Cost drills and schematic design

Run timed cost questions: order-of-magnitude, elemental, escalation, contingency, soft costs. Read CHOP's schematic chapter and pair it with practice questions that force a trade-off between program, cost, and site.

Week 5
Design development and a full timed mock

Read CHOP's design development chapter. Mid-week, sit a full timed Section 1 mock at exam pace. Review every wrong answer against CHOP, CHING, or the Section 1 study notes; log the underlying concept in a one-page diagnostic that drives Week 6.

Week 6
Targeted review and a final mock

Spend the first half of the week on the two or three weak categories from your Week 5 diagnostic. Mid-week, sit a second timed mock. Close with a clean review pass. Stop new reading 72 hours before exam day; the final 72 hours are for recall, not for new material.

If you have fewer than five weeks of runway, compress Weeks 1 and 2 into one week and protect Weeks 5 and 6. The mock plus diagnostic is non-negotiable. The 12-week ExAC schedule shows how Section 1 fits inside a longer plan when you are writing multiple sections.

Common Section 1 mistakes and what to skip

Every ExAC cycle, the same Section 1 mistakes show up in the post-exam debriefs our team runs with candidates. Reading them here is cheaper than discovering them in the exam room. We are flagging what to drop as well as what to do, because most of the official reading lists are aspirational; the goal is the pass, not the marathon.

  • Skipping programming because it feels unfamiliar. If you have never written a program at work, this is the category to drill first, not last. Build the framework, write a one-paragraph program for a fictional clinic, and run programming-only question sets until the framework is automatic.
  • Treating site analysis as a checklist. Listing the eight dimensions earns no marks. Weighing them against each other does. Practise the trade-off exercise on three contrasting sites and write down the reasoning.
  • Memorising cost dollar values. The booklet supplies the numbers. Memorising Yardsticks or RSMeans dollar values is study time you cannot get back. Memorise the method, the elemental categories, and the adjustment order instead.
  • Reading CHOP cover to cover. CHOP 2025 runs 562 pages including its appendices, which is short enough to feel readable and long enough to eat a study cycle. For Section 1 you need Part 6, especially 6.1 to 6.3, plus 4.2 on cost, well-studied rather than the whole book skimmed once. Use the rest only when a practice question sends you there.
  • Relying on firm experience for schematic and DD. The exam tests decision-making, not production. Practise reading short scenarios that force a trade-off and chose the move the senior architect would make, not the move you would draw.
  • Skipping the timed mock. Candidates who avoid the mock because they fear a low score arrive at the real exam with no calibration on pace, fatigue, or recall under pressure. The mock is a diagnostic; let it do its job.
  • Over-studying the supplementary references. Architectural Graphic Standards and The Architect's Studio Companion are useful look-up tools, not cover-to-cover reads. Drop them as primary study material; pick them up only when a practice question points at them.
FAQ

ExAC Section 1 frequently asked questions

ExAC Section 1 is Design and Analysis. It tests six categories at the front end of the architectural project: programming, site and environmental analysis, coordinating engineering systems, cost management, schematic design, and design development. The section is closed book and runs about 96 multiple-choice questions plus about eight short-answer prompts, more written work than any other section carries.

No, ExAC Section 1 is closed book. Only Section 2 (Codes) allows the NBC 2020 and NECB 2020 in the exam room. For Section 1, you must rely on recall, the scenario prompts in the booklet, and the drawings and reference tables supplied in the appendix booklet that accompanies the section.

ExAC Section 1 is one of four independently timed sections and runs exactly three hours, the same as every other section. The local schedule is confirmed in your sitting instructions. A common working pace is 60 to 90 seconds per multiple-choice question with time held back at the end for flagged items.

The primary references for ExAC Section 1 are CHOP (especially Chapter 6 on programming, plus the site, engineering systems, cost, schematic design, and design development chapters) and Ching's Building Construction Illustrated. For cost questions, study the elemental method using Yardsticks for Costing 2014 and RSMeans 2012. Architectural Graphic Standards and The Architect's Studio Companion are supplementary.

Most candidates need 5 to 7 weeks of focused study for ExAC Section 1 on top of their working experience. Plan roughly 8 to 12 hours per week, split across reading, practice questions, and at least one full timed mock in the final week. Working interns who rely on day-job familiarity alone tend to underestimate cost and programming.

Yes, programming is a core ExAC Section 1 category. Questions test how an architect develops a written program, identifies user needs, sets functional and spatial criteria, and ties the program to budget and site constraints. Working interns often skip programming study because they rarely do programming on the job; this is the single most common Section 1 study gap.

Yes, cost management is one of six categories in ExAC Section 1. The exam tests the elemental cost estimating method, the difference between order-of-magnitude and detailed estimates, the role of contingencies and escalation, and how a designer brings a project back into budget. The required cost data is supplied within the exam booklet.

No, you should not memorise Yardsticks dollar values for ExAC Section 1. The exam supplies the cost data you need within the booklet. Your job is to understand the elemental method, units of measure, and adjustment factors, so you can apply the supplied numbers to a scenario correctly under time pressure.

For most candidates, ExAC Section 1 is more approachable than Section 2 because the content is closer to day-to-day design work. Section 2 carries the largest reading load and is the only section under timed open-book pressure. Section 1 is easier to underestimate, however, because programming and cost rarely surface in firm practice the way the exam tests them.

Working experience helps with schematic design and design development questions on ExAC Section 1, but it rarely covers programming, formal site analysis, and elemental cost the way the exam tests them. Plan to study the six categories explicitly, drill practice questions, and treat any gap between firm work and exam scenarios as a study target.

You do not choose. A first registration covers all four sections, written in four three-hour sessions over two consecutive days in November, and the order is set by the schedule rather than by the candidate. Writing fewer than four only happens on a rewrite after a failed attempt.

The elemental cost method breaks a building down into elements (substructure, structure, exterior enclosure, interior finishes, services, equipment, and sitework) and prices each element separately. It is the dominant cost approach on ExAC Section 1. Questions test how to build, adjust, and interpret an elemental estimate at the schematic and design development stages.

The most common ExAC Section 1 mistakes are skipping programming because it feels unfamiliar, treating site analysis as a checklist instead of a trade-off exercise, memorising cost numbers instead of the elemental method, and reading CHOP without doing timed practice questions. Working interns also over-rely on firm experience for schematic design and design development scenarios.

Plan to do 250 to 400 practice questions for ExAC Section 1 across the study period. Start with untimed questions to build familiarity, then move to timed sets of 30 to 40 questions to simulate exam pacing. Review every wrong answer against CHOP or Ching and log the underlying concept, not just the right letter.