What the Course Entails and Exam Details

Our SGLA LARE Planning and Design Practice Exam mirrors the official national exam content administered by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB).

It focuses on key professional competency areas, ensuring you are proficient in spatial organization, circulation systems, and creating sustainable, functional landscape solutions.

The core domains covered are:

• Stewardship and design principles

• Master planning

• Schematic design

• Design development

This practice tool will test your ability to apply design concepts across a range of project types and scales, from small urban plazas to large regional parks and master-planned communities.

What to Expect in the Final Exam

The actual national LARE Section 2 is a fully computerized test.

It typically consists of 95 questions, which include a combination of multiple-choice and multiple-response formats.

Candidates are given a total of 3 hours to complete the section.

The content is focused on the knowledge, skills, and abilities that directly relate to the protection of public health, safety, and welfare as a professional landscape architect.

It is one of four independent sections that must be passed within a rolling five-year window for full licensure.

How to Study and Exam Centers

Success on this demanding section requires a strategic study plan and focused practice.

Actionable Study Strategies:

1. Review key reference materials: Focus on authoritative texts in site planning, master planning, and the basic elements of landscape architectural design.

2. Structure your practice: Begin with "open book" attempts to familiarize yourself with concepts, then transition to timed, "closed book" simulations to master pacing and stress management.

3. Map your progress: Pay close attention to questions you get wrong or find difficult, and revisit the underlying concepts.

Exam Centers and Registration:

To take the actual exam, you must register through CLARB.

The exam is administered via secure, computerized testing centers, such as Pearson VUE, located across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Remote proctoring is also often an option, allowing you to take the exam from a private, approved location.

Job Opportunities from the Course

Passing the LARE Section 2 is a significant milestone that significantly enhances your professional profile and unlocks numerous high-impact career paths.

It is a prerequisite for full professional licensure as a "Landscape Architect."

Completion of this section, along with the others, allows you to assume roles that include:

• Licensed Landscape Architect

• Landscape Designer / Job Captain

• Urban Planner

• Park Project Manager

• Environmental Consultant

• Site Feasibility Analyst

• Design-Build Project Manager

Achieving licensure allows you to stamp drawings, serve as the architect of record on complex projects, and take on greater leadership and liability in your practice.