For those Interior Designers out there who are looking to take the leap and take the ever challenging NCIDQ exam to become a licensed professional, this one’s for you! The National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) offers this 3-part exam twice a year, spring and fall, giving you plenty of time to study and be on top of your ID game! For the rest of the world out there, this is a big deal for us Interior Designers as it provides us a license to practice Interior Design while also having the title act of Interior Designer apply to us too! Think of this as the bar exam of the Interior Design world.
Whether you’ve chosen to take the drawing portion only (Practicum), the two-part multiple-choice portions only (IDFX and IDPX), or all three, you can use all the help you can get. Although the exam has changed a bit since I’ve taken it, my tips can help you to get through this huge and exciting milestone in your professional career! Read on for the things I think you should know before taking the NCIDQ exam.
1. Know When the Time is Right
I vividly remember a conversation with my boss at the time during a performance review when I was about 3 years into my Interior Design career. I mentioned my desire to take the NCIDQ exam and he said don’t! I immediately thought ‘What the hell?! I’m totally capable of taking this exam, what is my boss even talking about?!’. Little did I know this would be the best advice I could get. 3 years later, now 6 years into my career and I felt I had enough work experience under my belt to successful pass this beast of an exam. NCIDQ only requires you to have 1-2 years of ‘qualified’ work experience (or a total of 3,520 hours) but, the point here is, the more work experience you have, the more equip you’ll be to answer the multiple-choice questions and complete the drawing portion successfully. The answers will be like second nature to you especially if you’ve developed a certain strength in one area of design or have experienced a scenario on a project that could easily be a test question. Don’t be afraid to find the right time for you!
2. Develop a study schedule
Now that you’ve decided on a good time to take the exam, you’ve met all the eligibility requirements, and signed yourself up, it’s time to have a game plan. Everyone studies differently, and everyone retains information differently so, it’s important to find a schedule or method that works best for you. Your local Interior Design association may offer study courses throughout the year or study groups. I would highly suggest taking advantage of these! There may be a small fee associated to them but, you’ll be getting hands-on help and practice – so invaluable! You’ll usually be provided with some practice material to take home as well. If you’re more of a ‘study on your own’ kind of a person, develop a schedule that works best for your lifestyle. Whether it be a few hours of studying before or after work, on the weekends, or whenever you can carve some time, anything helps! Just please, PLEASE don’t cram everything to the last minute! There’s so much information in this exam that you’ll likely be so overwhelmed and unable to retain it all. Be ahead of the game and stick to a schedule.
3. Your wellbeing is number one
This might sound obvious, but, in the stressful world of studying for one of the most important exams of your career, it’s easy to neglect your diet and/or exercise routine. Ensure you’re still taking the time to have three healthy meals a day with snacks in between. You want your brain to be alert and as focused as possible – your diet plays a big role in this! Taking the time to exercise or even just stretch is a great way to keep your body healthy and limber – especially during those long study sessions where you’re sitting in one spot forever or hunching over your desk like a gremlin. Lastly, be sure to take some breaks in between study sessions even if it’s just to rest your eyes for a few minutes or take a quick walk around the block. Healthy body and mind means a healthier and successful design professional!
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
If you work for a design firm, you’ll likely have several design professionals that have successfully completed the NCIDQ exam right at your fingertips! Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or for tips on how you could study better, what study methods are more successful than others, or what study materials worked best for them, etc. After all, that’s why you’re reading this right? You want the tools to knock this exam out of the park. Take advantage of all the free advice you can get!
5. Take your time
We’re back to that whole notion of time. Well, this couldn’t be more important in this case. When I first began studying for the NCIDQ exam, for the multiple-choice sections specifically, I did the math and realized with the amount of questions administered and the time provided to complete the exams, I only have less than 2 minutes to answer every question. What?! I quickly went into panic mode and thought, I better hustle if I want to finish this guy! Well, guess what. That was a recipe for complete disaster. I wasn’t successful and found myself having to take both multiple-choice portions again. This time, I knew the mistakes I had made the first time around and knew not to go down that same path again. I was determined to succeed and succeed I did! This time around, I read every question thoroughly and carefully taking my TIME to answer each question as best I could. I also made sure to flag any questions I wasn’t sure of for review later. In the end, I took the ENTIRE time I was given to complete the exam and I passed!
Whether this is your first, second, or third time taking the exam know that you are a wonderful designer and you have what it takes to rock this exam! Best of luck to you.
