Recording Your Experience

You can only record experience gained after you have been appointed to Intern Architect status with the OAA. Under certain circumstances Student Associates may also record up to 760 hours of experience.

All your experience must be recorded in the Canadian Experience Record Book (CERB), reviewed and signed/certified digitally by the Supervising Architect and Mentor, and submitted to the OAA for review and approval.  Experience may be documented in the online CERB or the CERB (pdf).

You must complete a minimum of 3720 hours in specific categories of architectural experience gained in an acceptable employment situation. All the experience submitted is subject to review.

The IAP Manual and Appendix B of the IAP Manual (Ontario-specific requirements) provide guidance on acceptable employment situations, definitions of the experience categories, and the currency requirement. It is important that you regularly review the IAP Manual when you are unsure about the categories of experience you are entering on the CERB.

Currency of Experience 

At least 940 hours of the experience must be completed within the three years before the date on which you make application for the licence.

All Intern Architects must complete a minimum of 3,720 hours of architectural experience as outlined in the IAP Manual. If fewer than 940 hours of that experience is obtained on projects within Canada, the Intern Architect must familiarize themselves with Canadian practice by completing all four modules of the Practice of Architecture in Canada course offered by the Regulatory Organizations of Architecture in Canada (ROAC) prior to application for licence.

Ontario Practice Competency Self-Assessment

At the time of creating each Canadian Experience Record Book (CERB) submission, Intern Architects are encouraged to determine if any activities within the CERB experience for that period may be applicable to any of the 10 key competencies in the Ontario Practice Competency (OPC) self-assessment submissions.

International Experience Gained Prior to Enrolment in the IAP

Internationally educated individuals may submit post-graduate international architectural experience gained prior to enrolment in the IAP for review.  

If any international experience gained while not in the IAP forms part of the experience submission at the time of making application for licence, the applicant will be required to attend for an assessment interview with the OAA Experience Requirements Committee (ERC).

Refer to Appendix B of the IAP Manual for further details.