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By: Giovanni Zora
October 13th, 2026

I PASSED PJM!!

And here’s the proof! I took the exam on September 18, 2026, at the Southfield PSI Testing Center, located at 16250 Northland Drive. After clicking the “End Exam” button, a big blue PASS appeared on the screen, confirming that I had passed.

About 8–9 days later, I received the official score report you see on the left.

Now, it’s time to move on to studying for the Practice Management (PcM) exam!

How I passed PjM
Here’s the approach I believe helped me pass the PjM exam—and how you can, too.

  1. Watch all BS videos (and write this blog): aaaa
  2. Review flashcards: aaaaa
  3. Take BS exams throughout videos and flashcards: aaaaa
  4. Read the required chapters of the Ballast Book: aaaaa
  5. Read the required chapters of the AHPP: aaaaa
  6. Do any other BS exams and NCARB exam with a partner: aaaaa

Okay enough celebrating…
Practice Management is all about how to run and manage your own practice as principal; something I aim to do in the future. Black Spectacles starts their first section touching on the topics of: staffing, ethics, standard of care, insurance, and other practice regulations.

The four major roles for staffing in a firm include:
– Principal
– Project Manager/Project Architect
– Architect I, II, or III/Designer
– Associate/Intern

Prior experience with a client is a major factor in project staffing. Repeat clients are often preferred because trust, communication, and an understanding of their values and project goals are already established.

Utilization rate is the rate at which an employee utilizes their time towards billable work—not a measure of productivity.
Below is an example if someone works 6 billable hours out of a typical 8 hour work day.

Utilzation Rate=68=75%Utilzation\ Rate = \frac{6}{8} = 75\%
Utilzation Rate=direct labortotal labor=hours directly billed to a projecttotal number of working hoursUtilzation\ Rate = \frac{direct\ labor}{total\ labor} = \frac{hours\ directly\ billed\ to\ a\ project}{total\ number\ of\ working\ hours}
Total Labor=direct labor+indirect laborTotal\ Labor = direct\ labor + indirect\ labor

Direct labor will always be less than or equal to total labor, therefore most architectural staff members have utilization rates between 75% and 85%. More senior staff members may tend towards the lower end of UR, around 65%, since their time includes more indirect labor, such as preparing proposals and managing the firm. Junior staff members tend to have UR on the high end of this range, like 85%.