This is an original educational package for the First-Class Architect Examination (一級建築士試験) in Japan. The official overview describes a written 学科 examination plus a separate 設計製図 examination; the 2025 application guide lists five written subjects and one design-drafting task, with four-choice written items. It does not give a pass mark, official internal weighting, or guarantee of future format. Dates, eligibility, exemptions, allowed references and tools, and administrative rules must be confirmed against official JAEIC information for your exam year; this is conceptual education and practice, not legal advice or an official simulation, and design-drafting practice is indicative and should be checked against the current official brief. Study scope first, then mechanisms, then integrated drawing coordination. Use the 20 MCQs as supporting knowledge checks, not as a simulation of the design-drafting examination.
Scope, identity, and assessment map
Know what each component is before memorizing content.
The First-Class Architect Examination consists of a written 学科 examination followed by a separate 設計製図 examination, according to the official overview. You can take the design-drafting examination only after passing the written examination. The overview lists written subjects in planning, environment and equipment, regulations, structures, and construction, and it lists a single design-drafting task. The 2025 application guide also describes four-choice written items and one design-drafting task. Confirm these administrative facts each year because schedules, exemptions, and permitted materials can change.
Use the supplied question counts only to see the shape of the written papers: planning and environment/equipment each have 20 items, regulations and structures each have 30, and construction has 25 in the supplied overview. Those counts do not establish a pass mark, internal weighting, or difficulty ranking. Treat them as coverage signals. The design-drafting task is not a set of multiple-choice questions; it requires a coordinated design response. The MCQs in this package check supporting knowledge and are not a simulation of the 6.5-hour drafting task or of the complete written examination.
This guide teaches mechanisms and coordination rather than unverified numerical rules. When a real project or examination question requires a legal threshold, use the current law book and official updates for the relevant year. When an examination brief supplies constraints, use only those stated constraints plus stable technical principles.
Preparation priority ladder
Move from vocabulary to calculation to coordination to timed output.
A useful priority order is: first, learn the vocabulary and drawing conventions that let you read a brief accurately; second, master a small set of calculable relationships in planning and structures; third, practise cross-subject coordination because services, structure, and circulation compete for the same space; fourth, produce timed drawings and short written explanations. This order prevents the common failure of memorizing isolated facts without being able to use them in a plan.
Use the supplied written subject list as a checklist. Planning and environment support site organization and daylight decisions. Environment and equipment support ventilation, thermal comfort, and service zoning. Regulations require careful reference reading and cross-checking. Structures and construction require load-path and assembly reasoning. Construction also requires sequencing and moisture-control judgment. Design drafting integrates all of these. Do not wait until the drawing stage to learn coordination; start every written topic with the question, Where does this appear on a drawing or in a design decision?
Build a two-column review sheet for each topic: one column for the principle, formula, or relationship; the other for the common error it prevents. For example, pair floor-area ratio with total floor area, building coverage with footprint, and beam deflection with span raised to the fourth power. Weekly mixed sets should combine calculation, plan reading, and short explanation so that you practise switching modes rather than repeating one topic.
Planning and environment: solar, bulk, and air movement
Use geometry and simple arithmetic to make site decisions visible.
Solar access is a geometry problem. In a mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere site, the noon sun is generally to the south, so a building casts its noon shadow toward the north. Winter noon sun is lower than summer noon sun, so a winter noon shadow is longer than a summer noon shadow for the same building height. If a garden lies immediately north of a proposed building, the winter noon condition is usually the critical one to study. The most direct design moves are to lower the portion of the building nearest the garden and to increase separation between the building and the garden. A section drawing with a winter sun angle turns this from a vague concern into a checkable obstruction.
Bulk controls are separate arithmetic checks. Suppose a flat site is 1,000 m², the allowed building coverage ratio is 60%, and the allowed floor-area ratio is 300%, with no other limits. The maximum footprint is 0.60 × 1,000 = 600 m², and the maximum total floor area is 3.00 × 1,000 = 3,000 m². A two-storey scheme with a 600 m² footprint would have only 1,200 m² of floor area, far below the floor-area limit, while a taller scheme could reach 3,000 m² if other controls allow it. Coverage and floor-area ratio answer different questions: footprint versus total building floor area. Daylight, open space, fire safety, and local rules can impose stricter limits, so arithmetic alone is never the final approval test.
Ventilation is about pressure difference and flow path. A single opening on one facade can provide some single-sided ventilation, but a low inlet on the windward side and a high outlet on the opposite or leeward side create a more useful cross-ventilation path. Vertical separation encourages buoyancy-driven flow, especially in a stairwell or atrium, but the path must be continuous. In winter, a heated tall space can produce stack effect: warmer indoor air tends to rise, entering low and leaving high. Wind, temperature difference, opening size, and internal partitions all affect the result. Avoid short-circuiting an inlet directly to a nearby outlet, and do not assume that a large window automatically produces good ventilation.
Services and regulations: pressure, drainage, and zoning
Think in systems and failure modes, not isolated fixtures.
A drainage system protects the trap seal. A fixture trap holds a water seal that blocks sewer gas, but pressure fluctuations can siphon or push that seal away. An adequately sized vent and a properly sloped fixture drain help keep the pressure balanced. If a basin gurgles after a nearby fixture discharges, the first conceptual check is pressure fluctuation and venting, not simply adding a larger trap. A reverse-sloped drain or an unvented branch can make the problem worse. The design lesson is to keep the drainage path continuous, protected, and accessible for maintenance.
HVAC zoning follows loads and schedules. In a multi-tenant office, east and west perimeter zones receive solar gain at different times, and interior zones may have high equipment or occupant loads with different operating hours. A better scheme groups spaces by orientation, internal gain, and schedule, then separates zones where loads diverge. One enormous zone based only on floor area will cause simultaneous heating and cooling or poor comfort. A thermostat in the core cannot control a west-facing perimeter room. Service shafts should also be stacked vertically where possible, with access doors and clearances coordinated with structure and partitions. Do not use an exit enclosure as a duct or service shaft, and do not let service access doors obstruct an exit route.
Gravity water supply shows why pressure changes with height. A roof tank supplying a tall building produces higher static pressure at lower floors because the vertical distance from the tank is greater. Lower floors may therefore need pressure-reducing valves, and the system still needs overflow, maintenance access, and isolation. For regulations, do not memorize unverified numbers from a guide. Treat the law book as a cross-checking tool: identify the relevant use, egress, fire-safety, and area issues, then verify the exact current text. The written regulations subject rewards careful reading and cross-referencing, not guessing from memory.
Structures and construction: load path and movement
Calculate small cases, then trace the whole path.
For a simply supported beam under a uniformly distributed load w over span L, the maximum bending moment is wL²/8 and each reaction is wL/2. If w = 10 kN/m and L = 6 m, the maximum moment is 10 × 36 / 8 = 45 kN·m. For a single point load P at midspan, each reaction is P/2 and the maximum moment is PL/4. For a 12 kN load on an 8 m simply supported span, each reaction is 6 kN. These formulas are tools for checking order of magnitude, not a substitute for a full structural design.
Deflection is more sensitive to span than many candidates expect. For a simply supported beam with the same uniformly distributed load per unit length, the same section, and the same elastic modulus, midspan deflection is proportional to L⁴. Double the span and the elastic deflection becomes approximately 16 times larger. This is why long spans need deeper or stiffer systems and why service coordination must respect structural depth. A complete gravity path runs from slab to beam to column or wall to foundation. A complete lateral path runs from roof and floor diaphragms to braced frames or shear walls, then to the foundation. Interruptions, eccentric connections, and discontinuous walls are warning signs.
Construction detailing is largely about keeping water out and letting assemblies move. A wall should provide a drainage plane and flashing that direct water outward and downward, while limiting unintended vapor trapping. Sealants alone are not a drainage strategy. Different materials move differently, so long facades, roof junctions, and transitions between steel, concrete, and timber need considered joints and tolerances. In a conceptual case, if a new canopy is rigidly tied to a long facade with no movement joint, the risk is cracking or distortion at the connection; a better response is to allow differential movement while maintaining weatherproofing and structure.
Drawing and integrated judgment: scale, hierarchy, and coordination
A drawing is a coordinated argument, not a decorative picture.
Scale calculations must be unit-consistent. On a 1:100 drawing, 25 mm measured on paper represents 25 × 100 = 2,500 mm, or 2.5 m, in reality. On a 1:200 drawing, the same 25 mm represents 5 m. Always write the units and check whether the question asks for a paper dimension or a real dimension. For program arithmetic, if a brief requires 1,200 m² of net usable area and the assumed net-to-gross efficiency is 0.75, the required gross floor area is 1,200 / 0.75 = 1,600 m². This is planning arithmetic, not a legal area definition.
Line hierarchy should make the drawing readable. Cut structural walls and columns are generally heavy; elements beyond the cut are lighter; overhead elements, grids, and annotations should be distinct without competing. Keep dimension lines consistent and place them where they can be read. Cross-referencing is the core of integrated judgment: a door on the plan must agree with the schedule, the section must show the same head height, and the detail must be buildable at that junction. When a schedule says 900 mm and the plan shows a 750 mm opening, do not silently change one sheet. Flag the conflict, verify design intent and applicable requirements, then update all affected sheets consistently.
For open-task practice, take a simple brief: a rectangular floor plate with perimeter glazing, a central core, two exits, a vertical service shaft, and a required net area. Produce a schematic plan, a section through the core, and a services/structure overlay. Do not copy a sample answer. Instead, annotate the decisions: why the core is placed there, how the structural grid aligns with parking or basement constraints if stated, how supply and return paths reach the perimeter, how the exits remain clear, and how the service shaft stacks. This is the kind of practice that supports design drafting; the MCQs in this package do not simulate that task.
Common errors and exam traps
Most lost marks come from category errors and uncoordinated assumptions.
In planning, the common errors are mixing site area with floor area, mixing coverage ratio with floor-area ratio, and forgetting that winter noon shadows are longer than summer noon shadows in mid-latitudes. Another error is calling a single opening cross-ventilation. In services, weak answers add a bigger trap without checking venting, zone by tenant name without considering orientation and schedule, or place service shafts where they block egress or cannot be maintained. In structures, candidates forget the span exponent in deflection, confuse reaction with maximum moment, or draw a lateral load path that stops at a floor without reaching the foundation.
In drawing and integrated judgment, weak answers use one line weight for everything, mix scales without noting them, or resolve a schedule conflict by changing one sheet and not the others. A drawing that looks tidy but has a door swinging into an exit route, a shaft with no access, or a duct crossing a beam without a coordinated ceiling zone is not integrated. In multiple-choice questions, watch for unit mismatches, absolute words such as always and never, and options that answer a different question from the one asked. If a question gives data, calculate independently before looking at the options.
Integrated practice task and self-check rubric
Use one timed task to expose coordination gaps.
Practice task: On a 1,000 m² flat site, assume a building coverage limit of 50% and a gross floor-area target of 1,500 m². The brief requires a central core, two means of egress, a stacked mechanical shaft, and perimeter offices on east and west facades. Prepare a schematic site plan, a typical floor plan, a core section, and a one-page coordination note. Check the arithmetic first: the maximum footprint is 500 m², so a 1,500 m² gross scheme needs at least three levels under the stated assumptions. On the plan, show the core, exits, shaft, structural grid, and primary circulation. On the section, show the shaft continuity and a ceiling service zone. In the note, explain how winter solar access, cross-ventilation, service access, and structural depth were coordinated. If the brief gives legal constraints, verify the exact current rule rather than inventing a number.
Self-check rubric, scored 1 to 3 for each criterion: (1) Program and arithmetic: areas, footprint, and storeys are consistent. (2) Planning and environment: orientation, daylight, and ventilation decisions are explained, not decorative. (3) Services: shaft, access, drainage or HVAC zones are plausible and coordinated. (4) Structure and construction: grid, load path, and movement or moisture issues are addressed. (5) Drawing conventions: scale, line hierarchy, dimensions, and labels are readable. (6) Integration: plan, section, schedule, and notes agree without unresolved conflicts. A score of 1 means the issue is missing or contradictory; 2 means it is present but weakly coordinated; 3 means it is clear and consistent. Revise any criterion scoring 1 before repeating the task.
Study sequence and exam-day discipline
Separate knowledge building from timed performance.
A practical eight-week sequence is: Weeks 1–2, fundamentals of planning, environment, services, and structures, with short calculations and plan-reading drills. Weeks 3–4, services and regulations cross-checking plus structural load paths and construction assemblies. Weeks 5–6, integrated schematic drawing twice per week, each followed by the rubric. Week 7, mixed MCQ sets and error-log review, with one full open-task rehearsal. Week 8, reduce new material, rehearse drawing setup and checking routines, and review only high-frequency mistakes. If your actual examination date is closer, compress the cycle but keep the sequence: fundamentals, calculation, coordination, timed output.
On exam day, read the whole question before calculating, write units beside every number, and use a final two-minute check for scale, line hierarchy, area arithmetic, and unresolved cross-sheet conflicts. For the design-drafting task, confirm the current official brief and permitted tools rather than relying on a previous year. The MCQs here are supporting knowledge checks; they are not a full syllabus and not a simulation. For written subjects, practise reading the law book or reference material efficiently, and mark uncertain items for a second pass. For drawing, practise finishing a coherent, coordinated scheme rather than adding decorative detail that hides unresolved conflicts.
References and further reading
Use these references to explore the concepts and check the latest information from the relevant organizations.