In 1991, an R&D contract was signed between Educational Testing Service and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards to transform the open-ended division of the Architect Registration Exam (ARE) exam from a paper and pencil, holistically scored exam, to one that would be simulation-based and fully computer-administered and scored. The result is the ARE 97 (Kenney, 1997). This report summarizes research conducted in support of the simulation component of ARE 97. That research included analysis of task equivalents, the evaluation of automated scoring, fairness, reliability and validity considerations.