that's one way to look at it. it still does not hide the fact that even after numerous tries, none of the IPTS have ever achieved accreditation up to now. LAM have considerably raised the bar, and even IPTAs are struggling to keep up.

the whole "student is more in power in IPTS compared to IPTAs" arent exactly true either. the problem with a self-centered student living in an environment where nobody could tell u wrong is extremely dangerous. we call it the god-complex. and i've seen these before when i visited LUCT as an external examiner.

things that are considerably wrong were let go whereas in IPTAs it's an easy fail. one student deliberately tried to defend her 7m cantilevered floor which was impossible to construct, and nobody told her that. i requested her to produce the proof when she told me i was wrong. she quoted this design and that design, but none was ever substantiated. she almost stormed out of the presentation simply bcoz she couldnt convince the jury. mind u, i wasnt alone as there was another australian guy (forgot his name) there with me and he completely agreed. and yet she got a B+ despite both of us failing her!

god-complex is very common in architecture. and an environment where student is always right to me is stupid. u cant learn from being right all the time. design is about process and experiments, and it's about figuring out which ones that works and which is not.

and bear in mind, during the accreditation process, LAM always look at the lower achieving students. if the student passed where he/she should've failed in other schools, LAM will rule against accrediting the school. they dont really care about top quality, it's the minimum standard that they're concerned about!

I have tons of BIM applications literally, learned & used all; but nothing really special actually. Lots of work are still needed to be put in most notably in the aspect of getting everything head shot precise (BIM is really unforgiving when it comes to making any mistakes in the 1st place), and then the touch-up procedure after that, which could be really troublesome. Not knowing how to perform a certain task in a complicated software environment like this can really get you stuck in the ditch, such as during the need to perform specific modifications/amendments & such.

Generally, for those who are already quick & good at modeling & drafting with easy to use software like SketchUp-Pro/3Ds Max & AutoCAD, then going over to BIM would definitely become a deteriorating/frustrating process instead. However, if you are determine to learn & pick up BIM by attending courses & practicing it, then you will soon be able to gain the benefit/productivity from BIM. (However, you do need to "un-learn & re-learn"; because like it or not, the different process of thought & execution that BIM requires will naturally be conflicting to how you normally thought & executed your work previously; that is if you have been through the traditional architecture course as a student & been working in the manner to get work done.)

In addition, also bear in mind that BIM is also very much procedure based as opposed to the usual, and there are certainly boundaries, rules, & limits which you must conform. (Most of the time, you'll find yourself wrestling with the software, not to mention an incredibly rigid/stubborn BIM one.)

BTW, results from Revit & other BIM software seems to be rather disappointing for the rather cheap & "plastic-appearance" in fully rendered works; even after turning up the quality to the maximum. Heck, even the rendered quality from the very old & ancient 3Ds MAX 7 software, and only just using scan-line rendering, is producing far more impressive results by magnitudes. (It might not be an ideal comparison though, as a BIM software do not normally come with good rendering engines like those in 3Ds Max.)

Regards.

i believe i've mentioned this before. if u're looking for beautiful end product, BIM is not gonna fulfill ur needs. this is exactly the problem i had when i tried to explain BIM to my colleagues. and architects are used to object modeling, but they draw lines to represent them. BIM will come naturally eventually, as the architect knows a wall is a wall, and the software knows it too. this is contrast to other 3D modeling software, as a "wall object" rotated flat on the horizon will be interpreted as a floor instead.

i dont recommend learning BIM off hand. u should at least do it by the book, and cover the main components. family modeling, for example, is often overlooked in REVIT. people just complain that they cant change certain behaviours or characteristics, whereas it's all about figuring out where it's located and how to tweak it. heck, i've done a full timber construction, something not done often in REVIT.

master the software. dont let it tell u what u cant do.

to put it simply, a standard is basically setting the minimum bar for something. to achieve SIRIM standard, a product has to comply with certain2 things that relates to its use. an electrical plug must have a fuse with specific rates, a light bulb to have its own safety features and so on. anything u wanna add more to the product is up to u, as long as u comply with the minimum standard.

this is what LAM goes for. if a school complies to the minimum standard for this country, there's no reason why LAM shouldnt accredit the school. of course, one might argue that LAM has been increasing the bar for the past few years, but it's only for the better.

one aspect is about grading. CAAEM (council for accreditation of architectural education in malaysia) reviews the grading system to ensure that the quality from one school is more or less equal to another. although they're not overly concerned about the top achievers, it's the minimum achievers that they pay attention to.

u see, LAM has a "checklist" of what qualities a graduate should have. i can say that the "list" is probably longer than RIBA's or RAIA's. they will look at those barely passed and run a checklist on them. those failing the checklist SHOULD be failed. and if a school still passes them, then the school is not complying with the minimum standard.

this is prevalent in most IPTS, as they always have a dilemma between pleasing the student but failing the accreditation, or failing the student but face the wrath of the parents. sadly they're more keen on the prior, as it earns them MONEY. failing accreditation still gets them students, bcoz people believe that earning a degree regardless of which school will secure their future jobs. sadly it doesnt work that way and they're just falling into the trap.
i'm in the middle of a project that utilizes REVIT 100%. i will show u how unique it can be.

the "checklist" is with LAM. the reason i put quotes on the "checklist" is bcoz not many have actually seen it except the top people. although i do not doubt of its existence, the bar has been set higher and higher each year that we dont really trust what the top people say.

i will share with u once the proposal goes through.

It's about Part 3.

what template? drawing template?

well, it depends on the client laa. malaysia's official language is still BM. so all official dealings will be in BM. if ur client is the government, then it'll be in BM. else, it's up to u and the client.