April 2011 Env Exam - How did it go?

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enginerdier

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Hello,

I took the Environmental exam PE last Friday and want to know how everyone else did.

I felt that the morning session was pretty easy, but the afternoon exam was tough and very different from the NCEES practice exam. Without divulging specifics, there was not much at all concerning RCRA regs, OSHA, etc. and most of the questions were hardcore emission rate problems. In fact, the afternoon exam was 80% quantitative (numerical problems) and the ENVRM was pretty much useless for the entire session. 50 questions in 4 hours seemed a tad too much to solve, and I can't believe that NCEES has a 77% pass rate for Oct 2010 listed on their website - seems pretty high.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over. I probably spent close to 350 hours studying for this exam, and I hope that my performance on the morning exam makes up for the afternoon exam.

What were your experiences? How would you rate your chances?

 
Hello,
I took the Environmental exam PE last Friday and want to know how everyone else did.

I felt that the morning session was pretty easy, but the afternoon exam was tough and very different from the NCEES practice exam. Without divulging specifics, there was not much at all concerning RCRA regs, OSHA, etc. and most of the questions were hardcore emission rate problems. In fact, the afternoon exam was 80% quantitative (numerical problems) and the ENVRM was pretty much useless for the entire session. 50 questions in 4 hours seemed a tad too much to solve, and I can't believe that NCEES has a 77% pass rate for Oct 2010 listed on their website - seems pretty high.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over. I probably spent close to 350 hours studying for this exam, and I hope that my performance on the morning exam makes up for the afternoon exam.

What were your experiences? How would you rate your chances?
 
Hello,
I took the Environmental exam PE last Friday and want to know how everyone else did.

I felt that the morning session was pretty easy, but the afternoon exam was tough and very different from the NCEES practice exam. Without divulging specifics, there was not much at all concerning RCRA regs, OSHA, etc. and most of the questions were hardcore emission rate problems. In fact, the afternoon exam was 80% quantitative (numerical problems) and the ENVRM was pretty much useless for the entire session. 50 questions in 4 hours seemed a tad too much to solve, and I can't believe that NCEES has a 77% pass rate for Oct 2010 listed on their website - seems pretty high.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over. I probably spent close to 350 hours studying for this exam, and I hope that my performance on the morning exam makes up for the afternoon exam.

What were your experiences? How would you rate your chances?

I felt the exact same way. i was trying to keep track of how many i know i got right while i was taking the exam. out of the 50 in the morning. i know i got 30 correct, which to me isn't too bad, but the afternoon was wicked hard. out of the 50 in the evening, i know i got 20 right, but thats it. it was ridiculously hard in the evening.

 
Morning section for me was too lengthy.. I did waste a lot of time in the first 15 problems

Afternoon – the first 10 problems were tough..

I was surprised with the Waste water questions.

Finger’s crossed. The long wait begins….

 
I have to say I disagree with the first few people who responded to this post. I felt that the morning was MUCH harder than the afternoon. I am just hoping that I was able to do enough in the afternoon to make up for the morning.

 
I had the same, morning I felt great! I took the fall test and did not pass after spending almost a year preparing doing thousands of problems and reading books. I did the same this time spending at least 1 or 2 hr per week night and 6-12 hrs on each weekend.

The afternoon exam, I lost all confidence. I prepared but have not experienced questions like i saw on that test. I want to know what text are used to make these problems and why can't we get a list months prior to the exam, so we can prepare properly and not waste time and money. We are not stupid people, we have graduated with an Engineering degree passed the FE and have held a job for at least 5 years in Engineering. I have been told from older Engineers that I work with the exam was much different, they only had a few realistic questions and had to pick and answer 2 of 4 questions in 4 hrs. Which is a huge change to the 50 questions in 4hrs, which is not realistic and way too much. When do we have 6mins to solve a problem we have never seen before with a min. set of books?

Oh well! Thanks for reading! Good Luck with the results! Should see them second week of June!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hello,
I took the Environmental exam PE last Friday and want to know how everyone else did.

I felt that the morning session was pretty easy, but the afternoon exam was tough and very different from the NCEES practice exam. Without divulging specifics, there was not much at all concerning RCRA regs, OSHA, etc. and most of the questions were hardcore emission rate problems. In fact, the afternoon exam was 80% quantitative (numerical problems) and the ENVRM was pretty much useless for the entire session. 50 questions in 4 hours seemed a tad too much to solve, and I can't believe that NCEES has a 77% pass rate for Oct 2010 listed on their website - seems pretty high.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over. I probably spent close to 350 hours studying for this exam, and I hope that my performance on the morning exam makes up for the afternoon exam.

What were your experiences? How would you rate your chances?
I felt the morning section really wasn't too bad, but my background is mostly in water and hazardous waste, so I wasn't too surprised. I struggled more in the afternoon, particularly with site assessment and remediation - I have no background in these subjects. The place where I was most surprised that I felt good about my chances was in the economics and project management section - I think I picked up more on these topics that I realized just in my general work environment.

I brought in 12 references, and I think I used about 8 of them in various spots. I probably spent the majority of the time with 3 or 4 references, and the others just helped on some of the more random problems. All in all, I think I put in enough preparation, and I don't think any more studying would have given me a better outcome on this exam. Even if I don't pass it, at least I have better knowledge of what to expect next time.

 
I thought the morning session went fairly well. The afternoon was really difficult for me b/c of the air quality and radiation questions. The NCEES practise exam was really helpful.

 
I thought the morning session went fairly well. The afternoon was really difficult for me b/c of the air quality and radiation questions. The NCEES practise exam was really helpful.
I did struggle with the afternoon questions, let's see how it goes.

This might not even be applicable, but on the other boards I see passing scores from 49/80 to 52/80 (61%-65%). I'm just wondering what a normal passing score on the environmental exam is. If it is in the order of 61/100 to 65/100 (or beyond), I can see it being very tough to pass.

I really don't want to take this exam again......!!!

 
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