CA-Seismic exam

Hi All,

I am preparing for CA-Seismic exam test. I took School of PE online class preparation and we told that "Problems are weighted such that some carry higher points value than others" I haven't seen this before and I believe all questions are equally weighted (points). Any opinion?

Thank you.

I don't believe that is correct. The questions are all equally weighted but there are some questions that will not be considered in the final tally. They are for use in future exams and are used as test cases. CAPLS posts here regularly and he can answer that question with authority.

Good luck on your exam.

Maji

I guess I cannot confirm that this is true or not, but I always thought it was true. I had heard the same thing in the past.

Really, even if it's not true, I certainly felt like some of the questions (based on how complicated they were) should have been more points than others! Haha. @CAPLS, do you know anything about this? @ptatohed, what about you?

leggo said:

I guess I cannot confirm that this is true or not, but I always thought it was true. I had heard the same thing in the past.

Really, even if it's not true, I certainly felt like some of the questions (based on how complicated they were) should have been more points than others! Haha. @CAPLS, do you know anything about this? @ptatohed, what about you?

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Years ago the Survey and Seismic exams had different point values based on the difficulty of the question.  Today all questions are weighted the same. 

Are all 55 questions graded or included in the final grade? 55 seems like an odd number. Knowing that the exam was previously 50 questions, I wonder why they increased the total to 55...

Maybe 5 out of 55 questions are future test questions and therefore not graded?

SoCalBound said:

Maybe 5 out of 55 questions are future test questions and therefore not graded?

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I believe you are right.

SoCalBound said:

Are all 55 questions graded or included in the final grade? 55 seems like an odd number. Knowing that the exam was previously 50 questions, I wonder why they increased the total to 55...

Maybe 5 out of 55 questions are future test questions and therefore not graded?

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It's anyone's guess but I suspect it is something like that.  Don't let it mess with you.  It's not a negative, it's not a positive, it just is.  Every other test taker has 55 questions as well so it is a level playing field.  Just do your best.  Remember to go through the test one time and pick off the easy to medium questions before starting the medium to hard questions. 

All questions carry the same value which is unitless.  If you wish to consider a point value, then all questions have the same point value, but there really are no "points" to consider.  The correct answer is chosen or it is not.

I just took the Seismic CA Civil PE Exam and was wondering if there is any changes to the results date. I took it the earliest date possible as it was the only one that I failed in October. I was hoping the results will be released earlier then last time due to the changes for this year.

Central Valley said:

I just took the Seismic CA Civil PE Exam and was wondering if there is any changes to the results date. I took it the earliest date possible as it was the only one that I failed in October. I was hoping the results will be released earlier then last time due to the changes for this year.

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By taking it first, you're probably giving yourself the longest wait period possible.  I don't think any results are sent out until after the testing window ends.  Anyway, how'd you do?

Central Valley said:

I just took the Seismic CA Civil PE Exam and was wondering if there is any changes to the results date. I took it the earliest date possible as it was the only one that I failed in October. I was hoping the results will be released earlier then last time due to the changes for this year.

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was it difficult compared to the sample exams you have probably done?

Release of the results is based on the last day of administration.  I would highly suggest not discussing anything about the California Civil Engineer exams until after the three week administration window is completed.

CAPLS said:

Release of the results is based on the last day of administration.  I would highly suggest not discussing anything about the California Civil Engineer exams until after the three week administration window is completed.

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For pure curiosity's sake (I've already passed the seismic and surveying exams), will seismic and surveying test takers now get results sooner for these exams, as they are no longer tied to the national exam?

leggo said:

For pure curiosity's sake (I've already passed the seismic and surveying exams), will seismic and surveying test takers now get results sooner for these exams, as they are no longer tied to the national exam?

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Release of the California state specific exam results will no longer be tied with the release of NCEES national exam results.  Whether it will be sooner, later, or around the same time as the NCEES results cannot be determined at this time.  Since CBT was implemented, the results were released 30-45 days after the administration window closed and barring any unforeseen circumstances, it's expected that will be the same.

Got it, thanks @CAPLS!