Writing in reference books

From the start of my studying I have made notes for myself in the reference material. For example I have circled the S<L heading in the Green Book and wrote a note that says "dont forget to check this"

NCEES does not mention marking up refernce material, however they do state you can't take notes on the exam. Do I need to highlight all my notes to prove they were written before hand, or am I overthinking this. We all know engineers would nevr over think anything.

Thanks

I think they are okay if they are in ink, no pencil marks. That was what it was when I took the exam, you should check with your state board.

I made lot notes and references in the CERM, especially fixing errors from errata. Good luck.

I agree with Badger's response. No pencil marks, but notes in ink are okay.

I highlighted my notes and made copies of handwritten pages and bound them...some states don't allow that, though. So, I'll repeat the sentiment...check with your board.

Just go over any pencil marks with an ink pen and you will be fine.

Golden Eagle said:

Just go over any pencil marks with an ink pen and you will be fine.

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Or photocopy and print...

Double check with your state, but my state didn't care if they were highlighted, pen, pencil, photocopy, etc. The advantage to doing all that is: if a proctor suspects you are writing in your book and they walk by and see pencil notes in your book you can't really prove they weren't done while sitting there.

I'm a bit worried about this....I have a LOT of pencil notes and it would take up a lot of time to go back over all in pen or photocopy everything. I asked my board rep about this and she said I would have to check with NCEES. Does anyone know if pencil marks are really an issue? Or is the advise against pencli notes just something that is like an urban legend around here? Has anyone actually experienced issues with pencil-written notes in textbooks? Or observed someone else having an issue during an exam? The NCESS agreement doesnt say anything about pencil vs pen in references.

Assuming it hasn't changed since October, there is nothing in the NCEES candidate agreement that says you can't have pencil marks in your book.

There is no rule against pencil marks. However, if they accuse you of writing in pencil in your book during the exam, and you have pencil marks in your book, then your defense is weak.

If you have no pencil marks, then you have a great defense.

It is all about perception and evidence. Think "Law and Order". In an exam, you can be guilty until proven innocent.

altheablue18 said:

Does anyone know if pencil marks are really an issue?

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yes, it is really an issue.

I have pencil marks all over my reference books. Because this spring is the first exam using the 2010 HCM ( transporattation depth) all the reference books and examples refer to a page or exhibit or chart that is from the 2000 HCM. So, next to each of these I have updated the correct 2010 HCM page. I highly doubt the this is a problem. However, to be safe I plan to highlight as many as I can.

Pencil marks were not an issue in MA. You simply couldn't be caught writing in your reference materials during the exam. That means keep the pencil away from your references when you're reading a chart or table!!

I made all my notes in pen anyways, because I had seen this question asked before. It was just one less thing to be nervous about during the test.

I brought two binders full of practice problems which I worked out, a total of about 300-400 all in pencil. It was never an issue for me.

I have a binder going with problems but for this reason and for duplicity, I have copied each page and will bring the copies in the binder.

I took all three exams (CA Seis, CA-Surv, NCEES 8hr Civil) (and some more than once!) with pencil marks all over the place, with no problems (Pomona CA).

Personally, I never worried about it.

Has anyone been ejected for having pencil marks on their material?

Not that I'm aware of. I took the exam 3 times. I never saw anything like that go one. I think as long as you aren't writing in the books during the exam you will be ok.