Any stories from Exam Day?

[ktulu]

I'm not too sure about other states, but regarding having enough time for lunch, the ASPE (Alabama Society of Professional Engineers) provided box lunches for examinees. So at least that was one thing we did not have to worry about...

And I wore ear plugs as well. I'm glad, too, because I sat right by a window...

 

[sceriana]

In Florida, I had two proctors in my seating area. They were two because they were two little old ladies trying their best. But it did worry me a bit if they were writing down all the correct information on their clipboard. When the AM session was about to end, they started to give back our Admission Letter and they actually gave me the wrong one!!! I had to call them back to have them give me the correct one. In addition, when I asked for a restroom pass, they were writing down the seat number on the card, she asked me what seat I was and I told her,"three ... two ... nine" but she wrote down 321. And I also caught sight of one of the proctors dozing off at her table halfway through the PM session ... but she caught herself sleeping and then woke up.

Now that would suck to fail the exam because some number doesn't match up between the exam booklet, your table card and what they wrote on the clipboard.

 

[DVINNY]

the ASPE (Alabama Society of Professional Engineers) provided box lunches for examinees.

Fudgey would be sooooo proud. :smileyballs:

 

[Ritchie503]

I'm not too sure about other states, but regarding having enough time for lunch, the ASPE (Alabama Society of Professional Engineers) provided box lunches for examinees. So at least that was one thing we did not have to worry about...

Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers did the same thing. I still brought my lunch and went back to the vehicle during lunch to just chill and listen to music by myself.

All the food stands were open in the convention center for the volleyball tournement!! (so it was no problem finding food)

 

[rasmalai]

Miami was pretty laid back. I wrote the FE in NYC last year which was a grueling and stressful affair. The NYC proctors were like drill sergeants and could not careless about you or the exam. They did get everyone through efficiently and on-time though.

In contrast, the head procter in Miami was nice and tried to relax people. She even made some engineer-related jokes which were very cute. We went very late though - almost an hour. All in all it was a much better test-taking experience.

 

[Hill William]

I forgot to add that the circus was in town for ours.
Seriously.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey circus was going on in the same building while we were taking the test. It caused no issues though, but was funny

They were there last April too. I got done early and had to wait for a guy to ride with me and had some popcorn.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

Miami was pretty laid back. I wrote the FE in NYC last year which was a grueling and stressful affair. The NYC proctors were like drill sergeants and could not careless about you or the exam. They did get everyone through efficiently and on-time though.

I took the FE at West Point. The proctors were drill sergeants.

 

[Fudgey]

Fudgey would be sooooo proud. :smileyballs:

I think I need to move to Alabama I tried petitioning the IL NSPE chapter to do this but they wouldn't listen.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

No scaring the new members now Fudgey, OK?

 

[DVINNY]

They were there last April too. I got done early and had to wait for a guy to ride with me and had some popcorn.

Yeah, I was there for that one too, remember? :smileyballs:

 

[Hill William]

nm

 

[DVINNY]

Diaz,

I deleted the post above you, now it says I'm cooky.

Anyhow, to the idiot who posted that message, I'm not the one who deleted your account, but now wish I was.

 

[AJK]

Here's what torqued me up:

There were +/- 50 examinees testing at my location.

There were over 100 folding tables in the bingo Hall.

So you would figure every person would at least have their own folding table. However, they decided to seat 2 per rickety old folding table. We were all jammed into a quarter of the room.

Otherwise, it was well lit and fairly quiet there.

 

[bigray76]

Here's what torqued me up:
There were +/- 50 examinees testing at my location.

There were over 100 folding tables in the bingo Hall.

So you would figure every person would at least have their own folding table. However, they decided to seat 2 per rickety old folding table. We were all jammed into a quarter of the room.

Otherwise, it was well lit and fairly quiet there.

I took the test in Ewing, NJ - only problem there was that the tables were not a flat surface. They were plastic and textured, really made filling out the scantron form a pain in the ass. When I signed the form, my signature looked pretty cool though with the textured design of the table. I hope that the machines scoring the exam do not have a problem with that textured look!

I had to laugh at one guy though - he said to me "Gee, did you bring every book you own?" - I had three crates - one with my notes, one with all Transpo books, and one of water, geotech (the feel good that you brought it, didn't think you needed it, but ended up using it crate). I watch him scurry at the one minute warning - I didn't feel all that bad.

-Ray

 

[Hill William]

I took the test in Ewing, NJ - only problem there was that the tables were not a flat surface. They were plastic and textured, really made filling out the scantron form a pain in the ass. When I signed the form, my signature looked pretty cool though with the textured design of the table. I hope that the machines scoring the exam do not have a problem with that textured look!
I had to laugh at one guy though - he said to me "Gee, did you bring every book you own?" - I had three crates - one with my notes, one with all Transpo books, and one of water, geotech (the feel good that you brought it, didn't think you needed it, but ended up using it crate). I watch him scurry at the one minute warning - I didn't feel all that bad.

-Ray

When I took it, our tables were so old and shitty, they had to pass out pieces of poster board so you didn't pucnh thru the paper.

I still think if I had to take it again, I would only take the CERM. I know we give "the other board" ****, but its the only book I used.

***Note: This is not a suggestion, merely my experience.

 

[user 788]

I took the civil PE in San Diego. I didn't actually see it myself but one of my co-workers said that one of the proctors (an old lady) tripped over his bag and hurt herself really bad so that an ambulance had to be called.

Otherwise everything was very well organized. I wanted to keep my pencil but lost it on my way out. Is this a good or bad omen ?

At the Seismic exam I heard a short ring, sounded like a cellphone receiving a text message. But none of the proctors said anything. Maybe it was a proctor's cell ?

 

[DVINNY]

I still think if I had to take it again, I would only take the CERM. I know we give PPI ****, but its the only book I used.

The CERM was priceless this time around. More so than before. I agree. PPI makes great materials. Shitty message boards. LOL.

 

[Gomer]

This was my first time. I took the test in Owosso, MI. Civil/WR.

I stayed the night in town at a hotel so that I would be fresh in the AM without having to worry about a the drive/construction/accidents etc. Turns out, I could not fall asleep until 2:30 AM and every door in the hotel automatically slammed shut anytime anyone left their room. This started in earnest at about 5:00 AM and continued until I was out of bed at 6:50. All told, I had the equivalent of about 3 hours of normal sleep. I still think that beat getting up early for the drive. I am not a morning person.

I got a little paranoid during the exam that the proctors were going to pounce on me and throw me out for some real or imaginary violation of policy. I don’t think it helped that I tend to stare off into space and that I took maybe four bathroom breaks during the day (BM, water and ice tea, and it’s nice to stretch my legs).

The guy next to me was seated to my left and had quite a spread of material. Like most righties, he had his exam to his right and references to his left. I was in the same boat. This guy was an Imperialist I think because he gradually started venturing into my space and claiming it as his own. This in itself was not too big a deal to me. But he eventually wound up with his answer sheet right next to my CERM. And when I say right next to it, I mean right next to it… Right in front of my face practically in plain view.

This ratcheted my paranoia up a bit, so I made a pre-emptive strike at the proctors and called one of them over, and pointed out the situation to them and just asked if they could ask the guy to scoot back over. For some reason, she had me ask him personally. He didn’t mind a bit and I don’t think he was aware that he had slid that far over. It had been really distracting to have that answer sheet in front of my face. My ADD mind kept wandering to topics like getting thrown out… and to cheating in general. I mean, I didn’t know this guy from Adam. What good would looking at his exam do me anyway.

That was my excitement.

Lunch was enjoyable for me as I had packed one so I didn’t have to go farther than my car. I ate out in the sun with my shoes off on a blanket near a nicer retention pond. It was a nice, quite, relaxing break. Which brings me to another thing that surprised me. We were allowed to have food (snacks) and drink in the room with us. I had thought they were prohibited and was unaware of this until doubling checking the rules the day before the exam. That was a big relief.

Other interesting items…

One guy was carrying his books in a 5-gallon bucket.

One guy had 4 large boxes of books on a dolly. Probably at least 50 books.

There was no clock in the room where the exam was administered. I learned this lesson the hard way when I took the FE.

I think I passed. I felt like if this wasn’t good enough, I don’t know what else would be. However, I am second guessing myself now and wondering if I am over-confident. If I fell victim to the distractors. It seemed too easy at times.

Two decent engineering dictionaries were invaluable.

I had two texts I brought as filler which I used explicitly to answer two questions. One was a soils manual that gave me the specifics I needed about a testing method. The other was a college textbook that answered a definition question verbatim.

It will be a long two months. Do they give us our score in MI even if we pass?

 

[cement]

One of my freinds is a lawyer and when he took the bar (3 years ago this coming July) he said there was someone who just broke down and started balling, loudly enough for others to be distracted, and had to be escorted out of the room. The bar exam is 2 back to back days of exams. He said that was the highlight of the exam... that and he walked out over 2 hours early because he knew he passed.... **** lawyers!

when the guy I work with took the exam, the person he shared the table with was softly sobbing most of the day. after the exam, somebody comes up and says, "did you hear the pigeon in the room?" and he says, that was no pigeon, that was the guy sitting next to me!

 

[K8NY]

Tina,

I say it is a good omen.

My husband has one pencil- passed it on the second try.

I have 3 pencils- passed it on the fourth try. I would not take the pencil when it was offered.

just my 2c.