April 2018 Power PE Difficultly Level

[PE-Apr2018-Power]

First time PE exam taker here. Overall I think I survived, but only time will tell.

Been averaging about 85% on last 10 practice exams (I've now taken a total of 16 (SIXTEEN!) full 8-hr practice exams at this point) and logged in somewhere between 200-250 hrs total of study/testing time since I started in January. Sure felt like I had prepared about as well as I could.

As for the exam on Friday, the night and day sessions felt like literally night and day. I feel like I took two completely different tests on Friday. Walked away feeling indifferent.

The Morning Session: I felt like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson while he was in his prime, but with my arms like T-rex size shortened, and one of them tied behind my back and with a blindfold on. Several questions were things I never saw a single time in the 16 practice exams I had taken to "prepare". Like I had seen apples and bananas 100 times and suddenly there were pomegranates being thrown at me. I screwed up on my time management and spent way too long on a few of the problems and by the time the 15 minute warning was called, I had 5 questions still that I hadn't even started. fml I had to hurriedly make WAGs and SWAG's on them by at least eliminating clearly wrong choices. Walked out to my truck for lunch feeling dazed and confused like "WTF just happened?" I walked away feeling like if I were only graded on the morning, I either failed or am right on the border.

Spent the lunch hour sitting in my truck clearing my mind. Didnt even want to google any of the things that were just thrown at me. Listened to some hard core rock to pump myself up and get back into the zone.

The Afternoon Session: Complete opposite of the bloodbath that was the morning. I felt great. I knew most of the material. Consistently and quickly arrived at clear answers confidently. Finished all 40 problems in about 3 hours and had an entire hour to go back and double check my work. I walked away feeling like I easily passed the afternoon half. Wish I were only graded on that. The question is when added together, did I make up enough from the morning?

My shakedown assessment: during the test I did what I've always done during my practice exams and assigned a rank to each question 3 = Confident that I have the correct answer,  2 = Pretty sure I'm right, or at least down to only two possible solutions (50/50 odds), and 1 = Total WAG or SWAG, I do not feel confident.

Morning I had: 26x "3", 6x "2", and 8x "1"

Afternoon I had: 30x "3", 9x "2", and only 1x "1"

Based on that breakdown, I think I landed enough points to pass, but not in the 85-90% range that I had been experiencing in the practice exams. Fingers crossed I'm a one and done on this experience. Best luck to us all as we try to remain sane waiting forever to find out....

How did the rest of you who tested on Friday feel about it? (*****Without getting into specifics obviously!!!)

It seems you did well, good luck! I didn’t get a chance to estimate my possible score based on how I did on each problem individually. I wish I could ... I barely managed to finish on time! For me the morning session felt harder as well, the afternoon felt much smoother! I was numb and disappointed after the test and even self doubting myself on the ones I possibly got right. Well we can’t do anything but waiting right now! 

 

[BirdGrave]

Did anyone else find themselves referencing the FE Handbook a lot?  I found myself using it much more than I anticipated, especially given that I only brought it on a lark.  

 

[wvengineer]

Did anyone else find themselves referencing the FE Handbook a lot?  I found myself using it much more than I anticipated, especially given that I only brought it on a lark.  

I forgot to take it with me, so no. 

 

[blewis216]

First time PE exam taker here. Overall I think I survived, but only time will tell.

Been averaging about 85% on last 10 practice exams (I've now taken a total of 16 (SIXTEEN!) full 8-hr practice exams at this point) and logged in somewhere between 200-250 hrs total of study/testing time since I started in January. Sure felt like I had prepared about as well as I could.

As for the exam on Friday, the night and day sessions felt like literally night and day. I feel like I took two completely different tests on Friday. Walked away feeling indifferent.

The Morning Session: I felt like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson while he was in his prime, but with my arms like T-rex size shortened, and one of them tied behind my back and with a blindfold on. Several questions were things I never saw a single time in the 16 practice exams I had taken to "prepare". Like I had seen apples and bananas 100 times and suddenly there were pomegranates being thrown at me. I screwed up on my time management and spent way too long on a few of the problems and by the time the 15 minute warning was called, I had 5 questions still that I hadn't even started. fml I had to hurriedly make WAGs and SWAG's on them by at least eliminating clearly wrong choices. Walked out to my truck for lunch feeling dazed and confused like "WTF just happened?" I walked away feeling like if I were only graded on the morning, I either failed or am right on the border.

Spent the lunch hour sitting in my truck clearing my mind. Didnt even want to google any of the things that were just thrown at me. Listened to some hard core rock to pump myself up and get back into the zone.

The Afternoon Session: Complete opposite of the bloodbath that was the morning. I felt great. I knew most of the material. Consistently and quickly arrived at clear answers confidently. Finished all 40 problems in about 3 hours and had an entire hour to go back and double check my work. I walked away feeling like I easily passed the afternoon half. Wish I were only graded on that. The question is when added together, did I make up enough from the morning?

My shakedown assessment: during the test I did what I've always done during my practice exams and assigned a rank to each question 3 = Confident that I have the correct answer,  2 = Pretty sure I'm right, or at least down to only two possible solutions (50/50 odds), and 1 = Total WAG or SWAG, I do not feel confident.

Morning I had: 26x "3", 6x "2", and 8x "1"

Afternoon I had: 30x "3", 9x "2", and only 1x "1"

Based on that breakdown, I think I landed enough points to pass, but not in the 85-90% range that I had been experiencing in the practice exams. Fingers crossed I'm a one and done on this experience. Best luck to us all as we try to remain sane waiting forever to find out....

How did the rest of you who tested on Friday feel about it? (*****Without getting into specifics obviously!!!)

This was exactly how i felt last October, I use the boxing analogy everytime someone asks what the PE exam is like. I had a similar scoring system, mine was 90% for confident answers, 50% for 50/50 and 25% for guesses. I think I remember after the test calculating 78% on how I felt. Ended up with an 85. Looks like your score would have been around 75% by my scoring, I'd feel pretty **** good about this.

 

[14kAIC]

First time PE exam taker here. Overall I think I survived, but only time will tell.

Been averaging about 85% on last 10 practice exams (I've now taken a total of 16 (SIXTEEN!) full 8-hr practice exams at this point) and logged in somewhere between 200-250 hrs total of study/testing time since I started in January. Sure felt like I had prepared about as well as I could.

As for the exam on Friday, the night and day sessions felt like literally night and day. I feel like I took two completely different tests on Friday. Walked away feeling indifferent.

The Morning Session: I felt like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson while he was in his prime, but with my arms like T-rex size shortened, and one of them tied behind my back and with a blindfold on. Several questions were things I never saw a single time in the 16 practice exams I had taken to "prepare". Like I had seen apples and bananas 100 times and suddenly there were pomegranates being thrown at me. I screwed up on my time management and spent way too long on a few of the problems and by the time the 15 minute warning was called, I had 5 questions still that I hadn't even started. fml I had to hurriedly make WAGs and SWAG's on them by at least eliminating clearly wrong choices. Walked out to my truck for lunch feeling dazed and confused like "WTF just happened?" I walked away feeling like if I were only graded on the morning, I either failed or am right on the border.

Spent the lunch hour sitting in my truck clearing my mind. Didnt even want to google any of the things that were just thrown at me. Listened to some hard core rock to pump myself up and get back into the zone.

The Afternoon Session: Complete opposite of the bloodbath that was the morning. I felt great. I knew most of the material. Consistently and quickly arrived at clear answers confidently. Finished all 40 problems in about 3 hours and had an entire hour to go back and double check my work. I walked away feeling like I easily passed the afternoon half. Wish I were only graded on that. The question is when added together, did I make up enough from the morning?

My shakedown assessment: during the test I did what I've always done during my practice exams and assigned a rank to each question 3 = Confident that I have the correct answer,  2 = Pretty sure I'm right, or at least down to only two possible solutions (50/50 odds), and 1 = Total WAG or SWAG, I do not feel confident.

Morning I had: 26x "3", 6x "2", and 8x "1"

Afternoon I had: 30x "3", 9x "2", and only 1x "1"

Based on that breakdown, I think I landed enough points to pass, but not in the 85-90% range that I had been experiencing in the practice exams. Fingers crossed I'm a one and done on this experience. Best luck to us all as we try to remain sane waiting forever to find out....

How did the rest of you who tested on Friday feel about it? (*****Without getting into specifics obviously!!!)

Wow that is like exactly the breakdown I had. I remember leaving the morning having 28 I thought I got right and like 6 or 7 guesses, the rest 50/50. Afternoon I also finished in 3 hours with like 30 confident answers, 2 guesses, rest 50/50. 

Hopefully we pass, I figure if just get the confident one's right it should be enough right? 

 

[BirdGrave]

I forgot to take it with me, so no. 

I'm wondering if that's why folks seemed to have trouble with the morning session as opposed to the afternoon, whereas for me the opposite seems to be true.  I know I wouldn't have been able to answer a lot of questions with the other resources I brought with had I not also had the manual.  Then again, I could just be delusional and scribbled down nonsense in complete confidence lol.

 

[wvengineer]

I'm wondering if that's why folks seemed to have trouble with the morning session as opposed to the afternoon, whereas for me the opposite seems to be true.  I know I wouldn't have been able to answer a lot of questions with the other resources I brought with had I not also had the manual.  Then again, I could just be delusional and scribbled down nonsense in complete confidence lol.

Your last sentence is where I'm at...lol  I thought the morning and afternoon were about the same level of difficulty.  Maybe the morning barely a touch harder.  I felt like the vast majority of it was covered by my references.  I didn't think it was more difficult than what I was expecting, but that now makes me nervous after reading what everyone else has to say. 

This just dawned on me, but when you say FE handbook are you talking about the formula book you got when you took the exam or some aftermarket study guide?  I still have the formula book from when I took the FE.  I was going to take it, but forgot it.  I don't think it would have benefited me greatly. 

 

[ME_VT_PE]

I'm wondering if that's why folks seemed to have trouble with the morning session as opposed to the afternoon, whereas for me the opposite seems to be true.  I know I wouldn't have been able to answer a lot of questions with the other resources I brought with had I not also had the manual.  Then again, I could just be delusional and scribbled down nonsense in complete confidence lol.

I second your last sentence haha. I could have just been euphoric to have finished the exam when in reality I scribbled down nonsense.

 

[ME_VT_PE]

 

[knight1fox3]

And while awaiting your exam results, don't forget to be conscious of the (6) phases of the emotional roller coaster. :thumbs:

 

[BirdGrave]

Your last sentence is where I'm at...lol  I thought the morning and afternoon were about the same level of difficulty.  Maybe the morning barely a touch harder.  I felt like the vast majority of it was covered by my references.  I didn't think it was more difficult than what I was expecting, but that now makes me nervous after reading what everyone else has to say. 

This just dawned on me, but when you say FE handbook are you talking about the formula book you got when you took the exam or some aftermarket study guide?  I still have the formula book from when I took the FE.  I was going to take it, but forgot it.  I don't think it would have benefited me greatly. 

I meant the formula book when you take the FE.  Without going into any detail there was more than one question I wouldn't have been able to answer had I not had it with me.  And I brought everything else; School of PE notes, EngProGuide manual, Wildi, Grainger, etc.

 

[wvengineer]

I meant the formula book when you take the FE.  Without going into any detail there was more than one question I wouldn't have been able to answer had I not had it with me.  And I brought everything else; School of PE notes, EngProGuide manual, Wildi, Grainger, etc.

That's the one I'm referring to.  I'm flipping through the book not really sure which problems you might be talking about and now I'm wondering what friggin' exam was I taking?

 

[BirdGrave]

That's the one I'm referring to.  I'm flipping through the book not really sure which problems you might be talking about and now I'm wondering what friggin' exam was I taking?

I wish I could point you to a section, but I feel like that's coming too close to discussing specific questions (unless an authority figure tells me otherwise).  I'll just say they're subjects outlined in the practice exam syllabus.

 

[EngrinSF]

what's everyone doing to take their mind off the waiting game?

 

[Vette388]

what's everyone doing to take their mind off the waiting game?

Reading this forum, lol. Just kidding. Outside activity's for me. 

 

[Vette388]

Hello, new to the forum and a first time PE taker. Been working at a engineering firm for two years as an intern and four years full time. I feel like I did not do well in the morning, maybe 25 that I had a good feeling about a few guesses, some I had never seen before and some 50/50. The afternoon seemed more practical. I feel I spent more time on the questions I knew instead of spending time trying to figure them out like I did in the morning. Afternoon felt a lot better. Fingers crossed for all of us.

 

[Szar]

what's everyone doing to take their mind off the waiting game?

Working mostly.  

Oh, and dreaming of the all the ways I'm going to spend the millions my company will now pay me for achieving the status of PE.  

 

[ME_VT_PE]

what's everyone doing to take their mind off the waiting game?

Trying not to refresh my NCEES homepage like a madman. At least not until the 2nd week of May or  so...

 

[Vette388]

Trying not to refresh my NCEES homepage like a madman. At least not until the 2nd week of May or  so...

:rotflmao: That's how I was with the FE lol

 

[BirdGrave]

I felt pretty confident that I'd cleared the passing grade threshold by a comfortable margin on the FE, so the wait there didn't both me as much as now.  This time I know it's really going to depend on where they scale the lowest passing grade.