CA Surveying Exam Results - December 2022

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Hopefully today. I was reviewing the release date of previous exams. Most of the results are out by 10th of the next month.
 
Has this ever happened? The results to be released after 05:00 PM? @CAPLS
There is no predesignated time for results to be released. The Board will release results when they are available, no sooner, no later. No amount of statistical analysis of past releases will prevail. (Engineers...jeez) :)
 
Any chance for the results to be released today? What do you think guys? It is so hard to wait in uncertainty. 😟
 
I finally passed the Survey exam after several attempts! :) Congrats to all who passed and best wishes to those retaking the exam.
Congratulations!!! What a great way to start the new year!

I am retaking surveying this quarter - any advice? what did you do differently and helped you pass this time and what/how did you study previously?
 
Congratulations!!! What a great way to start the new year!

I am retaking surveying this quarter - any advice? what did you do differently and helped you pass this time and what/how did you study previously?
Thank you. With how 2023 is going so far, maybe I should buy some lottery tickets and see if I can push my luck :LOL:

My strategy this time was reading Surveying Principles for Civil Engineers, 2nd Ed. by Cuomo, even though this has bad reviews because the problems are very few and are too easy. But it's good for understanding the concepts, and the book's not that long. (For example, the criss-cross method in solving areas helped me to quickly calculate areas in traverses and in roadway cross-section areas).

Then I used the Reza workbook to do problems. The practice exam at the end helped. Basically, I read through the Cuomo book for the concepts and used Reza book for problems. In the past, I just used the Reza book and didn't spend enough time doing the practice test at the end. My other mistake was concentrating too much on topics that accounted for only 10% of the exam like error analysis and not enough on more important topics like angles and horizontal curves.

Best of luck to you!
 
I did not pass as well. Most people seem to be using the combination of CPESR and Reza.

As a structural engineer, I'm a bit at a loss of what the next steps are for me. I passed the FE, PE, and Seismic all first try...I have failed surveying now 3 times.

For those who have taken CPESR, do you feel that's adequate enough to just take the course and bring just that manual? Surveying concepts I feel aren't necessarily complex, but the calculations are more involved. And if you mess up one time in inputting something in your calculator it totally screws up the time management.
 
I did not pass as well. Most people seem to be using the combination of CPESR and Reza.

As a structural engineer, I'm a bit at a loss of what the next steps are for me. I passed the FE, PE, and Seismic all first try...I have failed surveying now 3 times.

For those who have taken CPESR, do you feel that's adequate enough to just take the course and bring just that manual? Surveying concepts I feel aren't necessarily complex, but the calculations are more involved. And if you mess up one time in inputting something in your calculator it totally screws up the time management.
I really feel you my friend. I mean I am not the smartest, but I do test well. I am the same as you - passed FE, PE, and seismic on 1st try. Failing this was a bit of a shock to the system.

I took CPESR and only brought that manual. I thought it was fairly good, and I walked out of the exam feeling "OK" (best word I can use to describe it). Honestly, I thought I had passed. Not by much! But I was certain this would be the last step.

I have no advice for you. I guess I would say, for me, I am going to take Reza's course, sign up for Q2 exam, and just crank out as many problems as I can. In looking back, I probably could have done more practice problems. I did 225+ for PE and 500+ (Hiner) for seismic and that seemed to work well.

Hang in there and come back here. Maybe we can encourage each other to stay motivated...
 
I really feel you my friend. I mean I am not the smartest, but I do test well. I am the same as you - passed FE, PE, and seismic on 1st try. Failing this was a bit of a shock to the system.

I took CPESR and only brought that manual. I thought it was fairly good, and I walked out of the exam feeling "OK" (best word I can use to describe it). Honestly, I thought I had passed. Not by much! But I was certain this would be the last step.

I have no advice for you. I guess I would say, for me, I am going to take Reza's course, sign up for Q2 exam, and just crank out as many problems as I can. In looking back, I probably could have done more practice problems. I did 225+ for PE and 500+ (Hiner) for seismic and that seemed to work well.

Hang in there and come back here. Maybe we can encourage each other to stay motivated...
This is to reply to @EnginerdBurger & @crpurcell : I just want to share my experience. First of all, please do not get discouraged. There are lots of reasons to be motivated and fight for success. I took Reza's course the first time and I did all the manual problems and the practice exams but I failed. The second time, I did Reza's book and practice problems once again and I got CPESR manual from a friend and I went through manual once and as well as I registered in the CPESR question bank/center and I did all the questions (around 432) in the last 10-15 days before the exam. I definitely recommend the CPESR question bank because you have the option to take them timed 55 each as real exam and it prepares you very well for your real exam. Good Luck, you got this. 🤞
 
I really feel you my friend. I mean I am not the smartest, but I do test well. I am the same as you - passed FE, PE, and seismic on 1st try. Failing this was a bit of a shock to the system.

I took CPESR and only brought that manual. I thought it was fairly good, and I walked out of the exam feeling "OK" (best word I can use to describe it). Honestly, I thought I had passed. Not by much! But I was certain this would be the last step.

I have no advice for you. I guess I would say, for me, I am going to take Reza's course, sign up for Q2 exam, and just crank out as many problems as I can. In looking back, I probably could have done more practice problems. I did 225+ for PE and 500+ (Hiner) for seismic and that seemed to work well.

Hang in there and come back here. Maybe we can encourage each other to stay motivated...
I've already signed up for Q2...going to give CPESR course a go. Will aim to take the exam later in the month as well so the wait time will be less.

Good luck to you this time around!
 
I really feel you my friend. I mean I am not the smartest, but I do test well. I am the same as you - passed FE, PE, and seismic on 1st try. Failing this was a bit of a shock to the system.

I took CPESR and only brought that manual. I thought it was fairly good, and I walked out of the exam feeling "OK" (best word I can use to describe it). Honestly, I thought I had passed. Not by much! But I was certain this would be the last step.

I have no advice for you. I guess I would say, for me, I am going to take Reza's course, sign up for Q2 exam, and just crank out as many problems as I can. In looking back, I probably could have done more practice problems. I did 225+ for PE and 500+ (Hiner) for seismic and that seemed to work well.

Hang in there and come back here. Maybe we can encourage each other to stay motivated...

I used the same material to pass and did. I think the course for CPESR best resembled the exam. It is really all you needed. If you need help breaking down the exam and how you studied for it let me know and we can chat. The first thing I did is go through all of the exam and answer the word problems followed by the easiest problem I could come across first and flagging any problem that seems like it will give me trouble or I will have to think through. I finished the exam with 20mins and 2 questions left. Took my time after that. For studying I did an exam every day after finishing the course. After every exam I would review the ones I did not know how to do. the weekend before the exam I completed the Reza exam twice and review it heavily. By the second time I got 85% of the questions right. My goal up to the exam was to maintain a test average above 75% for every practice exam. CPESR lets you see what you are deficient in so I made sure I would go back and complete the videos again. When I would do that I would find that I was missing something which is why my scores were low in that area. If I made the mistake more than twice I would make a note for myself in the CPESR book as a reminder. I feel it was a good game plan for me even though it was effortful. I wanted to make sure I gave it my all. The more you study the easier it is. I studied for 3 months for review and the last month was all practice exams and improve weaknesses. There are plenty of people who can study 1 week and pass but that is not me. I studied for 6 months for the 8 hour because that is what it took for me.
 
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I passed! Not my first attempt.

Game changers:
• CPESR review book was my go-to test reference for the exam so I made notes in the book throughout my test prep and practice problems
• TI-89 calculator greatly improved my speed because of the way it handles DMS and stores previous lines of calculations so you can recall them quickly. Helpful for long calculations such as when using trig to solve for sides, then copy those answers to solve for areas. Many more examples. Was able to use scratch paper minimally because I got efficient at using the calculator after working through practice problems.
• The most efficient way to study was by working through practice problems. I supplemented CPESR with PPI Solved Problems and Practice Exams books.
• Bring PPI manual for lookup questions. It’s a quick reference for conceptual questions.

I discovered that the solutions in the practice books are way longer than needed, so don’t get overwhelmed by them or feel like you need to write down all the steps as shown. Draw a picture for bearing… think of x-y axis when looking at a problem: northing/easting, latitude/departure, rise/run. Lots of calcs are a matter of breaking it down to right triangle trig.

Lectures: I started with Reza’s class as an introduction to learn material for the exam. The latest try, I used CPESR lectures as needed for topics where I needed a refresher or more review on.

My takeaway from this experience is that leaning too heavily on lectures was my crutch. Actively working on problems and being patient with myself as I was mastering each problem was the best use of my time, even if it took a half hour or more to work through a problem.
 

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