Could be to soon to ask but....If you didn't pass, what was your score?

[Shengineer (January J) PE]

Congrats! Which discipline for you three?

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[Shengineer (January J) PE]

3 of us at the office took the exam. Luckily, I passed, but my coworkers were not as lucky. They both made 47/80. 

Congrats! What discipline did you three take?

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[Shengineer (January J) PE]

@mack congrats! What were you three disciplines?

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[Mack Eltarhoni]

Congrats! What discipline did you three take?

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sorry, i stepped out for a site visit. We all did structural. and took the exam in Fort worth, TX.

 

[Dinale]

Civil Construction from NY, failed with 49/80

 

[SomethingStructural]

Thanks, what I did was go through and Mark them 1 thru 4 depending on difficult level, but my timing was still so slow that me guessing was the first finish, and I didn't have time to go over any of them. Any pointers on speeding the time doing problems? That definitely was my downfall.
 

The School of PE folks suggested using this method, but I don't like it at all. If the problem is a 1, just do it. You don't need to label anything. Just go through it problem by problem, skipping ones that look difficult or that would take long. Don't get distracted by an "easy" or "fun" problem that will take a long time to do.

There were some problems I thought would be quick, then I'd get a few minutes in and realize I was wrong. Don't be afraid to drop these problems. Take a couple notes about where you were in your thought process and calculations, then just move on, and get back to it if you have time later.

Take lots of practice tests. I think I took 5 practice tests (both morning and afternoon) excluding the example problems from School of PE.

If you're bringing a reference you're not actually very familiar with, skim through it in full at least once before the test, and get familiar with how the index and table of contents are laid out.

For reference, I took Civil Structural. I got to a point where I was getting ~35 right on the morning practice exams in just over 2 hours and ~30-34 right on the afternoon practice exams in just over 3 hours. I finished the actual morning exam in 3.5 hours, and I could have used another hour or two on the actual afternoon exam. I felt that if I failed, it would have been a time management issue, as there were a few problems I burned precious minutes on that I shouldn't have.

 

[Guest-CantPassSecurity?]

Civil Geotech - 52/80 first time taker.  Very happy with SoPE's Breadth Review, but couldn't be more disappointed in the Depth Review.  It was literally just someone that was difficult to understand reading slides and zipping through problems and the actual PE exam had a lot of questions on topics that were not even touched on.  In SoPE's defense, a lot of their material was on the NCEES practice examinations, so perhaps the drafters of the exam just felt like taking Geotech in a new direction.  

In either regard, I will use SoPE due to the "free course if you fail" guarantee, but will look into using EET for the Geotech Depth portion, as a lot of people seem happier with EET on these boards.  

 

[KJS]

failed Power NY 48

 

[John Lee]

Thanks, what I did was go through and Mark them 1 thru 4 depending on difficult level, but my timing was still so slow that me guessing was the first finish, and I didn't have time to go over any of them. Any pointers on speeding the time doing problems? That definitely was my downfall.

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Marking the difficult level is a very good strategy. Then you definitely need to practice more, and really focus to avoid careless mistakes during the exam. Focus for 4 hours is not easy, though. For those problems you mark as the easiest, you should have the instinct to finish them in 2~3 minutes. Tab your reference manual really well. Remember you only have 6 minute in average for each problem. I have plenty of time to briefly recheck the morning session problems, since they are very easy. But I struggled in the afternoon. I guessed about 10~15 problems based on my instinct and experience. I would suggest that you just guess an answer for those problems that make no sense to you, and save your time to briefly check those that are easy for you to avoid careless mistakes. It was very fulfilling for me to identify two simple mistakes that I have made during the exam. They may have made a difference between fail and pass. Who knows.

Like the other guys mentioned, the morning session is relatively easy, your target should be at least 32~35. The morning session is mostly some basic problems on structural (statics, loading), geotech (earth pressure, etc.), water (pipe flow, energy loss) and pavement (horizontal and vertical curve). If you cant ensure at least 32~35, it's difficult to survive the afternoon session. I think the afternoon session is more difficult to prepare. It was quite different from the practice sets. I would say it's really hard to score over 28~30 in the afternoon.

 

[John Lee]

Civil Geotech - 52/80 first time taker.  Very happy with SoPE's Breadth Review, but couldn't be more disappointed in the Depth Review.  It was literally just someone that was difficult to understand reading slides and zipping through problems and the actual PE exam had a lot of questions on topics that were not even touched on.  In SoPE's defense, a lot of their material was on the NCEES practice examinations, so perhaps the drafters of the exam just felt like taking Geotech in a new direction.  

In either regard, I will use SoPE due to the "free course if you fail" guarantee, but will look into using EET for the Geotech Depth portion, as a lot of people seem happier with EET on these boards.  

I also took the geotechnical also. To be fair for the review courses, the afternoon problems are really hard to predict. Many of them are conceptual questions and we can only answer based on our experience and judgement. For quite a few questions, I can eliminate one or two wrong answers, but just cannot find the correct answer with 100% confidence. So I guess finishing the morning session solidly is the key to pass.

 

[DeeGee123]

Hi everyone, I was able to pass the Civil Transpo depth on a first attempt and I credit that almost entirely to EET. I took both the breadth and depth courses and I felt more than prepared for the exam. First off, there is a definite need for being held accountable to study. It was an epic winter here and many days I wanted to just push off studying to play outside but I couldn't because EET has a pretty serious schedule and workload that you must commit to completing. Additionally, the practice problems and exams were most like the actual exam out of all the resources I had....including the NCEES practice exam. I thought the NCEES practice exam was a joke (soo much easier/straightforward) compared to the actual test this last cycle. Although EET doesn't give you exact questions that are on the actual test, they're tough enough to force to you really know how to navigate through your references/equations/notes. I even took it one step further and made an index for my EET binders to quickly find information during the test. This really helped me and I recommend that not only as a studying technique but also as a handy tool for taking the test. Now I know the class price is no small amount for many but the way I figured it, if I failed and had to take the test again I would probably have ended up in some sort of review class thereby incurring the cost anyway. It was money well spent given how much material you are given to prepare you for the test. There's a reason why a ton of people carry on about how great EET is. Samir was awesome and so kind. Nazrul, too. I never once hesitated asking questions or reaching out to them. 10/10 - I have been recommending their classes to my peers every opportunity possible. Don't lose hope for the future and know that there are resources and tools available that can set you up for success for next go around. Sorry for rambling, I wanted to make sure I got this before the EB board cools down for the summer.

 

[PEPE Is the name]

I passed in October of 2017 on my first attempt. I have my degree in Mechanical Engineering and took the Civil transportation. I only had a year of experience in any civil engineering work before the exam.

My strategy was literally just read the CERM completely and reading other books (ie Green book, MUTCD) as well as the high way manual and the roadside design guide completely. I didn't do any practice exams or problems until maybe 2 weeks from the exam. I did however, tab those references VERY well.

I truly believe the key to passing is knowing how to find information quickly and knowing how to "engineer" your way through a problem. I personally would not want to pay 1500 or so for a class but that is me. 

 

[John Lee]

I totally disagree with the suggestion to completely read CERM. That would waste a lot of time reading the in-depth stuff on other topics. I would recommend to prepare according to the topics listed in the exam specifications.

 

[STL Engi]

I passed the Civil - WR&E test my first go around - I've gotta say I agree with a couple of the others that doing well on the AM is crucial to passing the test.  On the NCEES practice exam, I scored 69/80 overall, so I felt pretty confident going in.  The AM test was very similar to the practice test that I took, I was feeling great at the lunch break.  The PM exam was much more difficult than expected, there were probably around 10 problems on material that I've never encountered before; it was much more challenging than the practice exam.  So I'm pretty sure the AM portion saved me.

 

[pleasePassPE]

To those that didn’t pass... I’m sorry...I feel your pain...this was me a year ago...this exam doesn’t define you nor the strides you’ve made in your career..take a month off...fight the urge to start studying again right away...and it’s okay to feel sad...but when your ready use your diagnostic to focus on your weak areas...try a different approach and I assure you..you will pass!!!

Agreed..  At least now you know what to expect and also have a diagnosis of you weaknesses.  Take a break, relax and determine what you can do differently next time.  For me, the first time I was not organized.  By organizing and focusing on truly understanding how to work the problems effectively, helped me pass the 2nd time.