FAIL!
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ErichB
Professional Engineer
Thanks for sharing that with us, seroge01, but would you mind using this thread to post your diagnostic report score? Thanks!
I think you need at least 48/80 to passed for the mechanical PE. You almost got it ..try hard you will make it.
First time: 14;18
Second time: 31;13 (I did sxxx job in the pm..i feel that I only got 15 when I left)
Thrid time: ???? (but my feeling for the afternoon is 100% better than the first and the second time...the morning should similar to the second time)
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Keep your head up. Being an engineer in itself is a great accomplishment.
I had a similar experience. I thought for sure I passeed my first time. This is my second time waiting for results, and I do not feel as confident this time around, so I don't know what to expect.
Your friends and family are still your friends and family, the PE is just a title. Use your diagnostics to prepare for April.
Good luck!
maximus808
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Hey guys, this is my second time taking the PE Exam - Transportation Depth. I took it in Hawaii and we didn't get our results yet as it is being mailed. I feel good about the exam but you just never know. But I wanted to give you guys some advice for someone who failed the first time.
First, give yourself time to forget about the exam. Do something you enjoy doing to recharge your batteries. I remember going to the beach and just forgetting about the whole thing. As hard as it is to accept, you just have to. A couple weeks later, SWITCH your study habits up. I believe I missed the first exam by 4 questions getting about a 52/80. If I don't make this time I know I did better than the first exam or I'm hoping at least. But this is all due to the change in study habits. You have to realize what you did wrong and how you can improve. For me, I did not do as many problems and I was banking on the fact that I could look up the similar questions in my practice problems or even the CERM Examples. Big mistake! You will be pressed for time and you need some sort of plan going into the exam. My plan was to do the easiest problems first to get myself as relaxed as possible for the harder questions. Since my focus was trans and that's what I was best at and scanned the exam for the transportation section and tackled those first. Once I got through those questions, I moved on to the next easiest, until I reached the hardest questions. Finally, I double checked my answers and made sure that was the choice I made. You guys can do.
Remember this is not a competition between you and your co-workers or anyone else. Think of this as a marathon......and if you didn't pass....you didn't finish the marathon just yet......soon you will
Wish me luck guys!!!!!!!
First, give yourself time to forget about the exam. Do something you enjoy doing to recharge your batteries. I remember going to the beach and just forgetting about the whole thing. As hard as it is to accept, you just have to. A couple weeks later, SWITCH your study habits up. I believe I missed the first exam by 4 questions getting about a 52/80. If I don't make this time I know I did better than the first exam or I'm hoping at least. But this is all due to the change in study habits. You have to realize what you did wrong and how you can improve. For me, I did not do as many problems and I was banking on the fact that I could look up the similar questions in my practice problems or even the CERM Examples. Big mistake! You will be pressed for time and you need some sort of plan going into the exam. My plan was to do the easiest problems first to get myself as relaxed as possible for the harder questions. Since my focus was trans and that's what I was best at and scanned the exam for the transportation section and tackled those first. Once I got through those questions, I moved on to the next easiest, until I reached the hardest questions. Finally, I double checked my answers and made sure that was the choice I made. You guys can do.
Remember this is not a competition between you and your co-workers or anyone else. Think of this as a marathon......and if you didn't pass....you didn't finish the marathon just yet......soon you will
Wish me luck guys!!!!!!!I think I brought in 30 books, and used 20. I passed, so that's probably not a good correlation. It depends on what exam you take. The trick is knowing where to find things in your references. If you have one question that can be answered by opening a random reference and finding a definition (in 2 minutes), it was worth it to bring it. I had at least 5 books like that - which is 5 questions I got right simply because I brought extra books with me.
On that note, when I left the exam I felt like I couldn't have prepared more. I know that if I had failed I would have had to take a test prep class because there was no way I could figure anything else out on my own. You have a great attitude and will do well in April. I was so scared to open my results because I felt like there would be no way I actually passed. Here's to a good surprise in April.
dukesherman
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well, it looks like i will be a member of the 3 pencil club....first time i had insomnia and didn't study much...second time thought that i kicked but in the morning, and the afternoon could have went either way....oh well, look at all the fun i am having learning about stuff that i don't use day to day!
I thought about doing water resources, but caved at the last minute to transportation. I think that helped tremendously because I guarantee I would have failed if I had taken the water resources - even though that's my day job. Maybe consider other sections over the next two weeks and see if there's an afternoon module that you might try. I had a friend who failed three times, but took something like construction when he passed. I felt like they put a ton of soils/geotechnical questions on the exam - probably more than in the water resources afternoon - those screw me up.
maximus808
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DBC, did pass/fail? If you didn't make it, sorry....April is coming soon and you'll be able to do it. I had the same mentality as you and chose transportation. This was my second time taking trans and I'm glad I stuck with it instead of re-learning a new depth. I felt this time was a little better than April, but we still didn't get our results in Hawaii yet. What areas did you struggle with if you don't mind me asking. Maybe I can help or others can to help improve those scores.
butter_beer
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I actually passed! I felt like Transportation was primarily about knowing curves and being able to do them without thinking, and then being able to look stuff up. There was a lot of looking stuff up. I wish I had photocopied the indices of my books.
But I felt there were some geotechnical questions that really caught me. That was the last section I worked hard on - days before the exam - and if I had failed I would know EXACTLY what to study for.
One thing I found helpful, too, was that I majored in structural, worked in water management, and studied transportation. That left me only two extra sections to study for in the morning, and covered most of what I needed for the afternoon.
I am in the group of FAIL's
ME - Thermo/Fluids-
Hitting the books again starting Monday - sucks - I am really bummed - feels like a kick in the shorts -
I spent about 150 hours studying, but was very busy at work, moved into a new home and my wife gave birth a week before the exam - not making execuses, just justify in my own head why I need to spend the next three months preparing.
I found myself well prepared for the AM section and really struggled with the PM section.
I am close, as some have posted there scores, so with any luck it will be next time.
Tim
ME - Thermo/Fluids-
Hitting the books again starting Monday - sucks - I am really bummed - feels like a kick in the shorts -
I spent about 150 hours studying, but was very busy at work, moved into a new home and my wife gave birth a week before the exam - not making execuses, just justify in my own head why I need to spend the next three months preparing.
I found myself well prepared for the AM section and really struggled with the PM section.
I am close, as some have posted there scores, so with any luck it will be next time.
Tim
dukesherman
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tim - took thermo as well and felt the same about the morning vs. the afternoon. also did the house thing and the too much work before the exam that limited my studying. had to take the week off before the exam just to get in some quality studying. no excuses, just is what it is. feel like i know what to do for the next time....frustrated yes, but know i need to devote more time to studying and not get caught up so much at work that i can get in some quality studying. curious on the final outcome and how close I got.
congrats on the newborn...puts everything in perspective doesn't it?
whats your study plan? i was going to pull together a schedule for the next couple months...not sure what make most sense...hop around through MERM or just do problem after problem via various study guides.
10940623: :bio:Porta John
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I agree with the few that have already posted about there not really being a correlation. I took civil-structural and passed the first time in October. I brought 2 full suitcases of stuff. I am pretty sure I had more references than anyone in the exam. I studied with all of my refererences from school and all of the ones I have in front of me on a day to day basis at work. And I studied for 5 solid months and probably 200+ hours. I didn't use all of them b/c the exam focused more on some disciplines than others but there isn't any way I could have known that going into the exam.
I agree with the poster above that there were some books that you were able to crack open and get a random definition from and get the problem right, and that makes it completely worthwhile to have those references there.
Also, the discipline you take is importants. As was said before, structural has a code for every structural subject, plus you need your references for each subject, plus references for all of the other civil topics. It all adds up quickly in my book.
I passed the Mechanical exam with Machine Depth using only the MERM and Shigleys Machine Design. It all depends on your discipline as to how many books to bring. All I can say whatever references you bring you better be well aquainted with them because I felt efficiency was the key too passing. You have to know exactly where to look quickly!
JEre
Active member
I failed in April 2010 and passed in October 2010 both Civil-Transportation.
The first time around I studied 40 hours tops total, NJ didn't approve me to take the test until one month before it. By the time I got all my references together it was 3 weeks until test day. Needless to say I didn't do GREAT, I left knowing I failed. When I got the diagnostic report I failed by approximately 5 problems, thought I bombed much worse. The second go around I went all out, took School of PE course and did hundreds of practice problems and 15 full practice exams for AM portion.
I know how awful it feels to fail, even in my case where I expected it, to actually see the word :FAIL, really really sucks. Keep your heads up and don't let it get yout down. You will get it, you just need to do as many problems as you can get your hands on. You need to put the time in and just go, if you failed with putting in a lot of time then you know you need to get different study materials, get different practice problems, do them all and you will undoubtedly pass for sure.
I highly highly recommend School of PE, they give you a binder with theory and problems in it. I used it on 70% of test without cracking CERM. For example, when coming across a problem I wasnt sure about, I'd look in CERM and be baffled at the theory/understanding of it. CERM is too technical in some areas and is not good for on-the-fly learning during the test. By the time you figure out what CERM is trying to tell you, 10 minutes has flown by. The School of PE notes tell you what equations you need and what variables you need and where to get the values from. that is KEY!
The first time around I studied 40 hours tops total, NJ didn't approve me to take the test until one month before it. By the time I got all my references together it was 3 weeks until test day. Needless to say I didn't do GREAT, I left knowing I failed. When I got the diagnostic report I failed by approximately 5 problems, thought I bombed much worse. The second go around I went all out, took School of PE course and did hundreds of practice problems and 15 full practice exams for AM portion.
I know how awful it feels to fail, even in my case where I expected it, to actually see the word :FAIL, really really sucks. Keep your heads up and don't let it get yout down. You will get it, you just need to do as many problems as you can get your hands on. You need to put the time in and just go, if you failed with putting in a lot of time then you know you need to get different study materials, get different practice problems, do them all and you will undoubtedly pass for sure.
I highly highly recommend School of PE, they give you a binder with theory and problems in it. I used it on 70% of test without cracking CERM. For example, when coming across a problem I wasnt sure about, I'd look in CERM and be baffled at the theory/understanding of it. CERM is too technical in some areas and is not good for on-the-fly learning during the test. By the time you figure out what CERM is trying to tell you, 10 minutes has flown by. The School of PE notes tell you what equations you need and what variables you need and where to get the values from. that is KEY!
I'm struggling with the limited amount of prep material available for Control Systems, but not feeling like I have enough recent experience with the other areas I've worked to take a different exam (Environmental or Chemical). However, I'm curious what other people are doing that have to wait until October 2011 to re-take the exam?
Right now, more than anything the wait to retake the exam is what's really killing me.
Right now, more than anything the wait to retake the exam is what's really killing me.
I am going to start Monday and focusing next week on reworking the NCEES AM portion - this should kind of ease me back into it...
I think I am going to sign up for one of the online courses..... I did a refresher course at one a local college but I did not get alot out of it.
I am going to hit the six minutes solution problems the second, third and fourth week and really nail those down. I am strong in fluids but week is heat transfere so I really need to secure a solid grasp of the material in this area.
Jan, Feb and March are the best times for me personaly to be studying - so I am up for the challenge.
The PE is not required for work, but more of a personal goal that I set for myself in my first year of college. There is no doubt I will pass this test, I just need to prepare more.
Besides, to be honest, I have become a better engineer just studying.
Topics will come up in meetings and I have the theory fresh in my head - I found myself rattling off equaitions on the white board during meetings -
As you said - BRING IT ON!
What is your study plan?
Tim
