Failing Letters

[Mike in Gastonia]

I Failed the MA Environmental PE. Actually I think I did a lot worse than I had anticipated.
Emission Sources 0 0/4

Potable Water 18 2/11

Public Health and Saftety 22 2/9

Remediation 25 2/8

MSW 30 3/10

Wastewater 36 4/11

Stormwater 50 3/6

Water Resources 50 3/6

Control Strategies 50 4/8

Environmental Assessment 56 5/9

Ambient Air 63 5/8

Hazardous Waste 80 8/10

41/100

How do I find out how many questions were in each subject, so I know how poorly I really did.

Go to NCEES website and find the specification for the environmental pe exam. There is a % for each topic that tells you how many questions are in each topic. Normally, everyone's diagnostic is in the same order as the specification. Your's seems way out of whack. Anyway, that's my best guess of how you did.

 

[NotEnoughMA]

Thanks

They are out of order because I rewrote them in order of worst to best so I know where to concentrate my efforts.

 

[IlPadrino]

How do we know the NCEES published percentages between subjects are actually realized?

 

[Mike in Gastonia]

How do we know the NCEES published percentages between subjects are actually realized?

Because the percentages from the diagnostics work out?

 

[DVINNY]

Because the percentages from the diagnostics work out?

Exactly. That is where I start when doing the diagnostics to get an idea of what it may be. 33% could be 1/3 or it could be 3/9. Big difference.

 

[IlPadrino]

Exactly. That is where I start when doing the diagnostics to get an idea of what it may be. 33% could be 1/3 or it could be 3/9. Big difference.

And the numbers *always* work out so that there is nothing left over?

I ask because I thought my depth had more than advertised.

 

[odentonpe]

after seeing the two diagnostics listed above, I'm pretty embarrassed.I honestly thought I did great on the exam, and to my horror I did VERY

poorly. but here's my diagnostics anyway...took the Controls depth module:

Basic ELE - Professionalism and Eng. Econ 50%

Basic ELE - Safety and Reliability 33%

Basic ELE - Electric Circuits 60%

Basic ELE - Electric and Magnetic Field Theory 100%

Basic ELE - Computer Systems and Engr 100%

Electronic, Circuits and Components - Components 50%

Electronic, Circuits and Components - Materials 100%

Controls and Communications Systems 50%

Power - Transmission and Distribution 20%

Power - Rotation Machines and Electromagnetic Devices 33%

General EE Knowledge - Measurement & Instrumentation 50%

General EE Knowledge - Interpret of Codes & Standards 100%

General EE Knowledge - Computer Systems 0%

Electronics - Electrical Circuit Theory 25%

Electronics - Electric & Magnetic Field Theory & Applications 33%

Electronics - Components & Circuits 29%

Control System Fundamentals 20%

Control System Design/Implementation 100%

Controls - Stability 25%

Communications & Signal Processing 50%

Communications - Noise & Interference 67%

Telecommunications 33%

Okay I really did bad, but this damn diagnostic makes no sense to me. How do you decipher your score or strong and weak points regardless of the 100 and 0 scores. The topics were so broad on the exam that one question wrong can mean 0 and imply you did bad overall in thaty subject when it could have only been one question.

Here is my diagnostic. Any input is greatly appreciated. I wanted to see the exam and studied a lot, but this time i'm going to own this exam, but first I need to know how to read this diagnostic. HAHAHA

Basic ELE - Professionalism and Eng. Econ 100%

Basic ELE - Safety and Reliability 67%

Basic ELE - Electric Circuits 60%

Basic ELE - Electric and Magnetic Field Theory 100%

Basic ELE - Computer Systems and Engr 50%

Electronic, Circuits and Components - Components 17%

Electronic, Circuits and Components - Materials 100%

Controls and Communications Systems 83%

Power - Transmission and Distribution 60%

Power - Rotation Machines and Electromagnetic Devices 33%

General Power - Measurement & Instrumentation 100%

General Power- Special Applications 0%

General Power- Codes, Standards, and Applications 67%

Circuit Analysis - Analysis

Circuit Analysis - Devices and power Electronic Devices 33%

Circuit Analysis - Electric and Magnetic Fields and Applications 50%

Rotating Machines - 100%

Electromagnetic Devices 0%

Transmission and Distribution - Systems Analysis 33%

Transmission and Distribution - Power Systems Performance 0%

Transmission and Distribution - Protection 50%

Not the best but I really got a feel for the exam. let me know what you guys think

 

[Dark Knight]

Hey my friends

I don't want to "sound" rude or give you a cold shower but studying for the test with the mentality that I just need to improve a little is a recipe for failure.

The damn diagnostic sheet is just a piece of paper. Might give you an idea of your "need to improve" areas but the test will not be the same next time. Who knows what they are going to throw at you. Focus on your weakest areas, OK, but do not let your guard down at the areas you did well.

A good friend, Freon, told me once: "You don't have to study harder, you have to study smarter." He was right on the money on that comment.

Use the diagnostic sheet but don'tlet it fool you. Be aware of the " I only need a few more points" attitude. It is not the right one.

 

[irisheng]

Hey my friends
I don't want to "sound" rude or give you a cold shower but studying for the test with the mentality that I just need to improve a little is a recipe for failure.

The damn diagnostic sheet is just a piece of paper. Might give you an idea of your "need to improve" areas but the test will not be the same next time. Who knows what they are going to throw at you. Focus on your weakest areas, OK, but do not let your guard down at the areas you did well.

A good friend, Freon, told me once: "You don't have to study harder, you have to study smarter." He was right on the money on that comment.

Use the diagnostic sheet but don'tlet it fool you. Be aware of the " I only need a few more points" attitude. It is not the right one.

I agree with Luis, this is your career people. It says a lot of your work ethic to say that you "only need a few points" You won't get far in life by just doing the bare minimum.

 

[rayray91]

I took Transportation in the afternoon. I got a 66% and needed a 70% to pass. This is what I came up with -

Morning

environmental 75% 6/8

geotech 50% 4/8

structural 38% 3/8

transportation 63% 5/8

water resources 13% 1/8

19

Afternoon

traffic 56% 5/9

trans 63% 5/8

design 67% 6/9

geo 67% 4/6

water 88% 7/8

27

46/80=66%?????

What do you think?

 

[Road Guy]

Looks like hitting up some WR stuff could send you over the top easily next go round (of course don’t forget to re-study everything else as well)

 

[maryannette]

I think it's great that people are sharing info to help others. I applaud you all and I'll be cheering you on next time.

 

[JeffM]

I took Transportation in the afternoon. I got a 66% and needed a 70% to pass. This is what I came up with -
Morning

environmental 75% 6/8

geotech 50% 4/8

structural 38% 3/8

transportation 63% 5/8

water resources 13% 1/8

19

Afternoon

traffic 56% 5/9

trans 63% 5/8

design 67% 6/9

geo 67% 4/6

water 88% 7/8

27

46/80=66%?????

What do you think?

how do you know you got a 66%?

 

[Mike in Gastonia]

how do you know you got a 66%?

He be from Texas, pardner. They still get their scores in Texas - pass or fail.

 

[JeffM]

He be from Texas, pardner. They still get their scores in Texas - pass or fail.

hmmmm....i got a 49/80 and i got the big "FAIL"

a 46 out of 70 gives a 65.7%. do you think a 10 point curve is really on it?

if thats the case my 49 out of only 70 should give me a 70%

hmmm

 

[Guest]

Use the diagnostic sheet but don'tlet it fool you. Be aware of the " I only need a few more points" attitude. It is not the right one.

Luis is dead-on-the-money here. I made the mistake of getting my results back after not studying at all for the exam - 69. What would the casual engineer believe?? All I need to do is study a few things? Yeah .. that lead to two more unsuccessful examinations until I finally buckled down, put in some time, and get it done.

The diagnostic sheet does provide some insight into where you may have weaknesses, but you definitely need to be prepared for a DIFFERENT exam because it WILL be different.

JR

 

[Mike in Gastonia]

hmmmm....i got a 49/80 and i got the big "FAIL"
a 46 out of 70 gives a 65.7%. do you think a 10 point curve is really on it?

if thats the case my 49 out of only 70 should give me a 70%

hmmm

The 66 he is referring to is not % - it's a scaled score. Whatever is deemed to be the passing score is set to 70. If he got 46 out of 80 as his raw score and his scaled score is 66, then your 49 out of 80 raw score is probably a 69 - you probably only missed by a question or two. You'll knock it out next time!

 

[JeffM]

The 66 he is referring to is not % - it's a scaled score. Whatever is deemed to be the passing score is set to 70. If he got 46 out of 80 as his raw score and his scaled score is 66, then your 49 out of 80 raw score is probably a 69 - you probably only missed by a question or two. You'll knock it out next time!

I wonder if it would be worth it to protest my score. If I knew for sure how they did their voodoo magic scoring maybe they overlooked me by mistake along the way. I feel I'm probably right on the border of passing/failing. I don't really have anything to loose other than money to protest it.

 

[benbo]

If you don't care about the money, then you are right, you have nothing to lose. I will say that I have never heard of anyone protesting and having their scores reversed. Also, I believe I read some failing diagnostics from this or earlier exams that were up to 54/80 correct. It all depends on what the cut score for your particular exam was, and since NCEES keeps everyone in the dark it is a total gamble. It would be interesting to know if anybody out there ever had their score reversed?

Of course, just like in Las Vegas, if you actually get the magic reversal it would sure be worth the dough.

 

[vmi2000]

If you don't care about the money, then you are right, you have nothing to lose. I will say that I have never heard of anyone protesting and having their scores reversed. Also, I believe I read some failing diagnostics from this or earlier exams that were up to 54/80 correct. It all depends on what the cut score for your particular exam was, and since NCEES keeps everyone in the dark it is a total gamble. It would be interesting to know if anybody out there ever had their score reversed?
Of course, just like in Las Vegas, if you actually get the magic reversal it would sure be worth the dough.

Of course, regrading is dependent upon your location some states allow it, some do not. Virginia does not. Additionally, I knew one individual who paid to have his exam regraded and it actually came back lower. Go figure?