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This was my second time around and I will say.... Much more theory on this exam than the last. I spent an extra $1000 on reference materials this time around (ugh) and it saved me on more than a few questions that were theory based.

Two from OSHA, two from Construction Planning and Methods, two from SP-4, one from Design and Control of Concrete Mixtures and one from Minimum Building Loads (I think that's ASCE 7....). I hit the index of every reference I had and some of the questions did not have answers I could track down. At that point it's just a guess and hope for the best cause honestly, there's no formula to solve that stuff.

I studied my tail off this time around and worked all of the Goswami practice exams I could find and then all of the civil and construction exams I could get on amazon. Confidence is higher than the last go around, but for me... that's not saying much. If I manage to pass it will probably be by the skin of my teeth. And yes, good luck to us all!
got 2 questions straight out of the steel manual too! just so happen to be tabbed there i was excited about that

 
got 2 questions straight out of the steel manual too! just so happen to be tabbed there i was excited about that
Yes! I almost forgot about those! I hit the steel manual, found the reference and boom! Two answers easy. References are no joke and especially on this October exam. Soooo much theory.

 
Sounds like you civil guys have it a lot harder with respects to required references.  I had all my stuff in a little tote bag like you get for collecting freebies at a conference.

 
Sounds like you civil guys have it a lot harder with respects to required references.  I had all my stuff in a little tote bag like you get for collecting freebies at a conference.
I took the exam in Houston and definitely saw someone with a tiny tote bag for the afternoon and almost choked. I could not figure out which section of exams would only require that, but I had 50 lbs worth of books. I felt a little ridiculous, but used almost every single one that I had. Insanity.

 
Yes! I almost forgot about those! I hit the steel manual, found the reference and boom! Two answers easy. References are no joke and especially on this October exam. Soooo much theory.
shoot me an email id love to discuss further.. #therapyfortheengineersoul lol    XXXXX.

 
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That was just me personally, so take it with a  grain of salt.  I think it had more to do with my strong subjects being light on the practice exam, but showing up more on the actual exam.  I don't know if that's really accurate, but it feels that way.

I think the phases described in the OP are probably accurate.




 
I took thermal and fluid. I also looked through and solved every problem on NCEES sample exams -2001,2008,2011, and 2016, but I felt the actual exam is pretty harder than the sample problem sets. I am not sure I am able to make 70% mark... The morning session was okay compared to the afternoon. I think I guestimated 5 problems, but there should be some mistakes other 35 questions. For the afternoon session, that's just an OMG. After going through all problems in the afternoon, I have left 14 problems which I did not have a good clue at all. I was able to find answers to 5 problems by looking at RM, but overall I left random answers on 9 problems. Of course, there should be some mistakes on other 31 problems in the afternoon. I am leaning toward more pessimistic on my result.... 

 
For Mech TFS I had the MERM, Crane 410, Keenan's steam tables, a binder with SI steam tables, unit conversion book, and a binder with the MERM index, 11x17 psych chart and some misc cheat sheets I made with frequently used conversions/formulas I found myself using while studying.  I only cracked Crane 410 twice to double check some things and could've done without it.

 
I took the HVAC and Refrigeration and overall thought it was pretty easy. The practice tests had me pretty well prepared for all the calculation problems and then everything else I was able to find in ASHRAE. I was able to arrive at an answer that was one of the four choices on every problem but one. So as long as I didn't make unit mistakes and other assumption mistakes that would lead to me picking a "distraction" answer too many times I think I'm pretty confident.

 
I took the Civil-Construction as well (first-time taker). I took a Testmasters course and worked multiple NCEES practice exams and felt very prepared. Just as a lot of you have said, the AM session I found to be very difficult, more difficult I would say than the afternoon. Mainly for the reasons y'all have listed, it was very confusing on what exactly some were looking for. Not feeling too great about this go around, really hoping for a surprise in December, but if not, oh well. 

 
I took the Civil-Construction as well (first-time taker). I took a Testmasters course and worked multiple NCEES practice exams and felt very prepared. Just as a lot of you have said, the AM session I found to be very difficult, more difficult I would say than the afternoon. Mainly for the reasons y'all have listed, it was very confusing on what exactly some were looking for. Not feeling too great about this go around, really hoping for a surprise in December, but if not, oh well. 
I agree with you about AM being more difficult. was not happy about all the word problems.. especially when I spent 3 months doing math! 

 
I took Civil WRE and felt the morning session was very hard to gauge due to all the theory questions.  I think i did well on 20 problems and 50% sure on 10 questions and then 30% on the other ten problems.  Afternoon Water Resources I was doing well until I encountered the last 10 questions.  It felt like a furious calculator session in the afternoon session.  I was confident on about 25 problems and 70% on 10 questions and 30% on 5 other problems.  I guess my raw score could be anywhere from 52 to 65 which is pass or fail?  Not sure if its enough.  My previous raw score was only 41 (grade 61) so at least  I did much better. 

 
I took Civil WRE and felt the morning session was very hard to gauge due to all the theory questions.  I think i did well on 20 problems and 50% sure on 10 questions and then 30% on the other ten problems.  Afternoon Water Resources I was doing well until I encountered the last 10 questions.  It felt like a furious calculator session in the afternoon session.  I was confident on about 25 problems and 70% on 10 questions and 30% on 5 other problems.  I guess my raw score could be anywhere from 52 to 65 which is pass or fail?  Not sure if its enough.  My previous raw score was only 41 (grade 61) so at least  I did much better. 
I agree. The last 10 were ridiculous. Mostly water treatment and distribution I believe. Which my resources on that info was not relevant at all. I thought the morning session was pretty simple. I am hoping 35 out of 40. I only guessed on a couple, but it was educated. Afternoon, I am hoping the morning gave me a enough cushion to get through. Afternoon was much harder than I thought it was going to be.

 
I took civil - structural depth, I think xxxxx, xxxxxxx, and like two other words/conceptual problems were a little bit of a surprise to me in the AM. And I think I might have screwed up the PM big time... 

 
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