Just took CA Survey Oct 2012

[RIP - VTEnviro]

OK folks (myself included), let's get back to the topic at hand.

 

[npd5050]

Took this test for the second time this October.

My friend who passed it after his second try was asked by the board to join a testing group shortly after we all finished. They all got an extra hour, so 3.5 hours total vs. 2.5 for the 55 questions.

Nobody got over a 75%. There were multiple problems that people thought were unsolvable. There were also problems that they were able to complete but told the board that they were not fair given the time. A few instances the big dick or big cheese, whatever you want to call him, head of the exam or something, PLS, said "what you guys don't get this" referring to a worded GPS problem and everyone agreed on "No".

One person got a 15%.

My friend who just passed it in April said he barely passed this as well.

What a joke.

Seriously, ask us what you want us to know and give us ample time to solve the problems. Just like the real world.

 

[ptatohed]

Took this test for the second time this October.

My friend who passed it after his second try was asked by the board to join a testing group shortly after we all finished. They all got an extra hour, so 3.5 hours total vs. 2.5 for the 55 questions.

Nobody got over a 75%. There were multiple problems that people thought were unsolvable. There were also problems that they were able to complete but told the board that they were not fair given the time. A few instances the big dick or big cheese, whatever you want to call him, head of the exam or something, PLS, said "what you guys don't get this" referring to a worded GPS problem and everyone agreed on "No".

One person got a 15%.

My friend who just passed it in April said he barely passed this as well.

What a joke.

Seriously, ask us what you want us to know and give us ample time to solve the problems. Just like the real world.

I'm confused. How did your friend know he passed immediately after he took the exam (I assume he took it in Fall 2012 since you said there were 55 questions). Results are not out yet. And what do you mean "after we all finished"? With CBT, everyone takes it at a different time, right?

P.S. Relax dude. It's really not that hard of a test. The difficulty level of any given question is usually low to medium. Where the true difficulty is, is with the time constraints. But every examinee experiences the same constraints (and people have been passing this exam for years and years). You only need ~50% to pass.

 

[Eugene Underwood]

npd5050,

I also took some engineering classes at Cal Poly SLO, when did you attend and what classes?

I am confused also about how your friend knows his score. I haven't received mine yet and I'm real tired of waiting on this $%@$%^$% Board.

What do you mean by "One person got a 15%"? on the exam? This is my second time taking the surveying test and I think I should pass this time. I don't remember any questions on GPS...man, I hope I didn't screw that up!

Euge

 

[milecargo]

Took this test for the second time this October.

My friend who passed it after his second try was asked by the board to join a testing group shortly after we all finished. They all got an extra hour, so 3.5 hours total vs. 2.5 for the 55 questions.

Nobody got over a 75%. There were multiple problems that people thought were unsolvable. There were also problems that they were able to complete but told the board that they were not fair given the time. A few instances the big dick or big cheese, whatever you want to call him, head of the exam or something, PLS, said "what you guys don't get this" referring to a worded GPS problem and everyone agreed on "No".

One person got a 15%.

My friend who just passed it in April said he barely passed this as well.

What a joke.

Seriously, ask us what you want us to know and give us ample time to solve the problems. Just like the real world.

I'm confused. How did your friend know he passed immediately after he took the exam (I assume he took it in Fall 2012 since you said there were 55 questions). Results are not out yet. And what do you mean "after we all finished"? With CBT, everyone takes it at a different time, right?

P.S. Relax dude. It's really not that hard of a test. The difficulty level of any given question is usually low to medium. Where the true difficulty is, is with the time constraints. But every examinee experiences the same constraints (and people have been passing this exam for years and years). You only need ~50% to pass.

npd5050 was talking about a session held by the Board in which people take the exam and rate the difficulty in order to provide feedback to the Board to set the curve.

 

[randykong2010]

kind of feel bad for the guys who was surprised by the 55 questions instead of 50

I took both the seismic and surveying on the last week of the exam(Friday and Sat) and I was expecting 50 question from the beginning but then I learned that the exam has 55 instead from the comments above (so it was not a great surprise for me)

the surveying exam takes me the entire 2.5 hours to finish and it was long and somewhaht not realistic

the seismic was a little better, it only took me 2 hours to finish (though I was expecting I would not even be able to finish after I took the surveying exam)

anyways, I am waiting for the results, anybody knows when they will release the result for these 2

waiting for the NCEES to release the 8 hour exam score as well

just hope I can pass all 3 together

 

[jmmcmillen]

i was surprised by the 55 questions on both the surveying and seismic as well. I didnt even know this site existed until after the tests and i started searching for info on when the results would be out. I took a review class for both exams and was told REPEATEDLY by the instructor that there would be 50 questions. Also, the books i used to study said 50 questions (and these were the most recent editions). So 55 was definitely a shock.

I agree it's on the testee to know and understand the format of the exam. But what do you do when you go to what should be reputable sources, and they give you bad information?

I was told by prometric that the extra 5 questions are just research/test questions and would be thrown out. Hopefully i didnt waste time on a question that doesnt count anyway. But then again, based on some of the comments here...who knows if prometric really knows anything.

 

[npd5050]

Took this test for the second time this October.

My friend who passed it after his second try was asked by the board to join a testing group shortly after we all finished. They all got an extra hour, so 3.5 hours total vs. 2.5 for the 55 questions.

Nobody got over a 75%. There were multiple problems that people thought were unsolvable. There were also problems that they were able to complete but told the board that they were not fair given the time. A few instances the big dick or big cheese, whatever you want to call him, head of the exam or something, PLS, said "what you guys don't get this" referring to a worded GPS problem and everyone agreed on "No".

One person got a 15%.

My friend who just passed it in April said he barely passed this as well.

What a joke.

Seriously, ask us what you want us to know and give us ample time to solve the problems. Just like the real world.

I'm confused. How did your friend know he passed immediately after he took the exam (I assume he took it in Fall 2012 since you said there were 55 questions). Results are not out yet. And what do you mean "after we all finished"? With CBT, everyone takes it at a different time, right?

P.S. Relax dude. It's really not that hard of a test. The difficulty level of any given question is usually low to medium. Where the true difficulty is, is with the time constraints. But every examinee experiences the same constraints (and people have been passing this exam for years and years). You only need ~50% to pass.

"You only need 50%" to pass and on average 35-40% of people achieve this (posted statistics). This isn't good. The majority of the people sitting for these exams are not slouches. Plus, this exam material isn't representative of the real world. They are more scholastic. It feels as though you are sitting for a common final for a dynamics class. Roll the dice and hope you pass. What's up with that?

How about providing us with real world problems that we face as engineers and allowing us to take the exam with ample time. Oh I know why..because most of us if given enough time can solve problems. If this happened they wouldn't be getting revenue from the 60% of repeat takers. Damn scammers.

I passed these BTW and am still bitter about this system.

 

[ptatohed]

Took this test for the second time this October.

My friend who passed it after his second try was asked by the board to join a testing group shortly after we all finished. They all got an extra hour, so 3.5 hours total vs. 2.5 for the 55 questions.

Nobody got over a 75%. There were multiple problems that people thought were unsolvable. There were also problems that they were able to complete but told the board that they were not fair given the time. A few instances the big dick or big cheese, whatever you want to call him, head of the exam or something, PLS, said "what you guys don't get this" referring to a worded GPS problem and everyone agreed on "No".

One person got a 15%.

My friend who just passed it in April said he barely passed this as well.

What a joke.

Seriously, ask us what you want us to know and give us ample time to solve the problems. Just like the real world.

I'm confused. How did your friend know he passed immediately after he took the exam (I assume he took it in Fall 2012 since you said there were 55 questions). Results are not out yet. And what do you mean "after we all finished"? With CBT, everyone takes it at a different time, right?

P.S. Relax dude. It's really not that hard of a test. The difficulty level of any given question is usually low to medium. Where the true difficulty is, is with the time constraints. But every examinee experiences the same constraints (and people have been passing this exam for years and years). You only need ~50% to pass.

"You only need 50%" to pass and on average 35-40% of people achieve this (posted statistics). This isn't good. The majority of the people sitting for these exams are not slouches. Plus, this exam material isn't representative of the real world. They are more scholastic. It feels as though you are sitting for a common final for a dynamics class. Roll the dice and hope you pass. What's up with that?

How about providing us with real world problems that we face as engineers and allowing us to take the exam with ample time. Oh I know why..because most of us if given enough time can solve problems. If this happened they wouldn't be getting revenue from the 60% of repeat takers. Damn scammers.

I passed these BTW and am still bitter about this system.

I think a 40% passing rate is just about right. Would you want 100% of the examinees to pass? If one wants to pass, one has to study hard and make sure they're in the top 40%. Seems fair to me.

You don't think the CA Survey exam contains real world problems/topics? The CA Survey Exam is the one exam I feel is most reflective of 'real life' out of the three (Surv, Seis, 8hr). Earthwork/grading/quantities, slopes/grades/%s/angles, reading contours and plan and profiles and plan/map scales, elevations, site layout, stationing, etc. These are the basis of most all civil engineering projects.

 

[McEngr]

Welp - am I in for a shock? I just passed the 16 hour structural exam in April 2012 and have been given approval to take the seismic survey to have an SE in California (I already have 3 years of responsible charge experience as a PE, so please no lectures...).

Anyhow, this thread has me a little worried. I was honestly thinking of going into the seismic exam without studying at all, and I thought about taking a week to study for surveying. I "overstudied" for the Civil-PE - probably over 500 hours because I was so scared of environmental problems in 2006. Now, I suppose I should take the survey test pretty serious because other SE's on this forum seem to have a hard time.

By the way, the last time I held a "stick" was in 1998 in my Surveying class. Strictly a structural engineer, no more, no less...

 

[b_f_well]

Any updates to the exam or same thing? (figures booklet, cramped space, can mark questions and go back)

 

[ace]

taken the survey exam with prometric for the first time on 4/22, and needed to know how can we voiced our opinion to the board regarding this method of testing. Granted that it is flexible in time & location, everything about it was frustrating. First thing was told to me that i could not have any posted notes on my binders, and they need to be completely removed from the pages versus relocating them onto the pages. this messed up my preparation! Next i had to take everything out from my rolling briefcase, since it would not be allowed in the exam room, it barely fit into the locker (i was sweatily frantic & totally forgot about what i need to do with the exam). After a brief visit to the restroom, i came back to the waiting room and waited...pull out pockets, pants above ankles, backpocket, metal detector....felt like i had committed a crime at this point. Once cleaned, i was asked to sit down and a brief interrogation & introduction...finally i was asked to wait by the door & donot approach until the station is cleared.

small desk space, cannot make mark on screen, had to click back and forth from the exhibits and questions, did not have enuf time....

hated the experience, rather go with the traditional testing method, just my 2cents!

 

[Lomarandil]

I found the prometric system excellent. It was great to be able to schedule the exams anytime within that 3 week window.

Sorry ace, but I found the guidelines pretty clear on what was or was not allowed -- that wasn't a problem for me.

Security was strict, but it's less than the TSA, and I would have been subjected to that if I'd flown to California to take the exams as in previous years.

I was fortunate in that my testing center took a look at my stack of references and sent me to a testing station with more tabletop room.

I found the exhibits easy to use (way easier than the paper workbook it sounds like was used previously).

As for time, I happened to have enough for survey, and not enough for seismic. But that's as much about individual preparation as anything.

Lo

 

[b_f_well]

I didn't feel that the test followed the test plan very closely. Can anyone second that? My friend said it did but i didn't think so.

 

[CAPLS]

b_f_well,

Please email me at [email protected] with your thoughts on "...not following the test plan very closely". We welcome those comments and would rather you voice those in direct communication to the Board rather than possibly opening yourself up to accidently discussing content in an open forum. We are always interested in hearing what the candidates think, especially when it pertains to a perception that the test plan is not followed.

Thanks