true... But I think that there are reasons technology has been moving towards higher speeds, instant feed back and all that.... one of those reasons is that people don't like waiting for test results!
It's not that we're obsessed with instant gratification as much as we are constantly striving for bigger, faster, smarter, more durable, and most importantly more efficient. If we didn't do this as humans, wouldn't engineers no longer be needed? I always thought this was the entire underlying principle for engineering. One of my professors in college summed up engineering when she was explaining the reasoning behind learning the derrivation of some of our equations: any monkey can be trained to use an equation, an engineer knows how to manipulate it to work better.
I will agree that there are some things that just go way beyond what is necessary, and are borderline obsurd.
IMO, there are several steps in the NCEES grading perameters that could easily be removed or done in a more efficient mannor. Why do they need to wait until after the exams are taken to ensure the machines are working properly? This could easily be done in the weeks leading up to the exam. With the invention of these amazing things like excel spreadsheets and computer scanned answer sheets, there is no reason that the raw grading and basic analysis couldn't be done in a day or two (my wife's scantron exam results are returned to her the same day at the school she attends). The cut-scores can be calculated as soon as the exam is written. Why do they need to wait for the results to calculate the preliminary cut score? The exam is supposed to be objective and not set a predetermined number of pass/fail applications. Obviously the cut-score may need to be adjusted if a "rogue" question/answer is found, but how long would it take to make an adjustment - an hour or two, maybe?
So once you consider the basic administrative things (packaging up the exams - Monday, sending them off to South Carolina or each particular state's office - 3 days, sorting - a week, analyzing "rogue" questions/answers & adjust cut score- a week, and packaging up results - 3 days), there really is no reason that something like this couldn't be done in under a month. I understand that some states take it a bit further with board meetings to approve cut scores, review the results, adjust pass/fail criteria, etc. but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect results in under 4 weeks.
The only other thing I could think would slow things down would be an understaffed / under-supplied grading crew. If all of the exams (PE, FE, PS, LS, Mechanical, electrical, etc.) are all funnelled into one machine one at a time by a single person who is years beyond the governmental expected retirement age, then yeah, it could take a bit longer. However, a group that is comprised and operated by engineers, I doubt it.
