October 2007

[slates]

"I can't really tell if overall it was easier, or harder than the past 3 i've taken, but it sure was different."

I also took the transpo in the afternoon after still being undecided between that and WR. I had never taken the test before so not really sure what to expect outside of what I'd seen in sample problems and exams. The afternoon to me seemed easier than the morning, I was able to answer about 20 questions or so without too much hunting for info or even using a calculator within the first hour leaving lots of time to look up obscure items and double checking the ones I felt seemed too easy. Do you think they were practicing questions for the construction depth they plan to roll out in April? A lot of the questions I felt were construction related just curious if any repeat takers felt the same way.

 

[rudy]

Took exam in Austin, TX. I felt better about this one, than the last two times. But it depends on the cutoff score this time around. It seems like the exam started later. Got there at 7:20, exam started at around 8:10. It seems like they mixed examinees around. ChE's were at the front tables last two times. This time I was in the middle of the room with Civil guys on either side of me -- unless I was the only ChE (but I doubt that).

Before the test, the proctor annonunced that there was a conference going on and that they would be serving food on the other side of the wall. So it would get noisy; they should have planned better. It was a National Spine Conference.

Again, the tables were too small, with my books hanging a little over. Heard my neighbor's books fall once. As usual had to sit with one set of table legs between my legs or else I would have been too close to my neighbor.

Oh, I was able to keep two watches on my table. Maybe the new watch rule hasn't reached Texas yet. I was also able to get two pencils. I always ask for an extra one before the test, and use one as a book mark, or to switch them when my hand starts to hurt.

The afternoon started late too. We were to report back at 1:15, but the exam didn't start till 1:40 or so. The head proctor at the head of the room kept starring at the back of the room. Don't know what she was waiting for. Again, better organization was needed.

Then, as ol' deadbeat mentioned, there was a guy who needed medical attention. Some examinees were actually standing around him (maybe they were all proctors -- don't know). Said a quick prayer for him and tried my best to continue test -- felt bad. But I had to keep going. In Texas, you are only allowed 4 chances (no excused ones) to take test. If you fail, then you have to go thru the whole application process. Even with the commotion, no extra time was given.

 

[EngRanger]

Mechanical Engineering / Machine Design Depth in Columbus OH

The tables were about the right size and the temperature was comfortable. I had a stadium seat for a cushion and it came in very handy.

I brought an old pocket watch to keep time and was told I couldn't have it on the desk. <_<

The morning was hard for me, the afternoon seemed a lot easier. I took all the time in the morning, but left about 30 mins early in the afternoon.

I'm not a morning person. Didn't get good sleep in the hotel the night before and got up at 5:30. My head just wasn't sharp.

After the morning session I thought I was gonna get killed in the afternoon.

The afternoon was good, not perfect, but solid. The best indicator is probably how little time I spent looking at ref's compared to am.

I was one of the first guys in the exam room and had time to watch the others file into the room. Most people had a milk crate full of books and some had just Merm/Cerm. One dude had a rolling 3 shelf bookcase packed with books! I had to chuckle. :laugh:

 

[SSmith]

I took the exam in Lexington, KY.

Only memorable event was that the transformer that provided power to the room blew during lunch. After a delay, they told us at 130 that if the utility company cant get it fixed by 2, then they would have to reschedule the test. Thankfully they didnt have to worry about it because power was back on almost exactly at 2.

I thought the Industrial Engineering portion was fair. The morning was quite a bit easier than the afternoon, unless it was "brain fry" setting in. Unfortunately, the unit conversion for our test wasnt listed on any material I brought with me. Even when I got back with the internet as a resource, I still couldnt find the formula to make the conversion.

There were about 10-15% of the problems that I thought were "non-problems." That is they gave a ton of information and then posed a question where without working the problem you could see that only 1 answer would work. That was surprising.

I work as a reliability engineer, and felt reasonably confident about the reliability questions that were asked. Thats always a plus.

 

[busbeepbeep]

Only memorable event was that the transformer that provided power to the room blew during lunch

.
that's great...should have been first EE to get the power back on automatically passes.

 

[PE-ness]

Someone in my area farted during the entire morning session - SBDs - It was horrible - overwhelming at one point.

Sorry - got some bad dietary advice over on "the other board".

 

[SSmith]

.
that's great...should have been first EE to get the power back on automatically passes.

Before they told us it was a transformer that blew, I made a bet with some guy beside me that it would be an EE to tell us that the circuit breaker tripped.

I also forgot to mention that this is the only test that I have no idea how I did. If I pass, then Ill be comfortable knowing that I knew what I was taking. If I fail, then Ill be comfortable because I missed the "trick" of the problem and underthought it. But I dont really have a handle on either way.

 

[floridaengineer4now]

Been a while since I've been on here.

I thought the morning was pretty straight forward and I'm fairly confident I did well in most although I can think of a few stupid mistakes I made.

I took transporation in the afternoon and did not feel very confident afterwards. I felt as though NCEES purposely tries to look for problems that you will not have in any of your review material. There just didn't seem to be a lot of practical knowledge questions for transportation engineers. Maybe I focused on the wrong material while preparing, but there were several topics I would consider to be very important for engineers that just weren't covered. With the amount I prepared, I was hoping to leave the exam confident that I would pass, but unfortunatly, I didn't.

 

[GSavant]

Did anyone take the afternoon water, i thought it was fairly easy. But now I have a bad feeling about it because no-one seems to agree, either I did really good or I laid a goose egg.

 

[Jennifer Price]

Jenevans,
I agree with you, and I also took the transpo afternoon. I felt like I left at lunch with a solid 30 in the morning, and fairly comfortable with 4-5 more. I think I could easily get 33 in the morning, I sure hope that turns into a PE number!!! I felt OK with about 30 in the afternoon too, but I found this test to be WAY more ambiguous than the past exams I've taken, so I can't be as confident as I would like.

I also agree that I don't think I could have studied one more thing that would have helped me pass this test. I'm not sure what the goal is with this one, but it sure seems like they've changed the format slightly. It'll be interesting to see the pass percentage. I can't really tell if overall it was easier, or harder than the past 3 i've taken, but it sure was different.

Good luck to you though!

So what do we do if we fail? If I already feel like there are no other problems I could have worked to have passed this thing...what do I study if (please God don't let it be) I fail? I guess pick up some different problem books and work through them???

And good luck to you too

 

[JunkerJorg]

Did anyone take the afternoon water, i thought it was fairly easy. But now I have a bad feeling about it because no-one seems to agree, either I did really good or I laid a goose egg.

I found the afternoon WR to be pretty tough. I finished and went back to 3 problems , but only had 30 min left. As opposed to the morning which I finished in under 3 hours and had an entire hour to check answers, work on the harder questions and double check calcs.

 

[NCcarguy]

So what do we do if we fail? If I already feel like there are no other problems I could have worked to have passed this thing...what do I study if (please God don't let it be) I fail? I guess pick up some different problem books and work through them???
And good luck to you too

Honestly, I think I'm to the point that I just keep taking the test until I pass. I don't think I could study another thing! The ones that I could have missed were mainly the lookup problems, and those tend to be random, and not really something you would know, or be able to study....so I think we're just going to have to hope it's behind us!!! I have a good feeling about it, so maybe it's not going to even be an issue.

 

[roadmonkey]

I thought there was a lot of lookup questions on the Transpo. Afternoon

 

[IlPadrino]

So what do we do if we fail? If I already feel like there are no other problems I could have worked to have passed this thing...what do I study if (please God don't let it be) I fail? I guess pick up some different problem books and work through them???

Pick another depth! The advice I was given by Testmasters was that Transportation was a hard depth if you didn't have hands-on experience in the right areas.

 

[Jennifer Price]

Pick another depth! The advice I was given by Testmasters was that Transportation was a hard depth if you didn't have hands-on experience in the right areas.

I might go with the construction depth since that is where most of my work experience is. Hopefully, it will be non-issue though

 

[benbo]

I might go with the construction depth since that is where most of my work experience is. Hopefully, it will be non-issue though

Really, I am thinking positive thoughts for you folks. Almost everyone is uncertain whether they passed, and a lot of people get pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't start studying now anyway, they might end up changing the specs again!

 

[bigray76]

I might go with the construction depth since that is where most of my work experience is. Hopefully, it will be non-issue though

When I took the test in April '07, I had heard a construction module was coming out for the April '08 exam, but decided to just give Transpo a shot anyway despite working in construction. I ran across several afternoon questions I had to really try to figure out, but I think I was able to reverse engineer them from some of the answers. As long as you feel that you couldn't have prepped any more than you did, you did good. It is impossible to study every last topic. I left feeling I gave the test a good effort... and I did pass.

Good luck and I hope you get some good news in 10 - 12 weeks!

-Ray

 

[IlPadrino]

When I took the test in April '07, I had heard a construction module was coming out for the April '08 exam, but decided to just give Transpo a shot anyway despite working in construction. I ran across several afternoon questions I had to really try to figure out, but I think I was able to reverse engineer them from some of the answers. As long as you feel that you couldn't have prepped any more than you did, you did good. It is impossible to study every last topic. I left feeling I gave the test a good effort... and I did pass.
Good luck and I hope you get some good news in 10 - 12 weeks!

-Ray

Is it bad form if I start a pool where we can bet on results? After all, those that passed won't care and those that didn't can at least see the utility of their results. Should I get some sensitivity training soon?

Personally, I'd have bet against myself... at least $100. If I passed I'd still be glad and if I didn't the $100 would buy an awful lot of beer!

 

[ktulu]

bump

I thought that the new members would like to give their opinions about the exam.....

ktulu

 

[civilsid]

Well folks, I must say that it is very relaxing to read all these stories since I faced the brutality in April. I still wish I knew what my score was but, oh well, as long as I got the stamp, that is what matters.

Regarding the varied confidence levels that you are all talking about, I had two extremes. I felt very confident about the national exam but very NOT confidant about the California seismic exam. Thankfully, I passed both. I really thought that state exam was a damn train wreck; I figured there was no way I passed.

I feel bad for all you guys (and ladies) because there is nothing worse than the wait. It sucks. Welcome to hell. Several months of it.