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Passed both bridge components first try in Texas!  A summary of my background: MS and PhD in structural/EQ engineering.  Several years of experience in academia and the private sector.  Studied for about 350 hours.  A summary of my experience during the exam: struggled a lot with timing in the AM but felt better (not great though) in the PM.  Overall I did not feel very satisfied after the exam and would not have been surprised if I failed. 

I hope this helps some of you who have tried and failed several times.  I truly think this exam is meant to be a humbling experience.  Just keep trying and you will persevere. 

 
YAZRABADI said:
Anybody took lateral Buildings that give me some tips for best material that can help me pass this thing in three months.... 

Please help!!
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I had no design experience high seismic area but was able to pass lateral first try.  I mainly used the Williams Seismic and Wind Forces book and the SEAOC seismic design manual (can't remember which volume, but the one that is all problems similar to morBing questions).  The Williams book does a good job of going into almost every type lateral design especially AISC 341.  Make sure you know AISC 341 and ACI Chapter 21 (read and mark that Chapter a lot).  I also had most of the PPI material but those two books were the most beneficial.

 
Thank you ATLAC47, I will take your advice and let you know how it works. I am now working CA so that should help. One question, could you lead me to which SEAOC for seismic and was it just analysis or design problems for concerete and steel. 

 
ATLAC47 said:
I had no design experience high seismic area but was able to pass lateral first try.  I mainly used the Williams Seismic and Wind Forces book and the SEAOC seismic design manual (can't remember which volume, but the one that is all problems similar to morBing questions).  The Williams book does a good job of going into almost every type lateral design especially AISC 341.  Make sure you know AISC 341 and ACI Chapter 21 (read and mark that Chapter a lot).  I also had most of the PPI material but those two books were the most beneficial.
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Thank you ATLAC47, I will take your advice and let you know how it works. I am now working CA so that should help. One question, could you lead me to which SEAOC for seismic and was it just analysis or design problems for concerete and steel. 

 
Failed the vertical bridge exam. I'm pretty frustrated about this. I studied for nearly everyday for 4 months straight. I took a review course, attended nearly every lecture, and a lot of topics they went over didn't show up on the exam. I'm glad Massachusetts wait until first thing Monday morning to ruin my week. I'm debating on whether or not if I should just switch to the Civil PE.

 
Yeahright226 said:
Failed the vertical bridge exam. I'm pretty frustrated about this. I studied for nearly everyday for 4 months straight. I took a review course, attended nearly every lecture, and a lot of topics they went over didn't show up on the exam. I'm glad Massachusetts wait until first thing Monday morning to ruin my week. I'm debating on whether or not if I should just switch to the Civil PE.
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I can completely understand how you feel.  I've been at this for 2 years passed vertical a while back but failed lateral 4 times.  I have taken 3 courses total and have studied overall about 800 hrs for lateral.  I am about to loose my job because of this and am looking to change my career before I go through a divorce as well.  The test has a very large component of luck involved and it's all about how you play the game with the morning portion especially.  

Biggest thing to realize is this test had nothing to do with how good of an engineer you are, absolutely nothing.  Some people are just better test takers and honestly some people just get lucky.

 
Mithrandir918 said:
I can completely understand how you feel.  I've been at this for 2 years passed vertical a while back but failed lateral 4 times.  I have taken 3 courses total and have studied overall about 800 hrs for lateral.  I am about to loose my job because of this and am looking to change my career before I go through a divorce as well.  The test has a very large component of luck involved and it's all about how you play the game with the morning portion especially.  

Biggest thing to realize is this test had nothing to do with how good of an engineer you are, absolutely nothing.  Some people are just better test takers and honestly some people just get lucky.
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I appreciate your advice. Your experience sounds harsh. I'm gonna let the dust settle before making my next move in terms of licensing exams go.

 
Yeahright226 said:
Failed the vertical bridge exam. I'm pretty frustrated about this. I studied for nearly everyday for 4 months straight. I took a review course, attended nearly every lecture, and a lot of topics they went over didn't show up on the exam. I'm glad Massachusetts wait until first thing Monday morning to ruin my week. I'm debating on whether or not if I should just switch to the Civil PE.
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I feel your pain, I failed vertical due to an unexpected problem and that was without a review course. All the feedback I heard from exam takers made it sound like NCEES gave "tricky" problems deliberately. That seems completely unfair to take an exam of this difficulty and throw in atypical problems that are hard to study for. I hope this isn't a trend.

Mithrandir918 said:
I can completely understand how you feel.  I've been at this for 2 years passed vertical a while back but failed lateral 4 times.  I have taken 3 courses total and have studied overall about 800 hrs for lateral.  I am about to loose my job because of this and am looking to change my career before I go through a divorce as well.  The test has a very large component of luck involved and it's all about how you play the game with the morning portion especially.  

Biggest thing to realize is this test had nothing to do with how good of an engineer you are, absolutely nothing.  Some people are just better test takers and honestly some people just get lucky.
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Geez, I don't usually suggest people stop trying to pass this exam but that's rough. I agree that there is some luck involved but I'm generally a terrible test taker so I think some skill is involved as well. That said, my exam attempts didn't seem to involve "trick" problems like the recent tests seemed to have so maybe I did have it easier? Best of luck whichever way you go; I hope it all works out.

 
TehMightyEngineer said:
I feel your pain, I failed vertical due to an unexpected problem and that was without a review course. All the feedback I heard from exam takers made it sound like NCEES gave "tricky" problems deliberately. That seems completely unfair to take an exam of this difficulty and throw in atypical problems that are hard to study for. I hope this isn't a trend.

Geez, I don't usually suggest people stop trying to pass this exam but that's rough. I agree that there is some luck involved but I'm generally a terrible test taker so I think some skill is involved as well. That said, my exam attempts didn't seem to involve "trick" problems like the recent tests seemed to have so maybe I did have it easier? Best of luck whichever way you go; I hope it all works out.
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I took your PPI class.  Took mine in Illinois, still awaiting results...But I felt two afternoon problems are sort of "trick problems."  While fair in the fact that they were topics found within the codes, there wasn't a lot of additional resources on these two topics, so having examples to work through didn't really exist while studying for the exam, and I'm sure NCEES had to have known that fact.  I felt like I made my way through them well enough (I hope.) but they were surely very unexpected.  

 
Chris1426 said:
I took your PPI class.  Took mine in Illinois, still awaiting results...But I felt two afternoon problems are sort of "trick problems."  While fair in the fact that they were topics found within the codes, there wasn't a lot of additional resources on these two topics, so having examples to work through didn't really exist while studying for the exam, and I'm sure NCEES had to have known that fact.  I felt like I made my way through them well enough (I hope.) but they were surely very unexpected.  
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Yeah, NCEES can easily find what the general study topics are and what material is available for a typical engineer studying for this exam. If they're using this to deliberately make exam topics that are hard to study for then I would be very upset.

Though they supposedly tailor the passing score of the exam based on the exams difficulty compared to some benchmark. Thus, if nobody had good study reference for those problems then they should be bringing the cut score down. That may be the case as I've gotten a response from a number of people who passed and didn't think they were going to. Hopefully you find similarly when IL gets back to you.

 
TehMightyEngineer said:
Yeah, NCEES can easily find what the general study topics are and what material is available for a typical engineer studying for this exam. If they're using this to deliberately make exam topics that are hard to study for then I would be very upset.

Though they supposedly tailor the passing score of the exam based on the exams difficulty compared to some benchmark. Thus, if nobody had good study reference for those problems then they should be bringing the cut score down. That may be the case as I've gotten a response from a number of people who passed and didn't think they were going to. Hopefully you find similarly when IL gets back to you.
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I also took your class a while back.  

One question, I know NCEES recommends a passing cut score to each state but the states have the option to either accept NCEES recommendations or not.  To me this could mean that some states could set their own passing scores thus making it more difficult or easier to pass depending on the state.  NCEES does not provide passing rates by state but as a whole only.

 
Georiga gives(at least they used to) a 5 pt veteran preference for the PE, not sure about the SE.  THat could be difference btwn P/F for different states that don't give the bonus pts

 
Mithrandir918 said:
I also took your class a while back. 
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Yep, I remember you being in an earlier lecture. Still bothers me that you haven't achieved success after all the hard work you've put in. If you do decide on another crack at the exam hopefully I can help you out with it.

Mithrandir918 said:
One question, I know NCEES recommends a passing cut score to each state but the states have the option to either accept NCEES recommendations or not.  To me this could mean that some states could set their own passing scores thus making it more difficult or easier to pass depending on the state.  NCEES does not provide passing rates by state but as a whole only.
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Entirely true, but that would mean that you would think that someone would have run into an issue where they apply for an SE license through comity and get rejected despite having passed in another state? Also, it seems like then there would be some issue where your NCEES record says you passed but your state doesn't? While I agree that the states are given this option I suspect that the states all accept the NCEES passing scores. Otherwise what was the point of developing the 16-hour SE exam which was meant to satisfy all the various states and create a unified SE exam rather then the scattered requirements that varied from state to state.

I fully admit that I really don't know, though. It's hard to tell either way and I doubt we'll ever find out conclusively.

 
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Passed Day 1.  Failed day 2.  Screwed up the morning portion somehow.  21/40 Acceptable/Acceptable/Acceptable/Improvement Req'd.

 

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