Surveying Exam

[Larry]

April, 2001 was when I first ventured to Trenton to take the EIT or FE, I went back for round 2 in October with a better result. I then moved, got sidetracked with surveying and headed to Pennsylvania to take the Surveying Exam in April 2004. I then got my act in gear for the PE, in April 2008 and again in October 2008. With the PE in hand, and at the request of my company, I headed back to Surveying, October 2009 for the National exam, April 2010 to retake on Ohio State Specific, April 2011 for PA, a couple years off to clear my head and it all comes full circle as I headed back to Trenton to last week for the New Jersey Surveying exam. Hopefully it will have been my last exam.

I met a guy this April from South Carolina that was sitting for his 33rd Surveying License. I definitely don't have the time or patience for 30 more tests, that's 17 years of tests...crazy

Because I'm that type of person...I still have, and looked at, my old application info for the NJ EIT. One of the papers mentions that beginning with the 2002 exam everyone must use the NCEES pencils....so maybe they didn't have mechanical pencils before that...wow that was 12 years ago...I feel old.

 

[knight1fox3]

I met a guy this April from South Carolina that was sitting for his 33rd Surveying License. I definitely don't have the time or patience for 30 more tests, that's 17 years of tests...crazy

:blink:

 

[Sapper PE LS]

I met a guy this April from South Carolina that was sitting for his 33rd Surveying License. I definitely don't have the time or patience for 30 more tests, that's 17 years of tests...crazy

That's not only insane, it's completely unnecessary... I mean who really, honestly, does work in 33 states? That guy just wanted to plaster his wall with licenses.

 

[Larry]

I agree, but it'd be fun, being as I'm from the East Coast, to have a license from Hawaii or Alaska. You know, just in case my company ever needs to do some work out there. Almost forgot about Guam and Puerto Rico....might need those as well.

 

[engineergurl]

wasn't there someone who wanted to be a PE and a Dr and something else too? they had it all figured into like an 8 year plan... would have been back a LONG time ago

 

[Sapper PE LS]

Yes, I vaguely remember that guy. It would have been a few years back. I'm guessing he's achieved none of those goals yet at this point... I wanna say he was in college at the time.

 

[ptatohed]

Larry, when did you take your first NCEES exam? My first was FE in April 2000, then FE in October 2000. I have no idea if they even gave pencils out then. I do remember bringing my calculator to that exam, but can't remember if I had to bring my own pencils or not.

April, 2001 was when I first ventured to Trenton to take the EIT or FE, I went back for round 2 in October with a better result. I then moved, got sidetracked with surveying and headed to Pennsylvania to take the Surveying Exam in April 2004. I then got my act in gear for the PE, in April 2008 and again in October 2008. With the PE in hand, and at the request of my company, I headed back to Surveying, October 2009 for the National exam, April 2010 to retake on Ohio State Specific, April 2011 for PA, a couple years off to clear my head and it all comes full circle as I headed back to Trenton to last week for the New Jersey Surveying exam. Hopefully it will have been my last exam.

I met a guy this April from South Carolina that was sitting for his 33rd Surveying License. I definitely don't have the time or patience for 30 more tests, that's 17 years of tests...crazy

<He's doing it for the pencils!>

Because I'm that type of person...I still have, and looked at, my old application info for the NJ EIT. One of the papers mentions that beginning with the 2002 exam everyone must use the NCEES pencils....so maybe they didn't have mechanical pencils before that...wow that was 12 years ago...I feel old.

This is what I remember too. When I took the FE in Oct 2001, I recall it being the last administration where we would use our own pencils and calculators.

 

[Sapper PE LS]

Okay, yeah, I didn't remember any pencils from the FE attempts back in 2000, but I didn't want to say there were none and we had to bring our own in case I just simply didn't remember it.

That said, I certainly remember the PE pencils. I was the same as you Larry, twice on the FE, twice on the PE. I'd like to say it was because I was really busy and life just got in the way of studying, but the truth is that I just didn't study like I should have the first time on each of those. I nailed the FS first time though, so that's good.

Hopefully I passed the PS and all I have to take in October is the State Specific. Still kind of kicking myself for not realizing I had to register for that separately.

 

[ptatohed]

Okay, yeah, I didn't remember any pencils from the FE attempts back in 2000, but I didn't want to say there were none and we had to bring our own in case I just simply didn't remember it.

That said, I certainly remember the PE pencils. I was the same as you Larry, twice on the FE, twice on the PE. I'd like to say it was because I was really busy and life just got in the way of studying, but the truth is that I just didn't study like I should have the first time on each of those. I nailed the FS first time though, so that's good.

Hopefully I passed the PS and all I have to take in October is the State Specific. Still kind of kicking myself for not realizing I had to register for that separately.

Did you take the FS before you passed the PE? I thought PEs were exempt from taking the FS.

 

[Sapper PE LS]

In California, I think that's the case, but only if you have a CA PE. In Virginia, where I took all exams except PS, you are not exempt from the FS if you have the PE. But, the order of taking is as follows:

FE - APR 2000

FE - OCT 2000

PE - APR 2006

PE - OCT 2006

FS - OCT 2010

PS - APR 2014

 

[Sapper PE LS]

The bad news is that my probability of success based on historical performance isn't looking good...

FE - APR 2000 - FAIL

FE - OCT 2000 - PASS

PE - APR 2006 - FAIL

PE - OCT 2006 - PASS

FS - OCT 2010 - PASS

PS - APR 2014 - ????

Dammit, now that I've looked at it in that format, I won't be able to stop dwelling on it.

 

[Larry]

I don't understand why the FS would be exempt if you've got a PE, there's some stuff on the FS that would blow PE's minds. Like all those fancy surveying terms, perches, rods, chains...survey feet, international feet....and here in Philadelphia, we've got something called District Standard Measure...where if the deed says it's 100 feet 0 inches, it could be anything from 100'-1" to 100'-4" depending on the part of the city you're in. Yeah, that nonsense is really too much for the PE's in my office.

 

[Sapper PE LS]

Well, I think in CA they figure in order to get the civil PE you have to take the civil survey exam and I'm assuming similar topics?? I am not entirely sure though.

 

[NJmike PE]

The bad news is that my probability of success based on historical performance isn't looking good...

FE - APR 2000 - FAIL

FE - OCT 2000 - PASS

PE - APR 2006 - FAIL

PE - OCT 2006 - PASS

FS - OCT 2010 - PASS

PS - APR 2014 - ????

Dammit, now that I've looked at it in that format, I won't be able to stop dwelling on it.

How many days left to wait?.....

 

[ptatohed]

I don't understand why the FS would be exempt if you've got a PE, there's some stuff on the FS that would blow PE's minds. Like all those fancy surveying terms, perches, rods, chains...survey feet, international feet....and here in Philadelphia, we've got something called District Standard Measure...where if the deed says it's 100 feet 0 inches, it could be anything from 100'-1" to 100'-4" depending on the part of the city you're in. Yeah, that nonsense is really too much for the PE's in my office.

Well, I think in CA they figure in order to get the civil PE you have to take the civil survey exam and I'm assuming similar topics?? I am not entirely sure though.

That's what I was going to say. In my opinion, if you are a professional engineer, you should at least know the fundamentals of surveying. Also, RCEs are authorized to do a great deal of surveying themselves (at least here in CA). They can perform most surveys except those that require the establishment/re-establishment of property lines (CA RCEs licensed before 1982 have full Survey authority). And, as Sapper mentioned, all CA Civil PEs have passed a Survey Principles Exam.

 

[Sapper PE LS]

Yeah, that's right. One of the guys I worked with at USACE San Fran District was a PE long enough ago that he was able to be a surveyor as well. In fact, he ran his own surveying firm for a number of years.

 

[Sapper PE LS]

I know it's early yet but do surveying exam em results typically come a little bit earlier than the engineering exam results?

 

[NJmike PE]

I thought about a week earlier.

 

[Sapper PE LS]

I'm ready for results already.

 

[Larry]

Right there with you....NJ uses PCS and I'm on that site every hour checking for updates.