Hey Y'all. So, it's over...what did you think? For me, the morning was awful. The afternoon was ok. My 2 year old got sick Thursday night, so I went into the test on 3.5 hours sleep. I was tired, but the morning would have been awful even if I wasn't tired. I'm definitely thinking I didn't pass which sucks because right now I'm pregnant, but in October, I'll have a 6 week old. Here's to hoping I did better than I really think - I'm not feeling a 70.
What did you think?
- Thread starter Baconbit
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FLBuff PE
Multi-disciplinary engineer
I felt similar after my exam in October '08 (excepting the pregnant part). I was sick the week of the exam, and did not feel too hot after the morning portion. Keep your hopes up, don't give in to the dark side. :vadar: Who knows? You may be pleasantly surprised in about 3 months. In the mean-time, stick around and kill some of that wait time here. If you get the dreaded letter, we're here to help and support you!
I didn't have a good feeling about either part. I only feel real confident on 50 of the questions and questionable on another 10-15. I had to WAG several of the afternoon lookups. The test was nothing like I expected. Most of what the NC State DVDs taught was useless on this particular exam. Some of the air was applicable and that was just about it. I hope to get lucky.
A guy a work today told me the scale was a myth. Anyone ever hear this? He said you need a straight 70 to pass. I dont think that is true after seeing some of the failure diagnostics because the numbers didnt add up. Like the morning session of a friend of mine had a 53 and a 54 as percentages which is impossible with out some serious manipulation. This isnt the first time I thought this guy was full of shit. Can anyone help me verify?
SPSUEngineer
Civil Site Engineer
I feel crushed after the exam. I prepared (or thought I did before last Friday) pretty intense for about 3 months.
My problem was I did not have the proper books for the Construction Afternoon portion. It is fairly new and their just isn't many (or any good) study books out there that I've been able to find. The books I used to study did not adequately reflect the complexity of the real exam. The problems I encounted were much more difficult and I froze up on many of them.
Its going to be a long long 3 months but I don't expect to pass. Maybe I'll try to another module next time that has more study materials available.
My problem was I did not have the proper books for the Construction Afternoon portion. It is fairly new and their just isn't many (or any good) study books out there that I've been able to find. The books I used to study did not adequately reflect the complexity of the real exam. The problems I encounted were much more difficult and I froze up on many of them.
Its going to be a long long 3 months but I don't expect to pass. Maybe I'll try to another module next time that has more study materials available.
SPSUEngineer
Civil Site Engineer
The Reference Manuals by Michael Lindeburg, PE explain the scoring process very well as does the NCEES website. NCEES does use a variable cut score. They use statistics to find out which cut score is applicable to each exam. It varies from exam to exam. Your friend is incorrect.
See this link for more info: http://www.ncees.org/exams/scoring/
mcap8
Active member
Sorry to hear about the little one getting sick, but I'm selfishly taking some comfort in hearing that you thought the morning session was rough too. Just remember the 70 is an adjusted score, there is still hope!
I felt very rushed in the morning. Then in the afternoon, I finished about 45 minutes early and was able to re-check things, and felt pretty confident about the afternoon session. So, at least from my perspective, I felt the level of difficulty and time required to solve the problems was disproportionate from morning to afternoon. This is not how I expected the exam to go for me as I have about 10 years in wastewater design / NPDES compliance. Any thoughts?
klk
Well-known member
I have two friends that took the environmental exam and heard similar comments from them. They had more time in the afternoon than they did in the morning.
I took the exam in October 2007 and remember feeling exactly the same way (I am a water/wastewater engineer). I think some types of questions just take longer to work out than others.
Yep...I'm with y'all. Just think there was a larger number of problems in the morning that took more time to work. I actually skipped those at first...when I read the problem and thought it would take me more than 5 minutes to solve, I skipped it to get to quicker ones - with the intention of coming back to the others later. Problem is - I ran out of time...didn't manage my time well at all in the morning.
I felt the same way. The morning was rough for me - I didn't finish all the morning questions and found some of the quantitative questions in the morning to be too lengthy or too difficult. A few of them completely confused me so I just guessed and skipped them, so I wouldn't waste time. Even so, I still felt really rushed.
The afternoon was much better - most of the problems I knew how to approach (unless I fell for a trick or something!), and if I didn't know how to get the "final answer", I was able to make educated guesses or was able to narrow it down a bit. I had enough time to double check some of my problems (and had enough time to fix some stupid arithmetic mistakes I made!).
Also, I was really irritated with myself and with some of the oddball questions because a few times I knew EXACTLY the book or reference where I could find the answer, but I just didn't have those resources with me (I had left some at home or at the office, thinking I would not need them. UGH!). I was VERY happy I brought some references with me at the last minute; those saved me on a few questions.
All in all, I was somewhat surprised by the exam, in both good and bad ways. I am not sure how I feel about some of the qualitative stuff, but for the quantitative questions, I feel like I got more than 50% but don't feel confident that I got 70%. Though it was an arduous and rough 8 hours, I was pleasantly surprised that it went by so fast and that I knew how to approach most of the problems. Don't want to get my hopes up though....
This hits home. I felt very confident with the afternoon section and had plenty of time to go back and double check the questions that I didn't feel quite right about.
It definitely helped me to prepare. I think it was very helpful and worth it... however my company paid for it, so I know it's a lot of money to just hand over, but I probably would have still done it if I didn't get it reimbursed. It was really my only option, as there were no other Environmental PE review courses offered near me. I might have taken a Civil Water Resources course locally, but I really felt pretty weak in Haz Waste and Health and kind of needed a little guidance there.
I think the materials they covered in class encompassed most of the types of quantitative questions that were on the exam. That doesn't necessarily mean they did an example problem of each exact type of question, but they at least talked about the foundations of those types of problems, and of course on exam day there were some random/oddball types of questions which I had never seen before.
Also they offered a lot of help and tips for the qualitative questions - I wish I had made an index of all that information! Flipping through pages can definitely eat up time. Fortunately I was able to answer at least a few qualitative questions based on my course notes (because the material was not in the ENVRM, or perhaps it would have taken me a long time to find it).
Since these last few months went by so fast I don't know how how well prepared I might have been if I had not taken the class and just studied on my own during those times. I know I certainly benefited from the class, but I don't know by how much. These past few months are kind of a blur now.
I think I am still recovering!At some point later this week I'll try to post a more in depth review under the other posting, or try to organize my thoughts a bit more.
Yeah I did not manage my time well in the morning either. I hate feeling rushed in an exam, and I felt like that for much of the morning.
I'm glad I skipped a few of the hard problems though, because I would have "gotten lost" in them and wasted 20 minutes or something. Also I am glad I skipped to the end of the morning exam questions and starting working backwards for a bit, I was able to do some of those a little more quickly.
FLBuff PE
Multi-disciplinary engineer
All you guys should take comfort in the fact that it sounds like most people had trouble with the morning. This will show up when NCEES grades the exam, and they should hopefully adjust the score accordingly. Congrats on making it through the exam!
Thanks for the encouraging words FL Bluff...I'm trying hard not to stress over it (part of that is just my personality), but it's not working very well. Maybe it will get better as we get a little more removed from the test - it's just still so recent and on my brain because I feel like it's been my whole life for the past couple of months.
FLBuff PE
Multi-disciplinary engineer
It has been your entire life for the past few months. So try to re-aquaint yourself with your friends and family. Anything to distract yourself from thinking about the test. On Friday while you were suffering, I asked my wife "Do you know what today is?" She guessed wrong several times, then I told her "It is 6 months since I passed the PE!" Not 6 months since I got notification that I passed, but 6 months since taking and passing the exam. My point is that you can't do anything else to pass. Either you did (I have my fingers crossed for everyone), or you will re-take. I am a three-timer myself. I know it may seem like the end of the world to get the fail letter, but life goes on. For you specifically, Bacon, think about your kid and the one on the way. Do they care if mommy/daddy didn't pass this time? Probably not. So, easier said than done, try not to worry.
kristik
New member
It is so comforting to know that my experience was typical. In the morning, I wasted 20 minutes on a single problem (that stumped me) and it killed my pace and my confidence. I thought there were way too many oddball facts overall. For some of them, I really questioned whether my fate as an engineer should rest on something that my Industrial Hygiene friends thought was obscure!
I was so glad I had my NCEES practice test with me. But I left my Perry's at home and missed it.
I was so glad I had my NCEES practice test with me. But I left my Perry's at home and missed it.
I am with ya! I really dont see what this test is actually proving. If I had been lazy and only studied one weekend and got nailed I would have no problem with it. However, I put my life and my little ones on hold for the better part of three months and studied the recommended material and studied it hard only to have the test barely resemble any of it. I do not understand why we need this test to have a stamp. They tell us not to practice outside of our area of expertise yet what do they test us on to get our license? It doesnt make sense.
Yeah I was frustrated by that too.... For some of those obscure questions, granted, if I was TRULY confident and knowledgeable in the fundamentals, perhaps I should have not needed to look them up (in a reference book, on Google, or otherwise). But for many other questions - I'm not so sure how they measure my knowledge or ability as an engineer to solve real-world problems.
