Which states allow practice problems in the exam room?

This seems like a strange question to me, but I'm curious about other states. I recently passed the PE in Illinois and the state board here doesn't allow sample exams or practice problem books in the room during the test. The proctors were very thorough in their search for them before the exams were passed out. Personally, I wouldn't want to approach the exam in this fashion. It's hard enough to know all the other reference books. I can't imagine trying to find similar problems in a practice book while working on the exam, but I suppose that some people would attempt it.

Do any of the other states allow these exam prep books as "references"?

I believe most others do

In Carbondale the proctors were going to allow practice exams until half the room started throwing a fit.

IL is one of the few to prohibit them.

snickerd3 said:

IL is one of the few to prohibit them.

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I know Oregon allows them. And yes, I did reference them, one time.

did they specifically exclude NCEES Sample Exams or ones from other publishers?

From IDFPR

The following references are NOT permitted in the examination room:

l Dictionaries;

l Material copied from several handbooks and textbooks and bound by/for the candidate;

l Loose tables, maps, charts, reference cards, etc.;

l Writing tables, unbound tables, or unbound notes;

l Manuals that are publications of the Illinois Department of Transportation (commonly referred

to as the IDOT Manual);

l Books with content directed mainly toward solution of engineering problems or preparation for

professional engineering examinations.

Road Guy said:

did they specifically exclude NCEES Sample Exams or ones from other publishers?

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From old classmates that I've talked to and now this board, it seems like IL is one of the few states to not allow these. The proctors told us that if a book had problems and worked out solutions in it, then it wasn't allowed no matter who the publisher was. I'm surprised they didn't try to take our CERMs and MERMs as well!

Virginia allows them, and explicitly states that they are allowed.

Charlrgs said:

This seems like a strange question to me, but I'm curious about other states. I recently passed the PE in Illinois and the state board here doesn't allow sample exams or practice problem books in the room during the test. The proctors were very thorough in their search for them before the exams were passed out. Personally, I wouldn't want to approach the exam in this fashion. It's hard enough to know all the other reference books. I can't imagine trying to find similar problems in a practice book while working on the exam, but I suppose that some people would attempt it.
Do any of the other states allow these exam prep books as "references"?

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Florida allows them. I had all of my 6-minute solutions books, NCEES problems book, and all of the solved problems in a binder, separated by subject. I never opened any of the books during the exam, but I used my solved problems binder a couple of times for exam problems that were very similar. I found that after writing out and solving these problems over a 3 month period, it was fairly easy to remember the type of problems that were in my binder and their location, therefore it wasn't a big hassle finding them during the exam.

Texas had no problem. They did look at me funny when I showed up for the the Saturday SE exam with a duffle bag full of books when everyone else was taking the FE (closed book). But once they realized which test I was taking it was no problem.

I wonder if they would allow hand-written copies of the practice problems and their solutions as notes? Bound in a notebook, of course.

That's what I relied on when I took the test last fall in Texas...I had the NCEES sample problems, but the info that I used was the method for the problem solution found in my notes.

envirotex said:

I wonder if they would allow hand-written copies of the practice problems and their solutions as notes? Bound in a notebook, of course.
That's what I relied on when I took the test last fall in Texas...I had the NCEES sample problems, but the info that I used was the method for the problem solution found in my notes.

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Not allowed in Illinois

You weren't supposed to have any 3-ring binders with you or bound loose leaf papers (people did though)

Which stunk for me on the electrical side since I had printed off various things from the interwebs.

Allowed in CA. I can't say they helped me (during the exam) but I brought them anyway.

Here is more of what Illinois says:

References for Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination:

 Examinees may use any number of texts during the examination. No exchange of reference material

will be permitted during any examination session. Examinees may choose to change some of their

reference books between the morning and afternoon sessions.

 All exams are open book. PE Civil must bring their own copies of the applicable design standards.

 All reference books must be printed in the English language.

 Books must be copyrighted and formally bound by the publisher.

 The NCEES Transportation Design Standards and Structural Design Standards are referenced in

the Civil examination. Examination problems, which reference a standard of practice, are scored

based on these lists. To ensure that you have the most current copy available, you may obtain a copy

from the NCEES Web site at www.ncees.org.

 The codes and standards used on the PE examinations are identified in the NCEES examination

specifications, such as the 2005 edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC) applies to any

code-related questions contained in the Electrical discipline examination.

 Reference manuals published by Professional Publications, Inc., and Great Lakes Press, Inc., (which

includes reference manuals by Michael Lindeburg, Merle Potter and other authors) are permitted.

However, the accompanying solution manuals are not permitted.

Examples of books not approved include: Hicks Handbook, FAN Engineering, NCEES Study Guides,

solution manuals (which includes the solution manuals by Michael Lindeburg, Merle Potter, and other

authors published by Professional Publications, Inc., and Great Lakes Press, Inc.) and any other books

purported to be helpful in preparation for professional engineering examinations. The NCEES Fundamentals

of Engineering Reference Handbook will not be allowed in the examination.

So what I am getting is in Illinois the practice tests and solutions are not allowed for the exam. Is pencil copying some examples/solutions from the practice tests/solutions book into a bound book that is allowed, allowed or would this be considered Material copied from several handbooks and textbooks and bound by/for the candidate?

sloth said:

So what I am getting is in Illinois the practice tests and solutions are not allowed for the exam. Is pencil copying some examples/solutions from the practice tests/solutions book into a bound book that is allowed, allowed or would this be considered Material copied from several handbooks and textbooks and bound by/for the candidate?

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I would assume you couldn't do that since the point is they don't want you to have practice problems/solutions.

sloth said:

So what I am getting is in Illinois the practice tests and solutions are not allowed for the exam. Is pencil copying some examples/solutions from the practice tests/solutions book into a bound book that is allowed, allowed or would this be considered Material copied from several handbooks and textbooks and bound by/for the candidate?

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I would say that is not allowed. notes written into books is one thing but trying to copy whole problems into books is another. A waste of study time as well.

They were definitely allowed in North Carolina when I took the exam back in 2009.

Allowed in South Carolina as well, but who has time to fumble through them?

I'm guessing this has changed in Illinois? The website makes no reference of those things anymore.