Lets help to those who didn't pass this time......

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rathin33

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Guys,

I was thinking to give our suggestions/Feedback or whatever that can help those who didn't pass the exam this time. I was one of the guy who took the exam in April-2014. My score was 56/80 and I failed in the Transportation. I tried again in October-14 and passed this time, so I thought to help others giving my feedback. Few Points that I have noticed so far:

- Somehow, I think that April exams are easier than October exams. Anyone agree on this?

- Practice, Practice and Practice - Practice problems as much as you could rather than reading much.

- I think CERM helps only in AM. Do not use old CERM edition (one or two edition prior will work). You definitely need other resources for the depth exam.

- Make yourself comfortable with the unit conversions, who worked with the metric/standard systems in the past. I found that there were at least 4-5 simple conversation problems in the AM.

I hope some of these points will help and good luck for the future exam.

 
Did you ever request them to manual score your exam?

Just curious if they would tell you anything further other than pass/fail if you did.

 
I passed the Civil-Structural exam and for anyone looking to take this exam I highly suggest this book - All-in-one Civil Engineering PE Breadth and Depth by Indranil Goswami, Ph.d . It is a very helpful resource

 
I did not. I was thinking about this at one point, so I called them and asked about this but they said that there is nobody in the past who requested manual scoring and the score got changed. So I didn't do it and retake the exam.

 
Man, failing with a 56/80. That must have felt like a real gut-punch. Glad you got it this time around though, I'll bet you're stoked.

One suggestion I'd give other than working lots of problems is to make your own formula sheet and be intimately familiar with it. It takes a lot of time, but it saved me a lot of time during the test not having to look up specific formulas and stuff. Mine was totally handwritten. I kept it to the front and back of one page to keep it easily accessible.

 
If I had to go back and study again, I probably would've spent relatively more time preparing for the depth section. I was so worried about the breadth questions because I haven't thought about stuff like water flow through pipes or horizontal curves since college, but just being familiar with the CERM helped immensely. Don't neglect the morning portion obviously, but compared to the afternoon it's somewhat easier.

For the afternoon, spend time working lots of practice problems and be sure you study everything in the NCEES outline. Also make sure you bring as many of the recommended resources that you can get your hands on. Some questions are as simple as looking stuff up, so you don't want to leave those on the table. Luckily it didn't hold me back from passing, but I was a cheap ******* and decided not to bring the NDS with me (I hoped the free Wood Manual would've been good enough), but there were a couple of questions that I couldn't answer and had to make an educated guess. They would've been simple and straightforward with the appropriate reference.

Also spend time familiarizing yourself with the references. I use the ACI/AISC/PCI manuals all the time so I was able to build up enough free time on those questions to allow me to fumble my way around the AASHTO manual as needed, but if I was much slower at the other questions there's no way I would've had time to find the right answers.

 
If I had to go back and study again, I probably would've spent relatively more time preparing for the depth section. I was so worried about the breadth questions because I haven't thought about stuff like water flow through pipes or horizontal curves since college, but just being familiar with the CERM helped immensely. Don't neglect the morning portion obviously, but compared to the afternoon it's somewhat easier.


This! I did the same thing in April and failed transportation 51/80 with the bulk of my correct answers coming from the morning session. The breadth is actually not as difficult as the depth, imho. Also, if anyone is planning on taking the April 2015 test, make sure to familiarize yourself with the NEW standards that NCEES put out. Back to studying I go...

 
Civil - Construction - NY - Albany location

My situation is little unique in the sense that I never intended to give my exam in October. I got my eligibility pretty late and after talking to my employer decided to bail on the exam this time around even though I had paid for the exam.

However, I have never quit on any exam before in my life and I have a strong background in Geotech and structures (Master's thesis + specialization). I decided 10 days before the exam to go through with it.

My biggest problem was I didn't have enough time to order ACI/OSHA/MUTCD manuals or other course materials. I realized that THIS IS MY FAULT AND ENTIRELY STUPID & AVOIDABLE. I decided to go only with the CERM, booklet of 80 sample test problems, and the steel manual.

The most important thing I told myself is that "I can solve any problem if I can get to the right section in CERM". Now, a lot of things on the exam are NOT in the CERM manual but that's where the sample exam booklet comes into play.

I gave 7 days (5 hour sessions), where I tackled problems from the sample test, read up the relevant CERM section and made a list of the information that we are required to find out in the test. I tried using a online question bank that I got a monthly access for but I found out that the structure of questions was very different than the NCEES sample test.

I quickly figured out that my weakest sections:

AM section:

1. Structures

2. OSHA questions since I didn't have the manual (I countered this by memorizing some common requirements and depended on my sample test OSHA questions for the rest)

3. Questions related to common testing procedures (I read these online the day before, and hoped that I would remember)

4. CPM type Resource problems (I just practiced the same problems over and over)

PM section:

1. Structures - Timber (I always hated timber design + no reference book)

2. OSHA questions since I didn't have the manual

3. Questions related to CRANE's - No reference book (I choose to tackle these problems using a method I came up with using techniques I learned in college)

4. CPM type Resource problems (I just practiced the same problems over and over)

THESE WERE FREAKIN' BRUTAL IN THE PM SECTION

5. MUTCD questions - No manual but I had used the manual extensively during first two years of my career

7 strategies I used:

1. I knew how to get quickly to the resources - I had photocopies of the contents page, photocopy of the reference section from the CERM

2. I DIDN'T TRY TO CRAM ANYTHING IN MY HEAD

3. I kept telling myself that I can answer any question if I can get to it quickly in the reference book

4. Low stress levels - I went to the testing center considering this as a practice test

5. TIME MANAGEMENT - This is very crucial for people like me who really need to look into the book for every problem because we are idiots and didn't study. I decided before going into the exam that I will exceed 2 min. mark ONLY for questions where I knew the fundamentals but couldn't solve the actual problem. The max. time I spent on was for a CPM resource allocation question and it took me 8.5 minutes. I finished my AM session with 5 minutes to spare, and my PM session with 20 minutes to spare so I left early. I semi-guessed 4 questions on AM session and 8 questions in the PM session.

6. KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES WELL.

7. DON'T LET PEOPLE CARRYING 50 DIFFERENT BOOKS, BINDERS AND FOLDERS INTIMIDATE YOU INTO THINKING THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE CARRIED MORE BOOKS WITH YOU. In my opinion, carrying more than 10-12 books is just waste of your time and energy. Decide what reference you will be using for each topic and stick with it.

Best of luck to all those giving the test in April '15 !!!

PS: I don't recommend taking the test lightly or try to cram it in 7 days. I got lucky in that I was able to recall things (that I had learned previously) at the right time.

 
I started out studying the CERM, but quickly realized that a review course would be best to get the most out of my time. I completed the School of PE review course, and highly recommend it! Like I mentioned on another post, I only saw one question in the morning that I could not answer with what I had reviewed from School of PE. Of course, most questions were not straight out of the notes, but I could apply what I learned/refreshed throughout the course and answer the questions. I think two questions were almost identical to practice problems we did in the course.

Aside from taking the course, I made 2-3 page summary (equation & reference) sheets for each morning discipline, and several pages for my afternoon discipline. I would review my SoPE notes after class and during the week, writing down key points very small on my sheets, as well as equations with identified variables, notes on units, etc. These were organized by topic in the same order as the SoPE notes & practice problems. I also used different color pens to write down the page numbers of where I could find additional information in my notes, practice problems and reference manuals. This took A LOT of time, but I was reviewing in detail & building my sheets simultaneously. I placed the sheets in a separate 1" binder with a copy of the CERM index behind it just in case.

Become very familiar with your manuals. I don't know about other disciplines, but in transportation, if you don't know the manual, it is very unlikely you'll find anything. I tabbed tables and figures that came up frequently while working practice problems. For some manuals, I also tabbed the chapters or beginning of units, and also the location of the list of tables. I spent about 12 hours thumbing through my three most important manuals.

Like everyone else says, work as many practice problems as possible. I did not get to work all of the Six Minute Sol'ns, but I did skim through the transportation and water ones on the last few days of my studying, just to see if anything jumped out at me as unfamiliar.

A week before the test, I took a full practice exam and graded it. If you have prepared well, this will serve as a confidence booster.

Also, they advised us in SoPE to "triage" the questions. Go through the test first answering the easier ones. Assign a numerical value, letter or something to the ones you skip that lets you know how hard you think it is / how much time it will take. I also like to assign a letter or two to tell me which subject/discipline. For example, "4G" on my scale means "Very Hard Geotech". Work the test from front to back, back to front, front to back again until you answer everything you can. When I decided on an answer to a question, I would circle the answer in the book AND lightly shade in the choice on the scantron. After answering all the questions I could, I went through the book checking that my circled answers matched my scantron. I'm glad I did this, because I marked two answers for one question by accident, leaving the above question blank. I would have gotten them both wrong!

Stay cool during the test. Anxiety can overtake even the most capable engineer. Take deep breaths if needed; go to the bathroom if needed. Sip your coffee/tea/drink of choice. Eat a chocolate and feel it melt in your mouth. I almost freaked when I realized I had to pee during the morning portion. Since holding it and thinking clearly do not go hand-in-hand for me, I went as soon as I had answered the questions I deemed to be "easier" on my scale.

If you have time, go through the test at the end and tally up how many you are certain you have right, how many you have a 50% chance of getting right (you rules out two choices), and how many you are clueless about. This comforted me many times during the long wait for the results. I felt like I had failed when I walked out of the afternoon, because I was so overwhelmed with it compared to the morning. By keeping my estimated score in mind, I was able to tell myself that I probably passed anytime I would begin to panic.

I hope that helps. I wish you all the best!

 
Mechanical Thermo/Fluids - passed on 1st attempt.

1. Get to know MERM and tab/highlight the crap out of it. There are a lot of things you need to know in there and, if you get the feel for the book, you can figure out a few questions you've never seen as well. Also, print out a second copy of the index, they can be found online.

2. NCEES FE Manual is very useful as well. Its kind of a condensed MERM, lots of useful formulas organized well. Get it 3 hole punched and remove the sections you don't need.

3. School of PE worked great for me. The weekend schedule is tough, but, coupled with weekday studying, really worked for me.

4. Limit your reference materials. For Mech Thermo Fluids, I had my School of PE notes (tabbed like crazy), MERM, FE Manual and a book of formulas. They guy beside me had a milk crate of books and only used it to trip over when we left for lunch.

5. Keep an eye on time and keep yourself on schedule. Six minutes per problem is much easier to manage than the 3 for FE, but you still need to keep an eye on time and be sure you are ahead of the 10 questions per hour. Also, bring some MMs. A couple shots of sugar did me well.

6. This was just me, but I believe exercise is important. I studied better after getting the heart rate up and really feel the short run I took in the morning before the exam helped to clear my head and release pressure.

Just a few things that helped me slay this s dragon.

 
I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.

Helped me pass the Mechanical HVAC PE

 
rathin33,

I too, received a 56/80 last April in Transportation. And like you, I passed it this go around. The AM portion is all CERM. You are correct that the CERM helps very little in the PM portion. I believe I passed this time because I knew the RDG and HCM much, much better. The MUTCD I was already familiar with, because I've used that book almost on a daily basis for the past 10 years. I also did as many NCEES problems that I could get my hands on, with many sample problems dating back to 2000.

 
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