So how did everyone do?

What did everyone think of the exam this time around? I have talked to two people and seem to get the tough but fair consensus with a few WTH moments from a few of the questions

This was my first time taking. I took Vertical only. I'm pretty sure that I failed since I didn't finish one of the afternoon problems (only got like one third through it) so that's automatic unacceptable and a fail. I had to guess on a bunch of questions in the morning portion due to time management issues. I do agree that it was tough but fair. There was only one question in the morning portion that made me go huh but that was because I didn't study the method to solve it. I learned that you pretty much have to memorize a lot of things because you won't have enough time to flip through your codes/references. There is no room for error either if you mess up on a problem and have to spend twice as much time on it to get the correct answer. I had a 15 page syllabus that I made with all the problems I've solved for PE/SE exams but it proved to be useless and a waste of time during the test. Hopefully, by October I'll be able to do most of the stuff from memory.

Use it as a learning experience and take another shot at it.

I think trying to use brute memorization of canned material and responses can be a recipe for poor performance if there isn't a thorough underlying comprehension of the information itself.  Memorizing material and comprehending material are two different things entirely.  

I'm not saying that a person can't pre-package their way through a successful completion of the morning portion(s) of the exam with a good bit of luck, but the afternoon session(s) will not be so kind.  I believe that's why the exam is so tough: you simply have to KNOW the material.  The only wildcard remaining then becomes an individual's ability to put it all together under pressure on test day.

Good luck next go-round.

I took both days in October 2015; passed the vertical and failed lateral.  I took lateral again in April 2016.

Generally everyone who I have talked to thought that April was harder than October. Personally the morning had a few tough ones right at the beginning then seemed smooth sailing for me minus the time I lost up front (poor time management on my part).  The bridge afternoon was definitely fair but there was one detail I hadn't designed before so I got hung up a bit on it.  If you hadn't seen some of it before it would have been a bit trickier but I focused a lot of effort into mastering the nuance details of AASHTO I had previously breezed over last time.

No matter what it's a long day that is now in the past.  I doubt I would try again at this point as I have dedicated far too much of the past 1.5 years of my life to this test.  Congrats to everyone else who survived the day! 

Was pretty tough for me.  First time around without a ton of studying.  Just testing the waters to see how hard it was.

I took the lateral portion. I thought the questions were not that hard but time was the issue for me. I could not manage the time to complete all the parts. Totally I missed two parts. One part of  the 3rd question and one part from the 4th.  If I had 20 more minutes, I would have completed everything. We will see what happens.

Bacen,

Are you in the Greenville, SC area? Just noticing the Clemson Tiger paw.

David 

David Connor said:

Bacen,

Are you in the Greenville, SC area? Just noticing the Clemson Tiger paw.

David 

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David,

I live in Alpharetta, GA.

Former 30064 resident here

bacen said:

David,

I live in Alpharetta, GA.

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Cool. My company is located in Lawrenceville, GA (Haines, Gipson, and Associates) but I work out of Greenville.

Good luck on getting "Acceptable" result on the SE.

David  

I took both Vertical and Lateral in October 2015. Passed Vertical, (just barely?) failed Lateral.

I thought that the Lateral April 2016 exam was slightly easier than the October Exam in the morning and way, way easier in the afternoon. I agree that there were a few head scratchers, particularly up front in the morning.

wgodfrey said:

I thought that the Lateral April 2016 exam was slightly easier than the October Exam in the morning and way, way easier in the afternoon. I agree that there were a few head scratchers, particularly up front in the morning.

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Or like someone said before, you may have been better prepared this time around.

SE_FL said:

Or like someone said before, you may have been better prepared this time around.

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Oh yeah, that is possible. But I definitely thought that the AASHTO questions were not as bizarre this time around. And I can assure you, I did no additional AASHTO studying.

AASHTO is my weakness, I will never design a bridge (maybe a culvert). So I have a hard time putting the effort into it. But I will before the next exam.