October 2017 Exam

Hope everyone is still standing strong after the PE exam! What do you think about the exam? I would say I’ve made so many stupid mistakes in the PM and I believe I oversimplified some of the questions when I am thinking about them after the fact. 

First-time test taker, here. I feel pretty confident about the morning section, and I finished with about an hour and 30 minutes left, so plenty of time to go through a couple times and gauge a potential score (maybe around 35/40 or so).  The afternoon was pretty brutal, in my opinion. Granted, I have nothing whatsoever to compare it to. I've been out of school for a year and a half and took several structural classes, but I was definitely underprepared for the afternoon section. I haven't gotten to do any structural work at my job, so it was rough to try and re-learn. I remember there being probably 8 or so look-ups, maybe? But I feel much, much less confident about the afternoon section, maybe only getting 23/40 or so. I highly doubt that I pass. How did you feel overall?

This is my second attempt and I do not do structural engineering for a living.  I thought the morning was more difficult than in April.  I just felt it was weird overall. Too many runoff questions than I expected.  As for the afternoon, i thought it was pretty difficult for me.  I was pretty disappointed and didn't want to finish, but i did. I guessed on 1/3 of the afternoon questions. The thought of having to take the exam again is killing me.  I hope others struggled with the depth as well and we can have a decent cut score!

pwccny said:

Please remove the topics that I mentioned and what you think should be gone. Thanks.

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Done! I think you should be in the clear. In the future, don't post any specifics about exam questions. NCEES does look at these boards.

It's fine to talk the numbers game (about how many you are confident on, how many you guessed on, etc.), but no specifics. This applies to everyone!

Second time taker here, this time I felt the am was a little tougher, but afternoon was a bit easier.  Was the opposite last time.  Diagnostic was about what I expected for PM, 21 right, but way less right than expected in AM (23).  This time I did a prep course (the ASCE one) and felt more confident about the AM, but some of the questions were more complex than I was prepared for, then the afternoon hit right in my wheelhouse with the exception of a few problems.  There were maybe 8 in the afternoon I was not sure of?

First time I have taken this exam. The morning seemed reasonable but there were a couple tough ones if you didn't know it right away. Afternoon seemed straight forward but I took the SE in the spring so had lots of studying applied to that portion of the exam which helps. I guess now we play the waiting game. Good luck everyone. 

First time taker and hope it is the last, Am portion had many theoretical questions that need to know exactly what behind the scene, I expect to have about 32/40. the PM session was tougher and had many brand new problems, and look up that need to know the codes well, especially in steel and concrete, may I will have 34/40, I hope everyone did better, So as  I am new in that waiting game, how long should we wait to know the result?

Ahmed_sobih said:

First time taker and hope it is the last, Am portion had many theoretical questions that need to know exactly what behind the scene, I expect to have about 32/40. the PM session was tougher and had many brand new problems, and look up that need to know the codes well, especially in steel and concrete, may I will have 34/40, I hope everyone did better, So as  I am new in that waiting game, how long should we wait to know the result?

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It usually takes about 6 weeks, so around dec 8-10. Stay tuned on here, there will be lots of activity as scores comes out.

Based on previous sessions,  scores will possibly be released the 1st weekend of December.  It's a little longer than the Spring results due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

I'm a first time taker. I spent 200 hours preparing for the PE/Structural exam. I found the AM session more difficult than what I expected. And the PM session needed more calculations. I guess I will get somewhere around 57/80. I learned from this forum that 48/80 may very well be a cut score for PE/Structural exam because structural depth is more difficult than other disciplines. How do you guys think?

PE/Structural OCT 2017 said:

I'm a first time taker. I spent 200 hours preparing for the PE/Structural exam. I found the AM session more difficult than what I expected. And the PM session needed more calculations. I guess I will get somewhere around 57/80. I learned from this forum that 48/80 may very well be a cut score for PE/Structural exam because structural depth is more difficult than other disciplines. How do you guys think?

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I would not count on 48 being a cut score for any exam. But that's just me!

Anyway, see this thread (if you haven't already) to go read about the stages of waiting you will experience in this wonderful process that is waiting for results.

PE/Structural OCT 2017 said:

I'm a first time taker. I spent 200 hours preparing for the PE/Structural exam. I found the AM session more difficult than what I expected. And the PM session needed more calculations. I guess I will get somewhere around 57/80. I learned from this forum that 48/80 may very well be a cut score for PE/Structural exam because structural depth is more difficult than other disciplines. How do you guys think?

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If you heard 48/80 is the cut score then I hope that is the case!  Otherwise, I've never heard of that before.  Cut scores typically range around 56-58.

mnguy88 said:

If you heard 48/80 is the cut score then I hope that is the case!  Otherwise, I've never heard of that before.  Cut scores typically range around 56-58.

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Oh my gosh, the majority say 70% will be a cut score, i.e. 56/80, I'm not confident at all that I can achieve that. Cause I find this round exam is more tougher than the NCEES sample exam. I can find similar examples in CERM, but those equations just don't apply. Does anyone feel that this exam is more difficult than you thought? I become anxious now. The waiting game can kill me.

Goal is always 56/80.  There may be a couple questions that are reviewed and multiple choices are accepted, or dropped all together.  SO in reality may be not out of 80, or less than 56, or more than 56.  Who really knows.

PE/Structural OCT 2017 said:

Oh my gosh, the majority say 70% will be a cut score, i.e. 56/80, I'm not confident at all that I can achieve that. Cause I find this round exam is more tougher than the NCEES sample exam. I can find similar examples in CERM, but those equations just don't apply. Does anyone feel that this exam is more difficult than you thought? I become anxious now. The waiting game can kill me.

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sure the structural depth exam was difficult 

I'm thinking about this paradox. NCEES reports almost up to 70% first-time takers will pass the PE/Structural exam. From this perspective, I think I have a high possibility I will pass. On the other hand, the thread indicates we need score 70% questions correct to pass. From this perspective, I'm not confident now. So, I think the second perspective is wrong. That means, we don't need to score 70% to pass.

PE/Structural OCT 2017 said:

I'm thinking about this paradox. NCEES reports almost up to 70% first-time takers will pass the PE/Structural exam. From this perspective, I think I have a high possibility I will pass. On the other hand, the thread indicates we need score 70% questions correct to pass. From this perspective, I'm not confident now. So, I think the second perspective is wrong. That means, we don't need to score 70% to pass.

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I don't really see the paradox?  I remember based on what I read on this forum when I took the exam last year that I was shooting for 70%.

Here is the failing scores thread from the last exam cycle, a quick scroll through and I see someone failed civil structural with 63%: 



Going farther back in time to result forums from previous tests, seems like the consensus is that for the civil structural the passing score usually fluctuates between 53 and 56 questions.

If you know you have 60 right, you passed. I dont know that i got 60 so im assuming i failed. 

Wrong. If you know you have 80 right you know you passed. Anything else is just speculation. But probably if you got 5 right you maybe passed. 

Just a reminder! Results will not be released until this cycle's spam thread reaches it's goal, 15k.

If you want your results sooner, or heck, at any point before year's end, you should probably go spam.