# The Right Wrong Answer



## north6633 (Apr 22, 2007)

Am I the only one who wonders after the exam if the problems that you really feel you had right could have been the decoy answer. I know its not a healthy way to think about it but my mind now in self doubt mode thinks hmmm.. Maybe I all those nuts on problems are actually wrong..

So much for being confident...


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## DVINNY (Apr 22, 2007)

I always second guess it. That's what is so mentally tough about the situation.

I just hope that I got the ones right that I thought I did


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## bigray76 (Apr 22, 2007)

That had crossed my mind, however a ton of beers later I could have cared less.... we'll see what 10-12 weeks brings.

-Ray


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## jd_chi02 (Apr 22, 2007)

Yeah, that right wrong answer thing is a woozy ( :multiplespotting: ), but either I choose all of there wrong answers  or I choose alot of right answers :multiplespotting: .


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## Bigwolf (Apr 22, 2007)

Usually, your first gut instinct about how you did on the exam is the right one. If you walked out of there feeling like you did well, just try and ride that feeling all the way to the results day. :th_rockon:


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## JoeFromKS (Apr 22, 2007)

No, you are not the only one thinking that you may have worked the problem(s) wrong and picked a 'distractor" answer....

I took the test last October and felt extremely positive after the exam only to find that I got only 4 questions beter than half right in the morning and only one better than half right in the afternoon. Needless to say, I did not pass (I refuse to say that I failed as my letter from the state informed me!!!).

After taking it again last Friday, I have no idea how to feel. Even if you think you did well you could have missed by a large margin. I am just hoping that the additional 200 or so hours that I studied this time helps out.

I honestly did not take the test seriously last time and did a minimal amount of studying and I take full responsibility for not passing. This time, I literally left no page unturned and studied every topic at length yet this time around the test seemed extremely more difficult than last time (specifically in the afternoon).

Here is my prepared statement for anyone who asks: I may have passed but not passing again certainly wouldn't surprise me.

Joe


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## gipper (Apr 22, 2007)

Thanks for your words of wisdom Joe. I guess you never know until you get the letter... I wish I felt a little more confident after taking the exam Friday, but hopefully everything will turn out okay. :th_rockon:


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## JoeFromKS (Apr 22, 2007)

gipper said:


> Thanks for your words of wisdom Joe. I guess you never know until you get the letter... I wish I felt a little more confident after taking the exam Friday, but hopefully everything will turn out okay. :th_rockon:



I feel exactly the same way.

For now, I'm just putting the whole thing out of my mind and will enjoy the time I have to spend with my family and life in general. I'll deal with the contents of the letter when it comes and I will not let worrying about the outcome comsume as much of my life as the preparation for the exam already has.

Good luck to all...

Joe


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## Road Guy (Apr 22, 2007)

yeah you can drive yourself batty worrying if you selected the trick answer, although I dont think they have that many total.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2007)

JoeFromKS said:


> Here is my prepared statement for anyone who asks: I may have passed but not passing again certainly wouldn't surprise me.


I don't think you can say it any better than that Joe. I took the exam four times ... 69, 69, Fail, Pass (October 2006).

When I took the exam the last time and passed, I felt the same way you feel in your prepared statement - it could have gone either way. I kept reworking problems in my mind to the point to where I couldn't say with confidence how I actually did on much of anything - it became one big, messy cloud of discomfort.

I think the best anyone can do now is find something that will preoccupy your time between now and when the results come out (8 weeks). If you don't, you will REALLY begin to go batty. :th_rockon:

Best of luck to you and everyone else who took the exam.

JR


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## tm_PE (Apr 23, 2007)

First time I took the exam, I was not prepared. Second time, I knew I nailed it.


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## purduegrad (Apr 23, 2007)

I can not believe how much different each exam is. This was my second time taking the exam and the exam preparers do a great job of mixing it up. My only advice to future test takers is study every topic possible, you never know what might show up on the exam. PS I hope i get that passing letter, i don't know if I can handle going through this again.


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## GTScott (Apr 23, 2007)

I thought about it the exact same way for 2 months after I took the exam so I know how you feel. Through the exam, I had kept tabs of how many I was sure of, how many I was about 50/50 on, and how many I made just wild guesses on. For my sanity, that seemed to not be a good move as I waited for the results.

Like others said, if you go back and look for the common mistakes that can be made and identify these, you are more than likely doing fine.


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## gatormech_e (Apr 23, 2007)

admittedly, i felt like --- during the exam and have no idea how i did. there were so many 'obscure' problems that i had no idea how to solve. :th_rockon:

all i can do is wait.

i don't know if studying more would have helped; i think i got bogged down on references and finding the info i needed quickly enough.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Apr 23, 2007)

Bigwolf said:


> Usually, your first gut instinct about how you did on the exam is the right one. If you walked out of there feeling like you did well, just try and ride that feeling all the way to the results day. :th_rockon:


I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks. On the hour drive home I had plenty of time to begin second guessing myself. Did I get the units right? Did I fall for the decoy? Some of the envl exam questions are regulatory problems and are worded very touchy. I worried about some of them too.


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## Ritchie503 (Apr 23, 2007)

I felt pretty good about the morning portion, not nearly as good about the afternoon.... the letter will tell the true result. If I failed I know it was due to the structural section which was 26% of the test I took. I knew when I applied to take the exam that structual was my weak section, tried to study it as much as possible, curious to see how it turned out..... but have awhile to wait still.

I have started to 2nd guess myself as well, on some of the questions because they seemed too easy and I am wondering if there is something I missed. The questions I had no clue on there is no reason to second guess other than.. 'maybe C was a better answer than B' for no other reason than the circle on the sheet looked better.


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## ccollet (Apr 23, 2007)

VTEnviro said:


> I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks. On the hour drive home I had plenty of time to begin second guessing myself. Did I get the units right? Did I fall for the decoy? Some of the envl exam questions are regulatory problems and are worded very touchy. I worried about some of them too.


that is the exact same feeling i got,when i left the exam i thought i nailed the morning and maybe got an 32 on that

then on the transpo. in the afternoon, i figure i got a 30. which is 62 and i figure thats enough.

but by the next morning i had convinced myself that i picked all the "trick" answers and am gonna fail by 2 or 3 questions.


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## jfusilloPE (Apr 25, 2007)

jregieng said:


> I don't think you can say it any better than that Joe. I took the exam four times ... 69, 69, Fail, Pass (October 2006).
> When I took the exam the last time and passed, I felt the same way you feel in your prepared statement - it could have gone either way. I kept reworking problems in my mind to the point to where I couldn't say with confidence how I actually did on much of anything - it became one big, messy cloud of discomfort.
> 
> I think the best anyone can do now is find something that will preoccupy your time between now and when the results come out (8 weeks). If you don't, you will REALLY begin to go batty. :joke:
> ...



JR,

I got you beat buddy.....

56,69,fail, pass


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## jkopsu (Apr 25, 2007)

should you always go BIGGER to the closest number when you are told to "find the nearest answer" or should you round UP AS WELL AS DOWN to get the closest answer to the correct answer?

thanks


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## Hill William (Apr 25, 2007)

jkopsu said:


> should you always go BIGGER to the closest number when you are told to "find the nearest answer" or should you round UP AS WELL AS DOWN to get the closest answer to the correct answer?
> thanks



Depends on what they are asking. If they ask you for the nearest flow in a pipe, go with the closest number. If they ask you to pick the pipe to carry the flow, go with the larger b/c the smaller wouldn't hold it.


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## benbo (Apr 25, 2007)

This is what I have heard. If you are talking about some sort of sizing or code type things, you should go to the higher number. For example, if they ask what is the minimum pipe size that is safe (I'm not a civil so I don't know if this makes sense), always pick a number bigger than what you calculate. Never pick a smaller number because that would be unsafe. If they ask you an actual value, like "What is the votage between point A and B?" always pick the closest answer, bigger or smaller. Hope that is correct, and hope that confuses you sufficiently.


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## Slugger926 (Apr 25, 2007)

I remember a few problems where I could get a # that matched one of the choices, but none of the choices were in the right units.

I didn't have time to note the problem and hoped others would flag it.

Anyway, I have my license now anyways.


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## EL Nica PE (Apr 25, 2007)

I know for sure that there were two closely answer and the other two were just not even close.

In the morning I have enough time that I was able to ck the distractor and if you did a division and the formula

call for multiplication, then answer was there. A lot the questions did have a closely match answer if you made a stupid

mistake. my 2 cents


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## JeffM (Apr 26, 2007)

I hope i didn't screw myself from passing the exam. I always took the "nearest" possible answer to the answer i looked up in the manual or calculated. I didn't round up anything to bigger sizes such as pipe flows or lane widths. I wonder how many problems I'll miss because of this.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Apr 30, 2007)

^ You have to think carefully about what they're asking when deciding to go with the nearest answer or round.

You need to ask yourself, "does this make sense?" If I need 2.2 widgets to do the job, 2 won't do, you need to round up to 3.

I've found there's usually a key phrase in the problem that lets you know when you have to do this. If pipe comes in 10 ft sections, if softener is available in 50 lb bags, how many times can this be done in an 8 hour shift, etc...


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