# Bad PE Exam Seat



## khp (Jan 26, 2010)

This is an image from the NCEES website for the PE Exam. How pissed would you be if you were one of those lucky people in the sunny row. I might have nightmares between now and April 16th about this picture.


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## snickerd3 (Jan 26, 2010)

I'd be pissed. but that is so just a random testing picture, FE exam at best. There are no reference books anywhere.


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## Slugger926 (Jan 26, 2010)

What about that gal in the middle where the proctor is trying to cop a look of her cleavage? I would think that would be more of a distraction than the seats in the sun.


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## Santiagj (Jan 27, 2010)

In maryland we had to take both the FE and the PE at the Timonium fairgrounds. The place barely had any sort of climate control. Both times I was there the building was freezing. They also had us take the test on old wooden folding tables. They were so old and roughed up that they handed out cardboard pads for us to work on to avoid getting splinters. It was F'n rediculous.


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jan 27, 2010)

khp said:


> This is an image from the NCEES website for the PE Exam. How pissed would you be if you were one of those lucky people in the sunny row. I might have nightmares between now and April 16th about this picture.


Already discussed in several other threads - here's one Discussion about ncees website

I think in one of the threads it was decided this was just a stock photo and not an actual ncees exam.....


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## Dark Knight (Jan 27, 2010)

Mike in Gastonia said:


> khp said:
> 
> 
> > This is an image from the NCEES website for the PE Exam. How pissed would you be if you were one of those lucky people in the sunny row. I might have nightmares between now and April 16th about this picture.
> ...


You have a point there MIG. There is a guy with a hat there. That is not allowed for the PE exam. It has to be a lawyer's test or a PMP certification test.


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## EnvEngineer (Jan 27, 2010)

In pomona we had over 1000 people taking the exam, old wooden tables that were fine, no splinters. 2 per 8' table. I had to change chairs twice, they were tweeked so were really unconfortable. The room looks alot like the one in the pic except we had tables and references. The air system worked fine and overall was confortable.


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## jeb6294 (Jan 27, 2010)

When I did my FE/EIT in Ohio they still did all the testing in Columbus in a crappy old arena. We were at folding tables, but that picture isn't too far off. By the time I was taking my PE they finally wised up and do the exams in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. It makes it much nicer because you can probably cut down your drive time, but there were also a lot less people taking it so we had a nicer place (at least in Cincinnati).

BTW, I would imagine the sun would only be a problem for a little while before it moved on to the next row unless they were taking the exam in Alaska somewhere.


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## NEED2009 (Mar 20, 2010)

Macon, Georgia exam location was good when I took it last fall where it has a pretty decent size table sharing with another test taker.

I put all my books on the table and still got plenty of room.


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## KEG (Mar 21, 2010)

NEED2009 said:


> Macon, Georgia exam location was good when I took it last fall where it has a pretty decent size table sharing with another test taker.
> I put all my books on the table and still got plenty of room.


Guess you weren't in the back of the room with me where some guy on the other side of the wall had a concrete saw running all day. Glad I brought the earplugs. They did finally finish construction on the Centraplex. I didn't mind taking it in Perry, probably b/c I finally passed. Did they move this springs exam back to Macon?


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## rppearso (Mar 23, 2010)

I highly doubt that is a PE exam just from the volume of test takers, unless its in california or texas but even then they probably have multipule test locations to prevent having a huge room full of people. There were maybe 30 people in my PE exam and you had plenty of room to spread out. This almost looks like a high school exam or something. Also there are a few what appear to be hot women in there which makes it very suspect that its a PE exam.


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## PEPG (Mar 24, 2010)

KEG said:


> NEED2009 said:
> 
> 
> > Macon, Georgia exam location was good when I took it last fall where it has a pretty decent size table sharing with another test taker.
> ...


In NY, they had a Jack Hammer going during the PE exam (Pratt Institute, Brooklyn) sometime around 2007, forgot whether it was Spring or Fall. That was classic.


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## luckattack (Apr 7, 2010)

At the Pomona test in Cali we had a motorcycle derby or something along that line and we had bikes riding all day long running their engine.


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## TXCoogPE (Apr 7, 2010)

rppearso said:


> I highly doubt that is a PE exam just from the volume of test takers, unless its in california or texas but even then they probably have multipule test locations to prevent having a huge room full of people. There were maybe 30 people in my PE exam and you had plenty of room to spread out. This almost looks like a high school exam or something. Also there are a few what appear to be hot women in there which makes it very suspect that its a PE exam.


I would have to disagree with you if you are basing your decision on volume alone. Here in Houston we usually have a very large turn out. Our exam seating has ranged from the low 300s to the high 500s.


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## humner (Apr 7, 2010)

30 people on average in VT, this year we will be sitting on folding metal chairs. They actually recommended bringing a cushion to sit on.


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## humner (Apr 7, 2010)

rppearso said:


> I highly doubt that is a PE exam just from the volume of test takers, unless its in california or texas but even then they probably have multipule test locations to prevent having a huge room full of people. There were maybe 30 people in my PE exam and you had plenty of room to spread out. This almost looks like a high school exam or something. Also there are a few what appear to be hot women in there which makes it very suspect that its a PE exam.


Why, why does he even open his mouth? Hot women cannot be PEs?


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## Dexman PE (Apr 7, 2010)

rppearso said:


> I highly doubt that is a PE exam just from the volume of test takers, unless its in california or texas but even then they probably have multipule test locations to prevent having a huge room full of people. There were maybe 30 people in my PE exam and you had plenty of room to spread out. This almost looks like a high school exam or something. Also there are a few what appear to be hot women in there which makes it very suspect that its a PE exam.


There were over 300 people when I took the exam...

BTW, there are 1100 PE's issued in Colorado alone between when I took the exam in April 08 to when my co-worker took it in April 09.


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## ElCid03 (Apr 19, 2010)

We were at the convention center in Downtown Richmond and sat two to a table. My table mate never showed up though, lot of money to piss away too.

BTW my proctors were terrible.


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## Jay (Apr 19, 2010)

my proctor in Austin was cool. long hair pony-tail hippie dude who was pretty nice.


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## HokieME (Apr 20, 2010)

ElCid03 said:


> We were at the convention center in Downtown Richmond and sat two to a table. My table mate never showed up though, lot of money to piss away too.
> BTW my proctors were terrible.



I was in Fairfax. We were 2 per table and the tables were decent sized. My proctors were terrible. Two of them talking during the morning session for quite a while and I could hear them through my ear plugs. Kept trying to get their attention to ask them to shut up but they were oblivious. Finally another proctor asked them to stop talking. Then, in the afternoon, one of the proctors accidentally took my answer sheet while I was working a problem. He intended to pick up the EES questionnaire. I didn't realize it until later when I went to put my answer down. And, I didn't even realize that was what had happened. Seriously considering complaining to the Virginia board about the proctors.


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## humner (Apr 20, 2010)

In the afternoon, one proctor fell asleep at the table and started to snore, that only lasted about 2 minutes. I got to share my table with another person, nothing better then trying to fill in a circle and having someone shake the table while erasing. Our exam was in a hockey rink, minus the ice. They forgot to take into consideration that many of us had carts or hand trucks, had to lift everything up 8 inches and then drop back 8 inches, I wonder what would have happened if someone showed up in a wheelchair. The guy next to me had a 2" x 2" divot in the working area of his table. On the plus side, the double quarter pounder with cheese that I got after the test was real good!


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## Ona (Apr 20, 2010)

I took the exam in Hartford CT. Not only were our proctors competent, but they were positive and seemed generally happy to help. I just assumed that they would all be professionally run - I guess I assumed wrong.


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## Bean PE (Apr 20, 2010)

Ona, you're lucky. Where I tested for the PE on Friday, the morning session started 40 minutes late, with another half hour or so delay added on to the lunch break. We were required to get there at 7:15am and most folks weren't out of there until well after 6pm (I, happily, was enjoying beer and a burger by then). I had a similar experience with the FE a few years back, over an hour delay with getting started.


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## Ona (Apr 21, 2010)

Sounds like a lot of variation in experiences. Glad I took it in CT!


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## Bman (Apr 21, 2010)

I took the exam in Rochester, NY. I would say there was a total of about 70 people taking it. We each had our own 8' table; they were only about 18" wide, but it was nice have the space to myself. Our test times ran over, but I didn't care, as long as I had my 4 hours in the morning and afternoon I was good! They also did not allow any water or food at all! I needed to get up and stretch for each session so I would use the bathroom and grab a drink from the drinking fountain really quick. I hated loosing the time, but I felt refreshed once I sat back down and think it was well worth the 5 minutes lost!


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## khp (Apr 21, 2010)

Bman said:


> I took the exam in Rochester, NY. I would say there was a total of about 70 people taking it. We each had our own 8' table; they were only about 18" wide, but it was nice have the space to myself. Our test times ran over, but I didn't care, as long as I had my 4 hours in the morning and afternoon I was good! They also did not allow any water or food at all! I needed to get up and stretch for each session so I would use the bathroom and grab a drink from the drinking fountain really quick. I hated loosing the time, but I felt refreshed once I sat back down and think it was well worth the 5 minutes lost!



I took the exam in Albany. We had the same tables (8'X18") but we were all 2 to a table with about 2' in between tables. The worst part is that they only used half of the room and tables; there was more than enough room for everyone to have their own table. It seemed that they didn't employ enough proctors to space everyone out.

I thought it was really unfair they crammed us in there like that. I couldn't really utilize the resources I brought because I didn't have the room to access them. You can't control the testing environment but you also have to make it fair and even to the best of your ability. Stinks but what can I do now, other than complain here.


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