# SEII and SEIII



## Casey (Jul 5, 2008)

Am I insane for thinking this, but since the SEII is on a Friday and the SEIII (for WA) is on a Saturday, does anyone think that is possible to write them both in October?

I am thinking that since the two use the same essay style format and both touch upon seismic design that it wouldn't be that big of a stretch to study for both of them.

With respect to my current family life, getting these two done as soon as possible would be extremely beneficial.

If anyone has written the SEIII exam (California or Washington) can they verify if the two exams are somewhat similar to the SEII? And let me know if they think if anyone has a hope in hell to actually do both one right after the other?

Any and all responses will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Casey


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## kevo_55 (Jul 5, 2008)

Casey,

From what I've been told, the difference between the SEII and the SEIII is that the SEIII has buildings with vertical and horizontal irregularities. One could take that to mean that you would have to know more about model analysis in the SEIII as well.

Who knows though. That's just what I've been told from co-workers. :dunno:

With respect to taking them back to back, the president of my company did just that. He passed both on his first try. I suppose that it is possible.

Be careful on the formats though. The CA SEIII has the morning exam as MC and the afternoon as essay. The WA SEIII is all essay.


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## Bigwolf (Jul 7, 2008)

To add to what Kevo has said.....I've heard from a couple people that the SE III essay questions were a magnitude more dificult than the SE II essay questions.

....again, just what I've heard from a couple people....


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## Casey (Jul 7, 2008)

Thanks for the advice guys...

Well, the way it stands now I don't think I will attempt both at the same time. Reasons being that I still need a few more months experience to qualify for exam through WA and won't have enough before the application deadline.

And my loophole to do it through the BC engineering association is insanely expensive...

Application fee: $500

SEIII exam fee: $700

BC SE exam fee (req'd):$500

*total: $1700*

Whereas, WA is more or less 300$ with maybe a few small fees hidden here and there...

I am beginning to believe that BC created their Struct. Eng. designation not because they wanted to be on par with Washington and California, but mainly for a cash grab...

The even charge an annual dues specifically for their Struct. Eng. license of $500... That's insane when you look across the border and lots of states charge less than $100 per year... Then again, I hope that since the Struct. Eng. is difficult to obtain that employers are picking up that tab (generally they don't for the normal P.Eng license)...

So I will wait until next year at least to attempt the SEIII.


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## kevo_55 (Jul 7, 2008)

Whoa, I just looked up the exam fees and they have gone WAY up.

I just went to ELSES.org and clicked on WA and MN. It now costs $745 to take the SEII!!! And that is not including the state registration fee.

I took the SEII when it was still a "steal" at $585. Then again, I don't think that ELSES/NCEES has changed the SEII exam fee for quite some time.

I hope that your work is going to pay for this exam Casey!! :smileyballs:


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## Casey (Jul 7, 2008)

Holy crap!!

I just saw that... I swear when I was looking to register back in April the SEII in Arizona was $480, now it is $730... This came out of nowhere...

This doesn't make me a happy camper anymore... And no, work is not going to pay for it...

I better hit the books hard on this one...

Oh god, I felt like you just kicked me in the nuts with this news...


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## kevo_55 (Jul 7, 2008)

^^ Sorry man, I just noticed it when I posted it myself.

If it mean anything, I had to pay my own way for the exam and only got cash back when I passed.

Study up and get it done the first time!


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## Bigwolf (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah, I talked to ELSES earlier this spring and they told me about the fee increase in Arizona for the SE II. It definately sucks, but I'm considering it to be an extra $250 worth of motivation to pass :thumbs:


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jul 17, 2008)

kevo_55 said:


> Whoa, I just looked up the exam fees and they have gone WAY up.
> I just went to ELSES.org and clicked on WA and MN. It now costs $745 to take the SEII!!! And that is not including the state registration fee.
> 
> I took the SEII when it was still a "steal" at $585. Then again, I don't think that ELSES/NCEES has changed the SEII exam fee for quite some time.
> ...


I'm curious as to why it is so expensive? I'm guessing it's because they are all essay questions that need to be hand scored. Any idea how they do that? As anal as they are about everything else, I'm sure it's a long, involved process.


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## Bigwolf (Jul 17, 2008)

From what I've read about the SE II grading process (on the NCEES website I think).....they have workshops or meetings where the graders get together and score the exams. Each problem is graded by 2 separate groups of people. If there is a discrepancy in the score of the problem between the 2 groups, then the problem gets scored one more time by some other group.


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