# Correlation between confidence and passing...



## McEngr (Dec 6, 2006)

After taking the CE/structural a couple of months ago, I am starting to lose my confidence a little bit. My methods for taking the exam included the following:

1. Rate each problem with difficulty first. This took thirty minutes or so... 1=easy, 2=a little work, 3=either difficult/timely or I had no clue.

2. I finished both morning and afternoon sessions with about 2 or 3 skipped problems and about an hour to remain. I took my time on the 3 problems, then I would look over all the problems again to check out any possible math errors. I was surprised that some of the gimme questions in the morning were simply unit conversion questions!!!!! Wow! What a joke!

3. I took an assessment of the problems that I felt were right at 10-15 minutes before the time was up for the AM and PM. In the AM, I counted 29 that I was very, very confident on. In the PM, I counted 30 that I was very, very confident on. :true:

After saying all of this, I would like to here some stories, good or bad, about how you felt after the exam and your confidence level. I'm starting to think that I'm a typical exam taker that was confident, but will receive the blow of "just missing the mark". :brick:

Any thoughts/stories? Do tell!


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## MetroRAFB (Dec 6, 2006)

Gotta go with your gut. The feelings you had right after the exam was over are more accurate in my opinion that how you feel about it now.

My confidence level hasn't changed, but I wasn't very confident coming out of the test. I walked out of the exam thinking I was on the borderline. Time was a huge factor for me, which kind of surprised me. I didn't have any time to go over anything again once I'd answered it, but I took a little longer on each problem coming up with an answer to begin with. I didn't want to find myself second guessing my answers at the end of each session. I didn't even have time to go back and count how many I was "sure" of.

I'm anxious to get my results, but I'm mentally prepared for either a pass or fail. Failing would suck but I learned a lot about the test after taking it in October. I've identified a couple of areas to concentrate on, the number non-quantitative problems threw me a little. I wasn't prepared for that many of them.


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## Hill William (Dec 6, 2006)

I was pretty confident after I took it in April but I was afraid to say it or even think it. I didn't want to jinx myself. However, as time went by, the closer the results got, I was shittin my pants and sure I failed. I don't know if this helps you guys but I passed.


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## flyingfishes (Dec 6, 2006)

I felt good leaving the test (this last April), and I was fortunate enough to pass, the guy I got a ride home with wasnt feeling to good about his effort, and unfortunately didn't pass. and so on with the half dozen or so people I had spoken with, a couple 'i dont know - could go either way's' passed. i think i agree with the above comment, how you felt walking out of there, is a pretty good indication.

as a note, Civil-WR is often around 66% (down into 50's sometimes) but it always seems like if you know three people who took it, 2 of the three passed.

Good Luck, try to stay 'guardedly optimistic'


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2006)

McEngr -

There are many times where I wonder if my units were proper whether it was feet/sec, feet/min, feet/yr, or even furlong/fort night.

I think it is very natural to have doubts, because there are so many things going through your head. As more time evolves, it allows you to "visualize" more ways in which you could have made errors. :hung:

Just a few more weeks to go, I am sure you will hear good news :claps: :+1:

My thoughts on my performace werealways that I was a borderline candidate - I always seem to be in that position. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Right now, the best thing you can do is focus on the good in your life, like that 1-month old  How's the routine coming ?? For me it is completing my thesis (final rough draft soon to be complete) and a presentation I am delivering in Sarasota next week.

Regards,

JR


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## Hill William (Dec 6, 2006)

Two guys I work with and went to school with took the test at the same time. We all went out to eat and have a few beers to relax the night before. On the way, somebody said, "You know, by the pass rate, one of us is screwed." It was funny because I didn't think of it like that.


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## MetroRAFB (Dec 6, 2006)

Yeah, at freshman engineering orientation at my school they told us to look at the person on our left and on our right and that one of them wouldn't graduate as an engineer. Both of the people next to me graduated as engineers but the overall numbers worked out that way. Over half changed majors before graduation.


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## McEngr (Dec 6, 2006)

> Right now, the best thing you can do is focus on the good in your life, like that 1-month old  How's the routine coming ?? For me it is completing my thesis (final rough draft soon to be complete) and a presentation I am delivering in Sarasota next week.
> Regards,
> 
> JR


The baby's routine is going pretty good. I am blessed enough to have a wife that only has an 8-hour per week job as an art teacher. We send our little guy, Jack, to a friend from church to watch over him. He's really great. I like it most when he just looks at me in the eyes with a soft stare. He's really great. Did I say that already? I kiss my boy more than any boy I've ever known. I'm not ashamed of it either. It just comes natural for a Dad, I think. He sleeps in stretches of about 4 to 5 hours now. We're hoping the trend continues (for our sake).

Back to the test: It honestly did seem easy when I took it. I'm hoping that my "feeling" is accurate of the results. Maybe when I get my license, I'll be able to crawl out from underneath the thumb of the a$$hole(s) above me.

Peace,

Ryan McEngr


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## McEngr (Dec 6, 2006)

> Two guys I work with and went to school with took the test at the same time.  We all went out to eat and have a few beers to relax the night before.  On the way, somebody said, "You know, by the pass rate, one of us is screwed."  It was funny because I didn't think of it like that.


Only true if you consider your buddies among the spectrum of all who took the test. If your buddies studied like you did, I'd bet that no one got screwed. What was the outcome by the way?


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## Hill William (Dec 6, 2006)

i was the only one that made it.


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## cement (Dec 6, 2006)

I felt very confident and I passed in April. My co-worker suffered from "analysis paralysis" had the resultant time management issues and did not pass. He knew it walking out. We had similar study effort levels.

If you do your calcs or look up a cite and it hits one of the multilpe choices, you know you got it. There might be a few "trick" questions, but not enough to make a difference IMO.


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## Max Power (Dec 7, 2006)

I took it this past October and am currently awaiting results. I felt pretty good walking out, but over the next couple of days I remembered two _easy_ questions that I screwed up on because I was rushing. After that, I'm wondering how many more that I thought were easy at the time that I screwed up as well. Now I don't know what to think... I'm just ready to find out. It is really going to suck if I fail by 1 or 2 questions knowing that I missed at least 2 easy ones.


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## FusionWhite (Dec 8, 2006)

Walking out of the FE I thought I passed. The one thing that has me worried is that the afternoon session was very different from waht I studied. Im still confident but could see it going either way. What really sucks is that if I didnt pass its going to be VERY hard for me to ever study that much again for the test.


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## petergibbons (Dec 8, 2006)

> was pretty confident after I took it in April but I was afraid to say it or even think it. I didn't want to jinx myself.


This is exactly how I felt. It took about a month after the test for me to even tell my friends I felt confident.

McEngr,

I have a little boy too! He will be 1 yr old Dec. 28. They are great aren't they. I am a changed person on all levels since he came along. This has been the fastest year of my life.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2006)

> I have a little boy too!  He will be 1 yr old Dec. 28.  They are great aren't they.  I am a changed person on all levels since he came along.  This has been the fastest year of my life.


Congrats peter !!! :+1: :claps:

JR


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## Kipper (Dec 9, 2006)

> I have a little boy too! He will be 1 yr old Dec. 28. They are great aren't they.


Congratulations PeterG.

They are great even when they are 16.



> I kiss my boy more than any boy I've ever known. I'm not ashamed of it either.


My boy still gets kissed by me, I told him to just get used to it, I'm your dad.

I left the test in April knowing I did not do very well. I went through the exam quickly reading the problems. Some along the way I answered quickly. I then went to the start and started working. I wrote down key equations of information I could look up quickly that would help answer it.

Which brings up a good point. I made sure I knew how to use my references well. Which I think helped me greatly.

The ones that I could not get an answer fairly fast, I moved on and let my brain keep working them. I kept up this process until 15 minutes to go and then I guessed at the rest.

When I guessed on the FE I went with all C. But on the PE I was just kind of frustrated thinking I did not do well I basically filled in a nice looking pattern on the score sheet.

I told my wife that it would take a miracle if I passed. I do believe in miracles, and I did pass.

I was totally shocked. To this day I couldn't tell you how I passed. That is why I wanted to see my test afterwards.

Good luck to all who took the test in October! I hope those that need it get their miracle.


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## McEngr (Dec 11, 2006)

> McEngr,I have a little boy too! He will be 1 yr old Dec. 28. They are great aren't they. I am a changed person on all levels since he came along. This has been the fastest year of my life.


Congrats PeterG!

Yes, they are great. I sometimes want to pull my hair out because I can't console him, but then he cracks a big smile and I completely forgot what I was upset about.


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