# Feelings on October 2021 SE Vertical Exam?



## TrevorG (Oct 28, 2021)

Hello all,

I recently took the SE Vertical exam (Buildings) and was curious on how everyone who took it felt about it. I felt like I struggled with the AM section as the M/C problems were not entirely what I was expecting. However, the Buildings PM I felt like was very fair and a little easier than I anticipated. I am a little worried I failed the test cause of the AM section but we will see I guess. Im hoping the cutoff score is around a 24 haha

I would love to hear how everyone else felt about it, as I haven’t heard from anyone else who took it yet. Good luck to everyone!


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## Be-n (Oct 28, 2021)

I took Vertical SE in April 2021 after doing AEI vertical SE class. I can see how people can struggle with the morning session.
It required a lot of practice to be able to solve all AM problems without a single guess on the real exam. I practiced all AEI problems and some PPI problems on the selected topics that I felt like were my weak areas and I solved additional 40 bridge problems on one of the Sundays after failing most AASHTO problems in a practice exam.
What surprised me the most in the real exam is that pretty much all AM problems were time demanding, almost nothing that I could answer without crunching some numbers. But the type of problems is probably different in every exam. So, you gotta be really fast with problems solving and searching through your references.
I agree, PM wasn’t too bad, all problems were reasonable. I wasted 20 minutes for rewriting a solution in the correct pamphlet and still passed it. So, if I’d write in the right pamphlet to begin with, I could probably solve everything nice and neatly.

Lateral exam in October 2021 seemed to be quite different for me than Vertical in April. I read a lot more material and practiced a lot less problems. I struggled to grasp all seismic design concepts for a while and it require a lot of extra studying time for me. I literally understood all steel design in seismic just on the weekend before the real exam after failing the practice exam.
In the end, the real exam went pretty well for me. After all, I agreed with AEI professor Dr. Ibrahim, studying for the lateral is harder, it is more material to cover, but the exam itself is easier. I felt like I had to crunch a bit less numbers in the lateral exam than in the vertical. Understanding all seismic design requirements, both general and material specific, is extremely important for this exam.
Can’t wait for the results! Good luck!
btw, it is a right decision just to do one exam in a time.


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## Tac42turtle (Oct 28, 2021)

TrevorG said:


> Hello all,
> 
> I recently took the SE Vertical exam (Buildings) and was curious on how everyone who took it felt about it. I felt like I struggled with the AM section as the M/C problems were not entirely what I was expecting. However, the Buildings PM I felt like was very fair and a little easier than I anticipated. I am a little worried I failed the test cause of the AM section but we will see I guess. Im hoping the cutoff score is around a 24 haha
> 
> I would love to hear how everyone else felt about it, as I haven’t heard from anyone else who took it yet. Good luck to everyone!


I'm in the exact same boat. I felt very confident about the morning going in, but I really was thrown off in the first hour, mostly by the AASHTO and analysis problems, unfortunately. I should have just started with the material specific questions and given myself some extra time for the rest, but I did the opposite, which left me with 3 questions that I know how to easily solve but didn't have the time. Then there's the others that I had to guess on or might have made a dumb mistake, so I'm worried I didn't make the morning cut.
The afternoon felt pretty easy and I had 20 minutes left to check my work, which surprised me, since the afternoon practice was always a time crunch.
If I pass, I feel like I'll be super motivated to attack the lateral exam in April. But if I failed, it'll be pretty deflating since I feel like it was right there for me, and I just didn't take advantage. I'm sure that's a common feeling with this exam...


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## DoctorWho-PE (Oct 28, 2021)

I am pretty sure I overcomplicated one or two of the afternoon problems. Two of them took me about 45min each, one about an hour, and the 4th, the remainder of the time.


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## TrevorG (Oct 28, 2021)

Be-n said:


> I took Vertical SE in April 2021 after doing AEI vertical SE class. I can see how people can struggle with the morning session.
> It required a lot of practice to be able to solve all AM problems without a single guess on the real exam. I practiced all AEI problems and some PPI problems on the selected topics that I felt like were my weak areas and I solved additional 40 bridge problems on one of the Sundays after failing most AASHTO problems in a practice exam.
> What surprised me the most in the real exam is that pretty much all AM problems were time demanding, almost nothing that I could answer without crunching some numbers. But the type of problems is probably different in every exam. So, you gotta be really fast with problems solving and searching through your references.
> I agree, PM wasn’t too bad, all problems were reasonable. I wasted 20 minutes for rewriting a solution in the correct pamphlet and still passed it. So, if I’d write in the right pamphlet to begin with, I could probably solve everything nice and neatly.
> ...


Yah I also took the AEI Vertical Class Be-n. I really liked the two professors and felt like they were extremely knowledgeable on the topics. I solved all of their problems and felt pretty good about their practice exam, but really didn't feel like their practice exam was indicative of the material on the actual exam. I guess if I have to retake it, I will do more practice problems with other references for the AM session. 

I feel like the lateral may be a little easier for me as I passed the CA seismic already, which at least gives me a basis for the seismic content. I do forensics for a living which requires very little calculations/design so I had to sharpen my pencil a lot for the vertical hahaha


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## TrevorG (Oct 28, 2021)

Tac42turtle said:


> I'm in the exact same boat. I felt very confident about the morning going in, but I really was thrown off in the first hour, mostly by the AASHTO and analysis problems, unfortunately. I should have just started with the material specific questions and given myself some extra time for the rest, but I did the opposite, which left me with 3 questions that I know how to easily solve but didn't have the time. Then there's the others that I had to guess on or might have made a dumb mistake, so I'm worried I didn't make the morning cut.
> The afternoon felt pretty easy and I had 20 minutes left to check my work, which surprised me, since the afternoon practice was always a time crunch.
> If I pass, I feel like I'll be super motivated to attack the lateral exam in April. But if I failed, it'll be pretty deflating since I feel like it was right there for me, and I just didn't take advantage. I'm sure that's a common feeling with this exam...


I completely agree. I felt like the analysis/bridges was much more difficult then I expected especially since I took AEI and we did a lot of shear/moment diagrams and snow/rain/ice load problems, which were not even on the exam. I'll be pretty deflated as well since the PM was very doable...


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## TrevorG (Oct 28, 2021)

vhab49_PE said:


> I am pretty sure I overcomplicated one or two of the afternoon problems. Two of them took me about 45min each, one about an hour, and the 4th, the remainder of the time.


Yah I think I did enough to pass but didn't quite finish the 4th wood problem. I spent too long on one or two but should have done enough for an AAAIR hopefully.


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## shihouli (Oct 28, 2021)

I took vertical bridge.
I felt morning session was a bit tougher than the NCEES sample exam but very close. I was surprised to see a lot of bridge questions and some questions covered very detail things. Over all I felt good. There were a couple questions that I was not very sure. The rest were OK.
The trick of morning session is that it is a mixture of simple and tough questions. Don't lose confidence if facing a few tough questions and do not spend too much time on a tough one. Keep a good balance between time and speed is very important. During the exam, I kept track of time on every five questions. At one point I thought I was doing fine and would have 30 mins left when I finished. But in the end I only had 2 mins.
Bridge afternoon session was much tougher than the NCEES sample exam. All three questions had four subquestions. Some subquestions required a lot of calculations.
To be able to do well for the afternoon, you really need to be very familiar with the topics and finish the calculation quickly.


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## Be-n (Oct 29, 2021)

TrevorG said:


> Yah I also took the AEI Vertical Class Be-n. I really liked the two professors and felt like they were extremely knowledgeable on the topics. I solved all of their problems and felt pretty good about their practice exam, but really didn't feel like their practice exam was indicative of the material on the actual exam. I guess if I have to retake it, I will do more practice problems with other references for the AM session.
> 
> I feel like the lateral may be a little easier for me as I passed the CA seismic already, which at least gives me a basis for the seismic content. I do forensics for a living which requires very little calculations/design so I had to sharpen my pencil a lot for the vertical hahaha


I don't think the practice exam is supposed to be indicative of the material of the actual exam. Rather it is supposed to implement the process of solving the practice exam using the references we've got (codes and class binders). Some people spend all their time on the class binders and the class practice problems and never even open the codes. I think this might be the reason why some people fail the exam after completing the class.
I hope you pass vertical and will attack lateral prep course with more energy!


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## hr.ghorbani (Oct 29, 2021)

Building vertical exam. Texas, Austin
Morning, I solved all problems except some bridge problems that I didn't have enough time to work on them. 
Afternoon, I solved all of them except one part of the wood. I expect more practical problems but it seems NCEES stuck to the school problems. 
Anyways, for me, it doesn't worth retaking this exam if I couldn't pass it. I think I wasted my time taking the SE when it is useless in my state.


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## CivilEn (Oct 29, 2021)

The same.
The morning exam was difficult for me,,many problems were new or vague, but the afternoon was straight forward but long.


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## Reverse Polish (Nov 1, 2021)

I don't know, man. If you still have feelings, then the exam clearly didn't work you over hard enough.


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## Be-n (Nov 1, 2021)

TrevorG said:


> I completely agree. I felt like the analysis/bridges was much more difficult then I expected especially since I took AEI and we did a lot of shear/moment diagrams and snow/rain/ice load problems, which were not even on the exam. I'll be pretty deflated as well since the PM was very doable...


After completing AEI vertical, I still didn’t feel ready for AASHTO questions. So I got the book from David Connor, SE and solved extra 40 vertical bridge problems. There were a number of problems that were not covered in AEI class which made me use AASHTO manual a lot. After spending a whole Sunday on these 40 problems, I felt pretty good about bridge problems, more familiar with the manual, and solved all 8-10 questions on the real exam.

If you felt the same way, I suggest to check that book out.

Lateral was different. I had no time for solving any extra bridge problems during my preparation. I solved only AEI lateral bridge problems, which, in addition to the aashto background from vertical class, was enough solve all but 1 bridge problems on the real exam.


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## TrevorG (Nov 2, 2021)

Mah said:


> The same.
> The morning exam was difficult for me,,many problems were new or vague, but the afternoon was straight forward but long.


Yah I completely agree, I struggled with more than I anticipated in the AM, but felt pretty confident in the PM.


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## hr.ghorbani (Nov 15, 2021)

I received the NCEES survey. I heard many times that examinees want to find a relationship between receiving a survey or not receiving it with passing or not passing the exam. "Be or not to be, this is the question." I want to say it is a joke. they have to back to the first grade to learn the survey definition.


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## Be-n (Nov 15, 2021)

hr.ghorbani said:


> I received the NCEES survey. I heard many times that examinees want to find a relationship between receiving a survey or not receiving it with passing or not passing the exam. "Be or not to be, this is the question." I want to say it is a joke. they have to back to the first grade to learn the survey definition.


I received it too. 
My coworker calmed me down by reminding that he also received it a year ago and still passed the PE exam  . There is no way they finalized SE exam grading by this time to know who passed and who didn’t.


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## TrevorG (Nov 21, 2021)

I received it as well haha but I would be surprised if there was actually any correlation.


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## RMBelleza (Dec 6, 2021)

TrevorG said:


> Hello all,
> 
> I recently took the SE Vertical exam (Buildings) and was curious on how everyone who took it felt about it. I felt like I struggled with the AM section as the M/C problems were not entirely what I was expecting. However, the Buildings PM I felt like was very fair and a little easier than I anticipated. I am a little worried I failed the test cause of the AM section but we will see I guess. Im hoping the cutoff score is around a 24 haha
> 
> I would love to hear how everyone else felt about it, as I haven’t heard from anyone else who took it yet. Good luck to everyone!


I was not able to answer 4-5 questions in the AM exam since I don't have the time to solve it. I could had solved the last 3 question easily but times up so I just guess those 4-5 question. I didn't expect a lot of question on bridge (I think there are 8 of them) which consume much of my time. Not even sure if I can score 28 out 40 in the AM exam. PM exam is quite easy.


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