# Did you Pass the Struct 1 April 08?



## vane_gator (Jun 11, 2008)

Just trying to get a feel on how the Struct 1 types did. It was my second attempt April, and I did not have any luck. I'll be taking the Civil come October.

Did anyone pass?


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## kevo_55 (Jun 11, 2008)

^^ Sorry to hear that gator. Best of luck in October!

I don't see that NCEES has posted the passing rates for the SEI yet. I would hope to see the passing rate go up this time but it more likely will stay right around the same percentage.


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## USF Engineer (Jun 11, 2008)

vane_gator said:


> Just trying to get a feel on how the Struct 1 types did. It was my second attempt April, and I did not have any luck. I'll be taking the Civil come October.
> Did anyone pass?


Vane gator,

I am in the same situation as you. Second time was April, no luck. I have been thinking about taking civil/struct in October since this is my last chance at taking the exam. Is that what your are doing as well? I really do not want to change but I think I should have a better chance at the civil rather than taking the struct 1 again. I have heard that studying the CERM and getting the NCEES practice exam is all you will need for the morning. I still ahven't decieded yet.

BTW, did you do any better than the first time? I studied my butt off this time and basically only got 4 or 5 more correct. Unbelievable really!


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## vane_gator (Jun 11, 2008)

USF Engineer said:


> BTW, did you do any better than the first time? I studied my butt off this time and basically only got 4 or 5 more correct. Unbelievable really!



Actually, I did worse the second time around. I studied much more than I did the first time around, but somehow managed the lower score. I found that the exam had multiple questions on the same obscure topics, which I hadn't covered in depth. I knew walking out of the exam that 2nd time that I had not passed.

I'm going to go for the Civil/Struct this time. Of my friends, I know 3 who attempted the Struct 1 twice without passing, and went with the Civil/Struct the 3rd time around and passed. Hopefully, I'll have the same result.

There's much more available study material for the Civil, and I'm contemplating taking a review course.


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## USF Engineer (Jun 11, 2008)

vane_gator said:


> Actually, I did worse the second time around. I studied much more than I did the first time around, but somehow managed the lower score. I found that the exam had multiple questions on the same obscure topics, which I hadn't covered in depth. I knew walking out of the exam that 2nd time that I had not passed.
> I'm going to go for the Civil/Struct this time. Of my friends, I know 3 who attempted the Struct 1 twice without passing, and went with the Civil/Struct the 3rd time around and passed. Hopefully, I'll have the same result.
> 
> There's much more available study material for the Civil, and I'm contemplating taking a review course.


Other than the review course, what else do you plan on studying as far as references?


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## vane_gator (Jun 11, 2008)

USF Engineer said:


> Other than the review course, what else do you plan on studying as far as references?


The advice has been to study the CERM and practice problems.


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## knelli (Jun 24, 2008)

I luckily passed the S1 in April '08 - sooo relieved.

Keep trying, I know it is hard! I studied my butt off..... Do any and all practice problems you can get your hands on.


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## knelli (Jun 25, 2008)

Just curious,

If you did not pass, do you have your diagnostic results? Where do you need improvement? How did you feel about the exam when you were done? Was there any certain type of question that stumped you? Did you have a lot of answers that did not match the choices?

I counted 10 that I had to guess on, and another 13 that I wasn't 100% sure on. If I missed all of those, that would have been a score of 57/80, probably just barely passing.

I did take the SEAOI review course online from November through March. The content was not 100% useful, but helped getting me ready to think about the exam. Also did lots of practice problems from the NCEES practice exam, 6 minute solutions and had access to notes from a bridge design course a friend took (but with old codes).

Take some time for yourself and have fun before starting to study again, and don't beat yourself up! It can be 1 question between pass and fail!


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## melissaNYPE (Jun 29, 2008)

I took the Civil/Structural in April 08 and recommend you give it a try if you're having difficulty with the Struct I. The afternoon Structural section is not overly difficult; I studied structural topics for a little under a month and, using the CERM to tackle the (almost absurdly easy) morning section, managed a passing score... either way, if you pass the Civil/Structural at least you'll have something under your belt as you're trying for the Struct I again 

I haven't personally taken the Struct I but know a few colleagues who did and thought it significantly more difficult than the Civil/Structural.

Just my :2cents:


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## Jennifer (Jun 30, 2008)

knelli said:


> Just curious,
> If you did not pass, do you have your diagnostic results? Where do you need improvement? How did you feel about the exam when you were done? Was there any certain type of question that stumped you? Did you have a lot of answers that did not match the choices?
> 
> I counted 10 that I had to guess on, and another 13 that I wasn't 100% sure on. If I missed all of those, that would have been a score of 57/80, probably just barely passing.
> ...



I got my diagnostic report on Thursday last week. I did the worst in a subject area that I practiced in for almost 4 years...wood. Hum. I guess maybe I need to study that more this time, but I thought I knew it hands down. Didn't even have that written down as one of my questionalble areas. My biggest problem is that they didn't break it down into the bridge and building problems. I didn't do great in steel and concrete, but I wondered if I missed most of the bridge problems in those sections or something. I also felt fairly good about those subject areas when I walked out, too. Surprisingly I did the same in Steel, Concrete, and Masonry and I felt terrible about the Masonry questions.


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## kevo_55 (Jun 30, 2008)

Sorry to hear that Jennifer.

You are right, they don't break it down into bridge or building in the SE I diagnostic. The problem with the SE I is that anything could be asked so it might be hit or miss on what types of questions you'll get.

Keep up hope and try again, ok??!!

10940623:


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## Jennifer (Jul 2, 2008)

kevo_55 said:


> Sorry to hear that Jennifer.
> You are right, they don't break it down into bridge or building in the SE I diagnostic. The problem with the SE I is that anything could be asked so it might be hit or miss on what types of questions you'll get.
> 
> Keep up hope and try again, ok??!!
> ...



Thanks Kevo. I'm signed up for October and I started studying this week.


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## penneng (Nov 8, 2008)

vane_gator said:


> Just trying to get a feel on how the Struct 1 types did. It was my second attempt April, and I did not have any luck. I'll be taking the Civil come October.
> Did anyone pass?



Did you appear for this october PE Civil / Structure or Did you take SE1 again? The reason am asking is because I am also in the same boat not being able to make my mind to take civil or SE1 that too with new construction topic listed with the Civil exam? Any thoughts or information from your experience will be helpfull. My email [email protected]

Thanks.


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## USF Engineer (Dec 26, 2008)

Vane gator,

Its been a long time since we last spoke. Actually, right after the April 08 exam results! Congrats on passing on your third attampt. I took this round off to recoop. I wanted to see if you had any advice for the Civil/Struct? How did it compare with the Struct 1? What did you study this time around? And what was the level of difficulty in comparision to the Struct. 1?

Thanks and Congrats.

USF...


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## vane_gator (Jan 5, 2009)

USF

I really focued on the CERM. I started studying in August, attempting to complete a topic per week. It actually took a couple of weeks to go through Water Resources, so you may want to budget extra time for that topic. I concentrated on structures for two weeks or so at the end. I used the Structural Reference manual for that. I went through the six minute solutions for every topic, working both the breadth and depth problems. I also worked the CERM companion guide problems.

My advice is to just go over as many problems as possible. Practice, practice, practice.

I found the Civil/Struct much more straightfoward than the S1. A completely different feel to the test (or perhaps I was just feeling good about it because I had prepared so well). I was concerned about the non-structural topics; however, the morning breadth part of the exam is really general enough that if you understand the major concepts from each topic, you should be able to answer the questions.

Good Luck


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