# Engineers Riot in California at April Exam



## Timmy! (Jul 7, 2006)

The following is copied from the California Boar's minutes of the May 11, 2006 Board meeting.

Moral of the story: never stand between an engineering examinee and his illegal calculator.

c. Report on Examination Activities

Ms. Christenson reported that there are approximately 68 exam subversion cases from the April 2006 examination administration. Of these 68 cases, most of them are related to the NCEES calculator policy, which required us to eject candidates from the examination if they were found to be using an unapproved calculator after the examination began.

Ms. Christenson reported that at the Pomona site, a mob of candidates formed outside of the test area after they had been removed from the examination because they had unapproved calculators. Board staff had to be escorted by the CHP back to their hotels for security reasons.

Ms. Christenson has informed NCEES of this issue and told them that she will not put staff at risk.

President Tuttle requested that the calculator issues be included in the next agenda.


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## Seajay (Jul 7, 2006)

:rotfl: :rotflmao


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## DrFranz (Jul 7, 2006)

:claps:


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## DVINNY (Jul 7, 2006)

Do What?


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## Timmy! (Jul 7, 2006)

Must have been quite a show. Rumor has it that the air was filled with pocket protectors and HP48 calculators. I heard that one guy was impaled by an illegal Pentel 0.5mm mechanical pencil... :lol:


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## Timmy! (Jul 7, 2006)

While I'm at it, this is from the Ohio State Board website...getting sanctioned by the state board when you're not even a PE is a helluva way to commence your professional engineering career!

This also occurred during the April 0'6 exam.

Board sanctions three PE examinees

At its meeting on December 15, 2005, Ohio?s State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors passed a motion to not allow engineer interns Rachael Marchini, William Travis Tipton and Sameer Awadallah to take the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) examination until October 2010. Ohio Revised Code section 4733.20(A)(7) permits the Board to impose disciplinary measures on applicants for registration who fail to abide by or comply with examination instructions.

Rachael Marchini, a resident of Willoughby, Ohio, and William Travis Tipton, a resident of New Philadelphia, Ohio, were removed from the PE examination in Cleveland, Ohio during the examination because they were using calculators that were not approved by Engineering and Land Surveying Examination Services (ELSES) ? an affiliate of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying ? which administers the licensing exams for the Board. The calculator policy is distributed to all examinees prior to the exam and the policy is also explained during the exam instructions given the day of the exam to ensure that all examinees are testing under the same conditions nationwide. Due to the excessive disruption they caused when they returned to the exam room to collect their belongings and for their failure to follow exam rules, the Board decided to not allow Ms. Marchini or Mr. Tipton to take the PE exam until October 2010.

The action taken against Sameer Awadallah, a resident of Uniontown, Ohio, was due to the excessive disruption he caused during the PE examination and his failure to abide by and follow exam instructions. Mr. Awadallah arrived at the exam after the exam had begun and was not permitted to enter the secure exam room. After ELSES staff members explained the policy and rules to Mr. Awadallah, he repeatedly refused to immediately leave the exam site. The Board decided to not allow Mr. Awadallah to take the PE exam until October 2010.


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## benbo (Jul 7, 2006)

Not to mention the fact that many engineers found alternate uses for their "the other board" Reference Materials, many of which can double as body armor.


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## VTskier (Jul 7, 2006)

Well, if these candidates can not follow straight forward, clear, concise instructions that were well publicized before the exam, I don't feel sorry for them. How the hell could they follow a customers specifications or codes and standards, if something as simple as a calculator policy eludes them?


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## petergibbons (Jul 7, 2006)

> Must have been quite a show. Rumor has it that the air was filled with pocket protectors and HP48 calculators. I heard that one guy was impaled by an illegal Pentel 0.5mm mechanical pencil... :lol:


Good stuff!! :lmao: I also heard the air was filled with chants of "Hell no, we refuse to vacate the premises!!"


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## Road Guy (Jul 7, 2006)

I wonder if someone kills themselves during the middle of the exam, does everyone there get to pass?

There was an urban legend at my college (&amp; i am sure others) that if you lived in the dorm and your roomate off his or her self, you got an A for the semester. (I never read that in the "student handbook" though)


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## DVINNY (Jul 7, 2006)

I need somebody to help me out with the October exam. Who wants to be my study partner? eh?


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jul 10, 2006)

> The following is copied from the California Boar's minutes of the May 11, 2006 Board meeting.
> Moral of the story: never stand between an engineering examinee and his illegal calculator.
> 
> c. Report on Examination Activities
> ...


I saw somewhere (NSPE website?) that this was the first time California had tried to enforce the calculator policy. It said that while they were expecting some confusion and trouble, they weren't expecting anything like this!


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## Cinic (Jul 10, 2006)

I was in Pomona and the guy next to me got booted about 3 hours into the AFTERNOON portion of the exam. He was upset and it was a bit of an interruption for me. I certainly didn't see anyone getting ready to riot though.

And anyone who wants to blame the proctors for their not being able to follow directions has some serious accountability issues.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jul 10, 2006)

The list of approved calculators is in big bold letters on the front page of the NCEES website, on the ELSES site for your state, with your admission ticket (I believe), and read aloud by a proctor at the exam itself.

There is no excuse for not knowing the policy and abiding by it. And it's not like they are making you buy some really expensive model that you'll never use again. I would have rather used my TI-89, but that's not an approved model, so I went out and bought a different one for $15. Now I use it at work.


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