# Changing Disciplines for PE Exam.... Anyone accomplished this?



## PowerStroke79_PE (Mar 19, 2018)

I have failed the exam  more than 3 times. I am currently just taking a break and working slowly for the PE exam in October. I have been taking the Civil/Structural exam and have been pretty close with 67's as my grade (Im in TX). But my boss has been trying to convince me to take the WR discipline as he states its much more predictable than the Structural. I wouldn't give up on the structural as I would keep working to take the SE. I was curious if anyone who has done this would want to share their story. 

Thanks


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## User1 (Mar 21, 2018)

Is your work experience in wre? You're so close. I wouldn't lean toward switching. Maybe focus on your exam strategy while you take practice exams? First pass through for gimmies, second for easy questions with a little bit of calculation, third for more in depth but solvable problems, and then the final for more complex problems.
I know that's not exactly what you asked for in your post, but those are my thoughts.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Mar 21, 2018)

tj_PE said:


> Is your work experience in wre? You're so close. I wouldn't lean toward switching. Maybe focus on your exam strategy while you take practice exams? First pass through for gimmies, second for easy questions with a little bit of calculation, third for more in depth but solvable problems, and then the final for more complex problems.
> I know that's not exactly what you asked for in your post, but those are my thoughts.


I appreciate your reply. Thank you. I do not work in WRE. I work in Structural, but I am perplexed how I was not able to pass it in 2 years time. Honestly ashamed. I can take buildings and design them structurally with sound engineering and by necessary code. Now I realize I've been doing that at my own pace obviously, which is not acceptable. The very first time I took the exam I scored 30 correct in the morning. That was never the case again with only scoring 20 or less correct. And in the afternoon I went from 15 correct to 25. But that's where I capped. I hate the idea of learning all the water treatment stuff (respectfully I've just never done it), but I need to get licensed. It sounds bad I know, but I can do structural engineering. I will keep thinking about it. Again, thank you for the reply @tj_PE


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## User1 (Mar 21, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> I appreciate your reply. Thank you. I do not work in WRE. I work in Structural, but I am perplexed how I was not able to pass it in 2 years time. Honestly ashamed. I can take buildings and design them structurally with sound engineering and by necessary code. Now I realize I've been doing that at my own pace obviously, which is not acceptable. The very first time I took the exam I scored 30 correct in the morning. That was never the case again with only scoring 20 or less correct. And in the afternoon I went from 15 correct to 25. But that's where I capped. I hate the idea of learning all the water treatment stuff (respectfully I've just never done it), but I need to get licensed. It sounds bad I know, but I can do structural engineering. I will keep thinking about it. Again, thank you for the reply @tj_PE


don't be ashamed, and don't give up! You can do this. I would stick with structural. Otherwise you're starting over from the beginning with WRE!


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## ptatohed (Mar 31, 2018)

tj_PE said:


> don't be ashamed, and don't give up! You can do this. I would stick with structural. Otherwise you're starting over from the beginning with WRE!


Agree.  Good luck H79.


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## youngmotivatedengineer (Apr 1, 2018)

Maybe you are over thinking it and getting affected by the psychological aspect of the test process. Have you determined where you are going wrong? Is it timing issue where you don't have time to work all the problems, or is it the issue content knowledge? If you seem to be okay with both of those, could it be a basic conversion or math errors if try to skip steps as opposed to writing out the problems step by step? I know it's hard since you don't get to see results to test questions, but how did you do during practice exams? 

If you can find a practice exam you havent worked yet, you should do a mock exam on the date of April exam. After your test, do an analysisof the whole process and not just focus on exam notes. Maybe you need better tabbing, or if you find yourself looking for the same formulas in your references,  make a summary sheet/ folder with important notes/pages. That could help with timing since you'll have less searching to find information.


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## KOKOMO777 (Apr 6, 2018)

I am switching from WRE to Transportation. I initially chose WRE because of it required less reference materials. I've been out of school for 21 years.  I took the WRE back on October 2017. It was my first try and did not pass. I plan to re-take the exam this October in Transportation. My work experience early in my career was transportation (12 years ago). My current job is project management for a major automotive manufacturing facility (over seeing facility and construction).I took the SOPE for WRE and re-taking the Transportation.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 6, 2018)

KOKOMO777 said:


> I am switching from WRE to Transportation. I initially chose WRE because of it required less reference materials. I've been out of school for 21 years.  I took the WRE back on October 2017. It was my first try and did not pass. I plan to re-take the exam this October in Transportation. My work experience early in my career was transportation (12 years ago). My current job is project management for a major automotive manufacturing facility (over seeing facility and construction).I took the SOPE for WRE and re-taking the Transportation.


@KOKOMO777Do you mind sharing what percentage you got right in the afternoon? What did you think of SOPE?


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## KOKOMO777 (Apr 6, 2018)

I got 21 out of 40 correct in the WRE. The did not do well on the environmental portion of the exam. The SOPE did help me prepare for some of topics on the exam. I took too much time on the exams and guessed about 20-25 questions. My approach will be different on the 2nd try. Looking back at the exam, I think I could have done better and pass.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 7, 2018)

KOKOMO777 said:


> I got 21 out of 40 correct in the WRE. The did not do well on the environmental portion of the exam. The SOPE did help me prepare for some of topics on the exam. I took too much time on the exams and guessed about 20-25 questions. My approach will be different on the 2nd try. Looking back at the exam, I think I could have done better and pass.


@KOKOMO777 thanks! Well im gonna give Structural one more shot in October. I still dont know that i will take a class, but i have every practice reference out there for self study.


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## DoctorWho-PE (Apr 30, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> @KOKOMO777 thanks! Well im gonna give Structural one more shot in October. I still dont know that i will take a class, but i have every practice reference out there for self study.


I only took a class because my husband got me a login for the ASCE group course through his employer.  I'm glad I did take it, as they gave a great overview of the topics that appeared on the Oct 17 exam (second attempt for me) and a decent set of notes to build on.  My only complaint as I was taking the exam was that it seemed like all of the AM problems were what they covered in the ASCE course, but then added a step or two.  But with the note sets they provided I didn't have to look as much up in the CERM and other references, which saved me time during the exam.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 30, 2018)

vhab49_PE said:


> I only took a class because my husband got me a login for the ASCE group course through his employer.  I'm glad I did take it, as they gave a great overview of the topics that appeared on the Oct 17 exam (second attempt for me) and a decent set of notes to build on.  My only complaint as I was taking the exam was that it seemed like all of the AM problems were what they covered in the ASCE course, but then added a step or two.  But with the note sets they provided I didn't have to look as much up in the CERM and other references, which saved me time during the exam.


@vhab49_PEI've actually never considered ASCE courses as I took a few on Civil topics that were so outdated it made me angry. However, there are some good reviews out there on them and the courses I took are nothing like the PE refresher courses. I've scored best in the morning section when I took testmasters, but their structural depth left much to wish for. Ultimately I'm probably gonna end up taking School of PE I think. But my confidence has grown honestly and if budget is tight I'm not going to invest in a course this time around. 

@youngmotivatedengineer

Thanks for the tips!


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## Baby Hamster (May 2, 2018)

I registered for the Construction exam for April 2017. On February 2017 I sent an email to NCEES asking if I can change to the Water exam instead. They switched it for me within a day, so they are very accomodating when it comes to switching exams.

Unfortunately the April 2017 Water exam was difficult and I ended up failing. I should have stuck with Construction because all my friends who took the construction exam during that time passed. I retook the PE on October 2017, this time I stuck with Construction, and ended up passing.


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## KOKOMO777 (May 2, 2018)

congrats!


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