# What was most painful for you?



## CivE Bricky (Jul 1, 2009)

Most painful first -for me

FE

PE application

PE exam(s)

FE exam - I've been away from college for some time and it took lots of focus to relearn the material and get fast again.

PE application - I had long employment and few records of what I'd done (big mistake) so that whole process was brutal.

PE exam - mostly a matter of applying enough time to get through it -- nothing super-painful (other than the current waiting on results part!)


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## snickerd3 (Jul 1, 2009)

FE - and I took it while still in school. Had to reteach myself a lot of the physics stuff.


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## Small (Jul 1, 2009)

Most painful in order:

PE Exam results wait - 68 days....argh!

PE Application - references, job history, etc. etc.

FE Application - took it while still in school (go VT!), was taking it because I was told it might help in the future. Dont' remember waiting for the results, just kind of got them in the mail one day.


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## EnvEngineer (Jul 1, 2009)

Here in Calif we do things just a little different

FE cake walk

PE Application, stressfull

PE Exam Fair but Long

Survey Exam more questions less time, poor writing

Seismic Exam more question less time, more complicated than any of the other exams, written by ________________.

Maybe I should start a thread to fill in the blank. The Seismic exam is the worst experience if my professional career of 28 years.

BTW they just posted that our results must be approved by the board in the July 24 meeting or August. We still have a long wait.


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## chaocl (Jul 1, 2009)

The most painful is the waiting time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to your real question that FE is harder than PE and application comes at the end (less painful) in nowadays.

You can finish a lot of problems in 2 months (day and night) for the exam but the waiting time is something that we can not control of it (3 months---24 hours a day).


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## GTjoy (Jul 1, 2009)

The chair was the most painful. Sitting for the FE exam on a hard plastic seat all day was not fun.

I brought a small pillow, just in case, for the PE exam - fortunately the seats this time were padded!


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## Jack1977 (Jul 1, 2009)

The most painful thing is you spent multiple years and tried multiple times and passed SE-1, then you spend another multiple years and tried multiple times to intend to pass SE-2, but until year 2011 you still can NOT PASS SE-2, Then all of your those years effort is wasted. You have to go all over again to take new 16 hours SE test.


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## djm (Jul 1, 2009)

Most painful for me was definately the PE Exam results wait. I stalked the mailman for the last two weeks before I got the letter.


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## snickerd3 (Jul 1, 2009)

GTjoy said:


> The chair was the most painful. Sitting for the FE exam on a hard plastic seat all day was not fun.
> I brought a small pillow, just in case, for the PE exam - fortunately the seats this time were padded!


we had hard metal chairs when I took the FE. I did the same things for the PE and they were padded too.


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## Fluvial (Jul 1, 2009)

The FE was not too bad. We all took it the spring of our senior year.

The PE application was not too bad either. I had all of my experience in one place and a lot of other PEs to give help on filling it out.

The PE test was rigorous. I remember leaving the building feeling as if my head had been emptied.

I honestly don't remember having any grief about waiting for the results. Maybe it's because that was so long ago (1993).

So I guess the most painful was the PE. Although I wouldn't characterize it as painful, just tough.


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## Johnny (Jul 4, 2009)

I think the PE was the most stressful mostly because more people knew I was taking it. I would have had to 'face the music' on a much larger scale than when I was in college taking the FE. I have an established career now, and I would have endured a ton of ridicule had I failed.

The FE would come in second and the PE application last.


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## Dleg (Jul 5, 2009)

PE application for sure - it took me 5 years and a lot of lobbying to get my "state" to change their licensing statute to meet the NCEES model rules, which would allow me to take the exam. Prior to that, our law stated that you had to have your degree, experience, supervisory PE, and exam in all the same field. Which made it impossible to be licensed as the first Env. PE here, with a degree in Mech E and supervisor PE's with civil licenses. (of course, how rigidly they applied that rule depended on who you were and who you were related to, but that's another story)

I passed the FE without studying during my second senior year, hung over. I studied my butt off for the PE, though - there was no way I was going to screw it up after going through so much just to be able to take the exam.


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## klmccllg (Jul 6, 2009)

The PE killed me. I have always been able to get by without putting too much effert but the PE took more effert than anything I have ever done. I had to take it multiple times.

I got lucky on the FE. I only took it once and passed. I signed up to take it in the fall thinking I'd have to take it again in the spring.


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## trees (Jul 6, 2009)

The most painful is the waiting time. For MD, we are still waiting for April 2009 exam result. It's really painful.


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## ElCid03 (Jul 22, 2009)

The PE was way more painful than the FE for me. We took the FE on campus, and we were under the old calculator policy back then so it was really easy. I felt completely drained leaving the PE. I had to guess more than once and did not have the best feeling after leaving the exam. I passed on the first try though which left me flabbergasted! The application process in Virginia was not that bad; more annoying that anything.


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## HVACstevie (Jul 22, 2009)

1) The night before the PE exam. I tool it out of state, so I stayed in a hotel near the site. I think I got 30 minutes of sleep.

2) The application process of the PE exam

3) the wait for results.

The FE process wasn't painful because I was so busy with school, work and fun stuff that if never sank in. Plus I wasn't sure how important the PE was then.


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## petertrojan (Jul 22, 2009)

Most painful is the damn waiting time, as of today 7/22/09, still no results in CA...

Reading everyone getting the result is killing me.

Today is Wednesday, July 22, 2009

It's been 89 days since you started waiting on RESULTS!


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## squishles10 (Jul 24, 2009)

tough call. we'll go with:

pe app- in texas its a bear. and tracking people down over 3 jobs and 4 states- whoopie!

pe exam- its open book, how hard can it be? ;-) for me it was just a matter of putting the time in, in the end it wasnt bad. i fully expected to pass, as i put the time in

fe exam- they give you the equations. if the question isnt in one of the equations youre screwed, but so is everyone else.


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## EnvEngineer (Jul 24, 2009)

today is July 24th and I almost called home to see if the results came in the mail, but Im not that much of an optimust. but I spell like and engineer


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## tymr (Aug 15, 2009)

One of my coworkers just found out she hasn't been accepted to sit for the exam because one of her references forgot to send in the paperwork.


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## rudy (Aug 15, 2009)

FE - it was so long ago, I don't remember... i guess, like childbirth.

PE application - it was long and took awhile. not difficult, just long.

PE exam - the hardest was my second time. when i got the letter saying i failed with a 69 -- one measly point. Thank you The Hills Have Eyes Part 3. I watched this movie a few days later and didn't feel so bad. Those poor saps stranded in the desert had it bad.


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2009)

Probably the hardest thing is remembering what was the hardest ... I can't seem to remember that far back! ldtimer:



EnvEngineer said:


> today is July 24th and I almost called home to see if the results came in the mail, but Im not that much of an optimust. but I spell like and engineer


:appl: :appl: :appl:

JR


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## TXCoogPE (Aug 19, 2009)

squishles10 said:


> tough call. we'll go with:
> pe app- in texas its a bear. and tracking people down over 3 jobs and 4 states- whoopie!
> 
> pe exam- its open book, how hard can it be? ;-) for me it was just a matter of putting the time in, in the end it wasnt bad. i fully expected to pass, as i put the time in
> ...


I agree with the order squishles10 listed.

The detail you have to put into describing all the work you have done under different supervisors on the TX app was MUCH more of a headache than a friend of mine who only had to list the supervisors name, the names of the projects, and the reference's contact info for his state's app. Plus the fact that the entire time you are writing the descriptions, there is this nagging feeling in the back of your head telling you that if you do not describe your work history right, they may not think you have had enough experience and could turn your application down. (Did happen to another friend of mine!)

I invested a good amount of time into studying for the PE over a nice stretch, so the test wasn't as bad as I was first fearing.

I remember taking the FE in college and it feeling like just one big final.


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