# PE Exam April 2011, how did you feel



## STEEL MAN

You can share expereince here. Feel free.


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## Baydog

This was my second time in civil-transportation, I thought it was pretty easy. There were a couple questions that I know I missed as I looked them up when I got home, but am confident that there won't be a third time for me. The first time I took the test I didn't do many problems, this time I had 5, (minimum 2") 3-ring binders, a geotech, structural, water resources/environmental, construction with economics and a 5" binder just with transportation problems. I did hundreds of problems and was well organized and familiar with my resources.

Now the waiting game begins and Iowa isn't known for being on the front end of releasing results.


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## DJsigma

I took the civil/structural.

I felt great after the morning session. I finished an hour early and went back over all my answers. The afternoon was a different story. I found it to be much more difficult. I felt the problems were tricky, and there were a few problems that required references that I did not have. There weren't any problems that I didn't know how to solve (in theory), but there were several in which I didn't come up with an answer similar to any of the answer choices.

Overall, I feel like I'll be straddling the pass/not pass line.


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## STEEL MAN

in usual PE exams Civil/Struc/Transpo- theyre mostly code dependent in the PM sessions, so you musr have all the relevant codes used, if not it would be a guessing game for sure.


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## hamada128

Civil / Structural:

I think the morning was easy for me, I finished it in almost 2.5 hrs. The afternoon was tough, too many questions from codes that I didn't have. Hope I can pass the first time.

By the way, what you guys mean when you say "the passing rate for repeater is low" is that from NCEES or just a guess.


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## STEEL MAN

hamada128 said:


> Civil / Structural:
> I think the morning was easy for me, I finished it in almost 2.5 hrs. The afternoon was tough, too many questions from codes that I didn't have. Hope I can pass the first time.
> 
> By the way, what you guys mean when you say "the passing rate for repeater is low" is that from NCEES or just a guess.



from NCEES, they have a poll of examinees taken maximum of 50 samples, and they are from ABET accred. schools, they rate as far as I can remember was roughly 20+% passing rate for repaet takers, but there is a chance.


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## STEEL MAN

Based from threads I read, these repeat takers are mostly out in the field for a while, and tried to get back on studying, it is tough I would imagine having out dated and never used them for a while.


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## hamada128

So it is just how the test repeater perform/act on the exam, not like a rule with the NCEES to set the passing rate low for repeater as I understood originally.

For me I took the FE 3 times and I passed in the 3rd time, honestly I didn't have a chance to study hard before the exam every time with a lot of projects with deadline around the exam date, but in 3rd time I didn't even open a book and it was the time I passed (maybe coz I was used to the exam problems  )

For the PE it is my first time, but this time I really did my best, I even took 2 weeks off, so I hope I can make it.


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## Tam

Civil/Structural:

Time - It was not an issue. I had at least 30 minutes left on both AM and PM sessions.

AM - I felt it was okay. Actually, it was easy but i'm not sure whether i got the correct answer or not for the theory questions from geotech and wastewater/hydrology sections :-(.

PM - I felt it was easy compared to AM session. I do agree - few questions were tricky and few questions required code books. I'm glad that i took all the reference materials with me .


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## rkelachim

I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).

I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?


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## STEEL MAN

rkelachim said:


> I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
> 
> I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?
> 
> [/quote
> 
> No, nothing but talk yo him yesterday if I pass PE a raise will be rewarded.


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## ezmorningrebel

rkelachim said:


> I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
> I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?


my employer will pay for the exam when you pass it. other attempts are on you. i was also paid for the day off to go take it. they do not pay for study materials. luckily we have all of the necessary codes so all I bought was review materials.


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## Boomer01 PE

Transportation

This was my second time taking it and I felt much better than I did the last time. I got a 46 on it the first time, so need to make up around 10 questions. The morning was much smoother and the afternoon started of great but the few questions that I skipped over were nightmares and I had to end up guessing on a few.


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## hamada128

rkelachim said:


> I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
> I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?


I also took the School of PE review course. I can say it prepared me very well for the morning part, but for the structural afternoon it was not that good.

I will talk to my employer and see if they will reimburse me for the review course cost but I doubt they will, but they will honor the exam day hours for sure.

Also I had to buy almost all the codes since they are still using outdated codes at work


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## VAPSU

rkelachim said:


> I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
> I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?


We had to pay for the test and any books we need at my company, which unfortunately since there were a few of us taking it from my office meant I had to go out and buy all my own copies of the codes. I'm just really really hoping I passed so I can sell them and get some $$ back! We also have to use our vacation time to take the test here. We do get a small bonus if we pass, which basically covers the cost of the test and study materials.

I also took the civil-structural. Thought the morning was really easy, the afternoon wasn't super hard, just a bit time consuming. I made the mistake of going after the longer problems first and think I wasted too much time on those instead of tackling the quick ones first. At this point I feel I did ok, but who knows, I could have very easily made some dumb mistakes! Keeping my fingers crossed I don't have to take it again!


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## Ambrug20

Boomer01 said:


> Transportation
> This was my second time taking it and I felt much better than I did the last time. I got a 46 on it the first time, so need to make up around 10 questions. The morning was much smoother and the afternoon started of great but the few questions that I skipped over were nightmares and I had to end up guessing on a few.



I took Transportation.

Morning was ok. I had School of PE classes and was able to find at least 4 answers (of cause not exact, but close enough to answer the questions). Structural is out of my expertise, so if i didn't guess any structural answer correct, my chances to have 70% in the morning are low. I only would have to miss 4 out of Trans, WR, Const. and Geo.

Afternoon session was complicated to me. I don't remember 12 Geometric Design questions. They probably were there, but they didn't look like using formulas. It probably were questions from Green Book. These questions were asking the least useful tables to find, some questions I had to read 3-4 times to understand the task. They gave scenario in the problem, than they said, "what if...", and gave a different scenario. It took my to read 5 times to understand which scenario they wanted to calculate: first, second or the difference. Any way, I felt like everything I learned was for nothing. On my practice tests I had very good scores, but last Friday, working my way to a goal, I was absolutely not sure if my best engineering judgment comply with NCEES judgment. I hate to do it again. I studied very hard, worked out hundreds of questions, but probably I am not a good test taker. time will show.


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## monty74

Tanya said:


> Boomer01 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Transportation
> This was my second time taking it and I felt much better than I did the last time. I got a 46 on it the first time, so need to make up around 10 questions. The morning was much smoother and the afternoon started of great but the few questions that I skipped over were nightmares and I had to end up guessing on a few.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I took Transportation.
> 
> Morning was ok. I had School of PE classes and was able to find at least 4 answers (of cause not exact, but close enough to answer the questions). Structural is out of my expertise, so if i didn't guess any structural answer correct, my chances to have 70% in the morning are low. I only would have to miss 4 out of Trans, WR, Const. and Geo.
> 
> Afternoon session was complicated to me. I don't remember 12 Geometric Design questions. They probably were there, but they didn't look like using formulas. It probably were questions from Green Book. These questions were asking the least useful tables to find, some questions I had to read 3-4 times to understand the task. They gave scenario in the problem, than they said, "what if...", and gave a different scenario. It took my to read 5 times to understand which scenario they wanted to calculate: first, second or the difference. Any way, I felt like everything I learned was for nothing. On my practice tests I had very good scores, but last Friday, working my way to a goal, I was absolutely not sure if my best engineering judgment comply with NCEES judgment. I hate to do it again. I studied very hard, worked out hundreds of questions, but probably I am not a good test taker. time will show.
Click to expand...

Tanya , I took School of PE classes too. I feel Morning is o.k. Only I found difficulty in Geotech rest subject was ok for me.

For Afternoon I did well in Traffic Analysis and Geometic Design. For Transportation Planning and traffic safety questions were chanllenging and not sure how many I did well and same thing for other topics.


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## Happy

rkelachim said:


> What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?


My employer is reimbursing me for around $850-$1000 of my expenses IF I pass. Expenses including exam fees and books. They gave me a signed letter agreement a year ago attesting to that.

I had to take my own vacation time on Friday though.


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## Ambrug20

monty74 said:


> Tanya said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Boomer01 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Transportation
> This was my second time taking it and I felt much better than I did the last time. I got a 46 on it the first time, so need to make up around 10 questions. The morning was much smoother and the afternoon started of great but the few questions that I skipped over were nightmares and I had to end up guessing on a few.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I took Transportation.
> 
> Morning was ok. I had School of PE classes and was able to find at least 4 answers (of cause not exact, but close enough to answer the questions). Structural is out of my expertise, so if i didn't guess any structural answer correct, my chances to have 70% in the morning are low. I only would have to miss 4 out of Trans, WR, Const. and Geo.
> 
> Afternoon session was complicated to me. I don't remember 12 Geometric Design questions. They probably were there, but they didn't look like using formulas. It probably were questions from Green Book. These questions were asking the least useful tables to find, some questions I had to read 3-4 times to understand the task. They gave scenario in the problem, than they said, "what if...", and gave a different scenario. It took my to read 5 times to understand which scenario they wanted to calculate: first, second or the difference. Any way, I felt like everything I learned was for nothing. On my practice tests I had very good scores, but last Friday, working my way to a goal, I was absolutely not sure if my best engineering judgment comply with NCEES judgment. I hate to do it again. I studied very hard, worked out hundreds of questions, but probably I am not a good test taker. time will show.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Tanya , I took School of PE classes too. I feel Morning is o.k. Only I found difficulty in Geotech rest subject was ok for me.
> 
> For Afternoon I did well in Traffic Analysis and Geometic Design. For Transportation Planning and traffic safety questions were challenging and not sure how many I did well and same thing for other topics.
Click to expand...

I am not sure if different states has the same format. I talked to 5 Transprt. people after the test, and they all said it was challenging. But on the other hand all of us have different ways to learn and act. For some people the test was easy, and some had hard time- this is the way this test was design, i think.


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## Vicky

I also took Transportation and think morning was a little too heavy on Structural (and Structural IS my worst subject), but doable. The afternoon was tough for me. There were quite a few questions I had to guess on because of the way they were worded, or simply because I did not have enough time. This was my first attempt in Transportation, so I really wonder how this test compare to October one was. Anybody?


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## XOXOXO

rkelachim said:


> I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
> I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?


I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.

I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.

I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).


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## jillhill

POed Mommy said:


> rkelachim said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
> I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?
> 
> 
> 
> I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.
> 
> I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.
> 
> I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).
Click to expand...

I took the Civil-Structural, and also took the school of pe. I was extremely disappointed with the Structural PM and moderatly disappointed with the AM class.


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## rkelachim

POed Mommy said:


> I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.
> I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.
> 
> I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).


It's funny that there are alot of other 'School of PE'ers" in here! I was trying to be politically correct with my earlier assesment of the School of PE, but it seems we are all in agreement. The structural classes were just *plain awful* - too elementary in difficulty, poorly organized, spent too much time in class answering questions for a handful of students that didn't understand very simple concepts, too few opportunities to practice problems, class content that was never checked against NCEES exam specifications, and instructors that honestly were difficult to understand.

What made it more disapioniting/frustrating was the that the other School of PE classes were all very good (transportation, construction, water esources), and the geotechnical class was awesome!


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## snickerd3

hopefully you all send these very same comment to the school of pe so they can make use of the feedback


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## XOXOXO

rkelachim said:


> POed Mommy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.
> I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.
> 
> I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).
> 
> 
> 
> It's funny that there are alot of other 'School of PE'ers" in here! I was trying to be politically correct with my earlier assesment of the School of PE, but it seems we are all in agreement. The structural classes were just *plain awful* - too elementary in difficulty, poorly organized, spent too much time in class answering questions for a handful of students that didn't understand very simple concepts, too few opportunities to practice problems, class content that was never checked against NCEES exam specifications, and instructors that honestly were difficult to understand.
> 
> What made it more disapioniting/frustrating was the that the other School of PE classes were all very good (transportation, construction, water esources), and the geotechnical class was awesome!
Click to expand...

I totally agree about the Geotech section...really awesome. And Transpo and Construction sections were very thorough. I reviewed water resources myself, because I could care less about environmental topics etc. and just focused on pipe and open channel flow for AM (which turned out to be perfect for me).

I actually watched 20 minutes of the online Structural PM webclass, and just logged out.


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## STEEL MAN

everybody here went to proper review class, on my part NO, just PPI/NCEES/Kaplan and my university texts. AM was reasonable enough in terms of difficulty, PM was fine but some questions arent found on PCI handbook which took a while to look but the answers doesnt agree with the code. I noticed too much steel problems, no timber for Struct PM and couple of AASHTO, some ACI and masonry questions.

Good luck everyone.


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## hamada128

POed Mommy said:


> rkelachim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> POed Mommy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.
> I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.
> 
> I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).
> 
> 
> 
> It's funny that there are alot of other 'School of PE'ers" in here! I was trying to be politically correct with my earlier assesment of the School of PE, but it seems we are all in agreement. The structural classes were just *plain awful* - too elementary in difficulty, poorly organized, spent too much time in class answering questions for a handful of students that didn't understand very simple concepts, too few opportunities to practice problems, class content that was never checked against NCEES exam specifications, and instructors that honestly were difficult to understand.
> 
> What made it more disapioniting/frustrating was the that the other School of PE classes were all very good (transportation, construction, water esources), and the geotechnical class was awesome!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I totally agree about the Geotech section...really awesome. And Transpo and Construction sections were very thorough. I reviewed water resources myself, because I could care less about environmental topics etc. and just focused on pipe and open channel flow for AM (which turned out to be perfect for me).
> 
> I actually watched 20 minutes of the online Structural PM webclass, and just logged out.
Click to expand...

So it looks like we were all in the same class (Marriott Laguardia class)!

Was your Geotech instructor Amr Sallam?


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## jenni179

Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.

I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:


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## XOXOXO

hamada128 said:


> POed Mommy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rkelachim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> POed Mommy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.
> I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.
> 
> I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).
> 
> 
> 
> It's funny that there are alot of other 'School of PE'ers" in here! I was trying to be politically correct with my earlier assesment of the School of PE, but it seems we are all in agreement. The structural classes were just *plain awful* - too elementary in difficulty, poorly organized, spent too much time in class answering questions for a handful of students that didn't understand very simple concepts, too few opportunities to practice problems, class content that was never checked against NCEES exam specifications, and instructors that honestly were difficult to understand.
> 
> What made it more disapioniting/frustrating was the that the other School of PE classes were all very good (transportation, construction, water esources), and the geotechnical class was awesome!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I totally agree about the Geotech section...really awesome. And Transpo and Construction sections were very thorough. I reviewed water resources myself, because I could care less about environmental topics etc. and just focused on pipe and open channel flow for AM (which turned out to be perfect for me).
> 
> I actually watched 20 minutes of the online Structural PM webclass, and just logged out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So it looks like we were all in the same class (Marriott Laguardia class)!
> 
> Was your Geotech instructor Amr Sallam?
Click to expand...

Yes, Dr. Sallam was awesome! And handsome too


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## hamada128

POed Mommy said:


> hamada128 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> POed Mommy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rkelachim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> POed Mommy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also took the "school of PE" course, and agree that the PM Structural review was borderline terrible. But the rest of the notes, and classes/workshops were excellent.
> I also felt like both the AM and PM were relatively "easy" (I hate even typing that) compared with other exam administrations, and yes, a lot of code references showed up. I'm happy to say I brought all the code books, except AASHTO Bridge Spec...which I should have brought.
> 
> I got the day off with pay...and will get reimbursed for my review course upon passing the exam (oh please God, please please please let it be so this time).
> 
> 
> 
> It's funny that there are alot of other 'School of PE'ers" in here! I was trying to be politically correct with my earlier assesment of the School of PE, but it seems we are all in agreement. The structural classes were just *plain awful* - too elementary in difficulty, poorly organized, spent too much time in class answering questions for a handful of students that didn't understand very simple concepts, too few opportunities to practice problems, class content that was never checked against NCEES exam specifications, and instructors that honestly were difficult to understand.
> 
> What made it more disapioniting/frustrating was the that the other School of PE classes were all very good (transportation, construction, water esources), and the geotechnical class was awesome!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I totally agree about the Geotech section...really awesome. And Transpo and Construction sections were very thorough. I reviewed water resources myself, because I could care less about environmental topics etc. and just focused on pipe and open channel flow for AM (which turned out to be perfect for me).
> 
> I actually watched 20 minutes of the online Structural PM webclass, and just logged out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So it looks like we were all in the same class (Marriott Laguardia class)!
> 
> Was your Geotech instructor Amr Sallam?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, Dr. Sallam was awesome! And handsome too
Click to expand...

You know, it is really a small world, Dr. Amr was my Geotech teacher 11 years ago back home in Alexandria University/Egypt and never thought he will be my Geotech instructor again after all those years.


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## MFresh81

1st time taker - Transportation Depth

AM - not too shabby, fairly easy.

PM - I found it harder, but relatively easy.

How many of you took the School of PE online? I thought the Structural lacked, overall. Everything else was great!


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## Tam

I agree with you - too many problems from steel, nothing from wood and couple of questions from masonry....I guess.



STEEL MAN said:


> everybody here went to proper review class, on my part NO, just PPI/NCEES/Kaplan and my university texts. AM was reasonable enough in terms of difficulty, PM was fine but some questions arent found on PCI handbook which took a while to look but the answers doesnt agree with the code. I noticed too much steel problems, no timber for Struct PM and couple of AASHTO, some ACI and masonry questions.
> Good luck everyone.


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## STEEL MAN

Tam said:


> I agree with you - too many problems from steel, nothing from wood and couple of questions from masonry....I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> STEEL MAN said:
> 
> 
> 
> everybody here went to proper review class, on my part NO, just PPI/NCEES/Kaplan and my university texts. AM was reasonable enough in terms of difficulty, PM was fine but some questions arent found on PCI handbook which took a while to look but the answers doesnt agree with the code. I noticed too much steel problems, no timber for Struct PM and couple of AASHTO, some ACI and masonry questions.
> Good luck everyone.
Click to expand...


yeah, there was one problem in i couldnt get since i couldnt find it in the AISC and that pisses me off. Geotech stuff was also found in PM, it was more in depth geotech problem.


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## Marie925

jenni179 said:


> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:


I took WR and evironmental. I am a first time test taker. I felt like the morning was hard and the afternoon was much easier. I was a biosystems engineering major. I did not have structural in college and I thought the morning was much more sturctural than I had expected. I am hoping my afternoon portion will make up for this.

If you don't mind me asking, why did you take WR/Enviro if 1 you didnt take these classes in college and 2 you don't do this in your work? What does your job involve?

Well good luck I hope you passed!! If not a break might be just what you need! I think you can get burnt out with that much studying!


----------



## BPZ

3rd time construction. Felt pretty good about the morning session; guessed on 5...not too sure about 2 or 3. Afternoon was frustrating. I was cruising for the first 7 then hit the wall. I still felt pretty good about my chances but as time passes I am questioning some of my answers....I know I missed a no brainer....it hit me while I was driving to work yesterday and I can't stop kicking myself. I still feel better about my chances this time compared to last....I believe I barely missed the cut last Oct.


----------



## gisguy

I took Civil/Water.

I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.

In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.

In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.

Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.

Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.

The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!



jenni179 said:


> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:


----------



## Marie925

gisguy said:


> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!


The NCEES 2011 book is helpful, but I would not say it is "so close". I thought the afternoon questions in the NCEES book were actually harder than the real exam, and I thought the morning ones were not representative of the true breakdown of subjects. Either way the book is a must have for studying.


----------



## WWC

gisguy said:


> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy..................


Boy a little modest aren't we? I got all of them right. Too bad no one will ever know since they do not post scores when you pass.


----------



## snickerd3

WWC said:


> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy..................
> 
> 
> 
> Boy a little modest aren't we? I got all of them right. Too bad no one will ever know since they do not post scores when you pass.
Click to expand...

unless you live in texas or virginia then they do


----------



## gisguy

WWC said:


> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy..................
> 
> 
> 
> Boy a little modest aren't we? I got all of them right. Too bad no one will ever know since they do not post scores when you pass.
Click to expand...

I am not bragging. I really want to be modest, but the PE exam is a joke. 80 multiple choice questions and none of them requires more than three steps of calculation. There is not any need to take PE school or Testmaster classes. I only used three books during my exam: PE review manual, All-In-One and NCEES sample book.

I saw people took tons of books to the exam center. I think it's a waste of money and energy. All the questions can be solved using these three books.

This is only for Water Resources. Structural exam is another story.


----------



## WWC

snickerd3 said:


> unless you live in texas or virginia then they do


Not in SC unless they changed it.


----------



## gisguy

snickerd3 said:


> WWC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy..................
> 
> 
> 
> Boy a little modest aren't we? I got all of them right. Too bad no one will ever know since they do not post scores when you pass.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> unless you live in texas or virginia then they do
Click to expand...

I live in Texas.


----------



## snickerd3

well then you have nothing to worry about. You will find out exactly how you did.


----------



## WWC

gisguy said:


> I live in Texas.


That sucks. I guess you will never know how well you did.


----------



## WWC

snickerd3 said:


> well then you have nothing to worry about. You will find out exactly how you did.


Maybe I misread your original post but.... I read it as if you live in Texas or Virginia then they dont post scores. But I see you are saying they do post them in Texas and Virginia.


----------



## Marie925

WWC said:


> snickerd3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> well then you have nothing to worry about. You will find out exactly how you did.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I misread your original post but.... I read it as if you live in Texas or Virginia then they dont post scores. But I see you are saying they do post them in Texas and Virginia.
Click to expand...


Texas and Virginia are the two states that actually do tell you a % score. But it is scaled. I still thought that was only if you failed though. I thought it was pretty universal that if you passed they just say you passed. Anyone know for sure??

Point being if gisguy did almost make the perfect score he claims will he ever really know??


----------



## Marie925

gisguy said:


> I am not bragging. I really want to be modest, but the PE exam is a joke. 80 multiple choice questions and none of them requires more than three steps of calculation. There is not any need to take PE school or Testmaster classes. I only used three books during my exam: PE review manual, All-In-One and NCEES sample book.
> I saw people took tons of books to the exam center. I think it's a waste of money and energy. All the questions can be solved using these three books.
> 
> This is only for Water Resources. Structural exam is another story.


Bragging isn't the word I would use.


----------



## snickerd3

people were posting scores of 80 and 90 this last time through so yes even if you pass those two states give out your score


----------



## PEmarsh

Marie,

I was a biosystems engineering major also....where did you goto school?


----------



## Marie925

snickerd3 said:


> people were posting scores of 80 and 90 this last time through so yes even if you pass those two states give out your score


Do they give you the dianostic report so you know how many you got right? Granted if you do in fact make a 95-100% you did great, but that doesnt mean you got 80 out of 80 since they scale it.


----------



## Marie925

PEmarsh said:


> Marie,
> I was a biosystems engineering major also....where did you goto school?


Clemson University. Where did you go?


----------



## snickerd3

only get the diagnostic sheet if you fail.


----------



## Marie925

snickerd3 said:


> only get the diagnostic sheet if you fail.


Thanks!!


----------



## tungsol

From what I've heard ... Is it true that cut score is decided by examiners based on the performance of examinees ?? it is not 70 % of the total score .

I felt that this time 8 hrs exam seems easier than the previous one and many people also said so ... these could bring the cut score up


----------



## Marie925

tungsol said:


> From what I've heard ... Is it true that cut score is decided by examiners based on the performance of examinees ?? it is not 70 % of the total score .
> I felt that this time 8 hrs exam seems easier than the previous one and many people also said so ... these could bring the cut score up


I was under the impression that this is how it works:

70% is passing period. So they decide what the cut score is and set that to 70% and then everything is scaled from there.

So to answer your question I would say yes if this test is easier than tests in the past then the cut score will be higher. Ie you need to get more questions right to pass and get a 70% or higher.


----------



## bryan2324

Took Transportation- First time taker, back in January I found 90% of the Exam specification topics on the jobsite through submittals,plans, specifications basically all the geometry/signals/intersection capacitys/crane picks/stormdrain details/bridge maturity meters/concrete&amp;soils testing etc. I took what i learned about in my new HCM, GREEN BOOK, MUTCD CERM and PCA. Applying the engineering in the field and taking School of PE was huge for me and I'm very confident I passed the exam, def not perfect but found a solid answer for just bout everything....It was a lot of hard work for 3 months but at the same time I enjoyed learning more about the work I see everyday. If you work on a construction project the engineering is all around you/if you work in a design firm there are construction sites all over (atleast in DC/MD/VA area), get after it!

Also wanted to note that I received a ton of good/useful info from everybody that adds to this board


----------



## STEEL MAN

per NCEES cut score is determined...

http://www.ncees.org/Exams/Pages/Scoring.php


----------



## VAPSU

I actually didn't get a score from Octobers test here in VA, but the previous attempt I did (a very very frustrating 69!)

The diagnostic report does actually show you how many questions you got correct for each section and the total number of those questions in that section, so you can easily calculate your un-curved score.

So I don't know if with the new NCEES online system/diagnotic report, VA has stopped giving out scores or what, but if I pass this time around I'll let you all know if VA does in fact give out passing scores or not!


----------



## Slo4

The night before the test, I got 2 hours of sleep and figured I had absolutely no chance of passing as a result of being so exhausted. I was in a fog driving to the exam site and my eyes felt heavy. When the chief proctor said “you may begin”, I was like a fighter hearing the bell ring to start the first round. I sprang to life and cranked out solutions to the problems as if I had been doing them my whole life. My studies served me very well and there was only one type of problem (in the PM) that I had not seen before. Finished an hour early AM and PM and stayed to check my work, during which time I found and corrected an error (both AM and PM). In all, there were three problems that I know were answered incorrectly and I am sure there were also several more that I got wrong. For three months, my life revolved around studying and it totally paid off. There is no doubt in my mind that I passed the test. My guess is 82%-85% correct (raw score).

Took WR/Environmental depth, but my engineering degree is not in civil. I use practical applications of civil engineering in my work (ditch/storm drain comps, rational method, etc.), so I took the Civil PE because I wanted to learn the theory behind all of it. By the third week of January, I developed a strict schedule that I stuck with up until the exam and ended up having a lot of fun with it. I would read a chapter in the CERM (sometimes taking an hour to get through 2 pages!) and then work all of the companion problems, covering a chapter or two per week for my depth topics. It was easier to study during the winter than it would have been during the summer. It is not necessary to study from it beforehand, but Metcalf &amp; Eddy is a must-have reference for during the exam.

Although the majority of my prep was self-study, I cannot emphasize how much the School of PE helped. It saved time because they went through the material faster than I could have done on my own and they only covered topics that would possibly show up on the exam. The instructors were all at the top of their game, but I did not like the structural guy. One problem with him was that he seemed to cover the more advanced topics without mentioning that they were depth topics. I expected that I would bomb the structural problems after his session (it was that painful), but the ones on the exam were all straightforward and I breezed through them. After each School of PE weekend, I would solve related problems for 12-15 hours during the week. Covered CERM chapters 14-21 before School of PE started and chapters 25-30 during the break and after classes ended. The environmental webinar provided a good review since I had already covered the material by then.

The week before the exam, I worked through ten of the sample tests from pereview.net under timed conditions. A very useful exercise and mostly representative of AM exam problems, although look-up type problems on the exam were tougher. The NCEES sample test was good also, but I took it a month before the exam and was not yet ready at that time. Six Minute Solutions is ridiculously hard and nothing like the actual exam. Wild assumptions are needed to solve those problems, but not ones on the exam. The CERM Companion Problems are somewhat harder than the actual test, but are very well-done and slightly overprepare the student which is a good thing come exam time. They were my go-to problems during study – I worked all of the ones for my depth and all of the applicable ones for breadth.

Information, advice, and encouragement from this forum is invaluable. I think I read every single archived post from a couple of sub-forums. There is a LOT of good information here for this important and difficult test.


----------



## littlewheels4

gisguy said:


> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!
> 
> 
> 
> jenni179 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:
Click to expand...

Your post is pretty rude actually to all those people that said they didn't feel like they did well. I am not surprised you are from Texas with that attitude.


----------



## dneva

littlewheels4 said:


> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!
> 
> 
> 
> jenni179 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your post is pretty rude actually to all those people that said they didn't feel like they did well. I am not surprised you are from Texas with that attitude.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. You are posting to brag not to help. Next time keep this info to yourself as it helps no one on this forum other than know that you had two hours of sleep before the exam. Does not help anyone at all.


----------



## gisguy

dneva said:


> littlewheels4 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!
> 
> 
> 
> jenni179 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your post is pretty rude actually to all those people that said they didn't feel like they did well. I am not surprised you are from Texas with that attitude.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I feel the same way. You are posting to brag not to help. Next time keep this info to yourself as it helps no one on this forum other than know that you had two hours of sleep before the exam. Does not help anyone at all.
Click to expand...

This thread is about "how you feel about this April exam". My post was intended to tell people how I feel about this April exam, not to help your PE exam. If everybody feels bad about this exam, you will feel much more comfortable about yourself.


----------



## VAPSU

We joke around in the office here that the people who think they aced the exam usually end up failing, and the people who think they failed usually end up passing. So far, it's been oddly pretty accurate. The first time I took it I thought I missed at most 2 questions, I was positive I got almost a perfect score...and then ended up failing. There are a lot of trick questions and easy mistakes to be made, and I noticed when I went into the exam a lot less confident I would noticed those things a lot easier than I did when I went in thinking the stuff was easy!


----------



## gisguy

VAPSU said:


> We joke around in the office here that the people who think they aced the exam usually end up failing, and the people who think they failed usually end up passing. So far, it's been oddly pretty accurate. The first time I took it I thought I missed at most 2 questions, I was positive I got almost a perfect score...and then ended up failing. There are a lot of trick questions and easy mistakes to be made, and I noticed when I went into the exam a lot less confident I would noticed those things a lot easier than I did when I went in thinking the stuff was easy!


I will let you know how it goes. I will come back in two months.


----------



## DJsigma

littlewheels4 said:


> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!
> 
> 
> 
> jenni179 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your post is pretty rude actually to all those people that said they didn't feel like they did well. I am not surprised you are from Texas with that attitude.
Click to expand...

Why you hatin' on Texas? We're not all egotistical jerks.


----------



## Marie925

gisguy said:


> dneva said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> littlewheels4 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!
> 
> 
> 
> jenni179 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your post is pretty rude actually to all those people that said they didn't feel like they did well. I am not surprised you are from Texas with that attitude.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I feel the same way. You are posting to brag not to help. Next time keep this info to yourself as it helps no one on this forum other than know that you had two hours of sleep before the exam. Does not help anyone at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This thread is about "how you feel about this April exam". My post was intended to tell people how I feel about this April exam, not to help your PE exam. If everybody feels bad about this exam, you will feel much more comfortable about yourself.
Click to expand...

You could have easily stated that you felt like you did well without sounding like such a jerk.

This is more of a statement about your personality than about how you felt about the exam.

There are two kinds of people who do well at things: the ones that brag and act like know-it-alls (ie the people everyone hate) and the ones that do well but are humble and just state the facts without bragging (ie the people that you can respect for their achievements).


----------



## Ambrug20

Marie925 said:


> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> dneva said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> littlewheels4 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gisguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took Civil/Water.
> I think the exam is so easy. I prepared for 3 months. I studied in office during lunch breaks (40 minutes/day) in the past three months. I have a strong background in Civil. I have a BS degree in Civil Engineering and dual MS degrees in Transportation Engineering and Environmental Chemistry. I have been working as a Hydro/GIS engineer for seven years.
> 
> In the morning session, I am confident about 39 out of 40.
> 
> In the afternoon session, I am confident about 37 out of 40.
> 
> Overall I think I should get 95%-100% of the questions.
> 
> Before the exam, I did the 2011 NCEES sample book. I got 78 out of 80 questions.
> 
> The real exam is so close to the 2011 NCEES sample book. Everybody should buy this book!
> 
> 
> 
> jenni179 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took Civil/Water-ENV. Did anyone else take that depth? If so, how did you feel about it? Looks like I'm the first person to write about it here. I took the Oct exam and I thought the April exam was overall a better exam in terms of typical questions asked. I thought the morning was much easier than Oct but the afternoon was harder. There were some questions in the afternoon that I knew how to do but just couldn’t get. So frustrating. I was unsure on 12 questions in the morning and 13-15 in the afternoon. I probably got some of those correct but who knows how many. I wish I got at least 3-4 questions more correct but I know I did better overall than last time.
> I know second time takers have a very low pass rate so here’s hoping I beat the odds. I didn’t take half of the test material in school and do very little of the Water/ENV in my job so this test was very challenging for me. I donated 10 months out of the last year for this exam and I’m honestly burnt out. If I don’t pass….AGAIN….. I’m going to wait until next April. NCEES is very bi-polar on what they like to ask and the level of difficultly. :brickwall:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your post is pretty rude actually to all those people that said they didn't feel like they did well. I am not surprised you are from Texas with that attitude.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I feel the same way. You are posting to brag not to help. Next time keep this info to yourself as it helps no one on this forum other than know that you had two hours of sleep before the exam. Does not help anyone at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This thread is about "how you feel about this April exam". My post was intended to tell people how I feel about this April exam, not to help your PE exam. If everybody feels bad about this exam, you will feel much more comfortable about yourself.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You could have easily stated that you felt like you did well without sounding like such a jerk.
> 
> This is more of a statement about your personality than about how you felt about the exam.
> 
> There are two kinds of people who do well at things: the ones that brag and act like know-it-alls (ie the people everyone hate) and the ones that do well but are humble and just state the facts without bragging (ie the people that you can respect for their achievements).
Click to expand...

How did I do? Its a good question. This is my third try. On the first test I thought I did great. I was very wrong. On the second try, after study 10 solid months, I was thinking that I had a good chance. On my April try, I studied hard and took School of PE. But as more time goes, as less confident I am. I need the positive result more than ever. Few days ago I was laid-off due to bad economy. And the three job postings with my skills required PE license. I applied for these jobs, but chances to get the job are slim. I am feeling frustrated, and if wouldn't pass it this time, big chance to loose confidence in myself. :shakehead:


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## csb

Sorry to hear about the layoff. We'll keep our fingers crossed for a positive result for you, and really for everyone.


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## gisguy

I passed PE exam. I got 95.



gisguy said:


> VAPSU said:
> 
> 
> 
> We joke around in the office here that the people who think they aced the exam usually end up failing, and the people who think they failed usually end up passing. So far, it's been oddly pretty accurate. The first time I took it I thought I missed at most 2 questions, I was positive I got almost a perfect score...and then ended up failing. There are a lot of trick questions and easy mistakes to be made, and I noticed when I went into the exam a lot less confident I would noticed those things a lot easier than I did when I went in thinking the stuff was easy!
> 
> 
> 
> I will let you know how it goes. I will come back in two months.
Click to expand...


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## Marie925

SC is just pass/fail. I PASSED!!!


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## gisguy

congratulations!

I got email from the board today.



Marie925 said:


> SC is just pass/fail. I PASSED!!!


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## Boomer01 PE

I passed!!!! (Transportation)

It was my second time taking it.


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## Slo4

Slo4 said:


> There is no doubt in my mind that I passed the test.


Passed


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## Phatso86

Passed! whoo hoo!

now back to doing exactly the same thing i was doing before recieving the news....


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## dmparri3

now that I know that I passed, I can honestly say I feel pretty good about it. When I walked out of the exam, I wasn't sure what to think. I knew that I did well on the AM section, but thought I tanked the PM. I'm assuming that I guessed wisely on the PM section.


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## MFresh81

Passed


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## rajpe

I passed too.. Civil - Construction arty-smiley-048:


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## johnf

Passed - just checked the ncees portal. Took about all I had to click on the notification tab.

This forum has been a huge part of my success. Thanks to all.


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## CivilJake

johnf said:


> Passed - just checked the ncees portal. Took about all I had to click on the notification tab.
> This forum has been a huge part of my success. Thanks to all.


What the h*ll, Where are you guys from? I live in California and I haven't received any emails. Does that mean that I'll be a recipient of diagnostic sheet???


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