# What do you think about the exam ?



## Tina (Apr 22, 2007)

So what do you guys think about the civil exam ?

I thought the morning exam was okay. The afternoon portion (I took structural) was extremely difficult. I don't think I passed. I must be hovering around 50% for the whole exam.

The CA seismic exam was difficult and I just didn't have enough time to finish it. I'm not sure about this. Don't think I made this one either.

I think the CA surveying exam was ridiculously easy. I'm pretty sure I passed it. I finished 15 minutes ahead of time and I really have a good feeling about it. So at least one exam I don't have to worry about anymore.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over for now. They said it would take 13 weeks to get the results. So I'm looking at picking up studying again in August (unless my guessed answers pushed me over the edge).


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## Desert Engineer (Apr 22, 2007)

I agree, the CA Seismic was difficult. I had to completely guess on about 10 problems; but those were the harder problems that I couldn't solve right away. The guy next to me (who failed the seismic 5 times already) said this was the hardest one he has taken yet.

I looked at the CA engineer/land surveyors boards website, and the don't meet until july 26/27, which would be 13 weeks from test date. Then add 2 weeks to that, for them to get their shit together and mail the results. We should have the results by august 11th, which would be about 15 weeks. For the last exam, the state didnt meet until the end of january, so we didn't get our results until early febuary.


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## benbo (Apr 22, 2007)

For those who thought they failed, don't despair! I thought I did, and I passed. Most people have a hard time predicting how they did. For my fellow Californians, good luck during the interminable wait. Especially after everyone else gets their results!


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## north6633 (Apr 22, 2007)

Well I am with Tina, The morning was not that bad. I felt I finished it fairly well. Finished with a little under an hour to spare. Then went back and reviewed problems that I had questions on actually found 2 errors. The afternoon ( I took Trans) was a bit tougher for me. I wish I had listened to Road Guy and got that damn Traffic Engineer Handbook. My heart sunk when I saw the first few problems. All in all I know the exam in the afternoon was not overly difficult. I locked up on a couple really simple problems Just pisses me off. I am laying in bed on Friday night and poof the solution pops into my head. UGGHH 6 hours too late...  I honestly don't know if I passed or not. It will be close either way. Which is maddening. At least last October I was pretty sure I had failed. Since I did not even crack a book walking in.

Now I just don't know a strong morning coupled with a mediocre afternoon. What is really frustrating is the geo and wr depth probs in the afternoon I nailed. Its the trans the screwed me.

The wait until mid June is on. I feel for you CA folks thats ridiulous to have to wait 4 months to get your results.

Heres to a fun and productive spring and summer that will make the WAIT pass more quickly!!!


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## benbo (Apr 22, 2007)

A strong morning with a mediocre (or worse) afternoon just about nails my performance. Which was a passing performance. Good luck everyone.


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## purduegrad (Apr 22, 2007)

I thought this exam was tougher than the last, especially the morning, does anyone agree?


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## north6633 (Apr 22, 2007)

purduegrad said:


> I thought this exam was tougher than the last, especially the morning, does anyone agree?



Well unless I did a lot of problems exactly wrong. I would say that it was not too bad. But I had studied a lot of what was in the morning session. The structural was WAY easier than I thought it would be. But again I have this fear that I was lead down the path of the easy answer and got the decoy answer.

Either way I will find out in June and either be drinking some wine I bought in Italy a year ago to celebrate or ordering ALL the reference I don't have for the trans and gearing up to study again. I would much prefer the former to the latter.

So until I get my results back my b48GX will stay in the drawer at work and I will continue to plug away with TI 30X IIS I used for the exam. Hopefully I will get to retire the TI to home office status.


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## Tina (Apr 22, 2007)

north6633 said:


> I am laying in bed on Friday night and poof the solution pops into my head. UGGHH 6 hours too late...


HEHEHEHE. I had the same thing happening to me. I woke up this morning with answers to 3 questions from the afternoon exam and I think I might have misread the question on one. I should call NCEES and ask if I could revise my answer sheet. I KNOW THIS !

I also looked up the answer to one of the questions I guessed on in the morning exam and I guessed the right answer. So I don't know.


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## gipper (Apr 22, 2007)

I felt pretty good about the morning, but I struggled in the afternoon (Structural depth). I got hung up on one question early :multiplespotting: and I spent too much time on it. I'm really kicking myself for that - I should have just dropped it and moved on :multiplespotting: So as a result I was rushed on some easy questions, I didn't have time to double-check my answers, and I had to just flat out guess on 5 or 6 problems. I know there were probably some decoy answers that I went for too....so I hope I did well enough in the morning to offset my performance in the afternoon. At least I can take a couple of months off from studying


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## ktulu (Apr 22, 2007)

gipper said:


> ....so I hope I did well enough in the morning to offset my performance in the afternoon. At least I can take a couple of months off from studying


It seems like we are all in agreement about the morning session. I thought it was manageable. But the afternoon geotech session was brutal. So I'm with gipper about the offset

ktulu


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## kioti1 (Apr 22, 2007)

I thought the morning was fairly easy. I finished in just under 3 hours and had a chance to recheck my approach and math on most of the problems. There was only one questions I had absolutely no clue, the rest I either knew or was able to find something in a reference manual. I took the transportation afternoon and thought it was somewhat difficult taking almost the full 4 hours to get through it the first time. As North said, the geo and WR of the afternoon was super easy, it was the transportation that was hard. The exam was completely opposite of what I thought it would be. I thought I had the transportation stuff down cold and I would struggle with the other subjects with most of my points coming in the afternoon and just getting by in the morning.

The drive home sucked. A couple of the afternoon questions that I originally had no clue just clicked as I was driving and I realized I missed a few easy points.

Just have to wait it out. I'm not too worried though. As I answered each questions I marked it either Confident, Fairly Sure, or guessed/no confidence. In the morning I was confident on 30, fairly sure on 4, and guessed/no confidence on 6. In the afternoon I was confident on 28, fairly sure on 6, and guessed/ no confidence on 6. If I got 90% of the confident, 50% of the fairly sure, and 25% guessed/no confidence, then I would get 60/80, so I'm not too worried about results.

Good Luck everyone.


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## Tina (Apr 22, 2007)

The structural afternoon exam also surprised me. Most of the topics I had studied were not on the exam. I would say I studied about 4 weeks worth for nothing. I had studied some codes and tagged them and didn't need them once during the exam. But there were at least 7 or 8 questions about other codes. I had them with me and was able to look some stuff up, but wasn't sure if I found the right answer.

At least I know what to study next time.


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## gipper (Apr 22, 2007)

I feel the same way about the Structural afternoon exam Tina. If I don't pass this time, I'll have a better idea of how to study for October.


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## Brian (Apr 22, 2007)

purduegrad said:


> I thought this exam was tougher than the last, especially the morning, does anyone agree?


I am a first time test taker... but I thought the Civil morning was cake... I ran through about 25 problems in the first hour... I was stunned... I actually went BACK THROUGH and figured out the wrong answers, and how they got them... just to make sure... maybe I had too much coffee and too many Skittles... There were 3 I truly had no idea on... narrowed them down, and guessed...

I took Enviro afternoon... I think I lucked out, I ran through about 25 problems in the first 1-1/2 hours. I really thought the afternoon was Ok.. not difficult... but not "simple" I think I guessed at 2-3 in the afternoon... but very educated guesses...

I had enough time at the end to scan through the rest of the exams... stuctural look like a beast as did geotech... WR so-so (this was may other option for the afternoon test)...

I think I did well... I am debating the last step and returning all my borrowed texts... I hate to do it... I guess it is just Karma... I might just hold on to them for the next 8 or so weeks and see if I will need them again...

Brian


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## DVINNY (Apr 22, 2007)

I took Civil-Transpo and feel almost exactly like the rest of you do.

I just hope that I got the ones right in the morning that I think I did. And I hope that I did OK in the afternoon.

The WR and Geo wasn't bad in the PM, but the Transpo stuff was very different from what I saw last time. Not even close to the same questions. Curve ball.

My count sounds almost identical to kioti's. I hope I'm not delusional. :th_rockon:

This will be a long wait.


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## gipper (Apr 22, 2007)

Hey Brian - sounds like you might have nailed it! :th_rockon: After taking the actual exam I didn't feel as badly as I did after taking the "the other board" sample exam (which I failed miserably!). So I feel like I have a little bit of hope. I'm still having exam flashbacks - remembering problems and realizing that I might have solved them incorrectly. Hopefully that will subside in the next few days and I'll quit thinking about it until June


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## Brian (Apr 22, 2007)

gipper said:


> Hey Brian - sounds like you might have nailed it! :th_rockon: After taking the actual exam I didn't feel as badly as I did after taking the "the other board" sample exam (which I failed miserably!). So I feel like I have a little bit of hope. I'm still having exam flashbacks - remembering problems and realizing that I might have solved them incorrectly. Hopefully that will subside in the next few days and I'll quit thinking about it until June


I hear ya. I got two weeks behind in my "the other board" passing zone. got cought up in a bunch of other things... and started to panic the last few weeks before the exam. I met with my old structures professor from college over beer and pizza for review. He husband is a PG in my office and helped with the wel/groundwater stuff. I took the "the other board" practice exam on the monday before the PE... did horrible... started to freak out... got my resources, tabbed everything I thought would be on the exam on Thurday, watched one more review tape on landfills/haz waste. I was truly surprised by what they were asking, compared to the "the other board" stuff I had. But it's karma... I saw some consultants I had worked with on other projects... one was on his third try...

...but the exam ended, it was Penn State Blue/White weekend, and I drank a ton of beers to clear my mind friday night, and saturday during the game...

Brian


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## gipper (Apr 22, 2007)

I waited until two weeks before the exam to take my "the other board" sample exam... I kind of wished I had taken it sooner. I did so badly on it, it kind of threw me into a panic. It did point out some weak areas though and I did have time to brush up on those topics. There are definitely some things I would do differently knowing what I know now, but that's all water under the bridge. I feel that I gave it my best shot on Friday, so I have no regrets. It sure is nice to have my life back for a couple of months at least :th_rockon:


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## GTScott (Apr 23, 2007)

I heard from a friend taking the exam that there was a slight emphasis on Geotech in the morning. Is this what others thought?

As for those taking the afternoon Geotech (as I did in October), I am thinking it is always bad. It nearly cracked me in October, but hey, I was 99% sure I failed and I passed - go figure.

-GT


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## ktulu (Apr 23, 2007)

GT-

Going back, I guess the morning was a little heavy on the geotech. Which is good because the PM Geotech was extremely difficult.


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## purduegrad (Apr 23, 2007)

I am actually glad to hear others say the PM geotech was difficult, hopefully that will make the cut score for us dirt people low enough for me to pass, Lets keep that results clock rolling!!!


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## LXZ (Apr 23, 2007)

Desert Water said:


> I agree, the CA Seismic was difficult. I had to completely guess on about 10 problems; but those were the harder problems that I couldn't solve right away. The guy next to me (who failed the seismic 5 times already) said this was the hardest one he has taken yet.
> I looked at the CA engineer/land surveyors boards website, and the don't meet until july 26/27, which would be 13 weeks from test date. Then add 2 weeks to that, for them to get their shit together and mail the results. We should have the results by august 11th, which would be about 15 weeks. For the last exam, the state didnt meet until the end of january, so we didn't get our results until early febuary.


I feel exactly the same way about CA Seismic. I can barely finish all the problems within the time given. The funny thing is that the guy next to me handed in before the 10 min call is made. Anyway, maybe he is a structure engineer. My feeling about the Seismic this time is that it is more difficult than 90% of the past exam given if not 99% even though this is my first shot. My guess about the cutscore is that it is going to be below 50%, that is, 150 out of 300. If anyone interested, you can join the survey about the difficulty of this exam by posting a reply to the message that I posted at the Seimic/Survey sub-forum.


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