# What surprised you most on exam?



## FairhopeEE (Aug 13, 2008)

Like a lot of folks, I am having difficulty finding as many practice problems as I would like, and have posted a question before asking prevoius examinees to compare the sample and real tests. As a follow-up, I am curious about the things on the test that were unexpected, such as topics you were not familiar with, more or less of one type of problem or the other, easier or harder, etc.


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## sehad (Aug 13, 2008)

I was surprised that most of the example problems that I worked were much more detailed that than those that were on the exam. But I guess you have to remember that you have to be able to work all the problems wth an average of 6 minutes each.

I was also surprised to see that there were several questions that required no calculations but simply tested whether or not you understood the calculations rather than be able to plug and chug them.


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## ROBIAMEIT (Aug 14, 2008)

as a working engineer with 20 plus yrs experience i was surprised by the "oddness" of some of the questions . . . . units being used for certain calculations, obscurity of some of the problems, and it seemed sometimes how "specialized" some of the questions were.

like if you werent "the guy" that did a very specific job you wouldnt have a clue as to how to answer some of them . . . .

i thought some of the questions didnt give enough info to properly answer them . . . and i thought some of the questions posed situations that an engineer would NEVER run into on a typical days work.

my 0.02


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## Techie_Junkie_PE_LEED_AP (Aug 14, 2008)

Most of the sample problems I did were from NCEES and the MGI PE Readiness course and they were all more involved than the exam, especially MGI. That surprised me. Some of the questions were so straight forward, I thought they were trick questions, but they weren't.

That's why I'm glad I brought a ton of books (3 milk crates). About half I didn't need. A few of the ones I thought I wouldn't use, I did and that's invaluable. Especially on the straight forward questions where you might not know where to start, if one of those books jump starts you, you can probably get it right.

Also, the questions based on knowledge, no calculations, that was also. That was the "Practices" part of "Principles &amp; Practices".

If you're familiar with the NEC, those are free points.


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## roadwreck (Aug 14, 2008)

ROBIAMEIT said:


> as a working engineer with 20 plus yrs experience i was surprised by the "oddness" of some of the questions . . . . units being used for certain calculations, obscurity of some of the problems, and it seemed sometimes how "specialized" some of the questions were.


I found that many of the questions weren't as difficult as they first appeared if you took a moment to look at what the question was asking for. In several instances the question was masked by giving unneeded information or a scenario that seemed much more complicated then what you would be typically used to doing. I felt like a lot of the 'oddness' to particular questions were just a front to steer you in the wrong direction and you had to look past that and see what the question really was.


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## ktulu (Aug 14, 2008)

roadwreck said:


> I found that many of the questions weren't as difficult as they first appeared if you took a moment to look at what the question was asking for. In several instances the question was masked by giving unneeded information or a scenario that seemed much more complicated then what you would be typically used to doing. I felt like a lot of the 'oddness' to particular questions were just a front to steer you in the wrong direction and you had to look past that and see what the question really was.


And this is probably the reason I have not had much success on the test. I read the question, say WTF? then cannot get back on track. I need to go over problems and just figure out what they they are asking for, and not get bogged down in the weird ass wording in the problem.


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## Capt Worley PE (Aug 14, 2008)

They really do give you a lot of information that isn't pertinent to the question that is asked.


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## roadwreck (Aug 14, 2008)

I think it's important to focus on what question is being asked before you worry about what information is being presented. For me it's better to completely ignore what data they have given until I figure out what it is they want. Then go back and see how the data could help to arrive at the answer. Easier said then done i know.


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## snickerd3 (Aug 14, 2008)

^^^so true...they definitely gave too much information. I always read the problem then circled what they wanted we to find and the units they wanted it in...there was a point I wish they issued highlighters so it stood out more on the page to redraw my attention after working the problem.


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## Capt Worley PE (Aug 14, 2008)

^^Good advice.


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## benbo (Aug 14, 2008)

I was most surprised that I passed.


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## wilheldp_PE (Aug 14, 2008)

Capt Worley PE said:


> They really do give you a lot of information that isn't pertinent to the question that is asked.


Which is completely bass ackwards from real engineering because we mostly operate with too little information.


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## Sschell (Aug 14, 2008)

I was most suprised that it was so damn easy....

j/k


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## roadwreck (Aug 14, 2008)

wilheldp_PE said:


> Which is completely bass ackwards from real engineering because we mostly operate with too little information.


I think its just like real engineering. You usually have a wealth of useless information, it's the pertinent information that you don't have enough of and what you do have you usually have to obtain by sifting through the crap. Just like on the exam.


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