# Your weirdest fear...



## RIP - VTEnviro (Apr 7, 2008)

I don't mean worrying that you are going to fail or if there will be a lot of wastewater problems. I mean what was/is your biggest semi-irrational fear or thing you have no control over that will be an exam buster for you?

Flat tire on the way to the exam, forgot your admission slip, loud construction right outside the building, etc.

For me I was totally convinced I would have car problems and not make it to the test. Even though I drove a reliable car and got a room right near the exam it was still a real phobia of mine.


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## Mike in Gastonia (Apr 7, 2008)

VTEnviro said:


> I don't mean worrying that you are going to fail or if there will be a lot of wastewater problems. I mean what was/is your biggest semi-irrational fear or thing you have no control over that will be an exam buster for you?
> Flat tire on the way to the exam, forgot your admission slip, loud construction right outside the building, etc.
> 
> For me I was totally convinced I would have car problems and not make it to the test. Even though I drove a reliable car and got a room right near the exam it was still a real phobia of mine.


It seems like we have read either here or on the other board that people showed up on the wrong day...... Just remember, the PE exam is Friday and FE exam is Saturday.


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## csb (Apr 7, 2008)

Car troubles, all the way...even though I own a reliable car. I even thought of how I would get there on FOOT and left time in the morning to hitchhike.


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## snickerd3 (Apr 7, 2008)

Even though the test location was just an hour away, I drove over the night before and stayed at the hotel the test was being held. The hubby worked about 2 miles away so he got the added bonus of a 2 mile drive to work instead of an hour drive. He brought lunch to the exam site and we had lunch together in the car.

But as far as fear, it was probably sleeping through the alarm. Surprisingly, I woke up about 5 minutes before the alarm and was fully refreshed...which I thought was weird.


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## Casey (Apr 7, 2008)

Having seen the proctor lock out an exam taker last year at the FE I would say that over sleeping would be my fear...


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## FusionWhite (Apr 7, 2008)

I had a dream two nights before the FE exam that the proctor wouldnt let me in the door. It completely freaked me out when I woke up and I spent the next day worried out of my mind.


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## C-Dog (Apr 7, 2008)

On the way home from the FE exam last April, I got a flat tire. If that had been on the way there, I might have missed it. So when I took the PE exam in Oct, I left way early, so I could have enough time to breakdown and call for a back-up ride - All this cost me was the extra parking fee, since I was up before the alarm anyway.


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 7, 2008)

I was afraid that I'd have a messed up stomach that not even Immodium could help. I was very careful of what I ate the day before the exam.


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## Casey (Apr 7, 2008)

Captain Worley PE said:


> I was afraid that I'd have a messed up stomach that not even Immodium could help. I was very careful of what I ate the day before the exam.


Note to self: No spicy food the night before.

I once wrote my differential equations exam with a high fever and stomach ache... I managed to make it through the test... once I got home I spent the rest of the day throwing up...

In the end I got an A!


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## TXengrChickPE (Apr 7, 2008)

I had food poisoning during my "intro to EE" final exam. I NEEDED to get an 87 or better on the final to pass the class. I made it halfway through the exam with a trash can as my neighbor. I had to take the trash can out and empty it once. When I got back, the TA for the class had my exam and told me to go home. I told him I HAD to finish it and he said to email him when I was feeling better and we'd work something out.

When I emailed him the next day, he said that he had told the prof what happened, and they had decided to grade my final based only on the questions I had attempted to answer. Since I had gone through and answered all of the "easy" questions at the very beginning, I ended up with a 92 and passed the class!


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## Brentum (Apr 7, 2008)

I only live about 15 minutes or so from the exam location, so if I just get up decently early, I'm not so worried about flat tires and such. I'd just have my wife run down in the other vehical get me, and drop me off at the exam location.

My only somewhat irrational fear is that I'll sit down and read the first problem...and have no clue how to do it. Then move on to the second question, and have no clue. And repeating this process until I hit the 40th question.

And end up answering "C" for all 40 questions.

Then walking out of it and have everyone on the street (who have no idea I just walk out of an exam) start pointing and laughing.


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## benbo (Apr 7, 2008)

Brentum said:


> My only somewhat irrational fear is that I'll sit down and read the first problem...and have no clue how to do it.


This is not an irrational fear. This actually happens. In fact, it happened to me in the afternoon. Although it is highly unlikely it will happen 80 times. The key is to not panic, and move on to another question and you will find an easier one. There are a easy questions, especially in the AM. After your confidence is up, go back and hit the harder problems.


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 7, 2008)

benbo said:


> This is not an irrational fear. This actually happens.


I think I had to go four questions in before I could answer my first one. When I came back to the first three questions, I was a lot less nervous and they didn't pose a problem.

Just keep slogging through.


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## FINK_RB_PE (Apr 7, 2008)

I was convinced that I would leave either my exam ticket or my calculator, I bet I checked 5 times before leaving the hotel room.

As far as reading the first problem and having no idea, I was so worked up that I went through like six problems and finally found on that I knew, went back and two of the five I skipped were converting units, I can still rember thinking"Calm down you dumbass and pay attention".


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## Brentum (Apr 7, 2008)

Well, by "irrational" I mean it probably won't happen 80 times. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. ;-)

by "somewhat" I mean...it might not be too far from what really goes down for me. *ack*

Out of curiosity, I know no one is supposed to divulge specifics about the questions, but out of each section, about how many are either non-quantitative, or pretty quick lookup/calculation (a quick lookup with maybe a simple plug&amp;chug equation that takes maybe a minute or so unless you don't know it at all)

Probably not many, but just curious. Just seems from the Lindeburg Practice Exam, the 6-minute solutions books, and the MERM practice problems, most of the time for me anyway, unless you know -exactly- what's happening, and either know the tables and equations right off the top of your head that you need to go to, there's no way I could get them in 6 minutes. If I 'slowed down" or "took my time" to read the problem and think about it, there's 4-5 minutes right there. Add some lookup time in the MERM or another reference, and I'm at 6 minutes before I even really get rolling! Not to mention some time to review what I did in case the answer I got wasn't one of the given ones (check to see if I forgot to square velocity, or didn't conver quare inches to square ft, etc.)

Some of the solutions in the Lingeburg Practice Exam (that I didn't get correct) would have taken me more than 6 minutes just to copy straight out of the book to paper.

And that's worrisome...


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## nickwusz (Apr 7, 2008)

My wife thinks I am crazy for wanting to get an extra calculator just in case. "Its solar powered" she says. Cant trust it. hahaha


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## ME_FPE (Apr 7, 2008)

My weirdest fear is that I will not be able to sleep the night before and will be too tired the next day to pass the exam. This worry stems from what happened the night before the FE Exam, which I took almost exactly five years ago.

I'm one of those people who can't go to sleep the night before something important because they constantly keep thinking about how they badly they need a good night's sleep. The night before the FE Exam, I laid awake for a good portion of the night because of this. The day of the exam, I bought four Red Bulls, and drank 3 1/2 during the course of the exam. I ended up passing, but it would have been much easier if I wasn't so tired.

For the PE exam, I intend on waking up at 4 am on Thursday, so I'm good and tired to go to bed on Thursday night.


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## Brentum (Apr 7, 2008)

ME_FPE said:


> My weirdest fear is that I will not be able to sleep the night before and will be too tired the next day to pass the exam. This worry stems from what happened the night before the FE Exam, which I took almost exactly five years ago.
> I'm one of those people who can't go to sleep the night before something important because they constantly keep thinking about how they badly they need a good night's sleep. The night before the FE Exam, I laid awake for a good portion of the night because of this. The day of the exam, I bought four Red Bulls, and drank 3 1/2 during the course of the exam. I ended up passing, but it would have been much easier if I wasn't so tired.
> 
> For the PE exam, I intend on waking up at 4 am on Thursday, so I'm good and tired to go to bed on Thursday night.


I hear ya man. It's a self fullfilling prophecy. The more I "need" a good night's sleep, the harder it is to go to sleep. I took a little study break Saturday morning and went skiing. I went to be fairly early Friday night, wanting to get a good night's sleep to ski all morning and come back and get a good 5 hour study session in that afternoon/evening. Was restless, couldn't sleep, and ended up tired all day.

So it isn't just you...


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## roadwreck (Apr 7, 2008)

ME_FPE said:


> For the PE exam, I intend on waking up at 4 am on Thursday, so I'm good and tired to go to bed on Thursday night.


I think your solution to your problem could backfire with disastrous results. Waking up early so you are tired Thursday night will only work if you don't have trouble falling asleep Thursday night. If you still have trouble sleeping Thursday night when you get up Friday for the exam you could be even more tired from having two bad nights of sleep instead of just one. If I were you I think I'd stick to as normal a routine as possible. I think it's important to relax Thursday night. Watch a movie or read a book (not one for the exam). Try to relax and take your mind off the exam and I think you'll find yourself in a much better frame of mind Friday morning.


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## Vishal (Apr 7, 2008)

the night before, i had a dream that the proctor entered the room (with big fat glasses and very mean look on the face) and declares that starting this test, the # of questions for civil has been bumped to 50 and you will have 30 minutes less to answer the questions. i know it sounds stupid, but i still can't forget the exact details of that thing... then i laid awake in the bed a good hour before the actual alarm. like ME said, i had a hard time geting sleep... i was continuously thinking of problems and equations as if i had to memorize them and visualizing myself in the test.. how i will do everything just before the test.. like detailing every move... and i had to force myself to calm down... and that too late in the night...

like most people suggests, i went thru the test questions and graded. my # 1(easy questions) were like gimme types... i dont even have to look too much but i would still to verify... anything that makes me think during my first reading is labelled 2 or 3. i think it worked well. they key is to not panic and have faith that you will know most of the questions and there will be plenty of gimme's but beware of booby traps!!! sometimes it just comes down to working the units, even though u dont know the concept just work the units and feel propud at getting the answer...


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## C-Dog (Apr 7, 2008)

Brentum said:


> My only somewhat irrational fear is that I'll sit down and read the first problem...and have no clue how to do it. Then move on to the second question, and have no clue. And repeating this process until I hit the 40th question.And end up answering "C" for all 40 questions.


That happened to me for the 1st 6 questions, but they were all topics I conciously did not study to concentrate on all the other topics. Kind of nerve racking leaving the first 6 blank. At the 5 minute mark, I went back and randomly filled them in. I passed BTW.


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2008)

My biggest fear was that I would end up having a fudgey 'moment' at some point during the exam.

I took one restroom break in the morning and afternoon to recycle my coffee. Otherwise it was all systems 'CLEAR'.

JR


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Apr 7, 2008)

Casey said:


> Note to self: No spicy food the night before.


I ate at an Indian restaurant at the motel the night before the exam. It never even occurred to me I might be setting myself up for trouble. Fortunately it all sat just fine.


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## chaosiscash (Apr 8, 2008)

I took the exam in Oct 06, and the night before Clemson played VT in Blacksburg. I had Tivo'd the game, and my biggest fear was that I would accidently overhear people talking about it either before the game or during lunch, and I would find out the score before I could go home and watch it. (We got hammered, by the way.) It happened, before they opened the test room doors in the morning I heard two guys out in the lobby mention we got creamed. In retrospect, this may have been all for the best, because I didn't worry about it during the exam time, and just went home, deleted the game from the Tivo, and then went to my Wife's restaurant and got hammered.

As far as the actual exam went, I really didn't have any fears. The exam was in town, I left with more than enough time to get there, and I had read the instructions on calculators, pencils, etc. What I was amazed at was how many people brought the wrong type of calculators or raised their hands when they asked if anyone had a cell phone. I mean, it takes about 2 minutes to read through the test day rules.


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## maryannette (Apr 8, 2008)

For anyone taking exams this weekend, remember these are IRRATIONAL fears. Just remember, it's a test that a lot of people take and they are all in the same boat as you. Good luck.


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## ODB_PE (Apr 8, 2008)

Since we're headed in that direction:

My nervous system typically requires an emergency last-minute trip to the bathroom before any important test- the kind of trip Fudgey usually describes. This problem plagued me throughout college, but at least there I was familiar with my surroundings.

Like VTE and JR, however, surprisingly I had no issues.


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## NCcarguy (Apr 8, 2008)

Mine was that I would oversleep, and not make it on time.....I had THREE alarms set, and as always, I got up right on time, and made it early!


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## csb (Apr 8, 2008)

I also stressed waking up...I set the room alarm, my cell phone alarm, had a wakeup call set and told my husband to call me...just to be woken up at 4AM by the guy next door to me.


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## Dleg (Apr 8, 2008)

I stressed about waking up too. I always do. It doesn't help that I once overslept and missed an important flight, to the training center for my first engineering job. I got on a second flight with no problem, but the trauma has haunted me ever since, and I can hardly sleep now if I need to wake up early for something important. I constantly roll over to check the time and check if the alarm is still set, and if it's still set for "am" rather than "pm" (the original mistake on my missed flight). Oddly enough, though, I slept pretty good the night before the PE. I can't explain why.

I am wonder why we haven't heard from Fudgey yet in this thread. He must have a few "fears" about exam day possibilities, but in his case, I would think most of them are fairly rational fears given his history.


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

My actual worst fear of the whole exam was when I actually received my passing letter. I was so convinced that it was a mistake somehow that I carried it around with me until I received my state registration #

:true:

JR


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## PErimeter (Apr 8, 2008)

For the PE exam, I intend on waking up at 4 am on Thursday, so I'm good and tired to go to bed on Thursday night.


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## WR/ENV_Instructor (Apr 9, 2008)

:true: My watch stopped working (battery) right before the exams were handed out. I had studied for 4 months using a clock to keep me on pace with problems. I almost freaked until I realied there was a wall clock right next to me. If my seat wasn't located where it was in reference to the room and wall clock, I am not sure what I would have done. I promised myself if I didn't pass this first try, I'd bring 3 watches next time just to be sure. I was fortunate to not have to take the exam a second time. Good luck to everyone and bring a second watch if you plan on keeping track of time. :true:


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 9, 2008)

The place where I took the test was like a Las Vegas casino: no clocks anywhere. I'd have freaked if my watch died on me.


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## roadwreck (Apr 9, 2008)

Dwarves


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## busbeepbeep (Apr 10, 2008)

oversleeping... I didn't sleep very well because I was too worried about not waking up.


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