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Thor's greco-roman equivalent is Jupiter (or Jove)  hence the romance language use of dies joves (latin), jueves (spanish), and jeudi (french) for Thursday. Coincidentally, historiographers agree that NCEES' equivalent in Nordic Mythology is Loki, the god of manipulation, trickery and deceit...

I'd say a general rule of thumb for NCEES and the SE exam is just...study everything. They mainly get you on "oh...I didn't expect THAT subject at all!!" You want to avoid that. It's possible to hide knowledge deficiencies on morning problems since they are multiple choice. Afternoon...

You hit on an important point. To do well, you really need to be at about 30 questions completed by the 2hr mark. That's key. I generally aim for that as well. 10 questions an hour is too slow, especially considering NCEES' shenanigans. I usually just work the easy problems I can solve first. I...

No need to be self-conscious. Everybody does it.

Just found out that a special shear wall I'm designing may need boundary elements. I'm pretty psyched about that. I could make the wall longer or thicker, just to avoid the requirement. But this exam has given me perverse incentives to show that I can do random things that 95% of structural...

Ah I see. Running out of time on the morning is a bit more tricky. You may get fortunate with some guesses, but...it all depends. I'm generally more able to determine how well I do on the morning based on the timing. When I am able to finish 35ish problems, I can plan on 27-29 correct out of 40...

There is an irony to running out of time on the test. In certain situations, not having enough time can hide deficiencies in knowledge if you are general enough in your "this is how I'd do it" dialogue. Not getting into the weeds can mean you're not getting points taken off for doing things...

I am pretty sure I've had afternoon questions graded incorrectly too. I'd of course love to prove this, but...a peek into NCEES' modus operandi would likely reveal inconsistencies. It's a classic Boeing 737 MAX 8 situation. "Rather than have us, the government, regulate you...how about if you...

Your mind is the scene of the crime. Also, in other news, the earth is flat and politicians are honest.

My ASCE 7-10 code. NCEES will likely change to the ASCE 7-16 code soon, which will likely be far simpler and less ambiguous to use during the test. (insert evil villain laugh)

Yeah I wanted to make sure I don't ruin the plot for someone. I pretty much went in to hibernation mode for the last week so I could go into it fresh. If you like superhero movies, you'll like it. I also like to envision NCEES as a conglomeration of movie villains--a sort of Thanos/Bane/Joker...

Haha yes I can relate. "So did you pass?" That's the question I get. I just reply that my opinion of the test and how I did has no actual bearing on what the NCEES graders think. The good news is that seeing Avengers this past weekend gave me hope that I can defeat NCEES if I am persistent and...

Something I've wondered is this: the SE exam, and the Lateral one in particular addresses a wide variety of subjects. However, at times one subject will be ignored entirely. For example, hypothetically you might have an exam that does not touch on wood diaphragm detailing, or collector design...

Pretty sure that NCEES beat you to achieving acceptable results on that goal.

I do agree that structural engineering actually requires some cerebral acuity. It could be worse though, we could be dentists: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/

According to the website, this has origins in 5200BC. Who'd have thought. I'd like to throw this at the NCEES graders for an afternoon essay problem, just to show I'm a well-rounded engineer. "By inspection, the special concrete shear wall can also sustain the impulse imparted from 27 thrown...

Bonjour monsieur. To your point earlier about wanting fault lines made in your area so you can design special seismic stuff...I had a project with some accidental torsion recently and I was FAR more enthused than I should have been. I was looking for ways to use things I have ingrained in my...

Only one week till "avengers: endgame" comes out though. 3 hours of fun, that's almost an entire component of the exam!  Also, FutureSE, I definitely hope you pass. I actually think the test will end up being much better when it is computer based. Hopefully that will shorten the turnaround...

Also agree 100%. The whole "open book" thing is clever misdirection. Essentially, if you need to look in textbooks and the like to solve a problem, you've lost already. Everything has to be muscle memory. As in, visualizing the code when you close your eyes. Knowing all the mistakes that people...

I'd buy your book. Or "how I passed the Vertical exam and came oh so close to passing Lateral" by Nathan55