April 2012 CA-Survey Exam cancelled statewide?

[survey101]

11

 

[survey101]

I heard they will try to reschedule it for a weekend in May. Lets hope they can make it happen

 

[darius]

I heard they will try to reschedule it for a weekend in May. Lets hope they can make it happen

I wish I know how some people hear different things about Surveying Exam.

I wrote an email to Ric Moore and another one to all email addresses I found on the CAPELS Board web site. I didn't get any reply back yet.

And also wish what survey101 heard is true and it will happen in May.

If you don't mind could you share where did you hear from about all this?

 

[ptatohed]

I heard they will try to reschedule it for a weekend in May. Lets hope they can make it happen

Care to share your source of information?

 

[Maybenexttime]

My email to Ric Moore & Letter:

April 19, 2012

Mr. Ric Moore

Executive Officer

Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists

2535 Capitol Oaks Drive, Suite 300

Sacramento, California, 95833-2944

RE: California Civil Engineering Surveying Exam

Dear Mr. Moore:

Before I begin, please excuse any comments that may seem to be aggressive in nature – that is not my intent. Considering the circumstances and emotions involved, I would imagine that you will be understanding of this, and not become personally offended in any way, shape or form.

To begin, I cannot express in words the devastation and feelings of anguish that I and other examinees experienced at the CA Civil Surveying Exam (CCSE) this past April 2012.

I have spent countless hours preparing solely for this exam, as many examinees do in California, since we must take three (3) exams in lieu of one (1) exam in comparison to other states. The purpose of me taking four (4) days off of work – two (2) to ensure I was completely prepared for the CCSE and two (2) for the actual test, became entirely pointless. This equates to monies lost on my paycheck that I am dependent on in this weak economy. The monetary loss due to time off of work was excluding, application fees, filling my gas tank with gas to drive to and from the exam site with gas prices soaring above $4 per gallon, paying for parking and missing a myriad of hours of quality time with sick family and friends in order to prepare for this exam. All of the items listed above do not take into account other hardships experienced by thousands of other examinees across the State of California. Some have had to cancel vacations strategically planned after the exam date. Some have had to swallow the cost of airfare now forfeited to get them to California to take this exam. These are amongst numerous other possible damages. This was not just the cancellation of an exam; this is much, much bigger than that.

I personally called the Board several times the day the CCSE exam was cancelled only to be greeted with uncouth responses to my questions and to be told there would be absolutely no reimbursements or compensation of any kind and that there is no guarantee of rescheduling the exam. I was asked by one operator if I had attended the other two exams and, if so, I was going to “have to be there anyway” so I wouldn’t be getting compensated in any manner. I was appalled by their attitudes; especially towards someone so completely overcome by what had just happened. This could have been handled in a more professional manner. Is this how the State of California treats its people?

I feel this could have been easily been prevented; however, I do understand that it is possible for things of this nature to happen. At this point, something needs to be done in order to improve the current situation. I can only assume that the State does not plan to offer any money to compensate examinees for their losses.

If the board cannot reschedule the exam in a reasonable amount of time, which in my opinion would be within two-to-four weeks; it will make the situation exponentially worse for examinees. It is universally known that land surveying or use of surveying principles is not typically part of the majority of examinees job duties. Due to this, it is easy for examinees to forget what they have studied rapidly. In relation, it is unjust to expect examinees to continue to prepare for an exam that they are not guaranteed to be given and to continue to prepare well after the date that the exam was suppose to originally take place. It is also universally known that the Board will take an ample amount of time to return results to examinees. Will the Board expedite exam results from a rescheduled exam in order to fairly give examinees that did not pass the test sufficient notice in order to begin preparing for the next exam?

Every minute that passes affects the future of the exam and the future of the examinees.

If the State of California cannot get it together to accomplish this task; I don’t know what that says about our State or the reverence of earning a Professional Engineering license. Do you?

It has been one (1) week since the cancellation of the CCSE and we have yet to hear from the Board aside from the letter you issued the following day. What is the board doing now, and what has the Board already done to mediate this epic disaster? Are we going to be offered a chance to take this exam in a reasonable amount of time or not? If it will be rescheduled, will it be during the work week which will require some of us to ask for additional time off?

Leaving us without any knowledge of what to expect, whatever that may be, is bad business. If the Board has not developed a plan as of yet; at least let us know that is the case. At the very least - say something.

 

[Maybenexttime]

I want to thank those poeple who's posts I used to develope this letter.

 

[LakersFreak]

Maybenexttime,

Very nice letter. I commend you.

 

[PE_Water]

If they don't say anything by friday....what can we do?...anybody have any ideas?....they shuld say something....like we r working on it...etc........I am losing interest....I gave so much value for these exams...and now I don't feel any value for this......stupid exam.

 

[bradlelf]

Has anyone contacted their state representative or state senator?

In PA, if you have an issue with the board or need someone to intervene on your behalf the best way is through your district's state senator.

 

[divs]

I had also emailed Ric Moore a few days back, but havent received a response yet. I agree with the idea of calling/emailing them multiple times so they get the idea of how much its affected us and that retaking the exam in October would be completely unacceptable to us. I just hope they dont potspone this to October, that would be so so unfair :bawling:

 

[ptatohed]

I haven't heard anyone say that they have spoken directly to Ric Moore on the phone. Are you guys calling?

 

[Maybenexttime]

I have called a bunch of times. The ladies who answer the phone say that no one has told them anything yet. They said today that they don't want to release a "probable" date; they are waiting until they know "the" date.

Come on now.

Has anyone contacted Jerry Brown or the LA Times?

 

[sac_engineer]

My favorite line from Maybenexttime's letter is "filling my gas tank with gas to drive to and from the exam site"... I didn't know you can fill your gas tank with another liquid!

It's always a good practice to make sure someone else proofreads a letter, especially to an Executive Officer of a Board from which you're seeking licensure.

The letter is laying the message a little too thick without providing any solutions. It's a complaint letter that doesn't reveal anything new to Mr. Moore. Venting is not a solution nor does it provide any influence to make the Board act any faster in response to the survey exam debacle. The feelings of anger and frustration are justifiable, but to convey it in a letter (i.e. permanent record) is futile.

As a CA taxpayer, the only cost the Board should be required to compensate is the application fee. If people want a refund, they're entitled to it until the next time they want take the exam. Parking, airfare, hotel, gas, etc. are incidental to all of our lives regardless of the reasons for their expense. Plus, if there was some slim chance of being reimbursed, it wouldn't take away the frustration.

 

[Sac-PE]

Update is there, CBT Exam
/>http://pels.ca.gov/applicants/4-20_message_to_ce_apps.pdf

 

[leftcoastguy]

FYI -

They have rescheduled the exam. The letter is on their website. I'm happy to see they were able to get the CBT up and running, somehow, because as mentioned it will allow the out of state people to take the exam closer to home (hopefully). They still want near a month lead time, as I mentioned earlier. I have some personal reservations about the CBT, but I will not be able to confirm them until Monday. I'll let you know.

Good luck to all of you.

Thanks to Ric, you did the best I think you could to resolve this on your end.

 

[passpepasspe]

on the new letter, It says if you did not receive this letter via email, you are not on the eligible list. I did not receive any email. Did anyone else?? how did they determine who was there and who was accepted for seating? Did you guys leave your NCEES Exam confirmation on the table when you went to take the test?

 

[passpepasspe]

never mind, just got the email. I must say I am impressed with what they were able to do

 

[Sac-PE]

Just got it now

 

[jbl2102]

Does anyone know if the format of the CBT exam is the same as the written one? Same/different types of problems? Is it still open book?

Am I alone in thinking it's totally different to prepare for doing these types of problems on a computer than on a piece of paper?

 

[leftcoastguy]

Still open book. I dont know what you mean by format, but I'd imagine this CBT is sitting at a terminal, clicking responses on screen. I doubt there is even a test booklet. I've taken a CBT style exam before (different cert) and its all computer based. Based on that exam, I have some concerns for the CBT on the state exams.

I am taking a test Monday and as I said, I'll let you know about the testing. Its going to be the same as what you're going to do.