April 2012 Pass Rates

[deafodupe]

My theory of the high pass % in April and the low pass % in October is that a lot of people take the exam in October and fewer people do in April.

When I took the exam in October the room was pretty much full and when I took it last April the room was 1/2 to 3/4 full.

I guess as much more people take it the pass % goes down.

 

[upstatemike]

When i've taken it the attendance has been just the opposite. Far more people in April than in October.

 

[solomonb]

OK, don't give up on this! YOU CAN and WILL PASS this damn examination. There is no reason not to pass. Let's review some key points. If you have taken the examination more than twice and not succeeded, you probably need to make some drastic study habit changes. Of course, I don't know your study habits, however, I would suggest that probably not much changed between exams 1 and 2. That is probably why you were unsuccessful.

If you have not done so, I would take an in-person review course. Yeah, it costs money, however, at this point, you have $2500 in this process-- so now, there is no reason not to continue on and get the damn license. The govt may not give you a promotion or pay increase, howevomer, you never know when you need the license. Find out who/where your discipline gives a taught in person review course. Sign up and go. Yes, this is another $2500-- with travel fees, course registration, etc., so now you have $5000 invested in the process. I would then plan on studying about 2 hours EVERY day after the review course-- work as many problems as they gave you, order some more exam problems and continue to work them until you know the problems cold.

As a guy who has written PE test questions, you should be able, by inspection, be able to ascertain what the question is answering. If you cannot do that, then you need to continue studying until you are able to identify, by inspection, what the question asks. Sometimes there is more information in the stem of the question than necessary. I never write a question that way, however, I have seen many that are. The key here is to find the cogent kernels of data needed to address the question. Most questions are written to be solved in 6 minutes. HOWEVER, some questions take 1 minute and some take 13 minutes to solve-- just be aware of that.

You can do this-- this is a bachelor's level examination to determine the minimally competent engineer. My academic friends tell me that this is the C- student.

I cannot address how the scoring is done to set the pass score. I have not done that yet! I am told that is coming, however, do not know how it is done. Cannot provide any insight here.

Don't give up-- you can do this-- you have way too much invested not to pass this time. I have great faith that you will be successful with the next exam provided that you make some drastic study habit changes, take an in-person taught review course and work problems at least 2 hours every day between the end of the review course and the exam date.

 

[SteveYem]

That doesn't make sense to me...they control the pass rate with the cut score. They adjust the cut score up or down to get the pass rate they want. This is why the test is pass/fail. A score of 54 may pass this time and next test it may be 52 or 56 depending on the difficulty of the exam questions and the bell curve of the test takers...just my two cents.

I am failing to understand why a given State would want to maintain a particular passing rate for a particular discipline. Are the states in competition with one another? Is there some federal funding that a state can receive if its passing rates are at a certain level? I've heard of elementary and secondary schools fudging standardized test scores to get more funding from the state, but I didn't think that type of shenanigans would apply here. Someone please enlighten me...not only for the good of the order, but also for my own personal satisfaction since I just passed the test myself, and I would hate to think that I am just in a pool of other incompetents who happened to pass because the state lowered the bar this time.

 

[Judowolf PE]

Sorry Steve I didn't see your reply until today...My belief is that the cut score is changed up or down by one or two points to keep the pass rate about the same for each degree type. This is a national test, so it wouldn't be by state. My rational for this is that if the test were slightly easier or more difficult the pass % would change based upon this and the pass rate would change, but it doesn't change much from test to test. From what my understanding is, 80% of test takers are within like 4 questions of the passing cut score...so when you think you know enough to pass, you probably should study a little more to make sure you are on the upperside of that bell curve!

 

[Badger]

I may have missed something, but I thought NCEES sets the passing score, which is probably most of the time 56/80 or 70% if there are more questions. The only time it would be higher or lower would be if new or newer questions were determined to ambigous or wrong.

I failed the first try, and beat the odds on the 3rd try geotechnical. I would like to think I did better than 56/80. I thought second test was harder than the first test i took in the spring, but the third test was probly harder, but I had worked a lot of problems, and my knowledge and speed were increased.

For any who have to take it over, do more problems and read more about the areas you did poorly in. Also buy the needed references don't go cheap, For those who haven't taken it yet, work hard and pass the first time, if you can. Don't let it stop you if you fail. Good Luck.

 

[kmjones29]

I was part of the panel that developed the cut score for a future FE exam, so I am familiar with how they develop the cut score for exams (the score you need to pass). It is based on the difficulty of the actual questions, so depending on what specific questions are on the exam and how each question has been evaluated by the panel, the actual score you need to pass can vary. They repeat many questions to get field data on the scores to compare to what the panel decides is the cut score. They probably also choose questions for the exam based on the level of difficulty the panel has determined for each question, so it evens out. So there's no reason to believe any one exam would be "harder" than any other, it just may seem that way based on how prepared the test taker is. Also I doubt they use a bell curve to determine the pass rate since there is no way the scores are normally distributed.

 

[ikesdsu]

I agree. I took the test twice (HVAC) and passed the second time. While I thought the second time i took it was easier now looking back on it, it was probably only because I was more prepaired the second time and by the time I took the test the second time I had three years more experience.

I wouldn't get too stuck on the number of questions you need to pass, it varies between tests and years. Keep your focus on kicking the test in the butt and getting registered.