April 2017 Exam

[Champagne Marcus]

Yep - I struggled with this one and skipped it and ended up guessing. I submitted it to NCEES as I felt like it was not a good engineering economics question. 

Glad I'm not alone on the econ question.  Had all the fixings of an out loud WTF during the exam.  

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

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I submitted 2 problems, one from the AM and one from the PM. They responded quickly and said that they would look into it and since it was regarding the exam problems I would not get a response from them.

Is there any way to get a solution out of them? I'd be very interested in confirming if it was worded wrong or how it should have been solved based on the wording that was given. 

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

No.  The problem is usually reviewed by NCEES SME panel to determine if it was worded poorly, engineering solution doesn't make sense etc.

 

[mnvivo]

The morning was hard for me the geotechnical questions I didn't see to may of those in my review class.  The afternoon transportation I felt prepared for after the EET class a lot of questions were from the various manuals. 

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

Hmmmm, should we form a coalition?!?!?  

 

[jimmyjones]

The structural questions were a bit harder than I was expecting, so I'm pretty sure I messed up on a few of those; I've never been particularly strong on structural. I also overthought a couple of simple questions that I think should have been freebies... trying not to regret those. The wording on some problems threw me for a loop, and the definition look up questions that have obscure terms are particularly frustrating for me. I checked about 5 books for some terms listed in a question and could not find what I was looking for, so I guessed. After the test, I ended up finding the term in a book I hadn't brought with me and realized I guessed wrong. The hydraulics/hydrology ones I felt were fair for the most part; I think there were two sort of tricky questions that I was waffling on before I decided on an answer, one of which I know I got wrong. The project planning and means/methods/construction questions I thought were mostly straight forward as well. I remember two of the transportation problems being straight forward, but the third I had to use judgement on. The OSHA question was an easy lookup. I'm a geotech by trade so the AM questions were straight forward for me, but I can see how some of them may have been a bit harder or confusing for others.

I took the geotech depth and had mixed feelings about it; there were a few that seemed to have a structural component to the problem that I was a bit lost on.

I finished my first pass through the AM with around 30 questions bubbled in and finished my first pass through the PM with around 23 bubbled in. Many of the skipped ones were straight forward problems/freebies that I went back and rechecked in a book or two to make sure I wasn't oversimplifying the question. Others included problems that I eventually solved and got an answer that seemed to make sense. Then there were problems where I ruled out two options and guessed between the remaining ones. I straight guessed on maybe two or three in the AM and two in the PM.

Overall, I didn't feel great leaving the exam and do not have a real sense for whether or not I passed. I'm looking forward to just relaxing and having some more free time for the time being. Going to try not to stress about it until the results come in! Good luck to all

 

[skc005]

The structural questions were a bit harder than I was expecting, so I'm pretty sure I messed up on a few of those; I've never been particularly strong on structural. I also overthought a couple of simple questions that I think should have been freebies... trying not to regret those. The wording on some problems threw me for a loop, and the definition look up questions that have obscure terms are particularly frustrating for me. I checked about 5 books for some terms listed in a question and could not find what I was looking for, so I guessed. After the test, I ended up finding the term in a book I hadn't brought with me and realized I guessed wrong. The hydraulics/hydrology ones I felt were fair for the most part; I think there were two sort of tricky questions that I was waffling on before I decided on an answer, one of which I know I got wrong. The project planning and means/methods/construction questions I thought were mostly straight forward as well. I remember two of the transportation problems being straight forward, but the third I had to use judgement on. The OSHA question was an easy lookup. I'm a geotech by trade so the AM questions were straight forward for me, but I can see how some of them may have been a bit harder or confusing for others.

I took the geotech depth and had mixed feelings about it; there were a few that seemed to have a structural component to the problem that I was a bit lost on.

I finished my first pass through the AM with around 30 questions bubbled in and finished my first pass through the PM with around 23 bubbled in. Many of the skipped ones were straight forward problems/freebies that I went back and rechecked in a book or two to make sure I wasn't oversimplifying the question. Others included problems that I eventually solved and got an answer that seemed to make sense. Then there were problems where I ruled out two options and guessed between the remaining ones. I straight guessed on maybe two or three in the AM and two in the PM.

Overall, I didn't feel great leaving the exam and do not have a real sense for whether or not I passed. I'm looking forward to just relaxing and having some more free time for the time being. Going to try not to stress about it until the results come in! Good luck to all

Yup, I felt similarly about some of the breadth questions particularly the conceptual ones. I definitely overcomplicated/overthought a few "gimmies" and I already know I answered those incorrectly. And I have a feeling that those will come back and bite me since I didn't feel particularly confident on the structural depth. Gonna be borderline on the cut off if I pass, and if I don't I'll be particularly upset knowing I missed out on those gimmies. 

 

[ruruburu]

I was confident with  29 problems for both sessions. I took transportation.

Hopefully I guessed right on the ones I had no clue. Good luck all.

 

[EhmayWuntee P.E.]

Without going into much detail, which books do you recall using for some of the look-up questions?
Basically just list the book name i suppose and it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[bharathi]

Without going into much detail, which books do you recall using for some of the look-up questions?
Basically just list the book name i suppose and it shouldn't be an issue.

MUTCD, AASHTO GreenBook and Asphalt Handbook

 

[jimmyjones]

Without going into much detail, which books do you recall using for some of the look-up questions?
Basically just list the book name i suppose and it shouldn't be an issue.

Some that I used are Lindeburg CERM, Goswami Civil Engr PE Breadth and Depth, Coduto Geotech Engr Principles and Practices, Coduto Yeung and Kitch Geotech Engr Principles and Practices, Das Principles of Geotech Engr, and the required OSHA reference. I took a lot of other books as a security blanket but these are the ones I recall actively helping me. Note that I took the geotech PM so that's why my books are geotech heavy. Also, I overlooked one of the bulleted items on the NCEES exam specs which says "Some problems may require knowledge of engineering economics," so it would have been good to take a book on that just to fall back on if necessary.

 

[afsx10]

I took the exam with geotech PM, and I felt the morning was easy due to many geotech questions. Before the exam, I thought the AM part is discipline specific, but I realized it is the same for all.

My problems were on the topic of hydraulics. I felt some of the questions was deceiving in the way they were presented. I think if they give all the info to solve then the answer using the given numbers should match the correct one.

Overall, the exam felt v.good to me and hope to pass.

EDITED DUE TO THE REVEALING NATURE OF THE CONTENT DESCRIBED

 

[SoCalBound]

I believe that you have provided too many details, which will not be liked...

 

[knight1fox3]

Your post has been edited. Remember your NCEES agreement that you signed which prevents you from discussing specific exam questions in detail. This is your first and only warning.

 

[bagsman]

So for the record, this was my third attempt taking the geotech. Participated in the EET breadth and depth review sessions with approximately 2.5 months of studying.

The morning session seemed to be very structures heavy. The first time i flipped through the exam, it seemed very difficult  but everything came together as the test progressed. Personally, I found it easier than fall 2016 breadth but I was better prepared. I think i scored in the 32 - 36 range.

The afternoon geotech seemed to be the easiest depth exam I have taken, still challenging though don't get me wrong. The first 20 questions did not seem as obscure as previous exams, but the last twenty were still pretty tough. I believe I scored around the 28 range so that should give me a passing score. Only time will tell however, good luck to everyone else.

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

I believe that you have provided too many details, which will not be liked...

OMG i wish i had the Like button!!! Lol

 

[P-E]

I also had a post two days ago which discussed specific exam contents that got deleted even without any warning or notification by someone I even do not know.

I was lucky to see what afsx10's original reply was, and realized the problem I missed from what he/she said. Then I went to check again a reference for another problem which I was very uncertain, then I discovered I did it right, which makes me at least a bit relieved now. afsx10's original reply was at the minimum helpful to me.

All in all, last Friday was a very tricky and deceiving exam.

You guys are being stupid.  NCEES reads this board.   They will find you if they want and disqualify you.  Plus you're causing the mods unnessary hassle. C'mon now. 

 

[PESpring2017]

You guys are being stupid.  NCEES reads this board.   They will find you if they want and disqualify you.  Plus you're causing the mods unnessary hassle. C'mon now. 

OK, thank you for this warning. I agree to get my previous post deleted.

 

[mklee1986]

Am I the only one who thought the morning exam was difficult and geared towards Structural and Geotech and no Econo at all. 

 

[zzalnera]

Am I the only one who thought the morning exam was difficult and geared towards Structural and Geotech and no Econo at all. 

I know in the EET exam they included the Engineering Economics in the Depth section, even though it was going to be on all the exams. Judging from the construction guys concerns on their question, looks like each of the different depths got a different question for it.