April 2017 Exam

[bharathi]

How did everyone feel about the recent April 2017 Civil PE exam? I thought morning session was very hard with more emphasis on structural and I did bad.

Afternoon transportation depth was ok, 4-5 questions that I couldn't solve at all.

Please share your experiences.

 

[mnguy88]

I felt like there was a lot of emphasis on geotech in the morning. I felt like it was hard for me. I heard a guy that does geotech for a living said the breadth was so easy for him, finished 1.5 hours early.

i took the structural depth. It was doable but the hard questions were really hard. I came in underprepared. I don't think I passed but now I know what I need to work on and that the exam is very passable.

 

[bharathi]

Do not worry till you get the results! I am surprised that you said geotech emphasis! I thought it was more structural.

 

[gpoli111]

Civil - Structural here. I felt pretty confident in the morning maybe 32-36 right there. The afternoon was pretty challenging. I feel 100% on about 15 questions, pretty confident on another 10 or so, guessed on about 5 and can't quite remember the rest. 

I feel pretty confident but you never know do you?

 

[RockyTop PE]

I'm not a structures person at all and I thought it was extremely structural heavy in the morning.  Did not feel well during my lunch break whatsoever.  Took WRE in the afternoon and felt confident about 28 or so questions, somewhat confident about another 7 and then had 5 or so problems I really struggled with.  I definitely should have spent more time looking at structures for the morning exam.

 

[bharathi]

I know, I wish I had spent more time reviewing the structures! Lunch break was absolutely freakish for me!

 

[Jbone27 PE]

I took the WRE exam. I agree the morning was structure heavy. Afternoon was tough but I feel like I was familiar enough with most concepts to get through. Guess we'll see in a few weeks. I don't think I would be too surprised either way. If I passed or failed it will be by a narrow margin I think.

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

I'm curious, how many get out and within a day's period your like man that was a stupid mistake? On some problems I just keep saying to myself, why did you do that?  Overall, although I agree it was very challenging, I wasn't devastated as before so I want to take that as a good sign. I don't want to panic and draw conclusions because I really put a lot of work into this and feel strong. I hope we all did well!! 

 

[Tiffer1TX]

I felt good about the AM WRE portion, but the afternoon took me for a ride. I missed 3 simple hydraulics questions because I overlooked them and only realized at the 15 minute mark that I had not answered them. I raced to get them done, but of course I did not choose the correct answer. I have had nightmares about those 3 questions. I ended up feeling good about 25 questions in the afternoon and 30-35 in the morning. I am praying that I passed. This is my 3rd attempt and I am so tired of having this test loom over my head.

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[bharathi]

I'm curious, how many get out and within a day's period your like man that was a stupid mistake? On some problems I just keep saying to myself, why did you do that?  Overall, although I agree it was very challenging, I wasn't devastated as before so I want to take that as a good sign. I don't want to panic and draw conclusions because I really put a lot of work into this and feel strong. I hope we all did well!! 

I felt the same way about some problems, not able to shake off the exam from my mind even though its over!

 

[Owism]

I kept dreaming about solving that one problem in 10 different ways last night... ugh  -_-

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

I took the Civil Construction test.I felt pretty confident, the afternoon I was running out of time and brain was getting fried.  Not sure if it was from not knowing some items or just the full test day getting to me and starting.  While I'm glad some of the questions were "easy", overall I was kind of disappointed that for some of the topics that only had a few questions, the problems seemed pretty easy and it was just a matter or knowing which formula and plugging in the correct values.  I like knowing that I had a few guaranteed correct answers, but at the same time it makes me wish i spent less time on those topics and more on structural.  Knowing my luck, if I do have to retake it (I'm hoping I don't), the exam will be easier on structural and harder on the topics that only have 1 or 2 questions.

 

[WaterAllTheTime]

I also took WRE and was surprised about the number of Structural question in the AM.

 

[kpalframan]

I felt very confident after the morning session.  School of PE prepared us well (even overprepared for many of the subjects).  I also thought it was very structures and geotech focused.  I was only uncertain about 2 or 3 in the morning and finished about an hour early.  I spent the rest of my time checking my work and I didn't find any mistakes which made me feel good.  

The afternoon session was another story.  I took the transportation depth and felt that it was more of a search-and-find game through our manuals than an actual problem-solving exam.  I didn't think that any of my practice exams (Lindeburg and NCEES) were good representations of what the exam was actually like in the afternoon.  I feel good about 30 of the questions and the rest are educated guesses.  I was mentally worn out by about halfway through the afternoon session and also a bit disoriented because the fire alarm went off twice (once right before the afternoon exam started and once about halfway through the exam).  Thankfully, we didn't have to evacuate the building, but it was pretty distracting.  We weren't given any extra time or accommodations due to the fire alarm. 

Now we wait... 

 

[mnguy88]

Maybe I felt is was geotech heavy because that's my weakest area and structural is my best area so all I can remember are the geotech questions I guessed on!

 

[leggo PE]

I felt very confident after the morning session.  School of PE prepared us well (even overprepared for many of the subjects).  I also thought it was very structures and geotech focused.  I was only uncertain about 2 or 3 in the morning and finished about an hour early.  I spent the rest of my time checking my work and I didn't find any mistakes which made me feel good.  

The afternoon session was another story.  I took the transportation depth and felt that it was more of a search-and-find game through our manuals than an actual problem-solving exam.  I didn't think that any of my practice exams (Lindeburg and NCEES) were good representations of what the exam was actually like in the afternoon.  I feel good about 30 of the questions and the rest are educated guesses.  I was mentally worn out by about halfway through the afternoon session and also a bit disoriented because the fire alarm went off twice (once right before the afternoon exam started and once about halfway through the exam).  Thankfully, we didn't have to evacuate the building, but it was pretty distracting.  We weren't given any extra time or accommodations due to the fire alarm. 

Now we wait... 

Whatttt the fire alarm went off? Twice? That is awful!

I just had some random person continuously yelling outside of our hall throughout the afternoon session. They sent security out a few times, but apparently whatever he was doing wasn't that disruptive in the eyes of the security so as to remove him.

I did the civil PE with the structures depth, and I agree that the morning section was structures heavy. Or, at least, I thought there were some relatively advanced concepts on the morning section that were pretty straightforward for someone familiar with structural design, but that would potentially be difficult for those unfamiliar with it.

I think I felt relatively confident about the am portion, completely guessing on 4 or 5 questions, confidently answering around 30 (assuming I did them right), and making educated guesses on the rest. I guessed on a few more questions on the pm portion than I would have ideally liked to, but think I solidly answered 26+ questions, made educated guesses on 5 or 6 more, and almost completely guessed on maybe 8. Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic. But having taken this for the third time, I am definitely not getting my hopes up too high!

Over the weekend, I definitely was thinking about one pm question that I made an educated guess on but couldn't directly solve during the exam. I am pretty certain I know how it was meant to be solved at this point.

Now we wait!

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

For those who took the Construction afternoon exam, were you able to solve the economics question (please do not give specifics on how to solve it)?  I felt like I wasted too much time on this question and still didn't solve it due to the poor wording. Or maybe it was really much simpler and had a lot of extra information as distractors that we didn't need.  Since the exam is new every year, I wish there was a way for NCEES to release to solutions so people know exactly what they got wrong and where they messed up (wrong approach/ equations vs. basic math error).

 

[skc005]

I'm curious, how many get out and within a day's period your like man that was a stupid mistake? On some problems I just keep saying to myself, why did you do that?  Overall, although I agree it was very challenging, I wasn't devastated as before so I want to take that as a good sign. I don't want to panic and draw conclusions because I really put a lot of work into this and feel strong. I hope we all did well!! 

This would be me, and I'm still beating myself right now on 3-4 gimmies I know I absolutely butchered. And with the nature of how I did on the structural depth, I think those 4 or so questions will definitely cost me. 

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

This would be me, and I'm still beating myself right now on 3-4 gimmies I know I absolutely butchered. And with the nature of how I did on the structural depth, I think those 4 or so questions will definitely cost me. 

Well I'm not alone!! LOL I just find it hard to walk in there and be perfect, even now that I have covered good ground in Structural in studying for the PE exam. I definitely feel I will do better if I have to take it again, but I hope I don't. If I pass I will begin studying for the SE exams but I will take my time on them. That's to say I will study an entire year before signing up for it. There are some specifics in structural that are pitfalls for me and I will strengthen that after I get results. 

Lets hope those few questions don't cost us, or that we are wrong and we actually  took the right approach.  :beerchug:

 

[Manyyearslater]

In comparison to the October 2017, I felt the April 2017 was more straight forward in both the breath and depth (WRE) portions of the test.  It could have been that I felt I was better prepared and understood the overall concepts better.  I agree that there seemed to be a few additional structural questions than the October 2016 test.  Last October during the lunch break I remember that I hoped that the afternoon session would be easier than the morning session.  The difficulty level was about the same.  I think that I was better prepared for the April test, than the October test so I believe that the test was easier for me.   However, if I don't pass, I am not going to give up.  Never, Never, Never.  I will keep pressing forward until I have received the prize.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”   Theodore Roosevelt