April 2018 Power PE Difficultly Level

[Xia]

Hiiii! 
Passed and relieved! Good luck to everyone still waiting!

 

[stpitman]

I passed! holy $h!t

Do they provide any detailed information on how you did other than a "pass" or "fail"?

 

[knight1fox3]

I passed! holy $h!t

Do they provide any detailed information on how you did other than a "pass" or "fail"?

Depends on which state you sat for the exam. I believe TX is one of the only jurisdictions that releases your passing score.

 

[stpitman]

Depends on which state you sat for the exam. I believe TX is one of the only jurisdictions that releases your passing score.

Good thing I took it in Texas. They did something similar for the FE, and actually gave you your score out of 100. I don't remember if they mailed or emailed the results though.

 

[14kAIC]

I passed as well! Seems like my estimates were about right. 

 

[va_gator]

Congrats, to all the passers.

The description about the morning portion being more difficult and having a lot of curveballs compared to the afternoon session applies to the version of the exam I took back in '11. Keep at it and don't be discouraged

 

[BirdGrave]

I passed as well (according to the CTS website, it's not up for Illinois on NCEES yet).  A combination of Graffeo and tabbed notes from School of PE is what got me over the finish line.  I am certain I would have failed without them both.  

I leaned on Graffeo so much I actually can't imagine what test-takers did before that book was published lol.

 

[tschnepf]

I passed as well (according to the CTS website, it's not up for Illinois on NCEES yet).  A combination of Graffeo and tabbed notes from School of PE is what got me over the finish line.  I am certain I would have failed without them both.  

I leaned on Graffeo so much I actually can't imagine what test-takers did before that book was published lol.

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Congrats! 

Its funny you say that, during alot of my practice tests I used graffeo's book but during the actual test I picked up the engineering pro guides PDF (mostly the equation sheets) I printed out significantly more. Seemed to have worked though since I passed.

 

[BirdGrave]

Congrats! 

Its funny you say that, during alot of my practice tests I used graffeo's book but during the actual test I picked up the engineering pro guides PDF (mostly the equation sheets) I printed out significantly more. Seemed to have worked though since I passed.

Thank you for mentioning that, I completely forgot.  I think I had just done so many math problems at that point I memorized a lot of the formulas, and was speaking with respect to references for theoretical questions.

The Engineer Pro Guide notes were the best consolidated set of equations I found anywhere for exam reference.  They were so much more complete and better than my own compiled list of relevant equations.  Thank you again for your help, Justin.

 

[Surf and Snow]

First time PE exam taker here. Overall I think I survived, but only time will tell.

Been averaging about 85% on last 10 practice exams (I've now taken a total of 16 (SIXTEEN!) full 8-hr practice exams at this point) and logged in somewhere between 200-250 hrs total of study/testing time since I started in January. Sure felt like I had prepared about as well as I could.

As for the exam on Friday, the night and day sessions felt like literally night and day. I feel like I took two completely different tests on Friday. Walked away feeling indifferent.

The Morning Session: I felt like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson while he was in his prime, but with my arms like T-rex size shortened, and one of them tied behind my back and with a blindfold on. Several questions were things I never saw a single time in the 16 practice exams I had taken to "prepare". Like I had seen apples and bananas 100 times and suddenly there were pomegranates being thrown at me. I screwed up on my time management and spent way too long on a few of the problems and by the time the 15 minute warning was called, I had 5 questions still that I hadn't even started. fml I had to hurriedly make WAGs and SWAG's on them by at least eliminating clearly wrong choices. Walked out to my truck for lunch feeling dazed and confused like "WTF just happened?" I walked away feeling like if I were only graded on the morning, I either failed or am right on the border.

Spent the lunch hour sitting in my truck clearing my mind. Didnt even want to google any of the things that were just thrown at me. Listened to some hard core rock to pump myself up and get back into the zone.

The Afternoon Session: Complete opposite of the bloodbath that was the morning. I felt great. I knew most of the material. Consistently and quickly arrived at clear answers confidently. Finished all 40 problems in about 3 hours and had an entire hour to go back and double check my work. I walked away feeling like I easily passed the afternoon half. Wish I were only graded on that. The question is when added together, did I make up enough from the morning?

My shakedown assessment: during the test I did what I've always done during my practice exams and assigned a rank to each question 3 = Confident that I have the correct answer,  2 = Pretty sure I'm right, or at least down to only two possible solutions (50/50 odds), and 1 = Total WAG or SWAG, I do not feel confident.

Morning I had: 26x "3", 6x "2", and 8x "1"

Afternoon I had: 30x "3", 9x "2", and only 1x "1"

Based on that breakdown, I think I landed enough points to pass, but not in the 85-90% range that I had been experiencing in the practice exams. Fingers crossed I'm a one and done on this experience. Best luck to us all as we try to remain sane waiting forever to find out....

How did the rest of you who tested on Friday feel about it? (*****Without getting into specifics obviously!!!)

My shake down assessment was right, I passed!

So taking sixteen (16!!!) full 8-hr practice exams over 3 months is a recipe for success! (and exhaustion) But man that was a tough test! NCEES says only 57% of fist timers passed. That's LOW. And combining with repeat testers the combined is that out of 1691 engineers who tested for Power PE in April 2018, only 48% passed. That is a hard test folks. If you didn't make it, don't be too hard on yourself, as you are in the majority (52%), not the minority (48%).

Glad to see several of you who have been in this Power sub forum with me the last few months also made it. Congrats! And to those who didn't, hang in there, work the practice exams and you'll slay that dragon in October.

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[Szar]

If anyone hadnt seen... This test was harder based on the published pass percentage for 2018 compared to other years.

 

[Zach Stone P.E.]

So far the results for students that studied with us for at least 4 months or more has been overwhelmingly positive.

Here's a look at some of the success emails we have gotten so far: Electrical PE Review - April 2018 *Results*

Good luck to anyone still waiting on results! 

 

[nishan]

My shake down assessment was right, I passed!

So taking sixteen (16!!!) full 8-hr practice exams over 3 months is a recipe for success! (and exhaustion) But man that was a tough test! NCEES says only 57% of fist timers passed. That's LOW. And combining with repeat testers the combined is that out of 1691 engineers who tested for Power PE in April 2018, only 48% passed. That is a hard test folks. If you didn't make it, don't be too hard on yourself, as you are in the majority (52%), not the minority (48%).

Glad to see several of you who have been in this Power sub forum with me the last few months also made it. Congrats! And to those who didn't, hang in there, work the practice exams and you'll slay that dragon in October.

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Hi Surf and Snow,

Did you still have all of your reference notes and study materials? Please let me know if I can purchase or share with me as I am preparing for CBT exam. Thanks in advance.