April 2018 SE Exam Results

[kl/r_robots]

Congrats!  

David Connor, thank you. Your bridge book is fantastic by the way, it definitely helped me pass! Enjoy a NC beer for me

 

[ZEZO4]

Lateral Building, 

I got 27/40

3 Improvement Required

1 Acceptable 

I don't know how I'm close?

 

[StandardPractice]

BAR exam : 70+% pass rate

Medical Licensing Exams: 70+% pass rate

Accounting Licensing Exams: 50+% pass rate

SE Exams: <30% pass rate

Something about the pass rates compared to compensation rates (and arguably ,in some cases, responsibility to the public) do not seem to line up.  Not much we can do though except play the hand we are dealt.

x2. I've said this many times. We as structural engineers are not compensated at the level of liability and continuing examination associated with our profession compared to other professions. 

 

[SEBound]

I passed lateral buildings in MN!

I took and passed the vertical component last fall. Both successful attempts were 2nd tries. Before each successful attempt I took the EET review course, which I can't recommend enough!

Good luck to those still waiting

 

[mstructural]

Illinois results are finally out. I passed lateral this time on the second try. I took and passed Vertical back in October of 2017. Good luck to all those who are still waiting!

 

[TheBigGuy]

I failed both for the second time in a row.  I'm going to take both again.  I don't want to drag this out another year.

 

[mstructural]

I failed both for the second time in a row.  I'm going to take both again.  I don't want to drag this out another year.

I am sorry to hear that... this is just a small bump in the road... Your hard work will eventually pay off! Best of luck to you next time.

 

[David Connor SE]

I failed both for the second time in a row.  I'm going to take both again.  I don't want to drag this out another year.

My advice, split up the components. Do lateral first since it is easier to study for, in my opinion. 

 

[TheBigGuy]

My advice, split up the components. Do lateral first since it is easier to study for, in my opinion. 

Vert:  27/40  Masonry - IR,  Steel - A,  Conc - IR,  Wood - U

Lat:  22/40  Wood/Masonry - U,  Conc - U,  General Analysis - IR,  Steel - IR

I'm really surprised about the unacceptable wood on the vertical and the 22/40 on the lat morning.  Not surprised with the unacceptable concrete problem.  Didn't have time to study it.

You don't think I'd be fine with another 4 months of studying with the above starting point?

I feel like I'm in punting range.  Only thing left to study is high seismic steel and conc.  Then its just working gobs and gobs of practice problems:  NCEES practice exam, PPI practice exam, 6 min solutions, and your bridge book.

 

[mstructural]

My advice, split up the components. Do lateral first since it is easier to study for, in my opinion. 

David: I was waiting for my results to come in before I give you a proper shout out. I bought and used your bridge design book in my studies for the lateral portion (buildings) this time around. I must say without exaggeration that it helped me out a lot pass this test. I went from dreading the bridge questions to actually looking forward to tackling them. I would highly recommend it to others also who mainly work with buildings and don't get into bridges a lot. I worked through all the sample problems in the lateral section of the book and I like how the various sections are organized; it makes it easy to learn the concepts. Well done!

 

[MrStructuralEngineer]

If you haven't seen my book on AASHTO SE exam questions, please look into it.  I specifically wrote it for us building engineers who have to answer AASHTO questions on this exam. Lots of people have told me it was a great help on the bridge questions.  

I haven't taken the SE yet, but would like to start gathering materials. Could you direct me to where I might find this book? Thanks!

 

[VladI]

Thanks MA for being quick to release ..... 

 

[crammer]

Vert:  27/40  Masonry - IR,  Steel - A,  Conc - IR,  Wood - U

Lat:  22/40  Wood/Masonry - U,  Conc - U,  General Analysis - IR,  Steel - IR

I'm really surprised about the unacceptable wood on the vertical and the 22/40 on the lat morning.  Not surprised with the unacceptable concrete problem.  Didn't have time to study it.

You don't think I'd be fine with another 4 months of studying with the above starting point?

I feel like I'm in punting range.  Only thing left to study is high seismic steel and conc.  Then its just working gobs and gobs of practice problems:  NCEES practice exam, PPI practice exam, 6 min solutions, and your bridge book.

I took both Vertical and Lateral together on same cycle and failed both. Took vertical only this cycle and passed. The reduction in stress that I felt was one of the factor that I feel pushed me over the line. Obviously everyone studies at different level but waking up that Saturday after the vertical test was one of the most horrible moments in my life.

 

[bcn989]

Thanks MA for being quick to release ..... 

Maybe they lost the exams and will have to pass us?

 

[MB13]

Thanks MA for being quick to release ..... 

It looks like the MA PE results were out 6 days after the results were released to the states... I’m really hoping the SE results aren’t on the same timeline. Has anyone tried calling PCS or the board?

 

[David Connor SE]

I haven't taken the SE yet, but would like to start gathering materials. Could you direct me to where I might find this book? Thanks!

https://www.davidconnorse.com/

The "Buy It Now" buttons will take you to the Amazon page.  Thanks!

 

[StruEng]

I took both days in MN and got past the vertical but not lateral, which was what I expected, 25/40 and IR on all four afternoon questions. A little worse in the morning than I expected but not by much. I was pretty confident on the wood/masonry and steel questions in the afternoon, I figured I would get A on those two and IR on the other two, so I'm curious about how much we need to get wrong in the afternoon to go from A to IR? I'm guessing you need to do every step right with just minor math errors in order to get an Acceptable score, but do you think they actually deduct for not referencing equations, factors and load combinations in the code? I would think if you're showing the right calculations they wouldn't require referencing every single equation and factor, but maybe that's what pushed me to IR on those two problems. I am confident with wind design on a wood/masonry structure as I do that a lot at my job, and I also thought I did well on the steel problem because I focused my seismic studying on steel and was hoping for some luck on the concrete portion, so I can't think of anything other than math errors and not referencing equations that I could have done wrong on those two, but I was two months ago so I could be misremembering.

It sure would be nice to be able to look through our graded exams one time after we get results so we could see our mistakes and not make the same one's next time, I'd pay $100 to be able to do that because it might save me the $500+ it would cost to take it a third time. You'd think NCEES would see the 19% pass rate for lateral buildings repeat takers and see a correlation between that and not having an opportunity to see what we did wrong, but what do I know.

 

[deviationz]

Just got my results from Florida. Passed both first try. Already have a PE (SE1) but missed out on taking the SEII before they changed exams. Then life and work happened and kept postponing.

Very relieved to have this monkey off my back. Another shout out to David Connors book. I hope to do a more detailed post on strategies soon.

 

[GataGunna]

First time taking lateral (buildings) 26/40 IR/IR/IR/A  

 

[Dagny Taggart]

It sure would be nice to be able to look through our graded exams one time after we get results so we could see our mistakes and not make the same one's next time, I'd pay $100 to be able to do that because it might save me the $500+ it would cost to take it a third time. You'd think NCEES would see the 19% pass rate for lateral buildings repeat takers and see a correlation between that and not having an opportunity to see what we did wrong, but what do I know.

I agree 100%, it would be really really nice to be able to see our graded exams so we can know exactly what we need to improve on.