April 2021 Post Exam Wait Period - Welcome to the Suck

[Wingineer]

The struggle is real guys, I remember almost 50 problems from the exam atm and keep going in circles on worst case scenarios of the outcome. Running through solutions even in my sleep. Every conversation with friends, family or coworkers randomly lands on the question from the exam. No point of the post, just sharing my current state of mind. I will be focusing on sports and exercise for the next 30 days......

 

[Tiger15]

The point was that I have noticed that some people take WRE exam even though have no life experience in it just because it is easier, they say. Hearing that WRE was pretty hard this time makes me think that maybe those folks won’t say that it is easier than other exams anymore. But their opinion is most likely based only on statistics and opinion of other engineers.

This isn't specific to civil/structural. Here's Dr. Tom, one of the major online PE course instructors, telling people that they should take the Thermal Fluids ME exam because it's the easiest and it doesn't matter after you pass.

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

take the Thermal Fluids ME exam because it's the easiest

Yep, just two equations over and over, yo! (Kinda /s, kinda not /s)

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Spam thread is open.

 

[Be-n]

This isn't specific to civil/structural. Here's Dr. Tom, one of the major online PE course instructors, telling people that they should take the Thermal Fluids ME exam because it's the easiest and it doesn't matter after you pass.

Ugh, I hate to hear it from an instructor just trying to sell his product.

Btw, I took his PE Structural course. Breadth was ok. Structural depth - not so much. I had to do a lot of self studying with PPI books after his course to feel ready for the exam and pass it later. I am pretty sure I would not pass the exam if I would just use his study materials to prepare and for reference in addition to the codes. I barely used his notes on the exam...

 

[Tiger15]

Ugh, I hate to hear it from an instructor just trying to sell his product.

Btw, I took his PE Structural course. Breadth was ok. Structural depth - not so much. I had to do a lot of self studying with PPI books after his course to feel ready for the exam and pass it later. I am pretty sure I would not pass the exam if I would just use his study materials to prepare and for reference in addition to the codes. I barely used his notes on the exam...

To be fair, he sells both Thermal fluids course and a Machine Design course, so I don't think he's just trying to sell his product. I think he genuinely believes that all MEs should take Thermal Fluids unless they are already specialized in MDM or HVAC. (For whatever it's worth, I took the MDM course and it was great.)
Also sorry for the ME talk in the CE waiting room.

 

[5 to 9]

So I know it’s a futile exercise, but what are you guys thinking with regards to release date? Late May? Early June?

 

[kimberlite PE]

So I know it’s a futile exercise, but what are you guys thinking with regards to release date? Late May? Early June?

When I took it the first time 2 years ago, results came out May 13. I just checked my comment history since I haven't been on EB since then LOL

 

[Be-n]

To be fair, he sells both Thermal fluids course and a Machine Design course, so I don't think he's just trying to sell his product. I think he genuinely believes that all MEs should take Thermal Fluids unless they are already specialized in MDM or HVAC. (For whatever it's worth, I took the MDM course and it was great.)
Also sorry for the ME talk in the CE waiting room.

Makes sense, he’s ME himself and probably has a decent course for ME’s. I was pretty satisfied with all PE Civil breadth topics except structural depth. Each subject is taught by a different PE. The structural PE did not teach much in depth wasting lecture time on something like some OSHA topics that are not even listed for PE civil structural Exam. I would definitely fail the exam if would not study extra 4 weeks with PPI material.

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Osha used to be a reference for the civil-structural exam. Not enough to cover in a class, but is/was listed on the specification.

 

[Be-n]

Osha used to be a reference for the civil-structural exam. Not enough to cover in a class, but is/was listed on the specification.

OSHA manual is big, but there are only certain sections of OSHA listed as a reference for PE Civil Structural Exam. I made a small binder of copies of these listed sections and it was very thin comparing to the original OSHA manual.
I agree, it is not worth covering it in the class. Anyone can familiarize themself with the listed sections. Most OSHA questions are lookup text questions anyway.
DTC structural depth class would cover other sections of OSHA that are not listed as a reference. They basically use lectures created for construction engineers to fulfill lecturing time in structural class. At the same time, some major structural depth topics that were actually on the exam were not converted at all. I just skipped those lectures and the instructor didn’t give a clear explanation why we spend time on these OSHA topics not included in the reference material.

 

[firsttimetaker]

Not really related to anything, but it always tickles me to remember this story: During my first attempt in Oregon there was a test taker who sat behind me who literally ONLY brought the NCEES FE reference book...for the PE exam. He sat kinda diagonal behind me, not directly behind (I could see he was taking Mechanical), so when the exams were handed out and we all started I saw his eyes were like dinner plates, hahahhahaha. So, I just remember hearing a LOT of frantic page flipping and audible sighing. Dude didn't come back after the lunch break. Soo....¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The first time I took the exam there was a test taker who walked in with ALL his reference material stapled together and he sat at the table directly to my left. The proctor walked over and told him he couldn’t use ANY of it. He looked at her with such grief and disappointment in his eyes I wanted to hand him one of my general binders until I realized he was electrical and nothing I had would help him. To his credit, he stayed for both sessions. Respect. Might as well use the time to get familiar with the test even if you only have a calculator...

 

[looper]

The struggle is real guys, I remember almost 50 problems from the exam atm and keep going in circles on worst case scenarios of the outcome. Running through solutions even in my sleep. Every conversation with friends, family or coworkers randomly lands on the question from the exam. No point of the post, just sharing my current state of mind. I will be focusing on sports and exercise for the next 30 days......

I remember some but I haven’t cared that much to google the answer or really think about it. That’ll just end up in me convincing myself that I got it wrong.

 

[looper]

OSHA manual is big, but there are only certain sections of OSHA listed as a reference for PE Civil Structural Exam. I made a small binder of copies of these listed sections and it was very thin comparing to the original OSHA manual.
I agree, it is not worth covering it in the class. Anyone can familiarize themself with the listed sections. Most OSHA questions are lookup text questions anyway.
DTC structural depth class would cover other sections of OSHA that are not listed as a reference. They basically use lectures created for construction engineers to fulfill lecturing time in structural class. At the same time, some major structural depth topics that were actually on the exam were not converted at all. I just skipped those lectures and the instructor didn’t give a clear explanation why we spend time on these OSHA topics not included in the reference material.

Same for geotech except I didn’t print one of the subparts lol, felt It was too much pages and didn’t need it. Thank goodness EET binder had a summary of it lol.

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

I remember some but I haven’t cared that much to google the answer or really think about it. That’ll just end up in me convincing myself that I got it wrong.

I googled two and got them right. I googled another one and it was such a gray area. I wonder if this one will get thrown out or something.

 

[Wingineer]

I googled two and got them right. I googled another one and it was such a gray area. I wonder if this one will get thrown out or something.

I felt like there was a grey area on quite a few of the word problems as well. We shall see.

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

So I know it’s a futile exercise, but what are you guys thinking with regards to release date? Late May? Early June?

I'm thinking the week of May 31. So around June 3rd, to be specific.

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

I googled two and got them right. I googled another one and it was such a gray area. I wonder if this one will get thrown out or something.

You're a special kind of masochist, aren't ya?

Keeeeding, I did the same and confirmed I got most wrong. Oops.

 

[Tiger15]

There's one problem that I still remember from when I took the PE in Oct 2018. I couldn't figure it out during the test. Two days later it came to me and I was like, "Oh, that was way simpler than I was thinking at the time."

Whatever. I passed! ... but it still haunts me. LOL

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

You're a special kind of masochist, aren't ya?

Keeeeding, I did the same and confirmed I got most wrong. Oops.

I really am... like it's ridiculous

Can't give myself a break. Actually, I just started studying for a different certification to keep my mind off of the PE results. I wonder what life will look like when I'm no longer doing prepping for something else.