Are solutions allowed in test room?

[Ken PE 3.1]

The simple advice I would give is to never place your pencil anywhere near your material during the exam.

Really?!?

Really what?

That your advice is to not put the pencil near your references. Sorry, but that seems absurd to me.

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

NCEES Rep: Hello envirotex. How may I help you?

envirotex: Are pencil marks allowed on your reference materials that you bring into the exam room?

NCEES Rep: Yes, there is not a set rule regarding this. We suggest highlighting over these so there is no question as to when these were written

envirotex: OK. Thank you. How about hand written solutions to example questions? I know that the policy varies by state on bringing in solutions...

Sorry, can they be in pencil?

NCEES Rep: Yes, but again if you can go over with a highlighter so there is no question

envirotex: Thanks. I appreciate the answer! Have a good Monday!

That goes exactly with my original point, remove all doubt.

 

[matt267 PE]

The simple advice I would give is to never place your pencil anywhere near your material during the exam.

Really?!?

Really I am a Gigantic DoucheBag

That your advice is to not put the pencil near your references. Sorry, but that seems absurd to me.

That was my advice, and I think it's damn good too. All my notes are in ink anyway.

 

[ptatohed]

The simple advice I would give is to never place your pencil anywhere near your material during the exam.

Really?!?

Really what?

That your advice is to not put the pencil near your references. Sorry, but that seems absurd to me.

It does? Seriously? You would recommend placing your pencil near your reference material during the exam?? Yikes. You're funny, you'll spend who knows how many wasted hours/money/resources copying every single location in your reference material where you have pencil (even when not required to) but you have no problem moving your hand/pencil over to one of the pages of your reference material in front of the proctors on exam day?

Copying (or highlighting) an entire notebook of two-sided solutions, copying the hundreds of pages from my MUTCD, HCM, GDHS, etc., not to mention copying the hundreds of pages of bound material (CERM) with pencil notes..... no thank you.

Making sure my pencil stays near my scantron during the exam to eliminate any doubt that I wrote in a reference.... sure, easy solution.

 

[knight1fox3]

A habit that I got into was when going into one of my references, for any reason, my pencil went down on top of my scantron. Once I was ready to resume exam work/answers, I picked my pencil back up from the table. It was an easy solution that removed all doubt of me making pencil marks in my materials during the exam. :thumbs:

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

I guess it boils down to the following:

1. If you want to remove all doubt and have the time and resources then by all means highlight/copy.

2. If you're studious about not putting the pencil near your references, don't have the time/resources, and don't see the need based on the written rules, then don't highlight/copy.

 

[The Wizard]

It's not about being safe, they can boot you if they see pencil marks. I would not bank on them asking questions. Write it in pen or copy it.

The only way they'll boot someone is if that person does something stupid and is caught writing in his/her books/reference material during the exam.

As ptatohed stated, some of you guys are making too much of a big deal out of this. The rules are spelled out clear as day. Absolutely no need to go copy stuff or highlight it to supposedly cover your ash.

I had so many pencil marks/notes in my books, it was ridiculous. Proctors walked past me all day long and didn't say squat. Why? Because they can't.

 

[matt267 PE]

:deadhorse: If a proctor boots you from the exam, and they were wrong, you still got booted from the exam. :deadhorse:

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

The proctors are human and try to interpret things the same as you and I. I was not diligent enough to remember to set my pencil down prior to opening my references. As I have stated all along, I chose to err on the side of caution.

Everyone has their choice in how they prepare for the exam. The question was asked on bringing solutions into the room, and I jumped into the chain as to why someone would copy their notes.

Can we all agree to disagree?

It's fairly apparent that we see things differently.

 

[micahferguson1]

I contacted NCEES months ago, and they confirmed that there is no rule against having notes in pencil. As stated many times above, only writing in your references is prohibited. They said that I could copy notes in pen or highlight as a precaution, but for anyone who has as many pencil notes as me, that is simply a waste of valuable time.

 

[ptatohed]

The proctors are human and try to interpret things the same as you and I. I was not diligent enough to remember to set my pencil down prior to opening my references. As I have stated all along, I chose to err on the side of caution.

Everyone has their choice in how they prepare for the exam. The question was asked on bringing solutions into the room, and I jumped into the chain as to why someone would copy their notes.

Can we all agree to disagree?

It's fairly apparent that we see things differently.

In post #41, my advice of putting your pencil next to your scantron was an "absurd" idea, but now you agree it is a good idea but you just weren't diligent enough?

I guess you could also 'err on the side of caution' and wear a hardhat to the exam in case any ceiling tiles fall on your head!

But seriously, if a proctor thinks he/she saw you write in your reference material, I think you have bigger problems than what any xeroxing or highlighting can solve. If they truly think they saw you writing in your books, I don't think it will be a quick visit to your desk and "Oh, look, you have highlighting, forgive me, please carry on....". I suspect they'll take your material and pull you off to the side for further investigation which would take up who knows how much test time, highlighting or not.

I contend that if you just don't write on your references on exam day, you'll be golden.

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

The proctors are human and try to interpret things the same as you and I. I was not diligent enough to remember to set my pencil down prior to opening my references. As I have stated all along, I chose to err on the side of caution.

Everyone has their choice in how they prepare for the exam. The question was asked on bringing solutions into the room, and I jumped into the chain as to why someone would copy their notes.

Can we all agree to disagree?

It's fairly apparent that we see things differently.

In post #41, my advice of putting your pencil next to your scantron was an "absurd" idea, but now you agree it is a good idea but you just weren't diligent enough? [emoji14]

I guess you could also 'err on the side of caution' and wear a hardhat to the exam in case any ceiling tiles fall on your head!

But seriously, if a proctor thinks he/she saw you write in your reference material, I think you have bigger problems than what any xeroxing or highlighting can solve. If they truly think they saw you writing in your books, I don't think it will be a quick visit to your desk and "Oh, look, you have highlighting, forgive me, please carry on....". I suspect they'll take your material and pull you off to the side for further investigation which would take up who knows how much test time, highlighting or not.

I contend that if you just don't write on your references on exam day, you'll be golden.

Not certain where I agreed with you on your point. Either way, I see it differently and any test taker has the option to do whatever the heck they want. [emoji3]

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

I think we've beaten this horse to death...in fact I think it's almost completely decomposed at this point. The question has been answered both in terms of strict interpretation of the rules as well as what some recommended courses of actions are. Time to move on?

 

[NB15]

I have a solution that works for everyone...colored pencils! That way you can still take notes in pencil (it bugs me at my core to do math in pen for some reason) and be able to erase any mistakes, and it's in color so the proctors know they weren't written with the exam pencil they gave you that day. Added bonus is that your notes stand out easier and don't get lost in the sea of black text on every page.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

To sidetrack a bit (much needed?) I don't know many engineers, if any, that do calculations/writing in pen. The only thing I've seen engineers do is sign their signature in pen, everything else is in pencil.

I personally am not a fan of colored pencils, although I have seen them used on piping / wiring drawings to aid interpretation.

 

[MechE_in_PA_PE]

Never used pen for calculations until preparing for the PE....now I'm starting to only use pens at work too.

Last week I actually did a practice exam using a bic mechanical pencil (closest one I could find to the ncees pencil). Just to make sure I could use it for eight hours without smashing through lead

 

[The Wizard]

I have a solution that works for everyone...colored pencils! That way you can still take notes in pencil (it bugs me at my core to do math in pen for some reason) and be able to erase any mistakes, and it's in color so the proctors know they weren't written with the exam pencil they gave you that day. Added bonus is that your notes stand out easier and don't get lost in the sea of black text on every page.

I'd totally agree with you if colored pencils were just as user friendly as regular pencils. I hate colored pencils, you have to push a little harder than a regular pencil or mechanical pencil to use them, the tip always seems to snap off too easily, and once you write something and you go to erase it, only 80% of it erases! Drives me nuts!!

 

[ptatohed]

The proctors are human and try to interpret things the same as you and I. I was not diligent enough to remember to set my pencil down prior to opening my references. As I have stated all along, I chose to err on the side of caution.

Everyone has their choice in how they prepare for the exam. The question was asked on bringing solutions into the room, and I jumped into the chain as to why someone would copy their notes.

Can we all agree to disagree?

It's fairly apparent that we see things differently.

In post #41, my advice of putting your pencil next to your scantron was an "absurd" idea, but now you agree it is a good idea but you just weren't diligent enough? [emoji14]

I guess you could also 'err on the side of caution' and wear a hardhat to the exam in case any ceiling tiles fall on your head!

But seriously, if a proctor thinks he/she saw you write in your reference material, I think you have bigger problems than what any xeroxing or highlighting can solve. If they truly think they saw you writing in your books, I don't think it will be a quick visit to your desk and "Oh, look, you have highlighting, forgive me, please carry on....". I suspect they'll take your material and pull you off to the side for further investigation which would take up who knows how much test time, highlighting or not.

I contend that if you just don't write on your references on exam day, you'll be golden.

Not certain where I agreed with you on your point. Either way, I see it differently and any test taker has the option to do whatever the heck they want. [emoji3]

I have no idea what this means "Not certain where I agreed with you on your point."

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

So, obviously asking if we can agree to disagree was to subtle. So how about you're right and I'm wrong? Will that allow you to move on? Should I call my state and tell them to revoke my license because your better than me? Will I then be allowed to move on from this pointless argument? Whatever I did to piss you off, I truly am sorry. I won't ever do that again. Can we please change the topic now? Are you satisfied? Did you win?

 

[IlliniWood]

Are the proctors generally very strict? I didn't take any chances heading into the exam last October, so everything I had was in line with NCEES guidelines, but the proctors didn't even look at our references. They would look up enough to notice when someone raised their hand to go to the restroom, but I doubt they would have noticed someone writing anything down.

"Food" and drinks were allowed, although we were required to keep beverages on the floor so we didn't screw up our scantrons. The only strange rule was that if we didn't want to wear our watches, we couldn't have them on the table.