Deceptive Exam

[femgineer916]

People being snarky to those lamenting in the exam don't strike me as engineers who've worked in the field.

There are very few and rare situations where you're doing a calculation with a time gun pointed to your head without a second reviewer also dpingbthe calc separately to ensure it's right. The test just proves you can jump through the hoop and make it happen but there are plenty of engineers I've come across in the field with the stamps who's diligence stops at getting the stamp unfortunately. 

Chances are you won't need 95% of what you study for the PE and may be true even for college but it's got to be done. You now know well how they're trying to trick you, so practice accordingly! It's what I'll be doing for my second attempt in April and then the ridiculous CA tests after (each test: 55 questions, 2.5 hours)

 

[thedaywa1ker]

There are very few and rare situations where you're doing a calculation with a time gun pointed to your head without a second reviewer also dpingbthe calc separately to ensure it's right.

You experience differs very much from mine.

 

[J_MEC]

There are very few and rare situations where you're doing a calculation with a time gun pointed to your head without a second reviewer also dpingbthe calc separately to ensure it's right.

I can't say I agree with this. I work for a company where I don't even have a drawing checker, let alone somebody else checking my analysis/calculations.

We do physical testing to validate the design/calcs so if I fudge something up and it fails during the test it won't make it to the field, but the resulting meetings and scramble to find a fix to meet a project schedule which had zero slack time can feel a lot like and be just as stressful as taking the PE exam with a time gun pointed to my head.

 

[txjennah PE]

I can't say I agree with this. I work for a company where I don't even have a drawing checker, let alone somebody else checking my analysis/calculations.

We do physical testing to validate the design/calcs so if I fudge something up and it fails during the test it won't make it to the field, but the resulting meetings and scramble to find a fix to meet a project schedule which had zero slack time can feel a lot like and be just as stressful as taking the PE exam with a time gun pointed to my head.

That sucks.  The company I work for is pretty diligent about getting all of our calculations and deliverables detail checked.

 

[knight1fox3]

That sucks.  The company I work for is pretty diligent about getting all of our calculations and deliverables detail checked.

Not necessarily. Typically an employer will pay quite handsomely to have someone on staff like that to assume such a high level of responsibility. I've been in similar roles there's simply no time to have things checked and re-checked. The person performing the design work assumes the responsibility and must realize importance of developing a robust and reliable solution. :thumbs:

 

[txjennah PE]

Not necessarily. Typically an employer will pay quite handsomely to have someone on staff like that to assume such a high level of responsibility. I've been in similar roles there's simply no time to have things checked and re-checked. The person performing the design work assumes the responsibility and must realize importance of developing a robust and reliable solution. :thumbs:

Sure.  I'm just explaining how things are typically done where I work.  I understand that it's different for other disciplines and companies.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

As I'm reading through this thread I'm surprised how little checking going on elsewhere. Multiple checks and concurrence chains are SOP in the nuclear sector. It's frustrating at times with how slow the process can be.

 

[Skeeter]

I’m surprised how vile this thread is.  We’re professionals people!  Best advice I learned as a young man, “avoid people who use victim language”.  Buck up, surround yourselves with positive influences, get back on your study horse and make that test your ***** this spring.  #victimofconception

 

[Voomie]

As I'm reading through this thread I'm surprised how little checking going on elsewhere. Multiple checks and concurrence chains are SOP in the nuclear sector. It's frustrating at times with how slow the process can be.

My firm had no QA/QC process until I developed one. Our revenue has shot up 5 fold since I started so we needed one.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[txjennah PE]

As I'm reading through this thread I'm surprised how little checking going on elsewhere. Multiple checks and concurrence chains are SOP in the nuclear sector. It's frustrating at times with how slow the process can be.

Yeah same with ours.  As burdensome as the process can be at times, I'm glad it's in place.  

 

[femgineer916]

I can't say I agree with this. I work for a company where I don't even have a drawing checker, let alone somebody else checking my analysis/calculations.

We do physical testing to validate the design/calcs so if I fudge something up and it fails during the test it won't make it to the field, but the resulting meetings and scramble to find a fix to meet a project schedule which had zero slack time can feel a lot like and be just as stressful as taking the PE exam with a time gun pointed to my head.

You still have far more resources even if you're limited on time. Also what company? So we all know not to ever hire them on for jobs...I mostly kid. But in all seriousness if they're relying on being able to solve a problem in 6 minutes, that is slightly concerning in the real world. 

 

[WDWA 2018]

I took the Construction Civil PE exam for the 2nd time (Oct. '17) and swore I aced it. I left so confident that I felt I would never be coming back. Much to my amazement I failed, I missed 14 in the morning and 16 in the afternoon. I really felt the construction exam was super easy and honestly I certainly don't feel like I missed the concepts, I feel more like I didn't understand the tricks. This test is very deceptive and it's frustrating that at one time the exam was much more straight-forward. The one aspect I learned from studying for this exam is, quantity and quality of hours devoted to studying doesn't mean a thing. This test is a combination of luck and knowing the tricks of what is being asked. I learned from this attempt don't leave feeling arrogant, and another one is I don't think it's very practical to say one can ace the breadth exam. I feel like I keep getting around 27-28/40 for the morning and that's the best I can get. I need to ace the afternoon, and it may be I need a different depth. I owe it to my family more than anything to take time away from studying. Hard to believe I aced civil engineering in college and have failed twice. Congrats on everyone who passed this time.

I never left feeling that good, but wanted to believe, on second try anyway, I had passed. So I ask yah, are we over thinking it? Are those people I've met and spoken with who passed their first try with less than 10 hours of prep geniuses? I graduated well. Because I worked at it and, used to think I was somewhat smart. Now thinking must be really stupid. Two for naught, about 400-500 hours of prep. What's the trick?