Does the board see PE test scores?

[A B]

I know that examinees don't see test scores - how about the licensing boards? Or do they just get pass/fail information?

My references may be really old (in some cases, dead) and none are PEs so my work experience may be iffy in the board's eyes. It occurs to me that if they can see exam scores and if mine is fairly high, then that could tip their decision.

If that's the case, I might want to overstudy. If it's not, then I might want to just study to pass.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

It is my understanding that NCEES only reports PASS to the State boards when the examinee passes the exam. The only exception is in Texas where Texas law requires scores to be reported to all exam takers.

I highly doubt that the boards care about the results beyond pass/fail.

The cut score varies with disciplines, depth, and administrations. There is no way to know what the cut score. You should study with the intention to get as high a score as possible.

 

[A B]

It is my understanding that NCEES only reports PASS to the State boards when the examinee passes the exam. The only exception is in Texas where Texas law requires scores to be reported to all exam takers.

I highly doubt that the boards care about the results beyond pass/fail.

The cut score varies with disciplines, depth, and administrations. There is no way to know what the cut score. You should study with the intention to get as high a score as possible.

Thanks!

A B

 

[NJHHEngineer P.E.]

My references may be really old (in some cases, dead) and none are PEs so my work experience may be iffy in the board's eyes. It occurs to me that if they can see exam scores and if mine is fairly high, then that could tip their decision.

Just my 2 cents - Is it a state by state requirement to have PE as references? In NJ I was required to have 5 references, 3 of which had to be PEs with knowledge of my engagements as a part of my exam application for approval to sit. Do other states not require that?

 

[A B]

Some states allow references from supervisors without PEs who can show they have equivalent training and experience to PEs. It's a judgement call whether to accept those as equivalent. Also, NC has some specific language about military experience (this is in a different thread on this board) that indicates they are skeptical of engineering experience gained in the military unless there's a direct one-to-one correlation to what civilian PEs do. My deepest, most rigorous engineering work was as a commissioned officer in a submarine shipyard.

Much of my experience since the Navy has been in fiber optics which doesn't map easily into any of the license areas (EE, CE, etc.). It's a little bit of about 4 examination test areas + a lot that's not covered on any exam but is in fact engineering. There's no fiber optic engineering exam.

Some old employers are out of business. Some old supervisors are unavailable for references -- as in, they're dead. I have to self-verify some of my old jobs.

This means that my application won't be a black and white, 15-second decision ("4 years as a DOT engineer working for a PE? You're in").

So someone at the state will have to do some thinking to decide if I make the cut. I reckon a high board score (if they saw it) might help ("sharp guy"), but it sounds like boards don't see scores except in Texas.

My undergraduate department when I was in school was perversely named "Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences", not "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering" (its current name). My transcript shows the old name. The transcript also printed out course titles with cryptic, unhelpful names - " Par df eq", "Mec Sds", "Fl mec". Even though my transcript explicitly said I earned a "Bachelor of Science in Engineering", when I applied for a nuclear engineering graduate program a few years back, the departmental chair turned me down saying I had no degree in mechanical or nuclear engineering.

That chairman also said I had no background in nuclear even though I explicitly spelled out my Navy work. He was not an American citizen and had no knowledge of the Navy's nuclear program. When I mentioned there was a submarine base with 8 reactors in our own state, he was surprised to hear it. (As it turns out, the U.S. Navy has a contract with a competing nuclear engineering program in another state -- they fly in professors to offer graduate courses on that base).

So I'm wary of bureaucratic obstacles.

Finally I'm mindful that there's a bit of a catch-22: much of my technical experience was as a self-employed consultant on fiber projects. If that is acceptable as experience for the PE, does that also mean I was therefore practicing engineering without a license?

I never held myself out as an "engineer" or said I was performing "engineering work" however I'm not keen to go to a lot of trouble only to find I end up with a fine instead of a license.

Lots of gray areas.

Get that license while you're young!

 

[NJHHEngineer P.E.]

Some states allow references from supervisors without PEs who can show they have equivalent training and experience to PEs. It's a judgement call whether to accept those as equivalent. Also, NC has some specific language about military experience (this is in a different thread on this board) that indicates they are skeptical of engineering experience gained in the military unless there's a direct one-to-one correlation to what civilian PEs do. My deepest, most rigorous engineering work was as a commissioned officer in a submarine shipyard.

Much of my experience since the Navy has been in fiber optics which doesn't map easily into any of the license areas (EE, CE, etc.). It's a little bit of about 4 examination test areas + a lot that's not covered on any exam but is in fact engineering. There's no fiber optic engineering exam.

Some old employers are out of business. Some old supervisors are unavailable for references -- as in, they're dead. I have to self-verify some of my old jobs.

This means that my application won't be a black and white, 15-second decision ("4 years as a DOT engineer working for a PE? You're in").

So someone at the state will have to do some thinking to decide if I make the cut. I reckon a high board score (if they saw it) might help ("sharp guy"), but it sounds like boards don't see scores except in Texas.

My undergraduate department when I was in school was perversely named "Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences", not "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering" (its current name). My transcript shows the old name. The transcript also printed out course titles with cryptic, unhelpful names - " Par df eq", "Mec Sds", "Fl mec". Even though my transcript explicitly said I earned a "Bachelor of Science in Engineering", when I applied for a nuclear engineering graduate program a few years back, the departmental chair turned me down saying I had no degree in mechanical or nuclear engineering.

That chairman also said I had no background in nuclear even though I explicitly spelled out my Navy work. He was not an American citizen and had no knowledge of the Navy's nuclear program. When I mentioned there was a submarine base with 8 reactors in our own state, he was surprised to hear it. (As it turns out, the U.S. Navy has a contract with a competing nuclear engineering program in another state -- they fly in professors to offer graduate courses on that base).

So I'm wary of bureaucratic obstacles.

Finally I'm mindful that there's a bit of a catch-22: much of my technical experience was as a self-employed consultant on fiber projects. If that is acceptable as experience for the PE, does that also mean I was therefore practicing engineering without a license?

I never held myself out as an "engineer" or said I was performing "engineering work" however I'm not keen to go to a lot of trouble only to find I end up with a fine instead of a license.

Lots of gray areas.

Get that license while you're young!

Yikes - good luck man...

I agree with get it while you're young though. Took the FE right out of college at 21/22. Got my PE at the ripe age of 31... BUT if COVID hadn't thrown a wrench in, and it was the same exam, i could argue that I would have only been 30. Only reason i took the 8 ish year gap was my company doesn't really do a lot of direct design work so it was difficult for me to articulate that I had achieved the full 2 years of "Design Experience"...come to find out the word "DESIGN" should really be reworded as "TECHNICAL" as it may not be cut and dry design work being performed but providing technical knowledge and input is considered viable experience even if you aren't the one crunching the numbers...