Electronic Exam

[civengPE]

An interesting tidbit came out while I attended a presentation put on by the TBPE at the TSPE conference today. Appearantly NCEES has put together an investigative committee to investigate the possibility of administering the PE exam via PC like the architects, attorneys and others are currently doing. The statement was made by TBPE that it was embarrasing that those other professions could get it together enough to do the electronic testing, but not ENGINEERS?

Maybe something will come out of this that will help future test takers.

 

[lev280]

Wish they would have done it already. You would know the score as soon as you finish your exam. I guess they would still need time to determine the cut score but after that they would have all your information in an electronic database to tell you whether you passed or not....

An interesting tidbit came out while I attended a presentation put on by the TBPE at the TSPE conference today. Appearantly NCEES has put together an investigative committee to investigate the possibility of administering the PE exam via PC like the architects, attorneys and others are currently doing. The statement was made by TBPE that it was embarrasing that those other professions could get it together enough to do the electronic testing, but not ENGINEERS?
Maybe something will come out of this that will help future test takers.

 

[Road Guy]

my wife is studying for the RN exam, I dont know if this is 100% but I think she was telling me that the test is actually shorter if you get a high percentage of answers correct in the beginning. As if somehow by some "formula" the computer determines if you know your shit early enough you dont have to even answer the full test..

of course I think that could be good as well as a bad thing, but I like the concept.

You basically leave knowing what you make on the exam that day (or within a few days)

 

[BigBen]

my wife is studying for the RN exam, I dont know if this is 100% but I think she was telling me that the test is actually shorter if you get a high percentage of answers correct in the beginning. As if somehow by some "formula" the computer determines if you know your shit early enough you dont have to even answer the full test..
of course I think that could be good as well as a bad thing, but I like the concept.

You basically leave knowing what you make on the exam that day (or within a few days)

I think I remember hearing about one of the Grad School prep tests (GRE?) being set up so that the test got harder if you were doing well, or easier if you were not. I'm not sure how I feel about that plan.

I would think that they could set up the PE so that if you did well enough (well above historical cut score) that they could let you know sooner....

But I suppose that would take the fun out of it.

-Ben

 

[mudpuppy]

I think I remember hearing about one of the Grad School prep tests (GRE?) being set up so that the test got harder if you were doing well, or easier if you were not.

A coworker of mine took the GMAT a couple years ago, and it works that way. I would think the problem is if you're in bad form the first few questions, it limits the score you can get because you never get to see the really hard questions.

 

[Guest]

my wife is studying for the RN exam, I dont know if this is 100% but I think she was telling me that the test is actually shorter if you get a high percentage of answers correct in the beginning. As if somehow by some "formula" the computer determines if you know your shit early enough you dont have to even answer the full test..

RG --

That is totally correct. My wife took the RN exam last year and said that the 'trick' to the exam was to do well on the first 5-10 questions, because the difficulty of the subsequent questions are predicated on those first few questions.

In my wife's test batch, she said most of the test takers only spent about 2-3 hrs on the test. She ended up spending almost 5 hrs which completely freaked her out because she thought maybe the exam was trying to adjust for missing questions earlier on. She received her PASSING results in something like 48 hrs. lusone:

There is a a group amongst nurses that has a relationship like ELSES has to NCEES. They have examiners that will go out and provided exam preparation lectures. My wife said this was really key to her success because her classes did not prepare her well for the way you would need to think about the questions on the exam. I will ask my wife about that service and the texts she used to prepare for that exam.

Best of luck for your wife!! You just gotta watch yourself, the effort to prepare for RN exam is 1E06 times more difficult to obtain and maintain than professional engineering registration according to most RNs I have talked to about thier licensure.

JR

 

[Ritchie503]

my wife is studying for the RN exam, I dont know if this is 100% but I think she was telling me that the test is actually shorter if you get a high percentage of answers correct in the beginning. As if somehow by some "formula" the computer determines if you know your shit early enough you dont have to even answer the full test..
of course I think that could be good as well as a bad thing, but I like the concept.

You basically leave knowing what you make on the exam that day (or within a few days)

I know several people who took the RN boards in WI and they do that.. My understanding is if you do really well or really bad it can stop early, also there is a certain number of people who are part of the control group who will take the entire test regardless. They do find out the results really fast.

Computerized exams seem to be offered more frequently than the FE/PE is offered, which would lower the number of PC required. If NCEES doesn't offer the test more frequently than 2x per year I don't think computerized exams will happen.

 

[achristie]

If NCEES is not able to straighten out the boards to release the scores on time, I do not think that they would be able to

organize a computer adapted test. 10940623:

Personally I would not mind paying little more extra for the CAT test (which was the case when I took my GRE) so that I can

get my results 2 months earlier.

As engineers we all work with VERY strict deadlines. I can not believe that the Boards in charge of registering the engineers

are so laid back when it comes to releasing the results in a timely fashion

 

[BigBen]

Personally I would not mind paying little more extra for the CAT test (which was the case when I took my GRE) so that I can get my results 2 months earlier.

X2!

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I took the GRE on the computer a few years back. The computer was real spotty and the lady administering the exams, who had to lock/unlock certain things during the exam, was elderly with deformed hands and had a tough time with the keyboards. I was not a happy guy. The fact that there were 10 other people in the room taking different exams was freaky.

Though if the conditions were smoother, it woulda been great. It was nice to be able to study, and schedule it when I felt ready. The instant results were a real plus too. You saw your scores on the screen, and had the option of cancelling them immediately if you bombed.

 

[DVINNY]

I'm with Sapper, NCEES doesn't need to change at all. 10940623:

I used to think it was unnecessary to take this long, but a year ago or so we had a thread on here, and it mathmatically figured out how much they have to process.

I can't remember exactly but I think that NCEES had to process a test score every two minutes to get them out in the time that they do now.

I don't think they are just sitting around.

 

[PEPG]

my wife is studying for the RN exam, I dont know if this is 100% but I think she was telling me that the test is actually shorter if you get a high percentage of answers correct in the beginning. As if somehow by some "formula" the computer determines if you know your shit early enough you dont have to even answer the full test..
of course I think that could be good as well as a bad thing, but I like the concept.

You basically leave knowing what you make on the exam that day (or within a few days)

Road Guy - my brother is going for his RN in New York, and he told me the exact same thing.

 

[Hill William]

I'm with Sapper, NCEES doesn't need to change at all. :bio:
I used to think it was unnecessary to take this long, but a year ago or so we had a thread on here, and it mathmatically figured out how much they have to process.

I can't remember exactly but I think that NCEES had to process a test score every two minutes to get them out in the time that they do now.

I don't think they are just sitting around.

You're just sayin that cause you passed.