Environmental PE - Which classes worked (School of PE???)
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I also did not pass. I did self study and felt confident in the quantitative problems. I felt like it was more about what reference materials I did or didn't have more than anything.
I got 65 correct and am at a loss for what to do next.
I got 65 correct and am at a loss for what to do next.
Perhaps we can all get on a board, regroup and discuss strategy for April. I failed with 66
I was a first time taker of the Environmental Exam and passed. I used the school of PE. The notes and the practice problems were the most valuable part of the course for me. (I'd suggest doing the on-demand version rather than the live version, I much preferred the flexibility, and you get access to multiple sets of recordings)
What helped me, was to do a practice test after brief review of the material, this helped me realize what I did/didn't know, and more importantly it made me realize how terrible my time management was on the exam.
After that practice, I went through all the videos, then did a bunch of practice problems. I organized all the school of PE notes very well, so I could easily flip through and find anything (I sorted binders into subjects, and further subdivided as I felt necessary).
I took another practice (only one 4 hour portion, I'd recommend more practice tests) to formulate my test taking strategy.
My test taking strategy was to on the first pass through of the exam to only do the problems that were really easy and I knew would take me a minute or two without flipping through my references. I'd mark the rest of the questions with a symbol to let me know if they were easy, but needed to look something up, so-so, or hard.
After the first pass through, I went through the problems that were easy and got them done. I found that this method had me finishing more than half the problems on each portion within an hour. This gave me more time to focus on the more difficult problems and it helped me feel less nervous. After this, I went from problem to problem, and if I noticed a hard problem was taking more than a few minutes, I skipped it, and returned after I got everything else done.
What helped me, was to do a practice test after brief review of the material, this helped me realize what I did/didn't know, and more importantly it made me realize how terrible my time management was on the exam.
After that practice, I went through all the videos, then did a bunch of practice problems. I organized all the school of PE notes very well, so I could easily flip through and find anything (I sorted binders into subjects, and further subdivided as I felt necessary).
I took another practice (only one 4 hour portion, I'd recommend more practice tests) to formulate my test taking strategy.
My test taking strategy was to on the first pass through of the exam to only do the problems that were really easy and I knew would take me a minute or two without flipping through my references. I'd mark the rest of the questions with a symbol to let me know if they were easy, but needed to look something up, so-so, or hard.
After the first pass through, I went through the problems that were easy and got them done. I found that this method had me finishing more than half the problems on each portion within an hour. This gave me more time to focus on the more difficult problems and it helped me feel less nervous. After this, I went from problem to problem, and if I noticed a hard problem was taking more than a few minutes, I skipped it, and returned after I got everything else done.
I spent a good portion of my early studying working problems from Environmental Engineering Solved Problems and waited until about 2 weeks out to look at the NCEES practice exam. I felt like all the time spent prior to that was somewhat wasted and the problems in Solved Problems were way different than what was in the practice or actual exam.
Also, anyone have a reference they felt was particularly beneficial to the Solid Waste topics of the exam? I didn't particularly use or benefit from the reference I had
Also, anyone have a reference they felt was particularly beneficial to the Solid Waste topics of the exam? I didn't particularly use or benefit from the reference I had
The problem with school of pe is that some sections would literally only have two practice problems. That's not enough to fully grasp the subject and practice the methods. The solutions from the reference material were nothing like the test at all. The NCEES practice test was spot on, but there's only one version. It would be better if NCEES came up with more problems to practice that were similar to the exam or at least 3 different versions of a practice test.
I agree, at least two NCEES practice tests would be ideal. One test for when you start studying to understand what you are doing, and one towards the end of studying.
ProjectEngTx
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You all should call your state boards/NCEES and query further; it sounds a bit strange that you all scored what is effectively 80% or greater and failed.
The Environmental PE exam has 100 questions - not 80 like most other disciplines.
ProjectEngTx
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- I highly recommend "Environmental Engineering" by Christopher King. I found that book more helpful than Lindeburgs enormous manual. King has example problems that are very similar to PE exam. Can't stress this book enough!!!
- Also, I did both the Delaware and NC State review courses (Delaware for 2nd attempt and NC State for 3rd and 4th attempt). The NC State notes were very helpful.
- I went through every review problem and test from NCEES and PPI all the way back to 1996. I organized all the "word" type problems into a booklet with an index.
- An environmental engineering dictionary was very useful.
- I used the NCEES FE Reference Manual extensively. That book is marked up with red pen notes more than any other book. Using the 8th Edition, 2nd Revision. Useful pages are: 126-127, 159-161, 170-192
- Cooper and Ally - Air Pollution Control
- I went through every single problem in the 101 Solved Env Eng Problems and created my own set of equations and references for easy lookup (took lots and lots of time).
- Corbitt - Standard Handbook of Environmental Engineering 1st Edition
- Metcalf and Eddy
- RCRA manual printed from online
Sorry, guys. Come hang out on the Environmental Exam board: http://engineerboards.com/index.php?/forum/5-environmental-exam/
We have a consolidated advice thread where prior test takers have provided lots of advice, and we're happy to chime in with questions about references and study materials. It's a very broad exam. You'll get it next time!
What were your areas of weakness? Hazardous Waste was my weakest overall. I'm starting to think about next steps and would definitely be interested in how others are planning to study for retaking the exam.
Hi! I feel your pain. This was my second attempt and passed this time.
I took NC State review class on the first attempt, didn't help me at all. So I decided to self-study without any review class.
I highly recommend Davis and Cornwell. I read and solved the examples on the book.
Cooper and Ally - Air Pollution Control is also a very good book to prepare for the air portion.
Try to solve every review questions and make note on what equations were used.
Thanks and good luck with studying.
I took NC State review class on the first attempt, didn't help me at all. So I decided to self-study without any review class.
I highly recommend Davis and Cornwell. I read and solved the examples on the book.
Cooper and Ally - Air Pollution Control is also a very good book to prepare for the air portion.
Try to solve every review questions and make note on what equations were used.
Thanks and good luck with studying.
Aside from the problems out of Davis and Cornwell do you have other advice for what problems were beneficial outside of the NCEES practice exam?
I found that the Environmental Engineering Solved Problems and Environmental Engineering Practice PE Exams by Schneiter were more complex and when I followed them up with the NCEES practice exam I felt extremely overwhelmed (it was only a few weeks out from the exam date at that point) and like the other books were somewhat a waste of my study time because they weren't very true to the exam. I did create a binder of equations through my practice problems, but I am planning to reorganize and expand that this time.
Wondering which edition of the King book you had. I found an inexpensive copy of the 1996 version but see there is a more "recent" 1999 version
