Failed Surveying again - PLEASE HELP

[a312]

Hi everyone,

I am devastated, I just found out I failed surveying again, 3 + times... the only exam I need to pass to get my PE... I am starting to think I am dumb... Not sure what else to do... On top of everything, I am unemployed.... I hate feeling sorry about myself but this time I am hopeless... I would really appreciate any help you can provide me.

 

[drakefinx2604]

a312, you're not alone. I also failed it for the 3rd time and it's all I have left as well. I'm incredibly frustrated with this exam and have wasted so much money on it. What pissed me off this time was how they made the exhibits all computerized so you couldn't write on them. As a result, the whole test taking process for me was a mess. I had already taken a review course with School of PE and it was complete sh*t. I will most definitely take another review course this time and study more references.

Hi everyone,
I am devastated, I just found out I failed surveying again, 3 + times... the only exam I need to pass to get my PE... I am starting to think I am dumb... Not sure what else to do... On top of everything, I am unemployed.... I hate feeling sorry about myself but this time I am hopeless... I would really appreciate any help you can provide me.

 

[waterengineer]

Just got my results and I passed after 3 serious trials....thank God. Donuts for all my office mates on Tuesday!

I was in your exact same situation until one hour ago and almost felt this exam is impossible to pass. My advice to you is to never give up

Here is what worked for me this last time....

I took a prep class twice

I studied in a small group....bouncing ideas and problem solving in a group is very helpful because once you discuss a problem with other engineers it sticks to your memory and it's almost guaranteed you will solve the problem correctly and much quicker.

Also I was active in the class and asked questions about things I don't understand...sometimes I asked questions just to make sure the concept sticks in my memory

I created a little notebook for myself....and summarized each and every section of Reza's book. Summarized formulas and also noted the problems I remember from previous exams. I used this notebook in my preparation and in the exam....and it helped big time

Also in my notebook I created a step by step procedure for solving certain and common types of problems...just in case I go blank in the exam (which I did)

Took a week off work before the exam and solved an exam every day...even repeated the exams

In the exam, I focused on solving the first 30 problems...then started looking for the easy ones and guessed on quite a few

I went into the exam with a strategy, mostly knowing which problems to solve and which ones to not even bother with. This is critical especially if you have problems with time as myself

Most of all I have to say I lucked out because this version of the exam matched some of my strength areas. So keep going at it and you will get there.

I never understood why surveying and seismic has to be so sight in time...2.7 minutes per problem compared to 6 minutes for the national exam is just crazy to say the least. I can understand the logic behind testing one's sharpness and accuracy for engineering surveying but what does 2.7 minute per problem prove or test? It took me a minute at least to read and understand a problem let alone solve it

 

[Cali Logos II]

Ditto to what waterengineer said. I passed, finally. I still can't believe it. I never had enough time to finish this test (see my previous post in this forum). In fact, on this recent test, I didn't finish 10 problems. I had to go the "C" guess route. I know the material, but I'm too slow. The way to pass this test is the problems you pick first to do, you must get them right. Don't lose hope. One of my co-worker's brother-in-law is a PhD in Civil Engineering from Cal Berkely. He took this test six times before he passed. You have structural engineers (SEs) from other states that cannot pass the Californnia Civil Engineering Test!!!! You are not dumb. You are just slow like me and I passed and so can you.

 

[Monkey]

Did anybody know what was the undercut volume problem on the 2013 April Survey test. I could not understand what volume were they looking for?

 

[CAPLS]

Monkey,

No one is going to reply to your post (or should) since you have already certified that you will not discuss exam content. I realize you are only attempting to "get this nagging question" out of your head, but it is not appropriate to discuss, especially on a public forum. Besides, it is highly likely that you do not recall exact wording anyhow.

If you must, feel free to contact California's Exam Manager, Ray Mathe at [email protected] or 916-263-2271. While he will not tell you what the answers are, he may be able to assist with understanding what was confusing to you.

 

[Monkey]

Thanks for informing me about this forum. I had no idea about this. I will certainly email Ray Mathe and ask to clarify what the question was about.

 

[MrAnderson]

I cetainly felt your pain. I too have only failed the survey portion of the exam and needed to repeat it twice until passing. For me, I felt I can attribute my sucess with this recent exam due to my change in mind set. To me, there were added pressures of the surveying exam being considered one of the "easier" topics by my peers and also the urgency to pass the only test left in the way of becoming a licensed engineer.

At the time, I didn't understand why I kept failing. I studied for countless hours until I practically memorized my review notes and practice exams. Then i started feeling as if maybe I did not know enough of the material, looking up every obscure surveying problem available online; even started reading into the Cal Trans principle of surveying and LSIT review material (helpful, but most of which is way more information needed to pass this exam in my opinion) and yet I still failed the second time. Then it hit me, all this added stress was clouding my test taking ability.

This third time around I made it my goal to get my head straight going into that exam room and attack those problems with the same routine I used to pass the 8hour and seismic: Read over the problem carefully, start on problems which you know you can finish, "mark" the problems which you know you can do, but will require some time to do it so you can get back to it at the end of the test, and "skip" the problems you have no idea how to approach. You probably know this already but let me repeat it, time is the biggest factor.. that's why you need to complete the problems you know to get the most points possible. Many of these problems look tricky, but all you need is to just allow a little time to scan through and read over the problem, plan how you are going to solve it, then decide whether you should spend your time to solve it out or mark it for later.

Best of luck to you all.

 

[civilamal]

Hello everyone,

I took the CA Surveying exam last April but I did not get my result yet. I'm currently having trip overseas, my husband is checking the mail everyday but he did not get the result yet. I contacted the Board and they told me if I do not receive the result letter by next week, they will send me pdf via email.

I checked the CA Board database ( License Look-up), and I found my name as licensed civil engineer.

Please tell me is that a certain sign and confirmation that I passed the surveying exam, or it could be a mistake? I already passed the civil and seismic exams last year.

Best regards

 

[waterengineer]

Hi

I think the fact that your name appears on the board database is essentially a proof that you passed Surveying and became a licensed Civil Engineer. So I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.

The CA board sent out another letter last Friday (5/31) ...this was in addition to the results letter which I received a week ago. This second letter is more important than the results letter because it will serve as temporary evidence that you are a licensed CE until the certificates are mailed 4-6 weeks later, as they said in the letter

I think the board needs to move from mailing hard copy letters of the results to an electronic notification system...like the national exam

Hello everyone,

I took the CA Surveying exam last April but I did not get my result yet. I'm currently having trip overseas, my husband is checking the mail everyday but he did not get the result yet. I contacted the Board and they told me if I do not receive the result letter by next week, they will send me pdf via email.

I checked the CA Board database ( License Look-up), and I found my name as licensed civil engineer.

Please tell me is that a certain sign and confirmation that I passed the surveying exam, or it could be a mistake? I already passed the civil and seismic exams last year.

Best regards

 

[ENGINEER IV]

The Suveying practice problems by Reza Mahallati had been very useful and got very positive feedback.

The book of Dr. Shahin Mansour (practice problems and solutions) had been useful as well. I used both of them and passed the exam.

You can buy them online (ebay, amazon, or google the name of the authors)

 

[civilamal]

I got the letter

Hi

I think the fact that your name appears on the board database is essentially a proof that you passed Surveying and became a licensed Civil Engineer. So I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.

The CA board sent out another letter last Friday (5/31) ...this was in addition to the results letter which I received a week ago. This second letter is more important than the results letter because it will serve as temporary evidence that you are a licensed CE until the certificates are mailed 4-6 weeks later, as they said in the letter

I think the board needs to move from mailing hard copy letters of the results to an electronic notification system...like the national exam

Hello everyone,

I took the CA Surveying exam last April but I did not get my result yet. I'm currently having trip overseas, my husband is checking the mail everyday but he did not get the result yet. I contacted the Board and they told me if I do not receive the result letter by next week, they will send me pdf via email.

I checked the CA Board database ( License Look-up), and I found my name as licensed civil engineer.

Please tell me is that a certain sign and confirmation that I passed the surveying exam, or it could be a mistake? I already passed the civil and seismic exams last year.

Best regards

Hi Waterengineer

Thank you so much for your response. Finally my husband got a letter from the board confirmed my license and serve as temporary evidence that I'm a licensed CE until the certificates are mailed 4-6 weeks later. My best wishes for everyone.

Best regards

 

[a312]

THANK YOU SO MUCH ....

 

[Bounty]

Hi everyone,

I am devastated, I just found out I failed surveying again, 3 + times... the only exam I need to pass to get my PE... I am starting to think I am dumb... Not sure what else to do... On top of everything, I am unemployed.... I hate feeling sorry about myself but this time I am hopeless... I would really appreciate any help you can provide me.

Please don’t be. I failed it twice too. I am a little nervous and demoralized but still want to give it a try. Never give up!!

 

[Takniki]

I failed the first one despite getting 80-90% in practice exams. Then I bought Reza’s course. It is more difficult, but prepared me well. I passed this time. All the best for your next one!

 

[1973Olds98]

So I guess the surveying results come out sooner than like the Civil PE WR results? As not quite 3 weeks out from the 04/23 test date and I see surveying results are in? Or was the test date different than 04/23?

 

[KirbyQ]

I have no previous surveying coursework/experience. I passed Surveying the first try this past April.
I did not do any courses. I used mainly Mansour's book with a textbook I rented from Amazon called "Elementary Surveying: An Introduction to Geomatics"(which is also in the reference list from the Board website). I think Mansour's book is mainly based on this textbook (but more concise) as a lot of diagrams/paragraphs are the same.
I will read Mansour's chapter first and then read relevant chapters in the textbook if I need to understand some concepts further. This works out pretty well for me.
I think the exam in the end is geometry questions disguised in the context of surveying. You need to know the concept/terms to correctly understand the questions and then solve geometries to obtain the answers.

 

[CAPLS]

So I guess the surveying results come out sooner than like the Civil PE WR results? As not quite 3 weeks out from the 04/23 test date and I see surveying results are in? Or was the test date different than 04/23?

You are referring to the NCEES national Civil PE exams/results which are administered/released by NCEES twice annually. The "surveying" results being discussed here are the California Civil Engineering (state) Civil - Engineering Surveying exam/results, which are administered by the California Board.

Edit: These state exams are administered by CBT on a continuous basis.

 

[1973Olds98]

You are referring to the NCEES national Civil PE exams/results which are administered/released by NCEES twice annually. The "surveying" results being discussed here are the California Civil Engineering (state) Civil - Engineering Surveying exam/results, which are administered by the California Board.

Edit: These state exams are administered by CBT on a continuous basis.

Oh sorry for the confusion on my part, that makes perfect sense. I know the Ohio Civil PE will CBT perhaps next year, which I think I would prefer over bi-annual paper and pencil.

 

[CAPLS]

Oh sorry for the confusion on my part, that makes perfect sense. I know the Ohio Civil PE will CBT perhaps next year, which I think I would prefer over bi-annual paper and pencil.

Yes, I've heard that they will be making that transition soon and happy to hear that.