Failure Thread

[benbo]

I am officially dumb!
I have failed at my first attempt at SE1 and now my confidence is shattered and I think I will fail again in October!

I really thought I had passed the exam and was shocked not to see my name on the list.... I have not received diagnostic report yet....

Don't know what to do........

First off, you are not dumb. If you were dumb you wouldn't even be able to sit for the test.

Also, I believe it is fairly well known that the SE1 is probably the hardest test, at least it has a very low pass rate.

I guess you can't be 100% sure you didn't pass until you get the letter and report, but if you didn't good luck next go around.

 

[IlPadrino]

I have failed at my first attempt at SE1 and now my confidence is shattered and I think I will fail again in October!

You need a dose of Stuart Smalley's "Daily Affirmations"... with a self-defeating attitude like that, your outcome is almost certain!

Not sure if you're a guy or a girl, but remember the martial arts adage of what to do when you get kicked in the nuts: bounce up and down on your heals and get back in!

 

[kevo_55]

I am officially dumb!
I have failed at my first attempt at SE1 and now my confidence is shattered and I think I will fail again in October!

I really thought I had passed the exam and was shocked not to see my name on the list.... I have not received diagnostic report yet....

Don't know what to do........

Sorry to hear that you didn't pass vhmehta.

You're not dumb. I would take a hard look at your diagnostic and figure out your next move from there.

 

[tymr]

I've failed it three times. My husband is super supportive but I'm completely at a loss what I need to change. This last test I studyied for 180-200 hours but the night before the test I was so anxious I only got about 4 hours of sleep.

Thanks guys. I am going to wait to study until the end of July. Last time I think I got burned out. Morning kills my score every time. Oh well I am going to keep trying.

I work with transportation/construction on a daily basis. My morning diagnostic said I suck in those areas. I don't like the water/env or geotech portions of my job yet my morning diagnostics show that is my strong suit. Needless-to-say it's the afternoon that kills me every time. I'll be with ya the next time around.

PE exams are only one part of your life and not your life itself.... If you fail, prepare for it again as best as you can and try for the second time.
Henry Ford: "Failure is simply the oppurtunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

I lose perspective of the exam just being a part of my life. Up until April 09 I didn't know anyone who didn't pass the PE on their first try.

I'm going to steal your Henry Ford quote and use it for my signature.

I failed last fall and am now waiting on results from the spring exam. I have taken it twice where others I work with just talk about it. Start studying now and before you know it fall will be here and it will be over.

It was pretty defeating to be laughing stock of coworkers when I didn't pass not once but twice. Thankfully, I'm in a different working environment where failure isn't failure; it's just a learning opportunity.

How many people felt confident that they had passed when they left the April 2009 exam?

I knew when I walked out of the exam that I didn't make it. In fact, at 3pm I looked at my watch and thought about walking out. I decided to stick it out because I refused to quit. Once I walked out of the exam, the intensity of no sleep, an extremely difficult exam, and knowing it was over came crashing down around me.

 

[Paul S]

Failed.....May try again. Congrats to all who passed.
To all who failed: DON'T THINK LESS OF YOURSELF...JUST THINK OF YOURSELF LESS OFTEN

Glad to see you have returned, and I think you should try again. You are in a way better position to pass next time!

 

[maryannette]

I passed on my 4th attempt at PE. It was worth it. Y'all, don't need to give up. We're here to cheer you on when you need it.

 

[txguy]

Post here if you failed...

Knowledge areas percent correct

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Breadth-Construction 50

Breadth-Geotech 62 <----- killer

Breadth-Structural 50

Breadth-Transportation 75

Breadth-Water resources and env 38 <--------killer, i din trust enviro at all but still...

Subsurface exploration and sampling 67

Engg properties of soils and materials 60 <-------killer

Soil Mechanics Analysis 40 <-------killer

Earthquake Engineering 100

Earth Structures 0 <-------backstabber

Shallow Foundations 83

Earth Retaining Structures 67

Deep Foundations 75

Other topics 40 <------killer

By looking at the percentage of questions from the outlined sylabus it seems i had 45 or 46 questions correct out of a total of 80, and my scaled score was "60". So assuming that 56 might be the magic number of required correct answers i fell short drastically. i feel bad bcoz i missed points on easy topics which could have very easily got me those 10 extra correct answers. but again, i dont know mayb the required correct answers this time was 60/80. i pretty much predicted similar amount of correct answers and i thought some of my guessed answers would pull me up but guess not. But after seing the diagnostic i am again motivated to study and will try my best to nail it on the second time in october