Funny exam site stories of April 2014

Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum

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Matt, probably safest and most cautious not to participate in this forum at all then. We are all discussing the exam in very loose and general terms. It could be interpretted 100 different ways.
True.

But, I'm only here for the spam.




Actually, it's not really true, We are not ALL here discussing the exam, many have passed it and some of us are just engineering groupies... but yeah, I'm here for the spam... and bacon.

 
Matt, probably safest and most cautious not to participate in this forum at all then. We are all discussing the exam in very loose and general terms. It could be interpretted 100 different ways.
True.

But, I'm only here for the spam.




Actually, it's not really true, We are not ALL here discussing the exam, many have passed it and some of us are just engineering groupies... but yeah, I'm here for the spam... and bacon.
Damn, I forgot about the bacon.

 
Nah....silly....I think I did well anyway. My point was that if I'm spending that much time on a question that I think has an issue with it and might be thrown out. I should have allocated that time to questions that didn't have issues and maybe improved my chances with those questions.

 
Well, my question was from the NJ Surveying exam, which it a 40 question, 2 hour test. The question was based on a NJ Statute. After the Proctor told me to email the board, she indicated that at least one of the other 2 guys taking the test asked for a comment form.

I ended up emailing PCS (which administers the test), NCEES and the Jersey Board. I haven't heard from PCS or the NJ board yet, but NCEES said they have nothing to do with it.

One thing about questions like that is how much you overthink it.

I sat there and thought: "None of those answers are right". "That answer has to have a typo in it." "They don't put trick questions on these tests". "Wait...maybe I misread the question, lets read it again." "That didn't work, let's rewrite it...nope still not working..." "Well, none of them are correct, but this answer is the least wrong, I'll pick that one." "But if this answer does have a typo and if it is supposed to be the right answer and I don't pick it I'll get it wrong." "Maybe my reference book is old and the law was changed." "But I have the December 2013 version of the Law, did they change the law in 3 months." "What if it is a new law and the test is based on the old law."

It's really quite silly, one question is not going to be the reason I pass or fail.

I did really want to ask the other guy if he contested the same question...but I didn't have the patience to wait for him after the test. So perhaps there were two bad questions....or maybe none and I just can't read well....I guess we'll never know.
Yep, at some point, you have to analyze the value of further investment of time in a particular problem vs. moving on and finding other, lower hanging fruit. I flew through each section (AM and PM) in about an hour skipping all but the easiest problems. Then wen't back and got a second group of problems that were fairly straight forward but required at least looking something up. That left me with about 2 hours to do the third set of brain grinding problems. I think that was the best way to conserve my mental energy. Hopefully since I wasn't mentally exhusted when I was doing the easy ones, I limitted the number of obvious mistakes.

 
Oh... also... by reading the hard problems but skipping them, I was subconsciously keeping an eye out for relevant information in my references as I was looking up equations for the easier problems. Sort of passively looking things up in this way definitely saved time on at least a few of the hard problems.

 
Yep, at some point, you have to analyze the value of further investment of time in a particular problem vs. moving on and finding other, lower hanging fruit. I flew through each section (AM and PM) in about an hour skipping all but the easiest problems. Then wen't back and got a second group of problems that were fairly straight forward but required at least looking something up. That left me with about 2 hours to do the third set of brain grinding problems. I think that was the best way to conserve my mental energy. Hopefully since I wasn't mentally exhusted when I was doing the easy ones, I limitted the number of obvious mistakes.
That's how I approached the EIT and will do the same when I take the PE. It seemed to work for me.

 
Yep, at some point, you have to analyze the value of further investment of time in a particular problem vs. moving on and finding other, lower hanging fruit.


Mama always said that the lower hanging fruit and on the ground were usually bad, you gotta climb high and reach for the good stuff. Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.

 
There used to be a picture thread a while back. Not sure what happened to it. People were posting what they looked like (supposedly).

 
another option was a photo of sticky buns (you know the ones covered in the white icing and sprinkled with nuts)... but I thought this one highlighted my love of bacon over other breakfast foods...
are they fresh sticky buns? The kind with the warm, gooey icing all over the surface?

:bandevil:

 
another option was a photo of sticky buns (you know the ones covered in the white icing and sprinkled with nuts)... but I thought this one highlighted my love of bacon over other breakfast foods...
are they fresh sticky buns? The kind with the warm, gooey icing all over the surface?

:bandevil:


yup, that's what I'm talking bout... ;)

 
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