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Good luck to everyone taking their exams on Thursday and Friday this week! It's the final offering of P&P PE exams and the end of an era.

KXSSrP.gif



I'll post the WttS on Monday.
 
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Looking back through NCEES history, in 1934 the 3-day written and oral exam was established, and the first (uniform) national Principles and Practice of Engineering exam was offered in 1966. I concur it is truly the end of an era. Though the exam has changed over time, with removal of the oral portion, reduction in the number of days, and switching to machine-graded exams, the CBT transition will be up there as one of the most notable changes.

I'm glad I tested before the EE: Power exam went CBT, because it's definitely a different beast. Good luck everyone!
 
Looking back through NCEES history, in 1934 the 3-day written and oral exam was established, and the first (uniform) national Principles and Practice of Engineering exam was offered in 1966. I concur it is truly the end of an era. Though the exam has changed over time, with removal of the oral portion, reduction in the number of days, and switching to machine-graded exams, the CBT transition will be up there as one of the most notable changes.

I'm glad I tested before the EE: Power exam went CBT, because it's definitely a different beast. Good luck everyone!
What in the hell were they testing orally?
 
View attachment 23737

End of an era indeed. Justin Stine memes OUT, Kelly Becker memes IN
I've noticed it, too.

For a long time, the face of Justin reminded me a typical overwhelmed PE in a private sector who is extremely busy with keeping up with all job schedules, probably working some overtime and weekends, and the only reason he remembers that it is Wednesday is because that job is due on Friday...

Now, here is Kelly, the face of a strong and motivated woman, holding a government position at NCDoT, probably working 8-4 job with every other Friday off, looking fresh and doesn't scare the young folks away from the profession :) . Way to start a new era :)
 
Good luck, everyone!!

And end of what era? S.E. Exams will still be paper-based for at least a few more years, yet…
 
Good luck, everyone!!

And end of what era? S.E. Exams will still be paper-based for at least a few more years, yet…
I wish SE would stay that way, but it will go away too. There are so few people taking SE in my region (in the last vertical exam there were 5 people), that no one will even remember that there is still some P&P exam out there. A lot of people in the engineering-construction-architectural field in my region don’t even know what SE is. I’m not even sure my board will organize a P&P testing site for less than 10 exam takers. I feel like they probably will send them to the nearest state that recognizes SE and offers the exam.
 
I've noticed it, too.

For a long time, the face of Justin reminded me a typical overwhelmed PE in a private sector who is extremely busy with keeping up with all job schedules, probably working some overtime and weekends, and the only reason he remembers that it is Wednesday is because that job is due on Friday...

Now, here is Kelly, the face of a strong and motivated woman, holding a government position at NCDoT, probably working 8-4 job with every other Friday off, looking fresh and doesn't scare the young folks away from the profession :) . Way to start a new era :)
Now I need to go watch the new video
Edit: oh... same video. Just a new title card.
 
View attachment 23737

End of an era indeed. Justin Stine memes OUT, Kelly Becker memes IN
@Justine Looks like you have a new nemesis ;)


For a long time, the face of Justin reminded me a typical overwhelmed PE in a private sector who is extremely busy with keeping up with all job schedules, probably working some overtime and weekends, and the only reason he remembers that it is Wednesday is because that job is due on Friday...

Now, here is Kelly, the face of a strong and motivated woman, holding a government position at NCDoT, probably working 8-4 job with every other Friday off, looking fresh and doesn't scare the young folks away from the profession :) . Way to start a new era :)
That's way too specific a narrative to not have a backstory. :unsure:


And end of what era? S.E. Exams will still be paper-based for at least a few more years, yet…
End of the era for PEs in general.
Yeah, the aspiring SEs will still have to suffer for at least four more exams after this one. But they're fraction of overall engineering community. You have my sympathies.

A lot of people in the engineering-construction-architectural field in my region don’t even know what SE is. I’m not even sure my board will organize a P&P testing site for less than 10 exam takers. I feel like they probably will send them to the nearest state that recognizes SE and offers the exam.
That brings up a good point.

There is a reason why the Civil exams were the last to convert to CBT. It's because two thirds of the PE takers were taking a CE exam. There's such a large hotel load for each P&P administration that it was economically necessary for Civil to be the last to convert.

@Reverse Polish or others can correct me if I'm wrong below
Officially the SE exam is called PE Structural. And IIRC passing any SE satisfies the exam requirement for an initial PE license in many jurisdictions. If so, then the SE may still need to be offered in all of the relevant jurisdictions. But instead of renting out exhibition halls, maybe they only need to get a small conference room in a hotel. The economies of scale aren't great but I've heard of offerings for <10 people in the less populated States and areas.

IIRC, it's NCEES that handles the logistics for the exam administration and not the State boards.
 
I abhor the fact that NCEEES calls it the P.E. Structural exam. I swear it wasn’t always the case, and that they used to differentiate it at the S.E. Exam, but my memory may be fuzzy from getting dragged through the ditch and left for near dead that was those two exams for me this past April.

Guess I’d better hop on the bandwagon to pass ‘em both before they go CBT, because I honestly cannot see how these exams will work and computer-based, unless they issue us all tablets and stylus pens (or whatever they’re called) to hand write our solutions for the essay questions!
 
I abhor the fact that NCEEES calls it the P.E. Structural exam. I swear it wasn’t always the case, and that they used to differentiate it at the S.E. Exam, but my memory may be fuzzy from getting dragged through the ditch and left for near dead that was those two exams for me this past April.

Guess I’d better hop on the bandwagon to pass ‘em both before they go CBT, because I honestly cannot see how these exams will work and computer-based, unless they issue us all tablets and stylus pens (or whatever they’re called) to hand write our solutions for the essay questions!
Thanks for clarifying. I though it was the boards in each state who organized the test sites.
I don’t see how they can enforce to use stylus pens. I’ve tried some of them and just couldn’t stand it. I think they’ll probably just get rid of PM portion in the current format and it will be more interactive approach in solving similar problems where we would fill up the blanks throughout the solutions or something like that…
Anyways, I’m actually more concerned with not having hard copies of referenced codes and study binders.
I am very addicted to tabbing and highlighting all references. Any code I use in the office on daily bases is printed out. All study binders are tabbed and highlighted. It’s just impossible for me to get a good feel for any material if I simply scrolling through a PDF file.
Also, having solved examples is especially important for SE exam. I doubt they’ll have any solved examples in CBT referenced PDFs.
 
@Justine Looks like you have a new nemesis ;)



That's way too specific a narrative to not have a backstory. :unsure:



End of the era for PEs in general.
Yeah, the aspiring SEs will still have to suffer for at least four more exams after this one. But they're fraction of overall engineering community. You have my sympathies.


That brings up a good point.

There is a reason why the Civil exams were the last to convert to CBT. It's because two thirds of the PE takers were taking a CE exam. There's such a large hotel load for each P&P administration that it was economically necessary for Civil to be the last to convert.

@Reverse Polish or others can correct me if I'm wrong below
Officially the SE exam is called PE Structural. And IIRC passing any SE satisfies the exam requirement for an initial PE license in many jurisdictions. If so, then the SE may still need to be offered in all of the relevant jurisdictions. But instead of renting out exhibition halls, maybe they only need to get a small conference room in a hotel. The economies of scale aren't great but I've heard of offerings for <10 people in the less populated States and areas.

IIRC, it's NCEES that handles the logistics for the exam administration and not the State boards.
I noticed that too. It is the end of an era.

I just haven't figured out whether to be happy or sad yet. Maybe I will just fade into the grey.
 
I've noticed it, too.

For a long time, the face of Justin reminded me a typical overwhelmed PE in a private sector who is extremely busy with keeping up with all job schedules, probably working some overtime and weekends, and the only reason he remembers that it is Wednesday is because that job is due on Friday...

Now, here is Kelly, the face of a strong and motivated woman, holding a government position at NCDoT, probably working 8-4 job with every other Friday off, looking fresh and doesn't scare the young folks away from the profession :) . Way to start a new era :)
That cuts right to the bone. :)
 
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