Handwritten Notes and PE Exam Guideline Questions

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

I'm taking the EET prep course for Civil Breadth and Construction Depth. I'm into week 3 of the on-demand course and I started tabbing pages. I have a couple of basic questions:

1. I scribbled some notes here and there in pencil. I'm thinking about tracing over them in ink so that I don't get in trouble with the proctors. Is that really overthinking it? Do you have pointers for this? Did you carry ink written solved problems into the exam? I'm not clear on the expectation.

2. Quick reference sheets. Did you write up your cheat sheet in ink?

4. What are the "the proctor might look at you suspiciously" red flags? The things that they don't write in the NCEES exam handbook but people get in trouble for? I know about the fit bit thing. Any others?

 

[Fisherman504]

1. All my problems were in ink. I think you should start writing in ink and use one of those white one correction tape and just correct it if you wrote wrong in ink. 

2. My reference sheet was printed with my handwritten ink notes on what each subscript meant or shortcuts. 

4. There's an article about someone that cheated a while back with a recorder and that individual was very suspicious. Fit bit, cell phones, watches that beep and wrong calculator are the big ones. There was a guy with a Viper alarm on his key chain and it went off. Come to find out someone was near his car while he was taking the test. 

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

@Fisherman504 Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed. 

 

[Ranger1316]

All of my notes were in pencil and I didn't have any issues in South Carolina. The main thing is to not scribble in your notes during the actual exam.

 

[Stardust]

Notes written in pencil is definitely not a problem in California. Depends on your states but applicants without the intent to cheat shouldn't have to worry about this, so that's what I did, not worry about it.

 

[Bigdogg]

I didn't bring in anything in pencil because it said on NCEES no pencil but I don't know how strict that is. Easiest way to fix that would be to just scan a copy of the pages if you have a copier available.

 

[cvanwy02]

Wasn't a problem for me to write in pencil but you are taking a risk.  Overall, my test proctors seemed pretty laid back.

 

[txjennah PE]

I know in Texas, they told us not to bring in notes with pencil.  I'd recommend photocopying whatever notes you made in pencil to save you time.  That's what I did.  Best of luck with your studies!

 

[john813_PE]

I'm taking the EET prep course for Civil Breadth and Construction Depth. I'm into week 3 of the on-demand course and I started tabbing pages. I have a couple of basic questions:

1. I scribbled some notes here and there in pencil. I'm thinking about tracing over them in ink so that I don't get in trouble with the proctors. Is that really overthinking it? Do you have pointers for this? Did you carry ink written solved problems into the exam? I'm not clear on the expectation.

2. Quick reference sheets. Did you write up your cheat sheet in ink?

4. What are the "the proctor might look at you suspiciously" red flags? The things that they don't write in the NCEES exam handbook but people get in trouble for? I know about the fit bit thing. Any others?

It may vary proctor to proctor and state to state.

1. Mine never said a peep about notes. Mainly just asked me to make sure there was no loose paper. Never checked the notes or hovered over us. Think the main thing is to not have your pencil near the notes or reference material so they don't think you are writing in there. 

If it makes you feel better, use a highlighter and cover the notes with it. Or photocopy them. 

2. I did carry ink solved problems in with me along with  notes in ink. Proctor walked by me a few times when I had those binders open. Didn't say anything. 

4. Don't put your pencil near references, don't look at your table buddy/references, don't start before the time begins and drop your pencil when told to do so. Try to not make noise, or rummage through your references like a madman. Remember to keep your drink off the desk and don't act sketchy. 

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

4. Don't put your pencil near references, don't look at your table buddy/references, don't start before the time begins and drop your pencil when told to do so. Try to not make noise, or rummage through your references like a madman. Remember to keep your drink off the desk and don't act sketchy. 

I'm the kind of person who acts sketchy while focusing on not acting sketchy. It's like the "don't push the red button" complex. The more I focus on not doing something, I become super focused on it. lol As I get more comfortable with the material, I'll move into working the practice tests like I'm sitting for the real exam.

 

[Tiger15]

Wow. This never even occurred to me but it's a really good question. I brought in my notes from my prep class including TONS of worked out example problems to reference, and they were all in pencil. I'm glad it wasn't an issue.

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

Its really a better safe than sorry kind of situation.  For the most part, people wont be bothered.  However,  if a proctor suspects cheating/writing in your references during the exam, its your word against there's and could be hard to plead your case on the spot if your reference notes are all in pencil. The proctors probably have no clue about any of the test material,  therefore there is no way for them to adequately determine what is old notes vs. new notes.

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Spending my holiday weekend studying for 6-9 hours a day. I'm drawing out flow charts for soil classification and drawing them (and re-drawing one of them after finding flaws) in ink.

I went back to study Project Planning and Estimating and saw that I had a lot of hand written notes in pencil. I'll go over my notes with a highlighter next week and I'm going to photocopy my practice problems. It's not as bad as I thought but it's extensive enough and thankfully I asked the question and I'm catching it early. Thanks for the input everyone! Hopefully this will help someone else.