How did you do on the April 2012 Exam

[SteveYem]

New member here, first post. I took the ME PE exam last week with the Machine Design afternoon depth section. I felt that the afternoon was much more difficult than the morning, although the morning had its share of conveniently incorrect answers. Luckily I got through the morning in about 3 hours so I spent the extra hour re-doing all the problems and actually caught a few dumb mistakes.

When I saw the first problem in my afternoon booklet I almost threw my pencil. When I found that I had to skip 4 of the first 10 problems due to having no effing idea how to do them, I almost threw my desk. I was able to collect myself and get through it, but I was down to the last 30 seconds of the exam and still had two or three where I had to put my best uneducated guess.

Now the waiting game! And for at least the next 3 weeks, I'll be cracking beers and not books. After 5 months of preparation for this exam, I'll allow myself that much. Oh how sweet it is to play video games again : )

 

[Krakosky]

I agree with you about the first few ME MD problems. I think I actually skipped most of the first 10 and was happy to finally see some problems that looked familiar.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

Now you got me hooked and I want to know if he passed. That synopsis did make me LOL.

He forgot to mention the most important part of exam day...lunch.

 

[SteveYem]

He forgot to mention the most important part of exam day...lunch.

It's funny you mentioned lunch. My exam was held in a large church sanctuary and when we arrived they told us that, per the church's rules, we were NOT permitted to have any food or drink inside the sanctuary (contrary to the NCEES test day guideline). So there we all were with our bite-size, non-distracting snacks in zip-lock baggies, instructed to leave all our food out in the lobby and therefore take a "bathroom break" any time we wanted (or more like needed) to get some food during the test. LOL as if the exam wasn't difficult enough already. Luckily the exam proctors were bold enough to bend the church's rules and allowed us to take our bottles of water into the room with us.

So back to your point about lunch: since I didn't want to waste any time taking "bathroom breaks" to eat snacks, and since I had eaten breakfast at 5:30 that morning, by the time our lunch break rolled around my stomach was tied in such a tight knot that I could barely choke down the poor excuse for a turkey sandwich that I had packed for myself. And by the time the afternoon session wrapped up I felt like I had just gotten off a 10 hour flight across 6 time zones while getting kicked in the appendix by an agitated kangaroo.

 

[Outlaw44]

...while getting kicked in the appendix by an agitated kangaroo.

I just literally spit food onto my keyboard.

 

[evrick1952]

If you think you nailed it...........you failed it.

 

[terzaghi83]

Either that, or I was more prepared than you were or others when they "thought" they nailed it.

I am certain I passed.

 

[jharris]

If you think you nailed it...........you failed it.

I disagree. I think a person can reasoanbly guestimate their performance, and a few people that I've heard leaving the room confident in the past ended up passing. Personally, the first time I knew that I failed, and I even had a sense of how many I got correct. Turns out I was one off from the guess I made based on feeling. This time, I think I nailed it

 

[Jayman_PE]

If you think you nailed it...........you failed it.

Disagreed. Including the EIT (aka FE) exam I have taken 9 state/national exams (I am a licensed surveyor in multiple states) and have always had an accurate sense of how I did walking out of the exam room, usually within +/- 5%. I predict my overall score on the PE was between 95 to 100%. The point being I am convinced I passed. We'll know for sure in a few weeks.

 

[SteveYem]

If you think you nailed it...........you failed it.

Disagreed. Including the EIT (aka FE) exam I have taken 9 state/national exams (I am a licensed surveyor in multiple states) and have always had an accurate sense of how I did walking out of the exam room, usually within +/- 5%. I predict my overall score on the PE was between 95 to 100%. The point being I am convinced I passed. We'll know for sure in a few weeks.

But the way the result notification goes, anyone who passes got a 70% for all they know, right?

 

[Krakosky]

In TX you get your %. I took the FE there last year.

 

[SteveYem]

In TX you get your %. I took the FE there last year.

I got my percentage on the FE test also (2004 in PA), but based on the NCEES website it appears that they only indicated "Pass" and not "Pass by this much". Meanwhile when it's "Fail", they give you a diagnostic report showing you where your strengths and weaknesses were on the test. I'm not sure whether those rules are state-specific or global, or whether I read the website wrong in the first place.

 

[bryantucfPE]

so if i know i failed does that mean i passed?

I took the FE in 2004 here in FL. That was the last test they gave out percentages for passing scores.

For the PE they just say pass and if you fail you get the diagnostic report.

 

[Jayman_PE]

so if i know i failed does that mean i passed?

I am a Gigantic *********

 

[SteveYem]

so if i know i failed does that mean i passed?

I am a Gigantic *********

I think it is what we commonly refer to as "sarcasm".

 

[Illini86]

PE Civil Structural- AM if my gut feeling is right I think I got minimum of 30pts and in the after I only hope to get at least 25 pts to pass, overall its fair based on NCEES outline of topics covered for the exam, however, some questions in the PM nowhere could be found in any codes even if its referenced, the choices arent there.

yep that's pretty much a dead on view and the same a ton of people had....wait and see now, fingers crossed as I don;t wana put up with this bs again, one time studying was enough torture

 

[SteveYem]

I passed.

Holy crap.

 

[jjohnson6102006]

I think it would be interesting to see what the original poll would look like now. I know for one thing i thought it could go either way and i guess the cards fell my way. I am just glad I have the two letters behind my name now!

 

[SteveYem]

I think it would be interesting to see what the original poll would look like now. I know for one thing i thought it could go either way and i guess the cards fell my way. I am just glad I have the two letters behind my name now!

I was wondering, can I "legally" put the P.E. after my name now (just got notification of test results yesterday), or do I need to wait until the State Board officially issues my license, i.e. within 90 days according to the NCEES notification?

 

[knight1fox3]

I was wondering, can I "legally" put the P.E. after my name now (just got notification of test results yesterday), or do I need to wait until the State Board officially issues my license, i.e. within 90 days according to the NCEES notification?

There are numerous discussions on this topic. Check the PE Results forum. Basically the consensus is you can use P.E. after your name once you have been issued a license number by your state. Until then you are not recognized as a P.E. by your state board.