There SURE were a LOT more than three folks in that "AG hall" in rickety plastic chairs on garage sale tables taking that darn test a few months ago! I guess that most are resigned to just waiting for the winds of progress to roll through the licensing board (ha ha)...
Personnally, I am having a HARD TIME concentrating on routine stuff until I KNOW SOMETHING! I KNOW that it doesn't matter, the grades are already done and the decisions have been made, I just would REALLY like to know one way or the other...
Heck, it was just one year ago that I decided to go ahead and TRY to get licensed. When I graduated (1976), getting a PE was not considered necessary, in fact, we were not even allowed to take the EIT test while we were in school. I remember trying to take the EIT on a WARM day in the spring of 1977 on another cheap chair, when I decided at lunchtime to just GO TO THE BEACH (South Carolina springtime is so much better than Kansas (ha ha))!! I NEVER went back, and neither the EIT or PE mattered for almost 30 years...
Then about two years ago, we were informed that IF we did NOT have a PE license, that we could NOT even consider ourselves "inguneers" anymore in Kansas. Well, THAT ticked me off, for a while then I decided to just go ahead and take it on. I took the FE in October 07, and was SURPRISED as heck that I passed it on the first try. Oh, I DID STUDY, but that was a difficult test for an OLD guy! Sitting in that BIG room with all those kids was interesting, I was concerned that IF I failed that I would SURE be remembered by those proctors. I was surprised as heck that I passed. Then I set out on the PE.
I work at the ONLY Nuclear plant in Kansas, and we were in a refueling outage this spring. We work 12 hour shifts six days a week. LUCKILY, (ha ha) I was on NIGHTS, and my "day-off" was FRIDAY (I saw to that on the scheduling).... I was able to leave work a little bit early on Thursday night so I got to Topeka around midnight. I actually did get an hour or two of sleep before the test.
For ME, the test was interesting. After my actual work in the outage it was actually NICE to be in a QUIET room, and NOT BOTHERED by ANYTHING for eight hours. There was nobody YELLING at me to do this or that, all that I had to do was figure out how to solve word problems. It is hard to describe the differences.
For ME it was an accomplishment JUST to be there. To STAY AWAKE and focused was the challenge, and actually it was fun. BUT, I HOPE that I don't HAVE to do it AGAIN (ha ha)!!
I NEVER even anticipated the FE results. It was a TOTAL surprise when I found them in the mailbox and learned that I had be deemed an Intern Engineer after 32 years (HA HA)!! NOW, I want the PE to prepare for the future after I leave the "creek." GOOD LUCK to ALL who challenged themselves with the test, it was a good challenge. Personnally I would rather rather resurrect my old skydiving ratings and move on to instructing and jumpmastering full time, but you know what, it SURE doesn't pay like being an engineer does...
GOOD LUCK to ALL!!