Mechanical PE

[benbo]

Is it S = MR , where R=raw, S=scaled and M=multiplier. So if I get all 80 correct I get 120?

That's what my boss's ex-wife's father told him when he helped with the exams 35 years ago. So it must be true today, right?

benbo, I'll give you major props for perseverance. You keep a pitchin', but they ain't a catchin'!

Yes, for some reason I keep at it.

It doesn't really matter, nobody here really knows.

But I just don't think it's a good idea to assume that if you get a 69 it means you are only one question away. It can lead to complacency. If you want to believe all this other voodoo and witchcraft, it can't hurt as long as you prepare properly.

 

[ecoli946]

I'm not sure what all the fuss with cutscore. If you look at past cutscore from 2002-2004, for mechancial/electrical/chemical, the passing score is 70%. then they stopped posting it at the CA pels website. not one time did I see a cutscore below 70% except for traffic. Ncees says min is 70%. Don't get 55/80, you will not pass.

 

[oluade PE]

I'm not sure what all the fuss with cutscore. If you look at past cutscore from 2002-2004, for mechancial/electrical/chemical, the passing score is 70%. then they stopped posting it at the CA pels website. not one time did I see a cutscore below 70% except for traffic. Ncees says min is 70%. Don't get 55/80, you will not pass.

You are totally off the track with your assumption of 70% as pass mark. Look at the NCEES website that mentioned something

about cut score. Your interpretation of pass mark is base on the following equation Let X=your total score. to score 70%=pass=x/80x100. This is taotally wrong.

 

[Dexman PE]

:deadhorse:

 

[benbo]

You are totally off the track with your assumption of 70% as pass mark. Look at the NCEES website that mentioned somethingabout cut score. Your interpretation of pass mark is base on the following equation Let X=your total score. to score 70%=pass=x/80x100. This is taotally wrong.

On this you are 100% correct.

 

[benbo]

:deadhorse:

And as far as beating the dead horse - this is about the fiftieth time that icon has been used on this subject, as well as the "Aw Jeez, not this sh*t again" image. It ain't gonna die. As long as people keep making stuff up, and as long as there are new people that beleive it, I won't be able to control myself.

They'll have to ban me.

 

[Shanks]

Don't forget about the assumptions/rumors (I saw somewhere on EB) that some of the questions are there just for experiments by NCEES and they might not be counted towards your final score. Again I would think # of those kinda questions would vary in every exam...

As far as complacency, I would think that if someone is trying for PE license, he/she is far beyond complacency in his/her career...

 

[oluade PE]

:deadhorse:

And as far as beating the dead horse - this is about the fiftieth time that icon has been used on this subject, as well as the "Aw Jeez, not this sh*t again" image. It ain't gonna die. As long as people keep making stuff up, and as long as there are new people that beleive it, I won't be able to control myself.

They'll have to ban me.

i never knew this site b4 the examination. i came across the sie while serching through the web for any hint about pe result. Anyway, it has been fun comunicating and deliberating on isuues. Enjoy the remaining 3-4 weeks. a journey of 1000miles will one day come to pass.

 

[benbo]

Don't forget about the assumptions/rumors (I saw somewhere on EB) that some of the questions are there just for experiments by NCEES and they might not be counted towards your final score. Again I would think # of those kinda questions would vary in every exam...
As far as complacency, I would think that if someone is trying for PE license, he/she is far beyond complacency in his/her career...

As far as I know there are not questions that are not counted towards your final score. But there are special questions that are part of a pool used for equating purposes. At least that's how I understand it, although I'll adfmit I could be wrong. It is explained on the NCEES website and elsewhere.

As far as the post-test review for ambiguous questions, I do not believe they throw out such questions, but rather give credit for more than one answer selection. Again, I think I read that somewhere, and that is how most test developers do it, but I'm not certain.

As far as complacency, don't kid yourself. Several years ago, everybody used to get this 0 to 70 score. I saw countless people posting "I got a 69, only one more question and I'm over the top." They would fail repeatedly, and you could tell they were not taking it seriously - they were certain they really just needed a little luck to get over that one question hump. Luckily, most states wised up and stopped giving out this meaningless score.

 

[ecoli946]

http://www.pels.ca.gov/applicants/ap02stats.shtml

check out the website and the cutscore that they had. This was 2002. Cutscore of 70 out of 100.

http://www.pels.ca.gov/applicants/ap05stats.shtml

This is April 2005. Cutscore is 70 out of 100. After April 2005, CA stopped showing cutscore.

How am I suppose to intrepret these?

I'm not sure what all the fuss with cutscore. If you look at past cutscore from 2002-2004, for mechancial/electrical/chemical, the passing score is 70%. then they stopped posting it at the CA pels website. not one time did I see a cutscore below 70% except for traffic. Ncees says min is 70%. Don't get 55/80, you will not pass.

You are totally off the track with your assumption of 70% as pass mark. Look at the NCEES website that mentioned something

about cut score. Your interpretation of pass mark is base on the following equation Let X=your total score. to score 70%=pass=x/80x100. This is taotally wrong.

 

[Kephart P.E.]

It is sort of a waste of time to try and figure out how many correct answers you need to pass, however, I believe people have posted here before that somes states (Texas?) used to actually report a raw score. And the passing score changed each year.

I would be really shocked if the cutscore was actually at 56/80 for every test.

 

[benbo]

70 is a scaled score. It has nothing to do with a percent, or the cut score.

Did you take the SAT? Do you think that if you get a 750/800 it means you answered 750/800 question correctly, or that you got 750/800 = 93.75%. It does not.

This is the same thing. And this is the reason most sensible states stopped giving out this nonsensical score.

http://www.ncees.org/Exams/Scoring.php

This becomes the passing score. NCEES does not publish passing scores because they change with each administration.

If every passing score was 70 do you think they would write this? Are they just lying? And California uses NCEES cut score.

From a more sinister source -

http://www.ppi2pass.com/ppi/PPIInfo_pg_myp...grade.html#pass

What is the passing score for the PE exams? Beginning with the October 2005 administration, candidates will receive results of "Pass" or "Fail" only. Failing candidates will no longer receive a numerical score.

Does this mean I have to solve 70% of the questions correctly to pass the exam?

NO. Do not confuse the CONVERTED passing score of 70 with having to score 70% in order to pass. It's not possible to say what the exact percentage needed to pass is, because the raw passing score fluctuates with each administration of the exam. To add to the mystery, NCEES does not make the raw passing scores public.

So the CONVERTED passing score is always 70, even though the number of problems that I must solve to pass can go up and down?

YES.

 

[Firefly]

I passed! First try! Thermal & Fluids

What a relief. Thanks for the wonderful guidance this board has provided!!!

 

[gaidox]

I passed! First try! Thermal & Fluids
What a relief. Thanks for the wonderful guidance this board has provided!!!

congrats man, you made it. congrats also to all who already passed (pe me april 2010). me i have to wait for 6 more weeks . .damn

 

[chaocl]

I passed! First try! Thermal & Fluids
What a relief. Thanks for the wonderful guidance this board has provided!!!

congratulation! :mf_bounce8:

 

[Shanks]

I passed! First try! Thermal & Fluids
What a relief. Thanks for the wonderful guidance this board has provided!!!

Congratulations firefly! I am expecting my results sometime next week. Which state you appeared in?

 

[Firefly]

South Carolina

 

[Slemory]

I passed! First try! Thermal & Fluids
What a relief. Thanks for the wonderful guidance this board has provided!!!

Congrats! Me too! First time and just got the results by mail today (MS). But I know I had to pass by the skin of my teeth.

 

[ChemORME]

I passed! First try! Thermal & Fluids
What a relief. Thanks for the wonderful guidance this board has provided!!!

Congrats! Me too! First time and just got the results by mail today (MS). But I know I had to pass by the skin of my teeth.

The good thing is that if you pass, you pass - it doesn't matter by how much! Now...where are my results again??? :mail-296:

 

[VJS]

I took the exam week off and studied MERM mostly. I have seen discussions in this forum that 150-200 hrs is pretty good prep if you have the depth section topic fresh in the mind. I may have spent a total of about 60-80 hrs total in the month before exam. I am an analyst and use MD (incl. vibrations) in my day to day work with Marks, machinery's hdbk and that helped a LOT in the exam. i did not see use of MERM for more than 20 questions in the afternoon session.
I think I may have got about 35+/40 in morning and 32+/40 afternoon. Infact, I was slow in the morning and about 5 mins left to perform final check, but in the afternoon, i finished about 25 completed in 2hrs and had about 20 mins at the end. During re-check I had to change couple of answers and figured I had to guess three questions.

This is my first attempt and definitely would recommend having a strong base using Mark's hnbk. I answered most questions in afternoon MD section with it.

All the best to everyone, let us see how the final results go.

I am replying to my own post. I passed, first try.