NCEES News Update

[tj_PE]

That makes sense actually. Good point. Wear the minimum pieces of flare.

But I like flair

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[tj_PE]

And eyeshadow.

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[txjennah PE]

And eyeshadow.

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::likes::

 

[CTOD]

But I like flair

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I like red swingline staplers... Somebody keeps steeling mine though...

 

[tj_PE]

I like red swingline staplers... Somebody keeps steeling mine though...

Well maybe if you had moved all your stuff over there like I had mentioned would be great, Noone would be taking your stapler

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[Madpiper]

I like red swingline staplers... Somebody keeps steeling mine though...

Let's not "jump to conclusions".

 

[CTOD]

Well maybe if you had moved all your stuff over there like I had mentioned would be great, Noone would be taking your stapler

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Let's not "jump to conclusions".

... Such a good movie! I'm watching it this weekend again for sure. It's ridiculous how accurate they were of the work environment, and even more ridiculous how much that movie still holds up in 2017.

 

[Madpiper]

... Such a good movie! I'm watching it this weekend again for sure. It's ridiculous how accurate they were of the work environment, and even more ridiculous how much that movie still holds up in 2017.

For real. I watch it every time I'm hating life. Yeah, I watched it right after taking the PE Exam. Sometimes I wish I could be in a permanent state of hypnosis and sleep-in until 3 PM!

 

[Lucas H]

Day 34..... result is still pending! April exam result normally is released on day 34, unfortunately we have to wait one more week! Geez 

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

Something else to think about: Why the hell would NCEES shoot themselves in the foot by releasing test results earlier than average? That would just raise the bar on themselves, and create a new expectation for test takers. Barring any unforeseen delays on releasing the results, they will always try to stick to their average of 35-ish days. I also don't think Thanksgiving has any effect on release date. JMHO! I'm with everyone else who believes the results will be posted late next week.....Lord help us all!!!

Exactly. Give a long lead time and then look great when you get it done in about half the time. 

The only bad thing is that when tests are done on Scantrons it's still hard to rationalize why it would even take 2 months. With the technology that exists, and the fees we pay to take this exam I'm sure the computer system scans the answer sheets and automatically enters the results into a database to see how everyone scored. In regards to current PE's taking the exam to see what they score,  if this is in fact done, they should be mixed in the test centers on test day to be subjected to the same environment.  Questions should also be reviewed andapproved before the test is actually published,  so I don't think there would be many questions that actually get thrown out each test period.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Does it take long to grade a scantron? No. But there are a lot of other things that go into grading the test that need to be considered. So let's take a quick look at those things, using round numbers.

Day 0 - Test

Shipping the test sheets from the 100+ test sites to NCEES in South Carolina. -  5 days, which includes weekends and "ground" shipping from remote locations like Guam, CNMI, Hawai'i and international locations.

Actually running the 20,000-30,000 scantron pages that arrive - 3 days

Manual double check of the scantron grading of the tests. Lets say that they manually check 5% of the scantrons vs the total. This is still a 1000 pages - 5 days

Statistical analysis of the results to identify anomalies; collecting reports of weird questions from around the country, investigating incidents of potential cheating, etc. - 14 days, including weekends.

Assembling test exam committees to review anomalous questions and other statistical quirks, determination of cut score for newer tests based on analysis, and disposition of various items listed in the previous entry. - Probably overlaps with the above to a certain extent, but the smaller exams always schedule their exam meetings late in the grading cycle, so excluding overlap, lets give it 5 days, but more is possible with a new and smaller exam

Miscellaneous administrative work, including uploading results, QA, management approvals, and communicating results to the Boards - 3 days

Add it up and you get about 35 days, which is consistent with the April release times. Add a few more days for the November holidays and you get something closer to the 40ish days we tend to see for the October results.

You can argue with my assumptions for durations, but the turnaround time of slightly over a month passes the sniff test.

*Someone else posted a similar analysis a few years ago but I can't find it. Hence I'm recreating it here. If someone has the link, please post it.

 

[SteelR]

Let's get back to the Flair

 

[Lucas H]

Does it take long to grade a scantron? No. But there are a lot of other things that go into grading the test that need to be considered. So let's take a quick look at those things, using round numbers.

Day 0 - Test

Shipping the test sheets from the 100+ test sites to NCEES in South Carolina. -  5 days, which includes weekends and "ground" shipping from remote locations like Guam, CNMI, Hawai'i and international locations.

Actually running the 20,000-30,000 scantron pages that arrive - 3 days

Manual double check of the scantron grading of the tests. Lets say that they manually check 5% of the scantrons vs the total. This is still a 1000 pages - 5 days

Statistical analysis of the results to identify anomalies; collecting reports of weird questions from around the country, investigating incidents of potential cheating, etc. - 14 days, including weekends.

Assembling test exam committees to review anomalous questions and other statistical quirks, determination of cut score for newer tests based on analysis, and disposition of various items listed in the previous entry. - Probably overlaps with the above to a certain extent, but the smaller exams always schedule their exam meetings late in the grading cycle, so excluding overlap, lets give it 5 days, but more is possible with a new and smaller exam

Miscellaneous administrative work, including uploading results, QA, management approvals, and communicating results to the Boards - 3 days

Add it up and you get about 35 days, which is consistent with the April release times. Add a few more days for the November holidays and you get something closer to the 40ish days we tend to see for the October results.

You can argue with my assumptions for durations, but the turnaround time of slightly over a month passes the sniff test.

*Someone else posted a similar analysis a few years ago but I can't find it. Hence I'm recreating it here. If someone has the link, please post it.

Omg thank you so much! This analysis is awesome except only one percent of answer sheet is manually verified instead of 5%! You can look up at the grading process on NCEES! But still, your analysis is cool for me 

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Does it take long to grade a scantron? No. But there are a lot of other things that go into grading the test that need to be considered. So let's take a quick look at those things, using round numbers.

Day 0 - Test

Shipping the test sheets from the 100+ test sites to NCEES in South Carolina. -  5 days, which includes weekends and "ground" shipping from remote locations like Guam, CNMI, Hawai'i and international locations.

Actually running the 20,000-30,000 scantron pages that arrive - 3 days

Manual double check of the scantron grading of the tests. Lets say that they manually check 5% of the scantrons vs the total. This is still a 1000 pages - 5 days

Statistical analysis of the results to identify anomalies; collecting reports of weird questions from around the country, investigating incidents of potential cheating, etc. - 14 days, including weekends.

Assembling test exam committees to review anomalous questions and other statistical quirks, determination of cut score for newer tests based on analysis, and disposition of various items listed in the previous entry. - Probably overlaps with the above to a certain extent, but the smaller exams always schedule their exam meetings late in the grading cycle, so excluding overlap, lets give it 5 days, but more is possible with a new and smaller exam

Miscellaneous administrative work, including uploading results, QA, management approvals, and communicating results to the Boards - 3 days

Add it up and you get about 35 days, which is consistent with the April release times. Add a few more days for the November holidays and you get something closer to the 40ish days we tend to see for the October results.

You can argue with my assumptions for durations, but the turnaround time of slightly over a month passes the sniff test.

*Someone else posted a similar analysis a few years ago but I can't find it. Hence I'm recreating it here. If someone has the link, please post it.

I think there could be some overlap in the steps, (start scanning before they have all arrived)  could potentially shorten things up, but this is a good picture.

 

[knight1fox3]

I think there could be some overlap in the steps, (start scanning before they have all arrived)  could potentially shorten things up, but this is a good picture.

Negative. Have you ever started engineering something before all the specifications arrived? I think not. That would be a logistical nightmare and could even end up incurring additional re-work in the event there are complications.

 

[Nardo]

Have you ever started engineering something before all the specifications arrived?

Yup - Fast Track projects. You can start making assumptions based on preliminary information and move forward.

So I agree with vhab49 - some overlapping to shorten the wait time is possible.

 

[knight1fox3]

Yup - Fast Track projects. You can start making assumptions based on preliminary information and move forward.

Re-work and wasted engineering time is the result of making assumptions. Of which there is also a direct correlation to change orders. :thumbs:

 

[Nardo]

Re-work and wasted engineering time is the result of making assumptions. Of which there is also a direct correlation to change orders. :thumbs:

Well, I would (sometimes) agree with you. But we are not talking about the design of a 100+ story structure... we are talking about grading a test, that can be easily run on a first come, first serve basis and then put together the results. The statistical analysis can be run afterwards.

 

[knight1fox3]

Well, I would (sometimes) agree with you. But we are not talking about the design of a 100+ story structure... we are talking about grading a test, that can be easily run on a first come, first serve basis and then put together the results. The statistical analysis can be run afterwards.

Yes, and what if an issue comes up by doing this where say, 5,000 sheets have to be re-scanned? Willing to take that risk and add say another week to releasing results? I wouldn't. To each their own though. I've worked quite a bit in the industry to know "If it can happen, it will."

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Negative. Have you ever started engineering something before all the specifications arrived? I think not. That would be a logistical nightmare and could even end up incurring additional re-work in the event there are complications.

I've had projects where I got the shop drawings before I sent out the design.  SUPA fast track.

ETA:  The shops were not at all correct.  GO figure.