NCEES Pass Rates

[Roy T.]

I am in the same boat as StructuralPoke, almost to the T, except for I just took the Struct1 for the first time in October. I already have begun studying for the April exam!
I agree 100% in that it doesn't seem ethical to take the Civil-Structural when structural is all I have ever practiced and probably will ever practice. Believe me when I say I struggled with the thought of taking the Civil. It seems like the lesser of two evils. But I just can't do it. But this is just my opinion!

I also agree with the point that we should have a choice on either buildings or bridges like the structural II. Like I mentioned earlier, I have only designed buildings and have zero experience with bridges.

Another point, I have worked in the consulting/design field for more than 10 years now and found the Structural 1 exam to be highly unpractical. The problems on the exam were something one would never encounter on a day to day basis. I have no problem with the exams being difficult, I just wish they were more practical, more "real world". The exam is geared towards very obscure code provisions and unpractical problems.

Personally, coming out of the exam I felt fairly confident that I may had passed. But when I recieved my letter it appears I wasn't even close. Let's just have a couple of real world problems in there. Come on!

Oh well, there's always next time!

USF...

I took the STR1 Exam in October and did not pass as well -- and i have absolutely no "ethical" problem whatsoever taking the civil/structural exam in April. that's just silly. I think you may be frustrated at the idea of "stepping down" to Civil after working so hard for the Str1 qualification. But seriously, If you've taken the Str1 more than once and failed -- honestly, do yourself a favor and invest a few weeks working over some general civil problems and take the civil exam, after preparing for the hell of the str1, it will be cake. you deserve the PE as hard as you studied. there are so many retards out there who got licensed years ago when it was "easy"... if you really feel "guilty" about it - then go back and take the STR1 AFTER you take the civil, but at least get your license. that's what I plan on doing anyway.

 

[shellbell500]

Does anyone know why the % of first time takers would be higher than the % of repeat offenders? I would have imagined that the % of first timers who pass would be lower than the % of repeaters.

I have to say, I don't think the PE has that much to do with experience. I took the Electrical Power PE this Oct. and passed b/c I studied A LOT. I graduated in 2001 with a degree in electrical engineering (control systems) and have been working in the power field since 2002. I had to teach myself the theory behind power systems in preparation for the exam, becuase day-to-day, let's face it - I use spreadsheets for basic calculations and "design tools" (i.e. my company's standard feeder size schedule, etc.) instead of engineering analysis/calculations. I actually really enjoyed taking the PE b/c it forced me to LEARN this stuff - and once you know the theory it's pretty cool! Oh, and BTW, even though i graduated from college fairly recently, my brain had seriously atrophied - i really had to get it back in shape doing problems!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: IMHO you just need to STUDY HARD! and by hard i mean HARD!