Oct 2015

[CHEspinosa]

I guess on bout 8 in the AM and like 15 in the PM...PM was rough. I'm hoping to get in the 20s for the PM and in the 30s for the AM. Either way I'm still freaking out....ill be bumped if I fail, after putting massive hours of studying

 

[knight1fox3]

I don't want to think about PM

So you were like this guy with regard to the afternoon?

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=25554&page=3#entry7301404

 

[MEPE_FEA]

Anyone on here take HVAC afternoon? I'd love to hear your thoughts

I took the HVAC afternoon... #Challenge. Was mad about electrical question showing up on the PM section though. I had to guess on about 4 or 5. Heat transfer problems took me for a loop. Who calculates composite wall systems by hand anyways????

Composite wall problems should not take that long to calculate once you set up your thermal circuit equation.

True... I just botched the hell out of them... And ended up taking educated guesses based on knowledge of thermal resistance of an item... Glad there were only a few though.

All in all I felt good. Would be devastated (like everybody else) if I fail though. I studied like a madman since labor day. Like a minimum of 5 hours per weekday and probably like 14 hours on the weekend. Nearly 40 hours per week while working full time! I'd be crushed if I fail!

Glad I'm not the only one that thought it was hard. I ended up guessing on a simple heat transfer problem too. It wasn't that the problem was difficult I just could not for the life of me find all the R-Values and film coefficients needed to solve the problem. I've figured out 6 problems I got wrong in the afternoon... electrical being one of em....

Yeah your def not the only one. But all in all I think the exam was fair, just way harder than the ncees practice exam. I couldn't find anyone else at my test location that was HVAC. Where did you take exam? I was in CT.

I took it in Houston. It was at NRG stadium and there were probably about 700 people taking the test! I was #435. No clue how many mechanical or HVAC though.

I was also there at NRG...around 50 test takes away...based on the reference books that I noticed I was surrounded by HVAC guys..of course ppl sitting next to me were civil but next to them it was all HVAC

Dang really! I've only found one other HVAC test taker on this forum. From what I can tell from the forums the Mechanical Systems and Materials test was rough too.

I am feeling better now based on your last comment I saw many HVAC and most of the mechanical candidates were from "testmaster"...I started feeling that I represented minority looking at their common binders...

 

[denver1000 PE]

To be honest I can barely remember the questions anymore.... is that good or bad? I left both tests feeling ok but now I'm climbing the walls. MD pm was rough.

 

[MEPE_FEA]

I don't want to think about PM

So you were like this guy with regard to the afternoon?

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=25554&page=3#entry7301404

exactly...I hope I end up passing like him

 

[MEPE_FEA]

To be honest I can barely remember the questions anymore.... is that good or bad? I left both tests feeling ok but now I'm climbing the walls. MD pm was rough.

IMO it is good...at least you won't google something at work like me and figure out that you answered that one question (that you were not sure about) wrong...so you would have peace of mind in this waiting period

 

[CHEspinosa]

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling doubts.....tick tock tick tock [emoji936][emoji37]

 

[MEPE_FEA]

I guess on bout 8 in the AM and like 15 in the PM...PM was rough. I'm hoping to get in the 20s for the PM and in the 30s for the AM. Either way I'm still freaking out....ill be bumped if I fail, after putting massive hours of studying

In that case we both are in the same boat...I guess we can call it a borderline case...but one thing is for sure we both will help each other

 

[CHEspinosa]

Agree MEPE!!

 

[MEPE_FEA]

I guess on bout 8 in the AM and like 15 in the PM...PM was rough. I'm hoping to get in the 20s for the PM and in the 30s for the AM. Either way I'm still freaking out....ill be bumped if I fail, after putting massive hours of studying

In that case we both are in the same boat...I guess we can call it a borderline case...but one thing is for sure we both will help each other

If I fail, most likely I will not take it again...mainly I don't know what different/better I can do compare to this time...most of the hours that I put in was in last one month...but I took 9 days off and stayed up late in the night even on days that I worked...and seriously I don't want to go through that again..

 

[MEPE_FEA]

BTW is there anyone from DTC here?

 

[AK Eyes]

MEPE_FEA - did you hear the HVAC guys talking about the exam difficulty at all? I didn't do testmasters. Self-study - every single Lindeburg problem (definitely helped for the morning), Lindeburg SMS, Lindeburg HVAC practice exam, NCEES HVAC practice exam, other random HVAC sample problems I could find online, skimmed/tabbed all reference material (ASHRAE Handbooks, ASHRAE 62.1, ASHRAE 90.1, NFPA 90A, HVAC Rules of Thumb, Cameron Hydraulics) and a binder of notes w/ psych charts/power & refrigeration cycles/etc (most helpful for afternoon along w/ HVAC Rules of Thumb). Probly spent around 350 to 400 hours over 6 months. I really hope it wasn't all for nothing!

 

[AK Eyes]

I guess on bout 8 in the AM and like 15 in the PM...PM was rough. I'm hoping to get in the 20s for the PM and in the 30s for the AM. Either way I'm still freaking out....ill be bumped if I fail, after putting massive hours of studying

In that case we both are in the same boat...I guess we can call it a borderline case...but one thing is for sure we both will help each other

If I fail, most likely I will not take it again...mainly I don't know what different/better I can do compare to this time...most of the hours that I put in was in last one month...but I took 9 days off and stayed up late in the night even on days that I worked...and seriously I don't want to go through that again..

TBPE allows 4 consecutive times before resubmitting an application. If you don't take it consecutively it counts as a fail. The way I see it, I don't know what else I could have done which would have made my test score any better (I also took a week off work). The way I see it, if I failed this one I might as well just try again without studying so hard since I've already invested so much time and money into trying to pass. Whats another exam fee anyway...

 

[MEPE_FEA]

Nope I didn't dare to ask anyone in the exam about the difficulty level. I was simply afraid that it might affect my state of mind, so didn't talk to anyone...

probably u were sitting close to the guy who was wearing a cap

In my case I m from Illinois...so if I need to take the exam again, I will have to take a couple if days off again next year and will have to spend on flight and hotel...moreover the only reason I m taking this exam is I believe that a PE from tx will help me in getting a job in tx in future...otherwise the industry I m in, no one cares about PE

 

[AK Eyes]

Man you came in from Illinois! They don't administer the test there? Did you have to get approval from the TBPE to take the exam in Texas? Honestly, I've never understood exactly how that works. Let's say I do pass, would I have to take this exam again to get licensed in another state? Or would I just have to do the state specific required application process (Texas is an ethics exam, SER, etc.; Alaska there is a required Arctic Engineering grad class you have to take).

 

[Atharaenea]

Took the Civil/Transpo Depth. Morning session was not what I expected at all. Thought that at least 30% of the session involved concepts that required more than a "breadth" knowledge of civil engineering. I still think I did "ok" but it wasn't anything like the practice exams I took (lindeburg, goswami, ncees and mikes morning). On the problems I didn't know - coming up with an answer was more about eliminating wrong answers. Scouring the CERM for clues on the right one was near impossible.

I'd be curious to see what geotech and water resources folks thought of the morning, as just about everyone I talked to was pretty frustrated after the morning except for one of my buddies who now specializes in WR/Geotech.

As for the afternoon, I think I did pretty well - but I would say being familiar with the resources (Green Book, MUTCD, HCM and Roadside Design Guide) was a necessity. The problems were not easy, but at least coming up with a confident answer was possible if you knew where to look, whereas in the morning I was convinced at times that NCEES was making up words.

Also had a guy with a leaf blower during the morning. Pretty sure he duct taped it on and left it right outside the window while he took a 45 minute poop break... Just glad i had earplugs.

That was basically exactly my experience. Seemed like all geotech/water questions, none of which I knew how to do. I did okayish in afternoon... feel like I got most of them right but then there were practice problems I was certain on too but ended up being wrong.

No leaf blower for us though. But about 1/4 the lights went out in the morning session, and that was VERY distracting. The lights were dim to start with...

 

[xtinabellina]

im in the "questioning everything I felt ok about and now convincing myself I failed" phase......just expecting the worst.

and no im not a dude....tho everyone i talked to at the exam site automatically assumed i was civil or environmental. how cliche

 

[Pavilion]

Prep Materials:

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]Three 5-inch Binder (EET AM+PM notes; SOPE AM notes. Two for AM; One for PM.) [used for about 85% of the exam.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]NCEES WRE Sample Exam (Current Ed) [Didn’t use during the exam; but definitely a must have in my opinion. However, the Sample Exam is easier than the real thing.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]NCEES Trans Sample Exam (Previous Ed) [Didn’t use during the exam.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]CERM [used a few times in the AM for Geotech and Construction. Didn’t use in the PM.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]Three WRE References [Didn’t use in the AM. Used each a few times for qualitative questions in the PM.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]Five EnvE References [Didn’t use during the exam; but Metcalf & Eddy was a good reference during studying.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]Two Geotech References [used each a few times for qualitative questions in the AM.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]Five Structural References [used the AISC Steel a few times for equations in the AM. Didn’t use the other four.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]Four Trans References [Didn’t use.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]One Engineering Dictionary [used for one qualitative question in the AM.]

[SIZE=12pt]• [/SIZE]WRE 6-Minute Solution [i bought this; but the questions are so difficult that I didn’t even attempt them.]

Which depth exam did you take? That's an awful lot of references!

Water Resources.

I only bought six new references. The others references are either the books I saved from undergrad or borrowed from work/co-worker.

I was having the "better-have-it-and-not-need-it" mentality.

 

[DontStopBelieving]

I don't know how you guys have such an accurate depiction of how an 8 hour exam went. As the days go on I have more and more self doubt and can't figure out if its justified or not... Help me out here!?

Morning Session (Mech): I remember leaving the morning session feeling fairly good about it and glad I studied what I did. My guess is that I guessed on somewhere around 2 - 5 problems, 10 would be a conservative guesstimate. Then I had lunch with a friend who was doing civil and said his morning session was horrible. I think that somehow subconsciously influenced me into thinking that my morning session went horrible!

Afternoon Session (HVAC): I had at least seen all the material at one point or another. I was very surprised at how hard most of the problems were though, as I went through marking them off (1, 2, 3) I realized I knew how to do a lot of the 2's or 3's but that they would take me a good 10-15 minutes to solve. A lot of them I knew I would have to look up the info for and I didn't know exactly where to find it. One problem I found the answer in one my references almost word for word, miracle shot. I had never even opened that book while studying. Anyway, the afternoon problems got embedded in my mind much more than the morning problems so I was able to figure out that I have definitely gotten at least 6 wrong in the afternoon session. Including those I got wrong, I probably guessed on somewhere in the range of 10-15 problems, maybe 20 would be conservative.

I have no clue how accurate these numbers even are! I know for a fact that I got at least 6 wrong. What do you guess think? I need honest opinions on this, I feel like a crazy person! Is this just self doubt or reality? Thoughts on what your gut feeling is, pass or fail?

AK Eyes,
I feel exactly the same about my performance in both AM and PM exam. I would have felt better if you had taken Mechanical Systems and Materials PM...at least we both have helped each other for pulling the curve down

AK, I had to guess on probably 4-5 on the AM exam based on talking to my electrical friends I know I got one of the electrical questions wrong on AM. I know I may gotten 3 problems wrong on PM (includes electrical question) composite conduction problems up in air (2 of those) and then there was an evap question that stumped me as well. So conservatively I'm estimating I got all those 6 problems wrong. Besides that I didnt have to guess but a few more problems were different from what I saw in studying and were tricky. Im giving myself an allowance of 6 more problems wrong due to mistakes. If my estimates are true I will get 28/40 on pm and I think that will be enough based on my AM performance where Im hoping I got at least 30 right. I would be surprised if I fail but anything could happen. :/

 

[DontStopBelieving]

Im thinking that my actual score will land right around the cut score if cut score is 54-56/80. Thus if I fail it wouldnt be by much and same if I pass. I'd hate to retake exam but I definitely would retake it in April because I worked to hard to give up on PE dreams that easily.