October 2014 SE Test - How did it go?

[DaveEng]

How do you feel about the test?

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Aced it, about time I didn't get any stupid questions that were out in left field and not typical of what a structural engineer does each day.

 

[mikesltj23]

Aced??? Man, you're some kind of genius! That was the hardest thing I've ever taken by far haha.

 

[DaveEng]

I took both vertical and lateral. Vertical was not too bad. I had some trouble figuring out what they were asking and what I could assume. Looking back I know I screwed some stuff up. The lateral morning I thought was pretty rough. I was really worried during the break. But the afternoon I did well except the concrete problem. After the vertical exam, I was more mentally prepared for the test questions and had more of an overall strategy. One things for sure I learned: take time to read the problem and all of its parameters and be aware of what they are asking vs what information they have provided. But I was surprised at how tricky the exam can be, particularly the multiple choice - more difficult than the NCEES practice exam. I feel like the problems that stumped me I couldn't have really prepared for. The bridge questions were killer - I guessed on probably half those.

I hope I pass this thing because I do not want to have to go through that again. It was tough!

 

[mikesltj23]

I totally agree. I did the same, both tests. I definitely don't want to go through even one day again, but by Saturday afternoon, I was dragging. Both mornings I thought were somewhat challenging. I did a lot more studying on vertical stuff, even though I'm much more familiar with it. So I went into the afternoon thinking I was going to be a lot more unprepared than I think I ended up being. I was able to find stuff quickly enough in the codes (I think). The real problems I'm wrestling with are (a) on the questions that I was confident with my answer, you never know if you missed a factor or something that gave you the wrong answer choice, and (b) I really have no idea what the difference between "acceptable", "needs improvement", and unacceptable" are. Is unacceptable just like you barely did anything? Is "needs improvement" mean you really didn't get anything right but hey you tried? Is acceptable mean you nailed it, or is there a lot of leeway in there? If there's a lot of leeway in acceptable, then I feel good. Since scoring is such a nebulous cloud, all I can say is I went 16 rounds with it, and hope I won by TKO haha.

Looking forward to reporting back in a couple of months. Good luck to everyone during the waiting game!

 

[DaveEng]

I have been wondering the same exact thing. What is acceptable? Unacceptable? How much room for error is there? I keep going over things in my head and trying to manage my expectations. Is messing up on one afternoon problem enough to fail? How many multiple choice can you miss? (which, by the way, are weighed equally) I think they should adjust the for the difficulty of the question and whether or not you are bridge/building person. I will say in the lateral afternoon you had to know ASCE 7 Chapter 12 really well. There were more than a few things that triggered parts of the code that you had to know were there. I hope I didn't overlook anything.

 

[darius]

Very challenging and loooong test.I feel pretty decent about afternoon both sessions. I was able to finish everything and answer every question. On each day one of the problems took me 1.5 hours, luckily it happened to be the last one I worked on and I had some saved time from previous three problems. In the morning sessions, I had to guess in half of the bridge problems and already figured that I screwed like 3-4 each day. So, if all the other results I found would be correct I would feel better, but as mikesltj23 said you never know when you forgot something and you went wrong.

You have to know everything in and out. Is a very complex exam and requires speed and knowledge. Once you read the problem you already have to know exactly where is the reference and understand the concept. If not, you better skip and come back later otherwise you waste precious time and you'll end up struggling at the end.

I hope for the best to everyone because is a tough marathon!

 

[Agostage]

I took lateral for the third time (passed vertical a while ago). This was my best performance thus far. Finished AM with a lot of time left, only a couple questions I wasn't sure on. PM for me, although still intense, I felt confident on. I caught the little (but important) nuances they sprinkle in there and thinking back on the problems I stand by my answers. That has never happened. I got burned last time by getting my hopes up so I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Yeah, that's how I feel Agostage. I did much better finishing problems on time than any of the attempts before (both vertical and lateral) and actually having only a few problems I struggled on really helped my confidence. There were two guys with me who were just seeing the lateral test for the first time (both passed vertical) and they really struggled. I think this is one of those exams that it really helps to see it once, then you'll have a much better idea what to expect going into it again.

As for "unacceptable", "needs improvement", "acceptable"; as best I can tell (which isn't much) acceptable means you got everything right or at least had all the steps and presented enough knowledge that, given more time and a double check, you would have reasonable got the right answer. "Needs improvement" means you left something out, missed a step or two, or got something really wrong but everything else was okay. If you didn't finish a problem but wrote all the steps out I think you can get a "needs improvement" if everything else was right. "Unacceptable" I believe is when you didn't finish and got things wrong, or just didn't get the problem right. It appears to be very easy to get unacceptable and hard to get acceptable. I believe that any unacceptable will likely make it very hard to pass unless you aced the morning session.

But, what do I know, could be completely different.

 

[DaveEng]

How would compare the level of difficulty with the previous lateral tests? I think I caught most if not all of the code nuances they put in there which is very important to be able to recognize. I just hope I did well enough on the AM.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

I've only taken lateral once before but this was MUCH easier compared to April. The questions weren't something I didn't expect to see on the exam and the "gotcha" tricks seemed quite reasonable (table footnotes and other tricks). The bridge questions were easy enough for non-bridge guys. Definitely still hard, though. The PM had me worried but as I knew how to answer each problem it wasn't too bad. Definitely got lucky in one way, my prep work was almost exactly what was on the exam, so it could be harder if you weren't as lucky as I was in studying. However, like I said, it was what I hoped/expected to see on the exam.

Pro-tip, write down notes of what you remember from the exam. If you have to re-take anything then you'll be happy you did. You'll be surprised what you'll have forgotten after 6 months.

 

[Agostage]

I think the level of difficulty from the last three laterals were pretty consistent; they progressively felt better to me because of my improvements, I believe. Had I had this exam my first go I think I would have been equally lost.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Also, FYI, based on the past release dates looks like we're going to get results released around 12/16 this year. Merry Christmas!

 

[DaveEng]

How am I supposed to wait 1.5 months for results! I didn't anticipate how difficult this part was going to be

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Don't worry, you'll forget about it after a month. It's those last two weeks that are a real killer.

 

[xjggre]

I took vertical and lateral (bridge) first time and felt time is extremely tight. Guess about 6~7 questions of morning and hardly to finish all for afternoon.

But anyway I would say it's much easier than the NCEES practice exams.

I will have to re-take both next April.

Since I only spent two months to prepare two exams, nothing to complain.

 

[DaveEng]

You thought it was easier than the practice exams? I thought it was more difficult.

 

[xjggre]

Just from my personal experience. When I took practice exams one week ago, I have to guess about 10~12 questions.

And also I thought it's more straight than NCEES (lots of tricks in NCEES).

 

[mikesltj23]

I took vertical and lateral (bridge) first time and felt time is extremely tight. Guess about 6~7 questions of morning and hardly to finish all for afternoon.

But anyway I would say it's much easier than the NCEES practice exams.

I will have to re-take both next April.

Since I only spent two months to prepare two exams, nothing to complain.

I see you're from NY...where did you end up taking it??

And after seeing the assessment as to what it takes to get "Acceptable", I can now confidently say I didn't pass haha. I was hoping acceptable was showing all the proper steps with some screw ups in there. I feel like I definitely screwed up every problem to some degree...came up with answers for everything, but none that I was rock solid on either. I guess we'll see. I feel like I successfully got 4 "Needs Improvement" based on how it was just described haha. Maybe I'll surprise myself.

 

[xjggre]

I took vertical and lateral (bridge) first time and felt time is extremely tight. Guess about 6~7 questions of morning and hardly to finish all for afternoon.

But anyway I would say it's much easier than the NCEES practice exams.

I will have to re-take both next April.

Since I only spent two months to prepare two exams, nothing to complain.

I see you're from NY...where did you end up taking it??

And after seeing the assessment as to what it takes to get "Acceptable", I can now confidently say I didn't pass haha. I was hoping acceptable was showing all the proper steps with some screw ups in there. I feel like I definitely screwed up every problem to some degree...came up with answers for everything, but none that I was rock solid on either. I guess we'll see. I feel like I successfully got 4 "Needs Improvement" based on how it was just described haha. Maybe I'll surprise myself.

Albany. only I and other building guy.

I think it's hard to show all the proper steps in such a short time, not mention to get everything right.

I guess it will be acceptable if you finish above 75% questions.