October 2019 Exam!

[wedyan]

Hi everyone

anyone took the test last Friday? how did you do in general and the PM part? too much theoretical more than expected... this was my second attempt? any ideas on the score how does it work? please share your thoughts here

Thanks

 

[SDB]

Last cycle I had a good AM and bad PM.  This time I think the AM level of difficulty was slightly higher, but not by much.  As for the PM...I can never get a gauge on that! In regards to scoring, I wish I could help you with that but I can't...let's hope for a lower threshold. 

 

[wedyan]

Last cycle I had a good AM and bad PM.  This time I think the AM level of difficulty was slightly higher, but not by much.  As for the PM...I can never get a gauge on that! In regards to scoring, I wish I could help you with that but I can't...let's hope for a lower threshold. 

if you don't mind me asking, what was your score compared to number of questions you got right? am trying to find out if they would give a curve or something for Geotechnical like in some cases for Construction for example... I felt Ok in the morning section even it was a bit harder than it should be, but OMG on the PM part I don't know what to say but the amount of theoretical questions and field related ones !

 

[SDB]

29/40 AM, 17/40 PM,  46/80 Total

Realistically, I think one would need at least 50/80 to have a shot.

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

I felt pretty good about both the AM and PM. The AM was about what I was expecting: there were a handful of harder questions, but I think most of them could be reasoned through or found, eventually. The PM was more difficult than I was anticipating, but I was able to get a confident answer for most of the problems.

 

[GusXo]

First timer here. I thought AM was relatively easy except for the water resources (expecting low-mid 30's). PM was challenging especially if you mostly practiced calculation problems like I did (expecting low 20's). Overall, I think I would pass/fail by a narrow margin. 

 

[wedyan]

29/40 AM, 17/40 PM,  46/80 Total

Realistically, I think one would need at least 50/80 to have a shot.

sorry to hear that! it looks you did work hard and were close, you don't know how much was the score for this? basically it's 57.5% but this is not the case (hopefully) because in 2017 I got 36 questions total but the score was 55%. let's hope for the best I would think more than 50/80 but hope you're right

 

[wedyan]

I felt pretty good about both the AM and PM. The AM was about what I was expecting: there were a handful of harder questions, but I think most of them could be reasoned through or found, eventually. The PM was more difficult than I was anticipating, but I was able to get a confident answer for most of the problems.

is this your first time taking the exam? that's good you're feeling confident about it wish you to pass it

 

[wedyan]

First timer here. I thought AM was relatively easy except for the water resources (expecting low-mid 30's). PM was challenging especially if you mostly practiced calculation problems like I did (expecting low 20's). Overall, I think I would pass/fail by a narrow margin. 

I agree for the water resources but over all the AM was OK kind of. same for the PM I practiced a lot of calculation problems and worked hard on other topics like the shallow foundations and piles but it was different and harder that I was expecting. 

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

is this your first time taking the exam? that's good you're feeling confident about it wish you to pass it

Yep. First time taking it. Did quite a bit of studying and felt well prepared. Still felt pretty well prepared after the exam was over, so that's a good sign.

Sounds like you've taken it before. How did this administration compare to the others you've taken?

 

[wedyan]

Yep. First time taking it. Did quite a bit of studying and felt well prepared. Still felt pretty well prepared after the exam was over, so that's a good sign.

Sounds like you've taken it before. How did this administration compare to the others you've taken?

my first attempt was October 2017! this is my second time. the first time I had a very short time to prepare but it was difficult and I believe that's why they gave like a curve or something at that time but still missed it! the PM part this time is too tricky and the number of theoretical just amazed me. I felt good in the morning but you never know I felt good about the morning last time as well!!!

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

my first attempt was October 2017! this is my second time. the first time I had a very short time to prepare but it was difficult and I believe that's why they gave like a curve or something at that time but still missed it! the PM part this time is too tricky and the number of theoretical just amazed me. I felt good in the morning but you never know I felt good about the morning last time as well!!!

Gotcha. The exam isn't scored on a curve, strictly speaking, but a group of experts commissioned by NCEES meet for each discipline, each exam cycle, to determine the cut score for that specific exam. They look at each question and can see what proportion of examinees got it right or wrong. If they determine a question was too ambiguous or misleading, based on their impressions, the results, or examinee comments they can assign multiple correct answers to that problem (up to and including any of the four answer choices being correct). Each exam administration is different, so the cut score varies, but it's probably somewhere between 51 and 56 correct answers (or about 64 to 70 percent).

 

[wedyan]

Gotcha. The exam isn't scored on a curve, strictly speaking, but a group of experts commissioned by NCEES meet for each discipline, each exam cycle, to determine the cut score for that specific exam. They look at each question and can see what proportion of examinees got it right or wrong. If they determine a question was too ambiguous or misleading, based on their impressions, the results, or examinee comments they can assign multiple correct answers to that problem (up to and including any of the four answer choices being correct). Each exam administration is different, so the cut score varies, but it's probably somewhere between 51 and 56 correct answers (or about 64 to 70 percent).

thanks for the information! let's hope for the best for all of us because am sure we all don't want to go through this again...hopefully

 

[SDB]

Gotcha. The exam isn't scored on a curve, strictly speaking, but a group of experts commissioned by NCEES meet for each discipline, each exam cycle, to determine the cut score for that specific exam. They look at each question and can see what proportion of examinees got it right or wrong. If they determine a question was too ambiguous or misleading, based on their impressions, the results, or examinee comments they can assign multiple correct answers to that problem (up to and including any of the four answer choices being correct). Each exam administration is different, so the cut score varies, but it's probably somewhere between 51 and 56 correct answers (or about 64 to 70 percent).

Based on the comments I've read elsewhere, it seems that the lower end of that scale might occur for this exam cycle. 

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

Based on the comments I've read elsewhere, it seems that the lower end of that scale might occur for this exam cycle. 

Trying to predict the cut score is tricky business, that I wouldn't necessarily read much into. I didn't feel like it was an exceptionally easy exam, but not profoundly difficult, either. Maybe somewhere around 52 to 54, if I'm taking a random shot in the dark.

 

[SDB]

I would have to agree with you on that.  Personally, it’s much easier for me to get a gauge on my performance on the breadth than the depth.  

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

I would have to agree with you on that.  Personally, it’s much easier for me to get a gauge on my performance on the breadth than the depth.  

Yeah, there's definitely more uncertainty surrounding the depth, versus the breadth, but I feel like it was a good enough effort to pass, regardless. I guess we'll find out in about 6 weeks.  :dunno:

 

[MerciSeigneur]

I’m really mad at myself for not being able to gauge my depth. I mean I do remember my answers for the breadth and approximately how many I got right. For the depth I don’t even recall 15 of the 40 problems in my head. I’m trying to check my answers but don’t call the problems maybe because the 2 days after the exam I was drunk all day haha. So I just have to wait but I know I didn’t feel good after the exam

 

[SDB]

There seems to be only a couple of Geotechnical examinees that have posted since the exam.  I would be interested to know how other fellow Geo's felt about the exam.  Come on guys...it's therapeutic! :waiting:  

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

There seems to be only a couple of Geotechnical examinees that have posted since the exam.  I would be interested to know how other fellow Geo's felt about the exam.  Come on guys...it's therapeutic! :waiting:  

Sadly, there aren't very many geotechs out there. It's perennially the least-taken civil depth by a decent margin... And that phenomenon is manifest on these boards.  :dunno: