October 2019 Post Exam Wait Period - Welcome to the Suck

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

i'm genuinely enjoying this blissful period of waiting. It's nice to just live and be without worrying about a study schedule. 

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

how long did it take in 2014? closer to Christmas?

The initial release was on day 52 (12/15), if I'm not mistaken. However, the real kicker is that, after that, results rolled in slowly and painfully over several weeks.



@RBHeadge PE lived through it, so he could tell you better than me.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Oct 2014 was abnormally long, 52 days. The cut score meeting for the Petroleum Engineers was scheduled pretty late in the process and that delayed it for everyone. At least most of the results came in a during the first four days after initial release.

One of the dakotas mailed out the results and they arrived on Christmas Eve. So some people had a great Christmas, others, not so much.

Pennsylvania sort of released on Day 1, in that 10% learned something that day and the rest didn't. Some Pa results would leak out for a few days, before the board put a lock on everything. They accidentally issued licenses to people that failed, then recalled the errant licenses. It was a total mess. It wasn't until day 86 that they finally correctly released it to everyone.

The extra wait was brutal. Rumors were flying, fake results threads were rampant, and some of the trolling was so cruel that the threads got deleted. It was hard to stay sane that month.

 

[Railroad Engineer]

In case anyone comes across this in the future:

• All questions are weighted the same when calculating your exam score.
  
• Each question is weighted differently when calculating the passing score.
  
• After each pencil-and-paper exam administration, every exam undergoes extensive statistical analysis to determine the minimum level of performance required for entry into the profession.
  
• When the analyses and reviews are completed, NCEES changes the answer keys as necessary. The passing score and final correct answers for each exam are then used to score all answer sheets. A percentage of the answer sheets are manually verified, and the results are compared to the machine score to ensure accuracy.
  
• Professional Activities and Knowledge Study (PAKS) is used to develop the exam specification, and according to NCEES: “The results of this online survey will be sued to update specifications for the exam, which is used throughout the United States for licensing purposes.” A survey design meeting precedes the PAKS meeting. The survey is sent to active PEs in that field, and the survey results informs the PAKS meeting.
  
• There is a question bank where questions are pulled to produce exam sessions.
  
• The passing score weight of each question is determined during an in-person meeting (committee and non-committee members in attendance).
  

So not to muddy the waters but does the PAKS meeting review flagged and reported questions and determine the new "cut" score for a test session or is that a separate meeting? This new cut score I would assume is determined after all exams are scored therefore results could be finalized after the new cut score is determined?

 

[Orchid PE]

So not to muddy the waters but does the PAKS meeting review flagged and reported questions and determine the new "cut" score for a test session or is that a separate meeting? This new cut score I would assume is determined after all exams are scored therefore results could be finalized after the new cut score is determined?

My understanding is the PAKS meeting is only for developing the exam specifications. I don't think there's an official name for the flagged question review meeting.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

I've gotten a few private messages in the last few days. The themes are the same so I'll post the same general advice publicly.

That feeling that many of you are starting to feel right now is called doubt. Welcome to phase four. It's normal. Roughly 15,000 people took the PE exam a few weeks ago. Probably 6,000 of them are feeling doubt right now. Another 6,000 will be feeling it by the end of the month. Relax.

Your employer did not secretly get your test results back; so that's not the reason why they did or did not do <fill in the blank>. Similarly, your state board, and engineering education companies (PE exam prep, and continuous education offerers) don't know anything either. No one has the results back yet. While NCEES has probably scored your scoresheet, they likely haven't given it an official pass/fail grade yet.

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

I think I have (more or less) skipped Phase 2 and am on the cusp of Phase 3, though I'm not feeling it too hard.

Situation Normal?

 

[Fisherman504]

Summary of what I've learned:

• All questions are weighted the same when calculating your exam score.
  
• Each question is weighted differently when calculating the passing score.
  
• Professional Activities and Knowledge Study (PAKS) is used to develop the exam specification, and according to NCEES: “The results of this online survey will be sued to update specifications for the exam, which is used throughout the United States for licensing purposes.”
  
• There is a question bank where questions are pulled to produce exam sessions.
  
• The passing score weight of each question is is determined during an in-person committee meeting?
  

All questions don't seem to be the same in difficulty. There are some that takes 30 seconds and other that take 3 minutes. 

 

[Tiger15]

All questions don't seem to be the same in difficulty. There are some that takes 30 seconds and other that take 3 minutes. 

That's absolutely correct. I don't think anyone implied that all questions are the same difficulty. We talked about how the difficulty of each question is taken into account when calculating the cut score (i.e. the passing score).

But each question is worth the same number of points when grading your exam. It's not like there are some 1 point questions and some 3 point questions. It doesn't matter if you get easy questions or hard questions right. You have to get a certain number correct to pass.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Map is up

 

[pse19622]

Doubt definitely setting in. Doing my best to not even think about the letters P or E.

 

[aspiringWRE_PE]

Map is up

can't tell if trolling or serious... it's too soon!

 

[ChebyshevII PE PMP]

can't tell if trolling or serious... it's too soon!

@RBHeadge PE would never troll you. This are serious business.

 

[RadioBox]

Having already passed, it feel so damn good just reading all these posts.

 

[Atl_transportation]

Does anyone have the Excel spread sheet that I have seen posted here, showing the historic data of results released vs days after sitting for the PE in each state?  I've searched and can't seem to find it.

Thanks

 

[RBHeadge PE]

I linked to the spreadsheet in the first post of this thread.

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

can't tell if trolling or serious... it's too soon!

Imma sit here all calm 

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

Imma sit here all calm 

 

[Wow_PE!]

Imma sit here all calm 

Rooting for you

 

[fyrfytr310]

Rooting for you

Same here.  Go @LyceeFruit, Go!