October 2020 Results

[TowersNBridges]

Last fall, Illinois posted SE license numbers the same day they released results.  The delay this year may be another victim of "working from home".  

That is pretty reassuring though, thanks.  Yeah, the already slow speed just got even slower.

 

[ChiefIlliniwek]

As someone who took both, and passed 2020, the October 2019 exam was absolutely insane. Hard to judge how much of it was the prep I put into October 2020 and getting the jitters out in October 2019, but it really felt like a more difficult exam. 

I had access to School of PE, AEI, and PPI during my time preparing. AEI was the only set of materials that really feel more like a SE Exam prep course. The other ones felt like a review for the PE. Especially as a buildings person trying to prepare for bridge problems. 

I didn't have PPI material, but I had access to the School of PE lateral material from a friend who took it prior to April 2019. I wasn't impressed with the material he gave me. I chose to take AEI for the lateral review. I thought the AEI material was much more in depth and easier to follow. I don't know what the School of PE lectures were like, but the AEI course was very thorough and generally speaking I didn't have to take a bunch of notes to supplement the printouts. 

 

[leggo PE]

I'm taking the AEI Vertical Exam review course coming up in Jan 2021.

Me too! See you in class!

I'm also taking the AEI Lateral course, starting in Jan 2021.

Is anyone else going to be in either of these live classes?

 

[thedaywa1ker]

I'll be retaking the lateral class...since I sat through all of the lectures already I'll probably only watch live the sections I know I need to work on or I struggle with when I redo the homework.

 

[organix]

Hey Chief! How did you make out?

I've been in mourning for a couple days now... I passed vertical and missed the lateral.  Though, I will say, I knew I was fighting an uphill battle with the "general analysis" problem.  Hopefully this isn't too out of bounds on information (I think this is fairly generic), but I somehow never found the building mass in the problem statement/figures and had to describe a portion of my solution related to that.  That might have been forgivable given I probably solved 90% of the step up to that point and described the rest... but then I missed the irregularity later in the problem.  So yea... I kind of had an inkling and was sort of praying to the engineering gods to have mercy on me (they didn't).  So April it is...

 

[organix]

I'll be retaking the lateral class...since I sat through all of the lectures already I'll probably only watch live the sections I know I need to work on or I struggle with when I redo the homework.

I've been thinking of asking if I can retake in the fall.  Similarly, I don't think I want to do the lectures again this time around since I did sit through all lectures all at least once (did even repeat some).  With that said, it would be more beneficial to me to watch again if they changed the codes in the fall.  I'm not sure if they'll allow that.

 

[Reverse Polish]

That is pretty reassuring though, thanks.  Yeah, the already slow speed just got even slower.

Congratulations on your hard-fought victory over the beast!

 

[TowersNBridges]

Congratulations on your hard-fought victory over the beast!

Thank you! beast is the accurate word for it.

 

[thedaywa1ker]

I've been thinking of asking if I can retake in the fall.  Similarly, I don't think I want to do the lectures again this time around since I did sit through all lectures all at least once (did even repeat some).  With that said, it would be more beneficial to me to watch again if they changed the codes in the fall.  I'm not sure if they'll allow that.

Yeah, I sat through all of the vertical lectures in preparation for the April exam that got cancelled.  Leading up to the october exam I only watched a few vertical lectures I wasn't super clear on, and redid all of the homework and quizzes, while I more focused on the lateral class. 

I'm hoping I can get by for the April exam with that level of study for my lateral 2nd try.  As good as the instructors are, it isn't riveting material to sit through 72 hours of again. Maybe I'll just put it on in the background while doing practice problems and hope to absorb some information that way.

 

[Br_Engr]

I've been in mourning for a couple days now... I passed vertical and missed the lateral.  Though, I will say, I knew I was fighting an uphill battle with the "general analysis" problem.  Hopefully this isn't too out of bounds on information (I think this is fairly generic), but I somehow never found the building mass in the problem statement/figures and had to describe a portion of my solution related to that.  That might have been forgivable given I probably solved 90% of the step up to that point and described the rest... but then I missed the irregularity later in the problem.  So yea... I kind of had an inkling and was sort of praying to the engineering gods to have mercy on me (they didn't).  So April it is...

Samey-same.  

Too much building stuff on that lateral exam...

Yeah - I said it!!! 

 

[john_luke_obama]

FYI for anyone else on here from Hawaii, and still waiting for your results. Looks like 12/23 will be when NCEES notification is released. If you are lucky enough to pass, your notification via mail will be sometime afterwards probably. 

(I had also called and spoke to someone who said this same date too.)

 

 

[nait66]

Anybody knows how long it takes IL board to issue you a license number after passing the exam? I'm trying to get it into our company system before the end of year... not sure if it's going to happen. 

I called CTS and they said they were going to electronically release results to the IDFPR board Thursday or Friday (yesterday) and that there was a delay in the license showing up this year because they didn't fully process the results prior to giving NCEES the green light to release the results. I was hoping it would have happened by now as well but maybe early next week is possible.

 

[Engineerry]

Anyone here take Vertical and Lateral AEI courses at the same time? Live or recorded ...

I need to retake both exams, and I'm debating if I should do them at the same time. I feel like I'm already halfway there with both sets of material, so I might as well take both again... But idk if both review courses would be too much to handle. I likely wouldn't need every piece of material, but thought it might be good to have a thorough review for the second attempt. I didn't do any review courses for my first attempt.

Would appreciate any and all advice and experience!

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Me too! See you in class!

I'm also taking the AEI Lateral course, starting in Jan 2021.

Is anyone else going to be in either of these live classes?

Me! Sometimes!

 

[Br_Engr]

So as I posted previously, I received the following on the Lateral (Bridge) PM

A/IR/IR

Is there anyway I can obtain some feedback from NCEES (without compromising test integrity) as to what I need to do better? 

I don't want to study "incorrectly" and make the same mistakes over again.

Thank you.

 

[Donatello]

Anyone here take Vertical and Lateral AEI courses at the same time? Live or recorded ...

I need to retake both exams, and I'm debating if I should do them at the same time. I feel like I'm already halfway there with both sets of material, so I might as well take both again... But idk if both review courses would be too much to handle. I likely wouldn't need every piece of material, but thought it might be good to have a thorough review for the second attempt. I didn't do any review courses for my first attempt.

Would appreciate any and all advice and experience!

I took both AEI classes last October. It was a lot! I actually watched the previous cycle’s recorded videos for most of the vertical lectures before the live ones started to try and get ahead and then joined the live sessions when they caught up to me. Between the 10ish hours of lectures per class per week and the practice problems and quizzes, it was basically a full time job with both classes. Luckily I had the time but it’s grueling. I ended up passing lateral that cycle and retaking the class for vertical. I was close on vertical, I think I had 27/40 A, IR, IR, IR. The difference between studying for one versus both is astounding. Probably helped that I had already gone through all of the lectures as well. Ended up passing vertical this round. If you’ve got the time and drive then it might be worth taking both and trying to be done with it. But it is a lot. 
 

Good luck!

 

[leggo PE]

I took both AEI classes last October. It was a lot! I actually watched the previous cycle’s recorded videos for most of the vertical lectures before the live ones started to try and get ahead and then joined the live sessions when they caught up to me. Between the 10ish hours of lectures per class per week and the practice problems and quizzes, it was basically a full time job with both classes. Luckily I had the time but it’s grueling. I ended up passing lateral that cycle and retaking the class for vertical. I was close on vertical, I think I had 27/40 A, IR, IR, IR. The difference between studying for one versus both is astounding. Probably helped that I had already gone through all of the lectures as well. Ended up passing vertical this round. If you’ve got the time and drive then it might be worth taking both and trying to be done with it. But it is a lot. 
 

Good luck!

Oh, this is my plan! I'm currently watching Vertical class recordings from Oct 2020, and attempting to get through as many of them (also, practice problems) before the lateral class starts, in 3 weeks (eek).

Congrats on passing Lateral! It looks like you're super close on Vertical. I bet you'll get it next time!

 

[Nathan55]

Just something I thought about randomly, during my musings about this test....

How does NCEES make the test difficulty consistent? What I mean by this is, I place myself in the shoes of someone writing a test for practicing engineers...many with PEs, many with Master's degrees. However, I cannot predict the quality and preparation level of the prospective examinees. Nor can I accurately predict which subjects will be particularly difficult to that examinee group.

The only real assumptions I can make are that everything in the NCEES and PPI practice exams will be "easy" for most examinees. Other than that, I don't have a way to foresee it. Hence...why I'm intrigued by the consistent pass rate, especially for repeat test takers. Imagine a scenario where NCEES writes a test that involves for problems in the afternoon, and they are extremely simple, consisting of determining "Cs" for four buildings...and that's it. Would the pass rate still be 30% +/- 3% as it has been nearly without exception for the past decade?

I am curious if the cut score is determined immediately after the test is written, or during grading, or after grading. Unless the exam is actually tested before hand on some representative group of individuals, it is impossible to determine how many people will find the test difficult and how many will pass. So although NCEES swears up and down that they do not adjust the cut score to prevent 70% of people from passing....I don't understand how they can hit that passing rate so consistently without much, if any, variation. 

Another thing...NCEES has been very successful at keeping the grading criteria secret for the afternoon problems. The US government has had leakers throughout its history, but they have a thing or two they can learn from NCEES. The secrecy of the grading criteria coupled with the consistently low pass rate leads me to an interesting conclusion...there must be fluctuation in how essay questions are scored, and part of that fluctuation might be based on how an examinee did in comparison to other individuals. Otherwise you would have tests which are too difficult and the pass rate would be very low. Or the exam would be based on things everyone was familiar with...and the pass rate would be 50% or higher.

 

[Br_Engr]

Just something I thought about randomly, during my musings about this test....

How does NCEES make the test difficulty consistent? What I mean by this is, I place myself in the shoes of someone writing a test for practicing engineers...many with PEs, many with Master's degrees. However, I cannot predict the quality and preparation level of the prospective examinees. Nor can I accurately predict which subjects will be particularly difficult to that examinee group.

The only real assumptions I can make are that everything in the NCEES and PPI practice exams will be "easy" for most examinees. Other than that, I don't have a way to foresee it. Hence...why I'm intrigued by the consistent pass rate, especially for repeat test takers. Imagine a scenario where NCEES writes a test that involves for problems in the afternoon, and they are extremely simple, consisting of determining "Cs" for four buildings...and that's it. Would the pass rate still be 30% +/- 3% as it has been nearly without exception for the past decade?

I am curious if the cut score is determined immediately after the test is written, or during grading, or after grading. Unless the exam is actually tested before hand on some representative group of individuals, it is impossible to determine how many people will find the test difficult and how many will pass. So although NCEES swears up and down that they do not adjust the cut score to prevent 70% of people from passing....I don't understand how they can hit that passing rate so consistently without much, if any, variation. 

Another thing...NCEES has been very successful at keeping the grading criteria secret for the afternoon problems. The US government has had leakers throughout its history, but they have a thing or two they can learn from NCEES. The secrecy of the grading criteria coupled with the consistently low pass rate leads me to an interesting conclusion...there must be fluctuation in how essay questions are scored, and part of that fluctuation might be based on how an examinee did in comparison to other individuals. Otherwise you would have tests which are too difficult and the pass rate would be very low. Or the exam would be based on things everyone was familiar with...and the pass rate would be 50% or higher.

I emailed NCEES this morning to inquire if it is possible to get any feedback regarding where I need to improve on the afternoon problems.

They basically told me to that the A/IR/IR is all the feedback I was going to get.  Not a fan of this approach.

Sure glad college was not like this...

 

[TowersNBridges]

I called CTS and they said they were going to electronically release results to the IDFPR board Thursday or Friday (yesterday) and that there was a delay in the license showing up this year because they didn't fully process the results prior to giving NCEES the green light to release the results. I was hoping it would have happened by now as well but maybe early next week is possible.

Gotcha.  Thanks for the intel!