October 2021 Post Exam Wait Period - Welcome to the Suck

[HBO]

So I just sat for the PE exam Civil Construction for the third time. I've always come to these threads to help get through the wait, but it wasn't until today I realized I was actually a member. The first time I took the Test October 20, I signed up for the School of PE on demand class. It was really helpful since I had not seen a bunch of this stuff since 2013. I felt good about the AM but I didn't have any of the resources for the PM. I got 29/40 in the morning but only 20/40 in the afternoon. The second test April 2021, I bought all of the references tried to focus more on concepts so I could really understand the material since I felt I was so close to passing. I ended up getting 24/40 in the morning and 23/40 in the afternoon. This time Around bought 8 practice exams and just hammered away at problems. I felt good about the morning but uneasy about the afternoon. Hoping for the best. Do you all think the CBT exam will be harder than P&P since references won't be allowed? I thought about switching disciplines to Water Resources because that has a significantly higher pass rate and less required materials. But I am determined to prove to myself that I can pass this test.

 

[Tiger15]

Do you all think the CBT exam will be harder than P&P since references won't be allowed? I thought about switching disciplines to Water Resources because that has a significantly higher pass rate and less required materials. But I am determined to prove to myself that I can pass this test.

I'm sure if you searched these boards you can find discussion about the transition to CBT in the Mechanical and Electrical forums. It might be worth the effort if you're looking for something to distract you from waiting for your results.

Brief summary from my memory (which may be inaccurate).

• Passing rate actually went up slightly when the transition to CBT happened
• There was a big debate about whether NCEES is allowed to ask you questions that required knowledge that isn't in their provided reference. Officially there's no verbiage that prevents them from asking whatever they want. In practice it seems any numerical solutions will be covered by the reference, but conceptual questions might not be.
• I have no idea how all of this will translate to Civil with all of your codes.

But ultimately it doesn't matter because you're going to pass this time.

 

[DLD PE]

I'm sure if you searched these board you can find discussion about the transition to CBT in the Mechanical and Electrical forums. It might be worth the effort if you're looking for something to distract you from waiting for your results.

Brief summary from my memory (which may be inaccurate).

• Passing rate actually went up slightly when the transition to CBT happened
• There was a big debate about whether NCEES was allow to ask you questions that required knowledge that isn't in their provided reference. Officially there's no verbiage that prevents them from asking whatever they want. In practice it seems any numerical solutions will be covered by the reference, but conceptual questions might not be.
• I have no idea how all of this will translate to Civil with all of your codes.

But ultimately it doesn't matter because you're going to pass this time.

From the electrical perspective:

@jean15paul_PE is correct regarding his first bullet point. The pass rate for electrical power jumped from 40 percent in October 2019 (50 percent in April 2019) to 70 percent. There was a debate whether jump in pass rate was because the CBT was "easier" than the P/P, or the jump in pass rate was the result of many examinees spending an entire year of studying between the last P/P offered in October '19, both exams getting cancelled in 2020 and CBT first offered in December of 2020. Since the beginning of this year, the CBT pass rate has declined, but to what level I don't know.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Pencil and Paper FEs unite!!!!!!

FTW! It was me and my 1300 closest friends in a giant convention hall. Thirty+ rows made up of forty people, split into two columns with twenty seated at a long conjoined tables in each row of the column.

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Pencil and Paper FEs unite!!!!!!

P&P all the way!

 

[steel]

View attachment 25556

MY HEART JUST DROPPED SO HARD

Plot twist: They've only just started the scoring process now. It will be 8-10 weeks from today that we get the results.

*ducks rotten tomatoes*

 

[Tiger15]

What I loved about the P&P FE exam. The exam book that was handed out had all 7 exams in it. I flipped through both the general and the ME specific before decided which to take. This was in 2003.

 

[leggo PE]

What I loved about the P&P FE exam. The exam book that was handed out had all 7 exams in it. I flipped through both the general and the ME specific before decided which to take. This was in 2003.

Ha, could you have really chosen in the exam? I took the P&P FE exam in April 2011, but I’m fairly certain I needed to choose my afternoon section specifically when I registered for the exam.

 

[morphe83 PE]

Almost 30k join us it is fun! October 2021 30k Spam Thread?
We need to beat 2014's record.

 

[Tiger15]

Ha, could you have really chosen in the exam? I took the P&P FE exam in April 2011, but I’m fairly certain I needed to choose my afternoon section specifically when I registered for the exam.

yeah when I took it in 2003. The book had all 7 exams in it. The first thing you did was fill out your registration info on the scantron. I.e. enter your name and personal info. And one of the things you entered in was which exam you were taking.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Ha, could you have really chosen in the exam? I took the P&P FE exam in April 2011, but I’m fairly certain I needed to choose my afternoon section specifically when I registered for the exam.

I seem to recall having the option to pick any exam I wanted out of the book for the FE in April 2005. I definitely remember the proctors making a huge freaking deal out of entering the right code for the exam on the scantron. But I knew that I was going to be taking the general engineering option regardless. My mechanical engineering instruction was too... inconsistent.

I had to list the exam I was taking as part of the application process for the Oct 2013 PE, but I think I might have been able to change it later.

 

[HBO]

I'm sure if you searched these board you can find discussion about the transition to CBT in the Mechanical and Electrical forums. It might be worth the effort if you're looking for something to distract you from waiting for your results.

Brief summary from my memory (which may be inaccurate).

• Passing rate actually went up slightly when the transition to CBT happened
• There was a big debate about whether NCEES is allowed to ask you questions that required knowledge that isn't in their provided reference. Officially there's no verbiage that prevents them from asking whatever they want. In practice it seems any numerical solutions will be covered by the reference, but conceptual questions might not be.
• I have no idea how all of this will translate to Civil with all of your codes.

But ultimately it doesn't matter because you're going to pass this time.

I believe like the pass rates will go up for construction as well, should be able to save a lot of time using ctrl+F when looking up the references.

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Ha, could you have really chosen in the exam? I took the P&P FE exam in April 2011, but I’m fairly certain I needed to choose my afternoon section specifically when I registered for the exam.

yeah when I took it in 2003. The book had all 7 exams in it. The first thing you did was fill out your registration info on the scantron. I.e. enter your name and personal info. And one of the things you entered in was which exam you were taking.

This is the way the husband's was as well, and that was in 2007. When I took it in 2012, you had to pick ahead of time.

 

[leggo PE]

I seem to recall having the option to pick any exam I wanted out of the book for the FE in April 2013. I definitely remember the proctors making a huge freaking deal out of entering the right code for the exam on the scantron. But I knew that I was going to be taking the general engineering option regardless. My mechanical engineering instruction was too... inconsistent.

I had to list the exam I was taking as part of the application process for the Oct 2013 PE, but I think I might have been able to change it later.

Maybe that’s what I had to do too, then. I do remember the book having all the different options in it; I guess I just never had it in my mind to do anything but structural depth.

This is the way the husband's was as well, and that was in 2007. When I took it in 2012, you had to pick ahead of time.

Wait, this was the year before RB. Weird that it would be different in differing locations….

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Wait, this was the year before RB. Weird that it would be different in differing locations….

My mistake, sorry. I meant to write when I took the FE in April 2005. Accidently wrote the year I first took the PE instead. I edited it above.

Wait, this was the year before RB. Weird that it would be different in differing locations….

Was there structural depth on the FE? I thought it was by major discipline: General, Civil, Mech, Elect, Chem, Envr

 

[leggo PE]

My mistake, sorry. I meant to write when I took the FE in April 2005. Accidently wrote the year I first took the PE instead. I edited it above.


Was there structural depth on the FE? I thought it was by major discipline: General, Civil, Mech, Elect, Chem, Envr

Ugh, must have been civil then. I guess I don’t remember much about my P&P F.E. Exam besides the fact that it WAS P&P.

 

[Tiger15]

My mistake, sorry. I meant to write when I took the FE in April 2005. Accidently wrote the year I first took the PE instead. I edited it above.


Was there structural depth on the FE? I thought it was by major discipline: General, Civil, Mech, Elect, Chem, Envr

There was definitely an Industrial Eng option. I specifically remember, as I flipped through the book, thinking: "Industrial Engineering looks easy. I bet I could take that one and pass."

No offense to any IE's in here.

 

[Tiger15]

I'm sure if you searched these boards you can find discussion about the transition to CBT in the Mechanical and Electrical forums. It might be worth the effort if you're looking for something to distract you from waiting for your results.

Brief summary from my memory (which may be inaccurate).

• Passing rate actually went up slightly when the transition to CBT happened
• There was a big debate about whether NCEES is allowed to ask you questions that required knowledge that isn't in their provided reference. Officially there's no verbiage that prevents them from asking whatever they want. In practice it seems any numerical solutions will be covered by the reference, but conceptual questions might not be.
• I have no idea how all of this will translate to Civil with all of your codes.

But ultimately it doesn't matter because you're going to pass this time.

Something else to add about the CBT transition...

NCEES published the first version of the ME reference (v1.0) more than 6 months before the transition. V1.0 had a lot of errors.

V1.1 was released a month or so before the first CBT exam, and it fixed a lot of errors, but some still remained.

V1.2 came out months later and was pretty good at that point.

I don't know if electrical or any of the other disciples went through the same process, but just something to be aware of.

I will say that a couple of the PE course providers went through the reference with a fine toothed comb and submitted a ton of feedback to NCEES, which was much appreciated.

 

[Pra4surf1]

From the electrical perspective:

@jean15paul_PE is correct regarding his first bullet point. The pass rate for electrical power jumped from 40 percent in October 2019 (50 percent in April 2019) to 70 percent. There was a debate whether jump in pass rate was because the CBT was "easier" than the P/P, or the jump in pass rate was the result of many examinees spending an entire year of studying between the last P/P offered in October '19, both exams getting cancelled in 2020 and CBT first offered in December of 2020. Since the beginning of this year, the CBT pass rate has declined, but to what level I don't know.

So I just sat for the PE exam Civil Construction for the third time. I've always come to these threads to help get through the wait, but it wasn't until today I realized I was actually a member. The first time I took the Test October 20, I signed up for the School of PE on demand class. It was really helpful since I had not seen a bunch of this stuff since 2013. I felt good about the AM but I didn't have any of the resources for the PM. I got 29/40 in the morning but only 20/40 in the afternoon. The second test April 2021, I bought all of the references tried to focus more on concepts so I could really understand the material since I felt I was so close to passing. I ended up getting 24/40 in the morning and 23/40 in the afternoon. This time Around bought 8 practice exams and just hammered away at problems. I felt good about the morning but uneasy about the afternoon. Hoping for the best. Do you all think the CBT exam will be harder than P&P since references won't be allowed? I thought about switching disciplines to Water Resources because that has a significantly higher pass rate and less required materials. But I am determined to prove to myself that I can pass this test.

Best of luck on passing. My second attempt this Oct I went pretty hard on practice exams and problems. Definitely felt better than first attempt in April which was brutal. Maybe problems problems problems is the way to get it done! Regarding civil CBT does anyone know how quickly the schedule fills up. Being a testing center with limited computers I imagine they stay booked. Also after 3rd failed attempt do you still have to wait a year and take some type of continuing education course?

 

[Tiger15]

Best of luck on passing. My second attempt this Oct I went pretty hard on practice exams and problems. Definitely felt better than first attempt in April which was brutal. Maybe problems problems problems is the way to get it done! Regarding civil CBT does anyone know how quickly the schedule fills up. Being a testing center with limited computers I imagine they stay booked. Also after 3rd failed attempt do you still have to wait a year and take some type of continuing education course?

To date it seems like you can usually get a testing date within a month or two at most. I don't consider that too bad, but it does require planning ahead.

That being said, I fully expect that to change for the worse. Civil engineers are by far the largest group of PE testers. I expected that adding the typical yearly amount of civil examinees to the pool of people taking the CBT will significantly impact testing center availability.

Regarding the 3 failed attempt thing: I'm not familiar with that. Is that an NCEES rule or a rule by your state board?