PE Civil (Construction)-- Highest failing score

[PatrickG]

I took the Construction in Maryland and just found out I passed. First Time test taker. I have a fellow co-worker who took the test in VA and scored a 53/80. I see someone posted a 54/80 so I would guess that is close to the limit.

I took the Goswami online review course and used the notes and his book as my main reference. I had the 2013 CERM as backup and used the index multiple times. I brought all the references listed, but felt really shafted on the OSHA questions. One questions required an answer from a table, that I could not find anywhere in my copy of the OSHA guidelines. I guess you have to be careful with these third party printers.

I work in Land Development and was undecided between Water Resources and Constructions. Several co-workers recommended construction, and I am glad I took it. I felt unsure of the Environmental portion of the Water Resources depth.

 

[LSPE]

I finally passed mine and I had to take it many times. If i can make one recommendation to those looking to take the PE, DO NOT TAKE CONSTRUCTION. Take Trans or something else. Construction is a total wild card, I never broke 25 right in the afternoon; i'm pretty sure that i did very well in the morning this time too, the afternoon construction was brutal.

I used and bought every construction book I could get my hands on, there were times too that I had no idea and there wasn't an answer in any book. My co-workers who took and passed construction would tell you the same exact thing too.

I agree - if one needs to pass PE with construction - one should be very good in Scheduling and Estimation. and Should score minimum 32/40 in AM

 

[Packman]

I only studied 6 weeks prior to the Construction PE test due to not knowing if I could sit for the exam until September 4th. I did study pretty hard for those six weeks. I used a 2007 CERM, plowed through both Rajapakse Construction PE and Construction PE practice problems books and other reference books for this test. I felt the morning and the afternoon went pretty well. I did run out of time and had to guess on a couple of problems. To my horror and surprise I got notification that I failed 45/80 on the October 2012 Exam. I use to be a professional estimator and have a really good understanding of construction cost estimating. As it turns out, I only got 25% correct on estimating. There must be something I’m missing with the estimating problems and how NCEES works them. Does anyone have any Idea what I may be missing?

Rico...I felt the same way although I put about 6 months of studying in. My background and strong suit is in cost estimating. I left both sessions feeling that I passed the exam with out a issue. I guessed on 3 or 4 questions each session. The rest I was confident on. Ended up with a 45/80 failing score. That was with a 2/7 on estimating quantities and a 2/4 on earthwork construction and a 4/7 on scheduling. These are all my damn strong suits. I guess I must have messed something up or just didn't take my time.

 

[ikesdsu]

to determine cut score.

LOL, here we go again.

Like knight said, here we go again....

There are so many of these same threads right now. Speaking from experience, don't worry about the cut score, just get as many as you can. If you say to yourself, ok I need to shoot for 53 and you only study enough to get 53, then you screw up a couple you will have to take it again. Don't waste your time figuring out a cut score, it changes each time anyway.

 

[ricochaz]

Yup same here except I got 100% correct on th 4 earthwork problems. I was hammering the scheduling problems (my strong area) and thought I had got them all with out a mistake, To my suprise I only got 4 out of 7 correct 57% scheduling. Same with thing with estimating 2 out of 7 for 28%. Well I guess I have a good three and a half months to get ready for the April PE. I'm sticking with Construction no mater what anyone says in this thread. I know it's hard to study for but it's what I've done most all of my career. I did self study and kind of cramed for the exam since I had little time to prepare. I'll try to muster up a little holiday cheer and then back to the books.

 

[reptile_2007]

i got 2 out of 7 also in estimating also. I'm also sticking with construction. im in too deep with the books now. I hope in April they take it easy with the word/conception problem in the morning. They took my lunch.

 

[who.is.the.gaucho]

I failed in Apr 12 and passed Oct. I remember being surprised by the # of AM and PM concept or qualitative questions in Apr. I had luck looking in the back of CERM for a key term within the question, and writing every section number that might apply in the questions booklet. As I starterd to rule out sections as I looked them up, I would cross them off the list I had made. If I wasn't confident when I left that question, at least I had a good starting point when I came back to it. Sometimes, I would come back after a while, and with a fresh set of eyes, the answer seemed apparent. Maybe it's overkill. Just an idea.

(~):}

 

[reptile_2007]

thanks. i will try that.

 

[IlPadrino]

I agree - if one needs to pass PE with construction - one should be very good in Scheduling and Estimation. and Should score minimum 32/40 in AM

If you can score 32/40 in the morning, you should be good to go regardless of the depth you take... because getting 22/40 in the PM is a pretty low bar.

 

[ricochaz]

I agree - if one needs to pass PE with construction - one should be very good in Scheduling and Estimation. and Should score minimum 32/40 in AM

If you can score 32/40 in the morning, you should be good to go regardless of the depth you take... because getting 22/40 in the PM is a pretty low bar.

\yup I agree 32 in the morning would have done the trick.

 

[reptile_2007]

any tips for special topics section in the afternoon?

 

[ricochaz]

Yeah that's another one "Other Topics" did poor on this. What are the "Other Topics"?

 

[desantmf]

The other topics are depth portions of other modules. As you can see from below alot to study, but every depth module has to account for some "other topics" in their afternoon section.

Groundwater and well fields (Groundwater control including drainage, Construction Dewatering)

Subsurface exploration and sampling (drilling and sampling procedures)

Earth retaining structures (a. Mechanically stabilized earth wall, b. Soil and rock anchors)

Deep foundations (a. Pile load test, b. Pile installation)

Loadings (a. Wind, b. Snow, c. Load paths)

Mechanics of materials(Progressive Collapse) - Materials (a. Concrete(Prestressed concrete, post tensioned), b. Timber)

Traffic safety( Work zone safety)

 

[mofftarkin]

i am currently practicing mechanical engineering, but have a civil-construction degree and passed this exam on my first try. i found the afternoon portion very easy. i disagree with the "wild card" description everyone is so quick to use.

i just took october, and thought the afternoon was cake compared to the morning portion. i received the most help by studying the ncees practice exam. if you look in the solutions, they give you the references the problems were sampled from. purchase a few of these books, especially the nunnally construction methods and management! there were a handfull of answers this exam i referenced from the index. i got the seventh edition used for less than 6 dollars on amazon. tab the osha book, these are also gimmes. use the CERM, goswami pe manual, and all the recommended texts per ncees and you'll do fine. stay away from any of rujapakse's books. fck that guy. i purchased his manual and solved every problem before i realized all the amazon reviews were submitted by him: "practice, practice, practice." i felt that not one problem in his book was reflective of what i was tested on.

i only solved 28 problems on the morning and had to guess the rest. with the above references, i solved 38 in the afternoon portion. not sure how many of those were correct, but i achieved a passing score.

tl;dr this test was not unreasonably difficult. with the proper references and preparation you can pass with confidence.

 

[upstatemike]

Anybody can do a search and find countless topics on the construction issue. I've been in Civil construction for over a decade and also run a part time excavation business, I have plenty of construction experience in every facet imaginable (dirt, buildings, bridges, etc.). Take it as you will, but you'll find after you take it a few times that it's a wild card, I saw questions I can't even imagine were even on a PE exam. I can't tell you how many people i've talked to who have tried construction, failed, and switched to trans and passed it the first time. Four co-workers/friends all took construction (several times) and all wish they had just taken trans.

I found the best thing to do is study the things that are easy like scheduling, estimating, OSHA etc...., questions you know will be on it and are easy.....it will be the questions you can't study for that will take you down.

Just a recommendation. Had I not spent so much on my books, I would have switched to trans and passed sooner.

 

[afewgood]

Anybody can do a search and find countless topics on the construction issue. I've been in Civil construction for over a decade and also run a part time excavation business, I have plenty of construction experience in every facet imaginable (dirt, buildings, bridges, etc.). Take it as you will, but you'll find after you take it a few times that it's a wild card, I saw questions I can't even imagine were even on a PE exam. I can't tell you how many people i've talked to who have tried construction, failed, and switched to trans and passed it the first time. Four co-workers/friends all took construction (several times) and all wish they had just taken trans.

I found the best thing to do is study the things that are easy like scheduling, estimating, OSHA etc...., questions you know will be on it and are easy.....it will be the questions you can't study for that will take you down.

Just a recommendation. Had I not spent so much on my books, I would have switched to trans and passed sooner.

i doubt the NCEEs got all correct answers for all questions.