STEEL MAN
Man of Steel
You can share expereince here. Feel free.
PE Exam April 2011, how did you feel
- Thread starter STEEL MAN
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This was my second time in civil-transportation, I thought it was pretty easy. There were a couple questions that I know I missed as I looked them up when I got home, but am confident that there won't be a third time for me. The first time I took the test I didn't do many problems, this time I had 5, (minimum 2") 3-ring binders, a geotech, structural, water resources/environmental, construction with economics and a 5" binder just with transportation problems. I did hundreds of problems and was well organized and familiar with my resources.
Now the waiting game begins and Iowa isn't known for being on the front end of releasing results.
Now the waiting game begins and Iowa isn't known for being on the front end of releasing results.
DJsigma
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I took the civil/structural.
I felt great after the morning session. I finished an hour early and went back over all my answers. The afternoon was a different story. I found it to be much more difficult. I felt the problems were tricky, and there were a few problems that required references that I did not have. There weren't any problems that I didn't know how to solve (in theory), but there were several in which I didn't come up with an answer similar to any of the answer choices.
Overall, I feel like I'll be straddling the pass/not pass line.
I felt great after the morning session. I finished an hour early and went back over all my answers. The afternoon was a different story. I found it to be much more difficult. I felt the problems were tricky, and there were a few problems that required references that I did not have. There weren't any problems that I didn't know how to solve (in theory), but there were several in which I didn't come up with an answer similar to any of the answer choices.
Overall, I feel like I'll be straddling the pass/not pass line.
STEEL MAN
Man of Steel
in usual PE exams Civil/Struc/Transpo- theyre mostly code dependent in the PM sessions, so you musr have all the relevant codes used, if not it would be a guessing game for sure.
Civil / Structural:
I think the morning was easy for me, I finished it in almost 2.5 hrs. The afternoon was tough, too many questions from codes that I didn't have. Hope I can pass the first time.
By the way, what you guys mean when you say "the passing rate for repeater is low" is that from NCEES or just a guess.
I think the morning was easy for me, I finished it in almost 2.5 hrs. The afternoon was tough, too many questions from codes that I didn't have. Hope I can pass the first time.
By the way, what you guys mean when you say "the passing rate for repeater is low" is that from NCEES or just a guess.
STEEL MAN
Man of Steel
from NCEES, they have a poll of examinees taken maximum of 50 samples, and they are from ABET accred. schools, they rate as far as I can remember was roughly 20+% passing rate for repaet takers, but there is a chance.
STEEL MAN
Man of Steel
Based from threads I read, these repeat takers are mostly out in the field for a while, and tried to get back on studying, it is tough I would imagine having out dated and never used them for a while.
So it is just how the test repeater perform/act on the exam, not like a rule with the NCEES to set the passing rate low for repeater as I understood originally.
For me I took the FE 3 times and I passed in the 3rd time, honestly I didn't have a chance to study hard before the exam every time with a lot of projects with deadline around the exam date, but in 3rd time I didn't even open a book and it was the time I passed (maybe coz I was used to the exam problems
)
For the PE it is my first time, but this time I really did my best, I even took 2 weeks off, so I hope I can make it.
For me I took the FE 3 times and I passed in the 3rd time, honestly I didn't have a chance to study hard before the exam every time with a lot of projects with deadline around the exam date, but in 3rd time I didn't even open a book and it was the time I passed (maybe coz I was used to the exam problems
)For the PE it is my first time, but this time I really did my best, I even took 2 weeks off, so I hope I can make it.
Civil/Structural:
Time - It was not an issue. I had at least 30 minutes left on both AM and PM sessions.
AM - I felt it was okay. Actually, it was easy but i'm not sure whether i got the correct answer or not for the theory questions from geotech and wastewater/hydrology sections :-(.
PM - I felt it was easy compared to AM session. I do agree - few questions were tricky and few questions required code books. I'm glad that i took all the reference materials with me.
Time - It was not an issue. I had at least 30 minutes left on both AM and PM sessions.
AM - I felt it was okay. Actually, it was easy but i'm not sure whether i got the correct answer or not for the theory questions from geotech and wastewater/hydrology sections :-(.
PM - I felt it was easy compared to AM session. I do agree - few questions were tricky and few questions required code books. I'm glad that i took all the reference materials with me
.
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I took the Civil/Structural. Thought the AM portion was mostly pretty easy. The PM portion I would rate as 'medium'. I did do the 'School of PE' and can say that I feel it prepared me very well for the AM portion (School of PE left alot to be desired for the structural PM though).
I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?
I'm curious about what is typical with most everybody else's employers...My employer will not pay for my exam fee nor did they pay for any exam study materials. But they did pay me for my time on Friday (I didn't have to use a vacation day). What about your employer? Did they pay for your exam? Pay you for your time on Friday? Pay for study materials?
STEEL MAN
Man of Steel
ezmorningrebel
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my employer will pay for the exam when you pass it. other attempts are on you. i was also paid for the day off to go take it. they do not pay for study materials. luckily we have all of the necessary codes so all I bought was review materials.
Boomer01 PE
Boomer Sooner!
Transportation
This was my second time taking it and I felt much better than I did the last time. I got a 46 on it the first time, so need to make up around 10 questions. The morning was much smoother and the afternoon started of great but the few questions that I skipped over were nightmares and I had to end up guessing on a few.
This was my second time taking it and I felt much better than I did the last time. I got a 46 on it the first time, so need to make up around 10 questions. The morning was much smoother and the afternoon started of great but the few questions that I skipped over were nightmares and I had to end up guessing on a few.
I also took the School of PE review course. I can say it prepared me very well for the morning part, but for the structural afternoon it was not that good.
I will talk to my employer and see if they will reimburse me for the review course cost but I doubt they will, but they will honor the exam day hours for sure.
Also I had to buy almost all the codes since they are still using outdated codes at work
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We had to pay for the test and any books we need at my company, which unfortunately since there were a few of us taking it from my office meant I had to go out and buy all my own copies of the codes. I'm just really really hoping I passed so I can sell them and get some $$ back! We also have to use our vacation time to take the test here. We do get a small bonus if we pass, which basically covers the cost of the test and study materials.
I also took the civil-structural. Thought the morning was really easy, the afternoon wasn't super hard, just a bit time consuming. I made the mistake of going after the longer problems first and think I wasted too much time on those instead of tackling the quick ones first. At this point I feel I did ok, but who knows, I could have very easily made some dumb mistakes! Keeping my fingers crossed I don't have to take it again!
Ambrug20
Project Engineer
I took Transportation.
Morning was ok. I had School of PE classes and was able to find at least 4 answers (of cause not exact, but close enough to answer the questions). Structural is out of my expertise, so if i didn't guess any structural answer correct, my chances to have 70% in the morning are low. I only would have to miss 4 out of Trans, WR, Const. and Geo.
Afternoon session was complicated to me. I don't remember 12 Geometric Design questions. They probably were there, but they didn't look like using formulas. It probably were questions from Green Book. These questions were asking the least useful tables to find, some questions I had to read 3-4 times to understand the task. They gave scenario in the problem, than they said, "what if...", and gave a different scenario. It took my to read 5 times to understand which scenario they wanted to calculate: first, second or the difference. Any way, I felt like everything I learned was for nothing. On my practice tests I had very good scores, but last Friday, working my way to a goal, I was absolutely not sure if my best engineering judgment comply with NCEES judgment. I hate to do it again. I studied very hard, worked out hundreds of questions, but probably I am not a good test taker. time will show.
Tanya , I took School of PE classes too. I feel Morning is o.k. Only I found difficulty in Geotech rest subject was ok for me.
For Afternoon I did well in Traffic Analysis and Geometic Design. For Transportation Planning and traffic safety questions were chanllenging and not sure how many I did well and same thing for other topics.
My employer is reimbursing me for around $850-$1000 of my expenses IF I pass. Expenses including exam fees and books. They gave me a signed letter agreement a year ago attesting to that.
I had to take my own vacation time on Friday though.
Ambrug20
Project Engineer
I am not sure if different states has the same format. I talked to 5 Transprt. people after the test, and they all said it was challenging. But on the other hand all of us have different ways to learn and act. For some people the test was easy, and some had hard time- this is the way this test was design, i think.
I also took Transportation and think morning was a little too heavy on Structural (and Structural IS my worst subject), but doable. The afternoon was tough for me. There were quite a few questions I had to guess on because of the way they were worded, or simply because I did not have enough time. This was my first attempt in Transportation, so I really wonder how this test compare to October one was. Anybody?
