Repeat Takers Strategies - Civil PE CBT

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Pra4surf1 said:
Came across another curve ball. The testing center closest to me is nearly full for the year with booked appointments. If you haven’t booked your test date yet you should probably decide quickly. I was shooting for May but it is full along with June, July. Only 2 days were available in April so I got lucky to get in there. Good luck!
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Wow thanks for the heads up! I'll get right on it.
 
Pra4surf1 said:
Came across another curve ball. The testing center closest to me is nearly full for the year with booked appointments. If you haven’t booked your test date yet you should probably decide quickly. I was shooting for May but it is full along with June, July. Only 2 days were available in April so I got lucky to get in there. Good luck!
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Where are you at?

I have two centers here in Pittsburgh which are both almost equidistant from my house, but the one I preferred was about 2/3 to 3/4 filled on any given month.
 
Pra4surf1 said:
I’m in Wilmington NC
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At least you've got 2 more in Raleigh, 1 in Fayetteville, and 3 in Charlotte. If both of mine are filled up, I'd have to cross state lines, which I don't think is allowed unless I try to get the license in that state first.
 
structurenole15 said:
At least you've got 2 more in Raleigh, 1 in Fayetteville, and 3 in Charlotte. If both of mine are filled up, I'd have to cross state lines, which I don't think is allowed unless I try to get the license in that state first.
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I was told by Pearson yesterday they block out a large # of dates for medical exams even if they’re not booked by someone.
 
What state? June is so far. I still need to submit my application to the NY State board for approval. I did not think about this at all.
 
First meeting is set up for THIS SUNDAY 12/19 @ 8 pm EST. This meeting is limited to an hour (since I don't have a paid MSTeams account), we can figure out something else in the future if needed.

12/19/2021 Meeting: MSTeams Engineering Board Study Group Meeting

Anybody is welcome to join the meeting. If you haven't already, please fill out the survey!

Survey: Engineering Boards Study Group Survey




@youngandmotivated @structurenole15 @Pra4surf1 @AngelaK @KOKOMO777 @lormarigondon @Liz06 @devs07
 
Pra4surf1 said:
Day 2 of failing results sucks as bad or worse than day one and waking up this morning just feeling destroyed by this is creating so much doubt about whether I can do this again and put my family through this torture. Here is what I’ve done and thoughts about the exam if I decide to keep going.

1. How many attempts we each made and what was our correct number answered.

1st attempt was 34/80
2nd attempt was 44/80

2. Study strategy for each prior exam that didn’t work and what to avoid including practice exams that are poor from internet.

1st attempt took itre class and created an index based off of their notes. Did several practice exams but spent too much time on references and failed badly.

2nd attempt I spent most of my time working problems and updating index. I logged in 250 hrs and worked over 1200 problems. Last few weeks I could score 100 on most practice exams including the ncees

3. Diagnostic list in order with worse area being # 1 and discuss how we can help each other on our weak areas.

1-temporary structures
2-means and methods
3-structural
4-hydro
5-earthwork construction and layout

other areas weren’t too bad but these 5 were less than half answered correctly.

5. Ncees CBT reference manual strategy.

From what I’ve read the reference supplied is a searchable pdf and few people have commented it’s way faster than searching through books. I looked at the preview practice exam by ncees and several problems are not in the reference which is concerning. Maybe the preview is different than the actual but I will be in real trouble if any exam problems rely on school knowledge as it’s been 21 years since I graduated.

6. Suggested classes.
Are there any classes now that are conforming to the CBT if so who

7. Possible zoom meeting and teaming up.

I’m available anytime someone is interested in a discussion by phone or zoom. Sometimes it’s faster and more valuable to talk.


8. Common mistakes such as waste factors , units, etc.

During many practice exams earlier on I missed many questions because of simple steps like not including a waste, or productivity factor. I actually caught myself 3 times during the exam making this mistake.

If I do continue forward which I most likely will my thought now is how long to wait before taking the CBT. I actually started a new job this week so all the daytime hrs I had previously for studying are no longer an option which makes my decision even tougher. Lots of doubt and frustration at this point. Many first time passers I’ve spoken with seem to be relatively fresh out of school which even creates further doubt for me
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Greetings Pra4surf1,
I passed on my 5th attempt Civil/Structural. One of the reasons I failed the 3rd attempt was beating myself up for failing the first two and losing ground due to each study session becoming another opportunity to beat up on myself some more. So don't let the mental game get to you. You have the intelligence to get this done or you wouldn't have made it this far. The key is to get a game plan that works for you. I used the PPI study first round, EET and Civil Engineering Academy later rounds. What put me over the top on my 5th attempt? I studied in the months prior by getting as familiar as possible with the material(s) I would be taking into the test; then I took off work two weeks before the test, each day for 10 days I took a 4 hour test each morning. I spent at least 4 hours each afternoon grading the test, reviewing the ones I had gotten correct (see if I guessed or calculated the answer and determine why it worked) then I studied each of the problems I missed and walked through the process of solving it correctly (going back to source information and tracking it back to my materials going to the test with me). I also took two full days off before the test; went and did some kayaking and hiking to rejuvenate. I know things will be somewhat different with the CBT, but it helps with the mental game as well. Here's to passing your next attempt. Cheers!
 
rodr said:
First meeting is set up for THIS SUNDAY 12/19 @ 8 pm EST. This meeting is limited to an hour (since I don't have a paid MSTeams account), we can figure out something else in the future if needed.

12/19/2021 Meeting: MSTeams Engineering Board Study Group Meeting

Anybody is welcome to join the meeting. If you haven't already, please fill out the survey!

Survey: Engineering Boards Study Group Survey




@youngandmotivated @structurenole15 @Pra4surf1 @AngelaK @KOKOMO777 @lormarigondon @Liz06 @devs07
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Being Sunday morning and a different time zone, I missed the meeting. Not a great start for me. Could you please still count me in? What where the discussion topics?
 
rodr said:
First meeting is set up for THIS SUNDAY 12/19 @ 8 pm EST. This meeting is limited to an hour (since I don't have a paid MSTeams account), we can figure out something else in the future if needed.

12/19/2021 Meeting: MSTeams Engineering Board Study Group Meeting

Anybody is welcome to join the meeting. If you haven't already, please fill out the survey!

Survey: Engineering Boards Study Group Survey




@youngandmotivated @structurenole15 @Pra4surf1 @AngelaK @KOKOMO777 @lormarigondon @Liz06 @devs07
Click to expand...
Thanks Rod! Awesome of you to set this up talk tonight!
 
tru2YM said:
Greetings Pra4surf1,
I passed on my 5th attempt Civil/Structural. One of the reasons I failed the 3rd attempt was beating myself up for failing the first two and losing ground due to each study session becoming another opportunity to beat up on myself some more. So don't let the mental game get to you. You have the intelligence to get this done or you wouldn't have made it this far. The key is to get a game plan that works for you. I used the PPI study first round, EET and Civil Engineering Academy later rounds. What put me over the top on my 5th attempt? I studied in the months prior by getting as familiar as possible with the material(s) I would be taking into the test; then I took off work two weeks before the test, each day for 10 days I took a 4 hour test each morning. I spent at least 4 hours each afternoon grading the test, reviewing the ones I had gotten correct (see if I guessed or calculated the answer and determine why it worked) then I studied each of the problems I missed and walked through the process of solving it correctly (going back to source information and tracking it back to my materials going to the test with me). I also took two full days off before the test; went and did some kayaking and hiking to rejuvenate. I know things will be somewhat different with the CBT, but it helps with the mental game as well. Here's to passing your next attempt. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for your positive encouragement and sharing your experience ! Which class did you like the most! It’s interesting you speak about your references as after analyzing this to death I remember one week before the exam doing a practice exam that had some problems I wasn’t familiar and couldn’t navigate the CERM well enough for solutions. Then I came across the NCEES HB. I immediately found some solutions to the tougher problems and also noticed that my class books had slightly different formulas that was causing me to get incorrect answers. Immediately I wished I had more time to practice problems from the CERM and HB. While taking the exam I remember not using the references a whole lot at first and several questions referred to one ACI book I didn’t have. Also there was many concept questions that I didn’t know. The combination of concept, harder questions, and some trouble navigating different resources was enough I think to create the gap. So that being said I am spending more focus on those areas this time. Thanks again for your thoughts and CONGRATS PE!
 
AngelaK said:
Being Sunday morning and a different time zone, I missed the meeting. Not a great start for me. Could you please still count me in? What where the discussion topics?
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What time zone are you in? If you’re in US you haven’t missed it. It’s at 8 pm est today.
 
Pra4surf1 said:
Thanks Rod! Awesome of you to set this up talk tonight!
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Why cant we set this up on zoom? 40 mins meetings are free on it. I don't know about MS Teams free or not - I used to have work from home with MS Teams but Work from home stopped in September 2021
 

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