Repeat Takers Strategies - Civil PE CBT

[Pra4surf1]

There are multiple valid answers. Before you solve for x, you need to put the the value of your closest guess into x. The solver finds the answer closest to the value you put in x. When you cleared the memory, it put zero into x.

After reading your explanation again I looked closer at the value or place holder for X. I never noticed it holds the value from the last calculation and can throw off the answer. Thanks so much for your feedback you are right on!

 

[Pra4surf1]

So I started the construction civil exam at 7:45 this morning. Took 30 min lunch break and returned for afternoon session. 1 hr in the Pearson building lost power. An hour later they told us we had to reschedule. I will say I felt really prepared but the morning was the hardest exam I’ve taken yet. I felt really solid on 27, 9 50/50, and 4 I just couldn’t figure out how to get started even being comfortable on a topic. In all honesty this morning exam was tougher than any previous exams or practice exams I’ve been taking and consistently scoring 85 or better on. After 2 years of serious studying including EET classes and another I don’t feel like there’s anything else I can do to prepare except understanding the test writers. Lots of tough concept questions. What else can I do to be more prepared besides working problems and watching videos? Maybe I want this too badly and getting in my own head. This would have been my 4th attempt. Any suggestions? What a crazy ride this has been I’m so burnt out.

 

[Gen]

@Pra4surf1

wow! Looks like not an easy exam anymore. This is completely opposite of what i heard from previous test taker early this year.

I don’t understand why would they make this super difficult.

 

[rodr]

@Pra4surf1 I'm really sorry to hear about your test and the venue loosing power. It can be really devastating to work so hard towards a date and then have something random happen and not be able to even finish the exam.

I wanted to let you know that I am very familiar with your current position. I started studying for the exam in January 2020. I finally passed in June 2022. I studied for the entire 2.5 years. The only time I took off was the time between the paper test and getting the results. I took the paper test 3 times and the CBT once. I was devastated that I did not pass on the last paper exam because I didn't know how I could pass the test without references.

On my final attempt (CBT exam) I felt completely trashed and burned out. I thought the morning went well, but I had to take the whole 4 hrs. In the afternoon I was angry. So angry. The questions were outside of everything that I had studied for the last 2 years. I had never seen the types of questions that were asked. I knew I failed and I honestly did not think that I had it in me to try again. Things were already so bad for me that I actually started to see a therapist as I was preparing for my 4th attempt. I'll share with you something that my therapist said that really helped me: You have to treat every failed attempt as a loss and allow yourself to grieve. And burnout is ABSOLUETLY real. I thought she was crazy, but as soon as I started to cut myself some slack and really allowed myself to grieve and relax it really helped me manage my emotional and mental health going into my 4th attempt. For a long time I felt ridiculous about the fact that this stupid test lead me to a therapist. But 2.5 yrs is a lot of effort and sacrifice. That breaks people. So cut yourself some slack.

Here are some facts: This test is very hard. Don't beat yourself up about it. There is absolutely no way you can know every single thing that these topics cover. A lot of us are working full time jobs and have kids and families to take care of, acknowledge the fact that we are all stretched thin.

When it comes to passing this test, I feel it is 40% luck(problem selection and lucky guesses) and 60% knowledge. Don't give up. Take some time off, relax, give yourself a physical and mental break, see a therapist if you need to but don't give up.

 

[Pra4surf1]

@Pra4surf1 I'm really sorry to hear about your test and the venue loosing power. It can be really devastating to work so hard towards a date and then have something random happen and not be able to even finish the exam.

I wanted to let you know that I am very familiar with your current position. I started studying for the exam in January 2020. I finally passed in June 2022. I studied for the entire 2.5 years. The only time I took off was the time between the paper test and getting the results. I took the paper test 3 times and the CBT once. I was devastated that I did not pass on the last paper exam because I didn't know how I could pass the test without references.

On my final attempt (CBT exam) I felt completely trashed and burned out. I thought the morning went well, but I had to take the whole 4 hrs. In the afternoon I was angry. So angry. The questions were outside of everything that I had studied for the last 2 years. I had never seen the types of questions that were asked. I knew I failed and I honestly did not think that I had it in me to try again. Things were already so bad for me that I actually started to see a therapist as I was preparing for my 4th attempt. I'll share with you something that my therapist said that really helped me: You have to treat every failed attempt as a loss and allow yourself to grieve. And burnout is ABSOLUETLY real. I thought she was crazy, but as soon as I started to cut myself some slack and really allowed myself to grieve and relax it really helped me manage my emotional and mental health going into my 4th attempt. For a long time I felt ridiculous about the fact that this stupid test lead me to a therapist. But 2.5 yrs is a lot of effort and sacrifice. That breaks people. So cut yourself some slack.

Here are some facts: This test is very hard. Don't beat yourself up about it. There is absolutely no way you can know every single thing that these topics cover. A lot of us are working full time jobs and have kids and families to take care of, acknowledge the fact that we are all stretched thin.

When it comes to passing this test, I feel it is 40% luck(problem selection and lucky guesses) and 60% knowledge. Don't give up. Take some time off, relax, give yourself a physical and mental break, see a therapist if you need to but don't give up.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[AngelaK]

I took the exam in Oct 2021 P&P, and in May 2022 (CBT). Morning sessions of both exams were difficult to me. But after noon wasn’t easy either. But I had written down the questions from 2021 as much as I can remember , right after the exam, and compared with the cbt, I felt they were doable I hadn’t prepared enough for the p&p. But with cbt, a lot of afternoon session was conceptual.

 

[Jorge Rangel]

@Pra4surf1 I'm really sorry to hear about your test and the venue loosing power. It can be really devastating to work so hard towards a date and then have something random happen and not be able to even finish the exam.

I wanted to let you know that I am very familiar with your current position. I started studying for the exam in January 2020. I finally passed in June 2022. I studied for the entire 2.5 years. The only time I took off was the time between the paper test and getting the results. I took the paper test 3 times and the CBT once. I was devastated that I did not pass on the last paper exam because I didn't know how I could pass the test without references.

On my final attempt (CBT exam) I felt completely trashed and burned out. I thought the morning went well, but I had to take the whole 4 hrs. In the afternoon I was angry. So angry. The questions were outside of everything that I had studied for the last 2 years. I had never seen the types of questions that were asked. I knew I failed and I honestly did not think that I had it in me to try again. Things were already so bad for me that I actually started to see a therapist as I was preparing for my 4th attempt. I'll share with you something that my therapist said that really helped me: You have to treat every failed attempt as a loss and allow yourself to grieve. And burnout is ABSOLUETLY real. I thought she was crazy, but as soon as I started to cut myself some slack and really allowed myself to grieve and relax it really helped me manage my emotional and mental health going into my 4th attempt. For a long time I felt ridiculous about the fact that this stupid test lead me to a therapist. But 2.5 yrs is a lot of effort and sacrifice. That breaks people. So cut yourself some slack.

Here are some facts: This test is very hard. Don't beat yourself up about it. There is absolutely no way you can know every single thing that these topics cover. A lot of us are working full time jobs and have kids and families to take care of, acknowledge the fact that we are all stretched thin.

When it comes to passing this test, I feel it is 40% luck(problem selection and lucky guesses) and 60% knowledge. Don't give up. Take some time off, relax, give yourself a physical and mental break, see a therapist if you need to but don't give up.

I liked very much your post. I am with you in 100%. I am a 4th exam taker and will try again by November 2022. I have worked in geotechnical engineering during more than 40 years, both projects and construction, and tricky questions can not measure my very successful professional career in my native country. The exam is a bingo of questions and this time time I hope to have a lot of lucky in this capricious table game.
We learn a lot with defeats and they fortify us.

 

[Jorge Rangel]

@Pra4surf1 I'm really sorry to hear about your test and the venue loosing power. It can be really devastating to work so hard towards a date and then have something random happen and not be able to even finish the exam.

I wanted to let you know that I am very familiar with your current position. I started studying for the exam in January 2020. I finally passed in June 2022. I studied for the entire 2.5 years. The only time I took off was the time between the paper test and getting the results. I took the paper test 3 times and the CBT once. I was devastated that I did not pass on the last paper exam because I didn't know how I could pass the test without references.

On my final attempt (CBT exam) I felt completely trashed and burned out. I thought the morning went well, but I had to take the whole 4 hrs. In the afternoon I was angry. So angry. The questions were outside of everything that I had studied for the last 2 years. I had never seen the types of questions that were asked. I knew I failed and I honestly did not think that I had it in me to try again. Things were already so bad for me that I actually started to see a therapist as I was preparing for my 4th attempt. I'll share with you something that my therapist said that really helped me: You have to treat every failed attempt as a loss and allow yourself to grieve. And burnout is ABSOLUETLY real. I thought she was crazy, but as soon as I started to cut myself some slack and really allowed myself to grieve and relax it really helped me manage my emotional and mental health going into my 4th attempt. For a long time I felt ridiculous about the fact that this stupid test lead me to a therapist. But 2.5 yrs is a lot of effort and sacrifice. That breaks people. So cut yourself some slack.

Here are some facts: This test is very hard. Don't beat yourself up about it. There is absolutely no way you can know every single thing that these topics cover. A lot of us are working full time jobs and have kids and families to take care of, acknowledge the fact that we are all stretched thin.

When it comes to passing this test, I feel it is 40% luck(problem selection and lucky guesses) and 60% knowledge. Don't give up. Take some time off, relax, give yourself a physical and mental break, see a therapist if you need to but don't give up.

I would like to know how did you manage to pass the CBT.
Is the CBT more difficult than the paper one. I have been studying same or more time than you and the same, I am a fourth exam taker. Geotechnical
This time I have tried to better understand every subject and not to relay too much on course problems.
I would appreciate very much if you could contact me through my email: [email protected]

 

[malikkashantariq]

Anyone knows if you get zeroes in few subjects but do realy well on other you can fail even though you get 70 percent correct?

Also, yould your work on your strengths or weaknesses based on diagnostic report?

 

[LAMEngineer]

So I started the construction civil exam at 7:45 this morning. Took 30 min lunch break and returned for afternoon session. 1 hr in the Pearson building lost power. An hour later they told us we had to reschedule. I will say I felt really prepared but the morning was the hardest exam I’ve taken yet. I felt really solid on 27, 9 50/50, and 4 I just couldn’t figure out how to get started even being comfortable on a topic. In all honesty this morning exam was tougher than any previous exams or practice exams I’ve been taking and consistently scoring 85 or better on. After 2 years of serious studying including EET classes and another I don’t feel like there’s anything else I can do to prepare except understanding the test writers. Lots of tough concept questions. What else can I do to be more prepared besides working problems and watching videos? Maybe I want this too badly and getting in my own head. This would have been my 4th attempt. Any suggestions? What a crazy ride this has been I’m so burnt out.

We have talked privately and I know that you are studying correctly, keep at it. I had taken the FE exam 5 times total, so I feel your pain. I took the construction PE in Oct '21 and then passed the CBT in April '22. My preparation for each exam did not change much between the two, just tried to keep challenging myself.

 

[Pra4surf1]

We have talked privately and I know that you are studying correctly, keep at it. I had taken the FE exam 5 times total, so I feel your pain. I took the construction PE in Oct '21 and then passed the CBT in April '22. My preparation for each exam did not change much between the two, just tried to keep challenging myself.

Yep thanks lots of good people and positive reinforcement on this site! Definitely helps to keep fighting the good fight!

 

[Gen]

@Pra4surf1 I'm really sorry to hear about your test and the venue loosing power. It can be really devastating to work so hard towards a date and then have something random happen and not be able to even finish the exam.

I wanted to let you know that I am very familiar with your current position. I started studying for the exam in January 2020. I finally passed in June 2022. I studied for the entire 2.5 years. The only time I took off was the time between the paper test and getting the results. I took the paper test 3 times and the CBT once. I was devastated that I did not pass on the last paper exam because I didn't know how I could pass the test without references.

On my final attempt (CBT exam) I felt completely trashed and burned out. I thought the morning went well, but I had to take the whole 4 hrs. In the afternoon I was angry. So angry. The questions were outside of everything that I had studied for the last 2 years. I had never seen the types of questions that were asked. I knew I failed and I honestly did not think that I had it in me to try again. Things were already so bad for me that I actually started to see a therapist as I was preparing for my 4th attempt. I'll share with you something that my therapist said that really helped me: You have to treat every failed attempt as a loss and allow yourself to grieve. And burnout is ABSOLUETLY real. I thought she was crazy, but as soon as I started to cut myself some slack and really allowed myself to grieve and relax it really helped me manage my emotional and mental health going into my 4th attempt. For a long time I felt ridiculous about the fact that this stupid test lead me to a therapist. But 2.5 yrs is a lot of effort and sacrifice. That breaks people. So cut yourself some slack.

Here are some facts: This test is very hard. Don't beat yourself up about it. There is absolutely no way you can know every single thing that these topics cover. A lot of us are working full time jobs and have kids and families to take care of, acknowledge the fact that we are all stretched thin.

When it comes to passing this test, I feel it is 40% luck(problem selection and lucky guesses) and 60% knowledge. Don't give up. Take some time off, relax, give yourself a physical and mental break, see a therapist if you need to but don't give up.

Inspiring! Thanks for sharing. I got depressed each time i failed the test. I almost check with a therapist (i have other ordeal than just failing the test). Instead, I joined a group on Facebook and got myself a 5 cats .

 

[Pra4surf1]

So here’s an interesting update to my last exam when Pearson building lost power. I got my new exam authorization late last week and today I got an unexpected email from NCEES for exam results. The diagnostic showed my partial results. I improved quite a bit in my weaker areas with average or higher. But couple other areas like project planning went down. I’ve heard the exam mixes up some depth with breadth in the morning. With that being said could some of the questions from afternoon be breadth and added in the breadth category. In other words could a few areas be lower in breadth because the afternoon session got cut off?

 

[rodr]

So here’s an interesting update to my last exam when Pearson building lost power. I got my new exam authorization late last week and today I got an unexpected email from NCEES for exam results. The diagnostic showed my partial results. I improved quite a bit in my weaker areas with average or higher. But couple other areas like project planning went down. I’ve heard the exam mixes up some depth with breadth in the morning. With that being said could some of the questions from afternoon be breadth and added in the breadth category. In other words could a few areas be lower in breadth because the afternoon session got cut off?

That's great! You hard work is showing!

I have also heard that they mix up morning and afternoon, but I feel that is actually a myth. I think that there are some questions that "come from the breadth" in the afternoon because there are topics that are covered in both the morning and afternoon. The only thing that separates a morning question from an afternoon question is the level of difficulty and, in some cases, the amount of equations you will need to use. If a question in the afternoon "feels easy" or "feels like a morning question", consider the thought that maybe you knew the topic very well, or you didn't so you didn't understand what was actually being asked.

Your results are trending in the right direction, keep up the great work!

 

[Pra4surf1]

That's great! You hard work is showing!

I have also heard that they mix up morning and afternoon, but I feel that is actually a myth. I think that there are some questions that "come from the breadth" in the afternoon because there are topics that are covered in both the morning and afternoon. The only thing that separates a morning question from an afternoon question is the level of difficulty and, in some cases, the amount of equations you will need to use. If a question in the afternoon "feels easy" or "feels like a morning question", consider the thought that maybe you knew the topic very well, or you didn't so you didn't understand what was actually being asked.

Your results are trending in the right direction, keep up the great work!

Thanks rodr! If there’s no cross over that means I only got around 60% for morning but it was the hardest morning exam I’ve had yet and around what I thought I would do based on gut feeling.

 

[Pra4surf1]

So tomorrow I get another run at the construction depth. Looking through my diagnostics and thinking about test taking strategies I’m thinking of stepping outside of my normal approach since every exam score seems to only slightly improve. Seems like I’m coming up short by 9 or less questions each exam if passing is based on 70%. Last exam I was able to eliminate 2 choices in many problems. Mostly concept questions. I’ve seen patterns in the past where I go with experience and gut but choose the wrong one. Part of me feels like going George Castanza on it and choose the opposite choice of what I think is correct. And if I have no clue and can’t eliminate answers I’ve normally gone with C. I’ve managed to overcome my timing issue and target most questions I know in the 3 passes rule. Anyone have any thoughts or test strategies that has worked for them in the past? Thanks.

 

[rodr]

Looks like I'm a little late to seeing your post. Let us know how it went!

 

[Gen]

So tomorrow I get another run at the construction depth. Looking through my diagnostics and thinking about test taking strategies I’m thinking of stepping outside of my normal approach since every exam score seems to only slightly improve. Seems like I’m coming up short by 9 or less questions each exam if passing is based on 70%. Last exam I was able to eliminate 2 choices in many problems. Mostly concept questions. I’ve seen patterns in the past where I go with experience and gut but choose the wrong one. Part of me feels like going George Castanza on it and choose the opposite choice of what I think is correct. And if I have no clue and can’t eliminate answers I’ve normally gone with C. I’ve managed to overcome my timing issue and target most questions I know in the 3 passes rule. Anyone have any thoughts or test strategies that has worked for them in the past? Thanks.

Good luck to you!

 

[AngelaK]

So tomorrow I get another run at the construction depth. Looking through my diagnostics and thinking about test taking strategies I’m thinking of stepping outside of my normal approach since every exam score seems to only slightly improve. Seems like I’m coming up short by 9 or less questions each exam if passing is based on 70%. Last exam I was able to eliminate 2 choices in many problems. Mostly concept questions. I’ve seen patterns in the past where I go with experience and gut but choose the wrong one. Part of me feels like going George Castanza on it and choose the opposite choice of what I think is correct. And if I have no clue and can’t eliminate answers I’ve normally gone with C. I’ve managed to overcome my timing issue and target most questions I know in the 3 passes rule. Anyone have any thoughts or test strategies that has worked for them in the past? Thanks.

Good luck!

 

[Pra4surf1]

Looks like I'm a little late to seeing your post. Let us know how it went!

Well here we go attempt #4. I finished half the morning problems in less than an hr. Thought I was going to be able to bank some extra time for the afternoon but ended up using the last 3 hrs on the remaining 21 problems and ended feeling ok with 4 50/50’s and 6 guesses. The afternoon was much tougher and I ran out of time because some of the problems were so long and ended with 4 50/50’s and 16 guesses mostly because of time. Rodr nailed it in a previous post I agreed with that you need to have as much memorized as possible. A few problems requiring AISC and OSHA references were time killers for me due to pdf search capabilities being limited. If a question comes up where you need a table you pretty much need to know the chapter or page rather than being able to search the entire reference which is disappointing. Luckily the HB search options are better. Got stumped on one easy problem I just reviewed but couldn’t locate the table and had to go with my 50/50 which I verified was incorrect when I got home. Overall I still feel like this is a college designed exam and while some people disagree that passed the first time many questions are written to trick you imo. I feel closer than ever to passing this damn thing but I am learning test taking skills are essential for passing. Thanks for the good vibes!