Repeat Takers who Passed: Any Advice?

[ddimarcoCA]

To anyone who passed recently or in the past after failing the first or multiple times, what did you do differently that you felt helped you pass the next time around? Any other advice you can give us for those who plan to re-take the exam?

Shout to the warriors who passed after failing before! Warriors, come out to play...

 

[ccor84]

I took the exam 5 times (just passed on 5th attempt).

My only real advice is to evaluate how you did and figure out how you can change your strategy and dont stop.

For me, i took the WRE exam the first four times... started with a score of 41/80, then 51/80, then kinda just stayed around the 54-55 the third and fourth time. It was soooo incredibly frustrating (especially after shelling out boatloads of $$$ on classes, reference material, and the exam fee itself). Each time I took the exam, i tweaked something in my preparations.

Ultimately, I decided to switch it up and take the construction exam this time. I started studying in mid August, purchased all the references the NCEES suggests (cross referenced the living hell out of them), bought the PPI book (but not the course), and took the EET construction depth class. 

If you failed this time, Id say absolutely sign up for the April exam right away. You may not have passed this time, but you did learn something and a lot of the info is still fresh in your mind that will be useful moving forward. 

 

[Manyyearslater]

To anyone who passed recently or in the past after failing the first or multiple times, what did you do differently that you felt helped you pass the next time around? Any other advice you can give us for those who plan to re-take the exam?

Shout to the warriors who passed after failing before! Warriors, come out to play...

After 24 years of being out of college, I had to take a review course.  I also took a different PE discipline (Civil-WRE) than my college major (Mech. Eng.) so I knew that I would have to learn the civil eng. PE test.  I had to take the test twice (Oct 2016, April 2017).  The course had a guarantee to pass promise.  So I took the course twice.  The first time I took the course I was writing so fast to get the information I missed many concepts.  The second time I took the course I did not need to write as much so I understood many of the missed concepts.  Another item that REALLY helped me was to follow the NCEES outline DURING THE TEST.  The questions on the test followed the exact order of the outline so I did not have to figure out what type of question they were asking.  This helped with many of my answers.  Thirdly, for those taking the Civil test, I used the solver function on my calculator for about 5 questions on the test.  This helped reduce the amount of time working backwards to the answers. 

If I can pass this silly test after 24 years, with 3 children at home, and a different PE discipline than college major, you can do it.  Please, please, please don't give up.  It has already helped me get promoted with the possibility of another promotion within a month.  YOU CAN DO IT.  God bless you. 

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

After 24 years of being out of college, I had to take a review course.  I also took a different PE discipline (Civil-WRE) than my college major (Mech. Eng.) so I knew that I would have to learn the civil eng. PE test.  I had to take the test twice (Oct 2016, April 2017).  The course had a guarantee to pass promise.  So I took the course twice.  The first time I took the course I was writing so fast to get the information I missed many concepts.  The second time I took the course I did not need to write as much so I understood many of the missed concepts.  Another item that REALLY helped me was to follow the NCEES outline DURING THE TEST.  The questions on the test followed the exact order of the outline so I did not have to figure out what type of question they were asking.  This helped with many of my answers.  Thirdly, for those taking the Civil test, I used the solver function on my calculator for about 5 questions on the test.  This helped reduce the amount of time working backwards to the answers. 

If I can pass this silly test after 24 years, with 3 children at home, and a different PE discipline than college major, you can do it.  Please, please, please don't give up.  It has already helped me get promoted with the possibility of another promotion within a month.  YOU CAN DO IT.  God bless you. 

What course did you take?

 

[Manyyearslater]

I took the Testmasters classroom course in Dallas. 

 

[smrob]

I'm a second time passer.  After failing in April 2017, I came to EB to look for advice just like you're wanting.  What I gathered was that I needed to evaluate and change the way I studied.  The first time, I took the SOPE review course for Civil-WRE.  I tabbed the heck out of the CERM and the SOPE notebook, but I didn't do a lot of practice problems.  At my first attempt at the test, I ran out of time in the morning and afternoon.  I mostly only studied for a couple hours every night after the kids went to bed and took about 3 Saturdays devoted to studying over about a 2.5 month period.  This was really only enough time to watch all of the SOPE videos.  Definitely not enough time to work problems and fully grasp concepts.

The second time (on the advice that I read here at EB), I signed up for the EET WRE Depth course.  I did every single practice problem supplied by EET, as well as NCEES practice exams and 6-minute solutions.  I timed myself every time I worked problems and followed my testing strategy (don't spend too much time, move on, come back if time allows).  I studied for about 2 hours on weeknights, after the kids went to bed.  I also set aside my Saturdays for about 2.5 months to devote an entire day each week to studying.  My mother or MIL watched my kids (hubs works on Saturdays).  I hated giving up that time with my kids (now 16 month old twins), but it's payed off in the long run.  I credit EET with giving me a solid review and the right kind of practice problems.  

Best of luck to you!  You've totally got this!!

 

[txjennah PE]

After 24 years of being out of college, I had to take a review course.  I also took a different PE discipline (Civil-WRE) than my college major (Mech. Eng.) so I knew that I would have to learn the civil eng. PE test.  I had to take the test twice (Oct 2016, April 2017).  The course had a guarantee to pass promise.  So I took the course twice.  The first time I took the course I was writing so fast to get the information I missed many concepts.  The second time I took the course I did not need to write as much so I understood many of the missed concepts.  Another item that REALLY helped me was to follow the NCEES outline DURING THE TEST.  The questions on the test followed the exact order of the outline so I did not have to figure out what type of question they were asking.  This helped with many of my answers.  Thirdly, for those taking the Civil test, I used the solver function on my calculator for about 5 questions on the test.  This helped reduce the amount of time working backwards to the answers. 

If I can pass this silly test after 24 years, with 3 children at home, and a different PE discipline than college major, you can do it.  Please, please, please don't give up.  It has already helped me get promoted with the possibility of another promotion within a month.  YOU CAN DO IT.  God bless you. 

"Another item that REALLY helped me was to follow the NCEES outline DURING THE TEST.  The questions on the test followed the exact order of the outline so I did not have to figure out what type of question they were asking."

That is a fantastic idea.  Thanks for the good advice!

 

[smrob]

I'll second the advice of following the test specification outline.  I did that this go around, and also made up a spreadsheet of the specifications.  I then added columns for a few of my main references (CERM, SOPE Binder and EET Binder) and then referenced the page numbers for the applicable sources for each topic.  This helped me on my time - those "I know this is in here somewhere" type problems.  I put this spreasheet in the front of my SOPE and EET binders, as well as a copy of the test specs.  I completed my spreasheet about a week before the exam and used it for my last week problem solving. Wish I'd actually prepared and used it sooner.  (I wasn't nearly that prepared the first time I took it)

 

[smrob]

Oh, also on the advice from EB forums, i printed, bound, and  tabbed (a b c d) the CERM index. I also went through and highlighted topics from the test spec. 

 

[caychanh]

Hmm I wasn't sure if it really followed the NCEES outline when i was taking the exam.  I guess that's why I wasn't sure what the questions was trying to ask sometimes.  The idea of just keeping all study material organized to follow the outlines is nice.  I had about 5 binders with material all over the place.  I don't think i struggled too much looking for reference, but I like the idea of following the outline for studying and practicing problems as well as organizing reference material.  On the other hand, I saw some problems in the afternoon Civil WRE that I have never seen before in my study material so I knew I was out of luck.

 

[SDB]

"Another item that REALLY helped me was to follow the NCEES outline DURING THE TEST.  The questions on the test followed the exact order of the outline so I did not have to figure out what type of question they were asking."

That is a fantastic idea.  Thanks for the good advice!

Did they follow the exact order in both morning and afternoon?

 

[caychanh]

I've been using CERM 11th edition for reference material.  Do you guys recommend updating to the newer 15th edition?  I've been borrowing the book so I would have to buy a new book.  Maybe its a better investment to take the EET depth course instead.

 

[smrob]

Did they follow the exact order in both morning and afternoon?

For the most part.  At a minimum, the sections from the spec are in order.  Some sections include like 10 topics, but then there will only be like 6 or 7 questions.  The first time I took the test, I didn't realize that it would follow the test specification and was confused on where in my sources to even look.  For example, Construction vs Soils vs Structural all have similar types of problems, but knowing if it was a soils vs structural problem for a foundation or retaining wall helped me find it in my sources.

 

[SDB]

Awesome thanks.

 

[smrob]

I've been using CERM 11th edition for reference material.  Do you guys recommend updating to the newer 15th edition?  I've been borrowing the book so I would have to buy a new book.  Maybe its a better investment to take the EET depth course instead.

I used the 13th edition.  It probably depends on your depth.  There probably have been very few changes to the WRE material, but structural or transpo material may have updated with new codes.

 

[smrob]

Hmm I wasn't sure if it really followed the NCEES outline when i was taking the exam.  I guess that's why I wasn't sure what the questions was trying to ask sometimes.  The idea of just keeping all study material organized to follow the outlines is nice.  I had about 5 binders with material all over the place.  I don't think i struggled too much looking for reference, but I like the idea of following the outline for studying and practicing problems as well as organizing reference material.  On the other hand, I saw some problems in the afternoon Civil WRE that I have never seen before in my study material so I knew I was out of luck.

After taking SOPE's review course the first time, I felt like there were tons of problems in the WRE depth that I'd never seen - I also didn't do enough practice problems the first time.  The EET WRE review course reviewed EVERYTHING from the test specifications (they don't waste time on subjects not listed in the specs).  Although there were definitely some that stumped me, I'd at least seen all of the types of problems/subject matter when I was studying.  I also did tons of practice problems the second time around.

 

[SacMe24]

"Another item that REALLY helped me was to follow the NCEES outline DURING THE TEST.  The questions on the test followed the exact order of the outline so I did not have to figure out what type of question they were asking."

That is a fantastic idea.  Thanks for the good advice!

@caychanh @txjennah   I wonder if this is also the case for other disciplines such as Mechanical?

 

[smrob]

Here's my spreadsheet for anyone who would like a starting point.  Someone else previously posted something similar to EB that I used as a guide.  

WARNING:  References are the CERM 13 and the particular binders I have.  Test specs are for the Oct 2017 Exam, WRE depth.  This is just an example.  Use at your own risk! 

View attachment PE EXAM SPECIFICATIONS - References - EB.xlsx

 

[JaxTeller]

I passed it on the 4th try. I did WRE in California. I do feel like there's a bit of luck involved. I didn't really change my study strategy too much between exams. All four times I used the CERM, CERM practice problems, and a few WRE discipline review manuals. I think the best advice is just to keep taking it. You'll eventually pass. Also, don't overwhelm yourself with study guides, materials, books, etc. It seems like the CERM covers about 90% of the exam content. Start with the CERM and just keep doing the practice problems until it's second nature, then move on to the some of the depth review manuals, and just keep doing the problems over and over.

 

[utilityeng]

I also took a different PE discipline (Civil-WRE) than my college major (Mech. Eng.) 

NICE! You're the first person I've ran into that took Civil-WRE with a ME degree. I just did the same. I switched careers about a year ago to the "dark" side and learning the Civil stuff for the test was more than I thought I'd be able to handle.