SE EXAM - READY FOR OCTOBER 2015?

[bassplayer45]

So this is my 4th time around (lateral). I felt okay about the morning. My first time through, i think i confidently answered 27-29 questions. Then made some very strong guesses on maybe 3-4 more. I only straight circle guessed 2 questions. I know i will be protesting / putting in note about 2 problems in the morning that were worded horrible, you really could have gone 2 ways and both answers were on there. I was REALLY caught off guard by some ACI reference questions that straight up had me say "huh?" I do concrete every day and hadn't seen any of those scenarios they asked for

As far as the bridge afternoon, not too many surprises. I finished about 45 minutes early, but i do essays pretty quick. First question i thought it was kind of straight forward, but was asking for a TON of info and analysis that required alot of code check sections. The second question, nice little tricky question that was not so straight forward, but ALOT of work to answer everything they were asking for in the technical 1 hour it took. For the third question, there was one part i got caught off guard by, but i think i sorted through it. I got reasonable answers and i hope i get credit for the proper method, which i thought i had.

I feel good *knock on wood*, but again, it may come down the grader and what they consider the "cut off" for multiple choice. My entire drive back to indy was me going through every problem in my head thinking about every little thing i may have missed or misinterpreted. I already know i made a goof on my statics for the 3rd problem on the last part and i kind of wish i would have gone back through my work a 3rd time, but my method was there and mistakes happen.

Now the waiting begins. At least i got a big steak and a bottle of wine with my bro after it was over. I know i got that right

 

[OHBridgeGuy]

I felt the same on the ACI - lot's more than I had expected. I was surprised by some of the extra little things they put in on the afternoon that just complicated matters. The basic questions were not that bad but a lot of stuff was thrown on top to make it more difficult, or just take longer to calc (which is really more the issue). I had a little time to go back and look on both morning and afternoon, but not enough to really check anything or make too much difference.

It is what it is now, so I'm going to try not to think about it for the next 8 weeks or however long they take.

 

[arash78s]

I guess I took 28-30 of morning problems (both bulidiong vertical & lateral) with confidence. morning Lateral bridge questions were more difficult than i expected !

 

[arash78s]

I am scared about lateral, If i fail, I am sure the bridge problems are the cause !

I would like to get any repeat taker feed-back about the difficulty of october lateral exam (building) comparing to previous administrations.

what should be the afternoon performance with 29+ morning question to pass this exam? all acceptable or there is room for one "needs improvement"?

 

[bassplayer45]

From experience, I have taken the lateral bridge exam 3 times, just took my 4th. The last 2 times , failed consisted of the following

1.) 27-40 in the morning. Acceptable, acceptable, un-acceptable in the afternoon

2.) 25-40 in the morning, acceptable, acceptable, acceptable in the afternoon (was really really bummed about this one)

As far as difficulty goes, I felt October was the first time all 3 problems had similar difficulty level. The previous time where I got the first 2, but didn't get any on the 3rd, the first two problems were so easy I finished each one in under 30 minutes, but the 3rd essay was so hard, I couldn't even use the remaining 3 hours I had to complete it. Was completely out of my element.

The other time where I got all 3 correct was very similar to this last time. From speaking to people on this board, you can't pass the test with an unacceptable. I believe there was one person on here that got over 30 correct in the morning and got an un-acceptable, acceptable, acceptable and was failed.

With that being said, I am a bridge person, so take what I say with a grain of salt compared to buildings. Since you get 4 questions, the room for error may be a little greater with an unacceptable score.

 

[arash78s]

Thanks for your input.

I can't believe you failed with "25-40 in the morning, acceptable, acceptable, acceptable in the afternoon" !! ,,I can imagine how you felt. Hopefully you will ace it this time.

I don't think I get unacceptable on any of my afternoon questions. Maybe one out of 4 needs some improvements !

Based on what you said, i think i need 28-29+ correct answers in morning with all four acceptable in afternoon. I'll keep my fingers crossed opcorn: