SE Takers October 2022, Welcome to the suck!

[bassist]

Howdy! SE takers. I know it's too early to start a thread. But I wanted to welcome you all to the suck - of the uncertainty of passing the SE while waiting for the results. How was your lateral? or vertical?

 

[psustruct]

Took lateral. I felt the morning went well until about halfway. I was keeping good time, but then she called the 15 minute warning, and I just got to problem 139--somewhere between halfway and the end I lost track..... I still needed to go back for the bridge questions. I went back and got a few of them solved, guessed on the rest.
I felt the afternoon went very well. I suspect I may get a IR for one of the concrete problems. NOW WE WAIT!!!!

 

[Br_Engr]

Procotor: "You may begin..."

Me:

 

[JNS]

Took Lateral yesterday. I found the exam to be noticeably harder than April's. Much more "gotcha" type questions in the morning, the afternoon questions were mixed. I thought the 2 of the questions were considerably easier ( I managed to completely do one of these in 35 minutes, which I had to, given I had only 70 minutes left for two questions) and two of the other questions were considerably harder. I didn't feel that great coming out of the test as in April, so I'm betting I'm going to be there again in April 2023. Only two more chances for lateral before the switch to CBT, so gotta get it done by then.

 

[A V]

I took the vertical bridge for the first time. Unfortunately, lost my mom and couldn’t study and also wasn’t ready mentally at all. But just took it to see how it is. Few questions in the morning was like for Structal analysis. Definitely need to work on wood and CMU more. Thought I know how to find stuff on AISC Manual but I was wrong. Lol! Need to do a better job next time. Afternoon, I think I completely solved one problem, second one like half way and missed completely the third one.
Definitely, will be there in April for sure.

I know NCEES will switch to CBT in April 2024. do you know what happen if you just only pass one ( either vertical or lateral) before they switch to CBT? Do you have to retake the two exams or they will accept passing two of them since there will be four exams.

 

[bassist]

Last term I was very well prepared but I failed because of the afternoon. I just couldn't present what I knew in the given 4 hours. I did 2 questions very well and got an A in both but then I had to rush through the last 2 and ended up getting U.
This time the morning was of medium difficulty but it was full of tricks and traps. I tried to decipher as many tricks as possible. The afternoon looked really easy to me. It took me a lot of writing to present my solution, but luckily I just finished a few seconds ago before the time ran out.

I am very confident in the afternoon this time. Hoping to get over this. Good luck all!

 

[bassist]

I took the vertical bridge for the first time. Unfortunately, lost my mom and couldn’t study and also wasn’t ready mentally at all. But just took it to see how it is. Few questions in the morning was like for Structal analysis. Definitely need to work on wood and CMU more. Thought I know how to find stuff on AISC Manual but I was wrong. Lol! Need to do a better job next time. Afternoon, I think I completely solved one problem, second one like half way and missed completely the third one.
Definitely, will be there in April for sure.

I know NCEES will switch to CBT in April 2024. do you know what happen if you just only pass one ( either vertical or lateral) before they switch to CBT? Do you have to retake the two exams or they will accept passing two of them since there will be four exams.

I am sorry to hear that. Hoping that you feel better soon.

That's a good question. I think if you pass one of them then you won't need to retake it. I passed my vertical in 2021 and it says that it's valid till 2025, meaning they would just want me to take the lateral in 2024 once it's online.

 

[A V]

I am sorry to hear that. Hoping that you feel better soon.

That's a good question. I think if you pass one of them then you won't need to retake it. I passed my vertical in 2021 and it says that it's valid till 2025, meaning they would just want me to take the lateral in 2024 once it's online.

Thank you very much, yeah, I think I can’t never get over it but probably will be used to it.

It’s a good news tho. At least if I pass one before they go online, it’s not a waste. Thanks again for the reply.

 

[Br_Engr]

I have all this free time now...

 

[Br_Engr]

I took the vertical bridge for the first time. Unfortunately, lost my mom and couldn’t study and also wasn’t ready mentally at all. But just took it to see how it is. Few questions in the morning was like for Structal analysis. Definitely need to work on wood and CMU more. Thought I know how to find stuff on AISC Manual but I was wrong. Lol! Need to do a better job next time. Afternoon, I think I completely solved one problem, second one like half way and missed completely the third one.
Definitely, will be there in April for sure.

I know NCEES will switch to CBT in April 2024. do you know what happen if you just only pass one ( either vertical or lateral) before they switch to CBT? Do you have to retake the two exams or they will accept passing two of them since there will be four exams.

So very sorry to hear about your mother. That is never, ever easy.

In the grand scheme, the exam is minor. Best of luck to you for April. I just took the lateral for the 4th time. It is definitely not an exam (Vertical or lateral) that is geared for us bridge folk.

 

[Farsak Palia]

I took both tests for the 1st time and felt lateral to be comparatively easier than the gravity one, especially the afternoon section. Both the tests had around 8~9 questions for AASHTO, but most of those were straightforward, and you could get it straight from the code. Both the afternoon sessions were more straightforward, with the gravity one slightly lengthy with the sketches asked in every question against the lateral where only one sketch was asked in the whole exam.

 

[A V]

So very sorry to hear about your mother. That is never, ever easy.

In the grand scheme, the exam is minor. Best of luck to you for April. I just took the lateral for the 4th time. It is definitely not an exam (Vertical or lateral) that is geared for us bridge folk.

Thank you very much. Hope you don’t need to be there in April. And I totally agree with you, there are just too much materials to cover for a bridge engineer for sure.

 

[rcrdv]

I took both. Vertical for the second time and Lateral first time. I felt that I was well prepared this time. I feel I had a better performance in Lateral but there was a lot os questions that seems easy but tricky.

 

[structurenole2015 PE]

Question for those who have attempted this beast of an exam:

I'm considering sitting for it next April (Vertical) and October (lateral). By the time I sit for it in April 2023, I will have about 6 years of experience, mostly in buildings, but ranging from residential, commercial, material handling, and industrial projects.

Is it crazy of me to try it so early in my career?

 

[bassist]

Question for those who have attempted this beast of an exam:

I'm considering sitting for it next April (Vertical) and October (lateral). By the time I sit for it in April 2023, I will have about 6 years of experience, mostly in buildings, but ranging from residential, commercial, material handling, and industrial projects.

Is it crazy of me to try it so early in my career?

6 years of experience is more than enough. Few states allow you to sit for the exam with 0 experience.

 

[rcrdv]

Question for those who have attempted this beast of an exam:

I'm considering sitting for it next April (Vertical) and October (lateral). By the time I sit for it in April 2023, I will have about 6 years of experience, mostly in buildings, but ranging from residential, commercial, material handling, and industrial projects.

Is it crazy of me to try it so early in my career?

Six years is enough. Go for it. You'll see that it will be worth it. No just having the final objective, which is your SE license, but all the new knowledge you will acquire. The study process itself will guide you through a lot of concepts and code material that will make you a better engineer. Go for it!!!!

 

[Br_Engr]

6 years of experience is more than enough. Few states allow you to sit for the exam with 0 experience.

Do it. Misery loves company.

Seriously. Six years is plenty of experience. You are probably not that far removed from your test taking "peak" so those skills will still be sharp. I am assuming that you are still heavily involved in the details of design, so you will have not forgotten all of those little code nuances that will invariably leak from you brain as you progress upward.

 

[Br_Engr]

Hard to believe it has been a week already...

 

[structurenole2015 PE]

You are probably not that far removed from your test taking "peak" so those skills will still be sharp.

I did just pass the PE Civil: Structural exam earlier this year. So, yes, I'd say that's accurate!

I am assuming that you are still heavily involved in the details of design, so you will have not forgotten all of those little code nuances that will invariably leak from you brain as you progress upward.

Yep, I'm as into the weeds with design as you can get without getting poison ivy!

 

[Farsak Palia]

Question for those who have attempted this beast of an exam:

I'm considering sitting for it next April (Vertical) and October (lateral). By the time I sit for it in April 2023, I will have about 6 years of experience, mostly in buildings, but ranging from residential, commercial, material handling, and industrial projects.

Is it crazy of me to try it so early in my career?

Not at all. I only had 4 years of experience when I gave the exam this last week.