scottpsmith--- The PE exam is designed to determine the "minimally competent" engineer. The exam, by its very nature, tests basic discipline fundamentals; the material that you learned in the junior/senior years of your undergraduate degree. I make the assumption here that you have an ABET accredited undergraduate engineering degree? If not, then you may need some more remedial course work in the discipline in order to understand and comprehend the test questions.
It is most unfortunate that you have had 5 negative experiences with the examination. However, as a recovering academic, let me suggest some ideas that may help you this next time.
A. If you have not done so, perhaps taking an in-person review course with a live instructor leading the discussion may be of value to you. You will be able to ask the questions that may have you stumped and get some extra help if needed.
B. Review the NCEES syllabus of the test for your discipline. You can find this on the NCEES web site. These are the elements of test that you will be expected to be proficient in.
C. The test is designed so that each question can be answered in 6 minutes or less. Now, some questions you know by inspection; others, will require you to work out several steps and formulae before you arrive at the correct answer. HOWEVER, on the average, you should need no more than 6 minutes per question.
D. Now that you have had several attempts at the examination, your diagnostic sheet should identify where your weak areas of knowledge reside. Knowing those areas will allow you to focus more of your energy where you have identified test deficiencies. I am ASSUMING here that your deficiency reports are all congruent, i.e., the areas that you were weak in one time is the same area during the next or subsequent testing periods. If you have 5 totally different deficiency reports, i.e., each one is significantly different than the previous one, then it appears that you may have a fundamental background knowledge deficiency.
E. In some states, if you have not attained a passing score on the PE exam after 3 attempts, the board requires you to go back and obtain another 12-15 undergraduate hours of education in the discipline. Don't know if you had to do that or not, however, it may be beneficial to go back to class and take some additional course work. This gives you a couple of advantages--A. You get back into the student study mode and B. You can see where you have some deficiencies in knowledge.
F. Now, you may have a reading/learning deficiency that may allow you to have an "accomodation" if that point can be accurately defined and identified. However, I suspect, as was mentioned above, that may be a hard point to win on.
G. Perhaps having a tutor may be of benefit to you. Makes no difference if this individual is younger than you, all you are doing is trying to learn the material to pass the examination.
H. As I have opined on this board previously, I would work hard on achieving a 100% score on the exam. Why? Then, if you miss a couple, you are still allright. If you only go for the "cut score", any score less than that puts you in the not passing category.
I. From what you have stated above, I believe that your study techniques need to be seriously revisited to be sure that you are studying the right material. Working as many problems as humanly possible is also something that you must be able to do. If you are unable to work all of the test problems in a timely manner, ending up guessing at the last 15 questions, then you are doomed before you begin. You must highly proficient in working, rapidly, all of the problems. You should know by inspection what the problem is asking and how to solve the problem. If you are unable to identify, by inspection, what the crux of the problem is, then you will need remedial course work to be able to identify the key elements of the test question. Using the NCEES test syllabus will be valuable in identifying what areas are going to be tested.
I trust and pray that this information is helpful and benefical to you. It is most unfortunate of your experience to date, however, there is no reason to continue to spend time and energy hoping that someday you will pass. Figure out what the deficiencies are now, fix those and take the test for the last time.
Good Luck.
