Student from Schoolofpe - Environmental

[GTjoy]

Well, unfortunately, their course did not do the trick for me. I did very well according to the diagnostic except for very low percentage correct in water resources and emissions sources. So, what would you all recommend I focus on to nail these two sections in the next exam?
Any good book, problems, references to help a fellow student out?

C - Sorry to hear about that. I think it's very likely it came down to a few problems where your approach might have been correct but then you made a common mistake in calculations. I noticed a few "tricky" problems on the exam where they almost got me. And I'm very glad they provide the diagnostic breakdown for you. I would say those two topics (water resources and air) encompassed several of the difficult, long or tricky problems.

In general, while air is supposedly one of my strong suits, most air problems - whether combustion, PM size distribution calculations, or dispersion plumes - just take me a long time to work out the math. If chemistry or any P/V/T conversions are involved, it will take me even longer. So unfortunately, that just means that there will be more possible steps for error. My advice would be to practice doing these steps efficiently and accurately, whether it's stoichiometry, volume/temp conversions, using the right R value, etc. Also, for some of these problems there are faster ways of finding the correct components and values once you get used to understanding the variables (like with Gaussian dispersion problems). The book I studied from and brought to the exam (supplemental to the ENVRM) was pretty good and also the one I used in grad school: Sources and Control of Air Pollution, by Heinsohn. Lastly, I'd say the portion of the review course that did an overview of the pollution control technologies (cyclones, bag filters, etc.) was very good in summarizing the technologies. So I'd recommend reviewing those notes and problems from the course as well.

I also thought water resources would be a strong area for me, but I was unable to solve some of them during the exam (i.e., the answer I came up with was not one of the multiple choice options!). As for good resources to study from, consider using some of the WR/civil engineering resources and get a solid understanding of the topics before going back to practicing problems. Lindeburg is pretty good for open channel flow practice problems, but not very good for hydrology, so see if you can find resources in those areas. Then, practice problems to the point that you are confident and know exactly the approach you need to apply. I know when I reviewed some of the practice exam questions, I would see a pipe problem, think "Oh I know how to do this" but then I'd get stumped at one step and I'd have to look up the solution to be "nudged" in the right direction. Of course you won't have that luxury during the exam so figure out those areas where you might forget what the next step is.

Anyway sorry for the long response - I hope it's somewhat helpful! Good luck in your studies.

 

[GTjoy]

Did any of the students happen to come across Dr. Susarla's email address? I wanted to ask him a couple of questions, but the School of PE has him email address blocked.

I forgot his first name but you should find it in the notes, and then you can Google his name (I did previously and found his email address).

 

[CPuerta]

School of PE refused to provide the information. I did try to google search it, i had NO luck.

If you happen to remember where you found his email let me know-

thanks

I forgot his first name but you should find it in the notes, and then you can Google his name (I did previously and found his email address).

 

[mcap8]

I also thought water resources would be a strong area for me, but I was unable to solve some of them during the exam (i.e., the answer I came up with was not one of the multiple choice options!).

I also had similar issues with a couple of the water resources problems. Without getting into specifics, I worked what appeared to be a straightforward problem and approach several times and my solutions weren't close to any of the provided answers.

Hmm.....

 

[GTjoy]

I also had similar issues with a couple of the water resources problems. Without getting into specifics, I worked what appeared to be a straightforward problem and approach several times and my solutions weren't close to any of the provided answers.
Hmm.....

Yeah. I had a lot of those in the morning session! I wish we could discuss these. Would there really be any harm done? Argh.

On another note, there were several seemingly straightforward problems in the afternoon as well, where I came to an answer fairly quickly... But I was so suspicious after the morning session that I wasn't sure if I was falling for a trick question or something!

I guess the lesson is there will probably be lots of long, more complicated problems AND shorter problems. Many of the latter will truly be straightforward, and many of them will just appear to be so.

Since this generally jives with the practice questions in the NCEES practice exam, hopefully it won't be a surprise for future test takers.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I also freaked a little when I saw a straightforward question. You get so worked up sometimes that you expect every question will have some hidden catch to it. If you see a question you can immediately solve, it's probably because your studying was right on, and you can use that extra time to solve a tricky one.