Took the Lindeburg practice test

[Master slacker]

So yesterday I went to the library to do Lindeburg's sample test. My overall thought - ZOMFG! That was a bit more mentally taxing than I thought it would be. However, I didn't find that sitting in a wooden chair for 8 eight hours all that bad. At the 8-hour mark, I packed my stuff up, walked outside, met my wife, and took a brain dump at the local watering hole.

Leaving, I felt that my afternoon depth section was much better than the morning breadth section, to my surprise. I was thinking the morning would be a little easier, but it was not to be. And I thought I performed very well in the afternoon portion. That is until today when I decided to grade my test... holy crap... maybe I shouldn't be taking the real test next month after all. I'm rather embarrassed to post my score, but I'd like to get some feedback / insight from anyone who has been in my shoes before. :shakehead:

For the morning session, I scored 21 / 40. And for the afternoon, I scored 22 / 40. That's a total of 43 / 80 = 53.8%. :brickwall: I figure I'll rework all the problems starting tomorrow as I prepare to take the NCEES practice exam in 2 weeks. Kind of unnerving to know that my numerical answers that were wrong were in the multiple choices. Oh well. Just had to vent a little. :wacko:

 

[roadwreck]

That sounds pretty similar to my experience. I was feeling pretty good about my studying and decided to take a practice exam the Saturday before the real exam. Unlike you, i didn't feel good about my performance. I knew I wasn't doing well while I was taking it. When I went back to score it I think i got around 50% on both the morning and afternoon sections. I was feeling pretty down about it. I had spent the past few months studying and here I was a week away from the exam and I felt like all of it was a waste. Since I was less then a week away from the actual exam all I could do was review some basic areas that I didn't do so well on the practice exam. Organize my references and hope for the best.

I must have done something right b/c when it came time for the real deal I didn't find it anywhere near as difficult as the practice exam. I actually walked out of the exam at the end of the day feeling really good about my performance, and after what felt like the longest wait for results ever it turned out

ASSED2:

Don't get down just b/c of one bad practice exam. Keep working. You've got almost a month left. That's plenty of time to review some of your weaker areas and get yourself fully prepared . Keep at it! Your almost there.

 

[Sschell]

keep in mind that the lindeberg practice test is quite a bit more involved than the real thing. It is good practice, but would not let it discourage you. For a more realistic practice test try the NCEES version. it is much closer in terms of difficulty.

 

[Chucktown PE]

I don't know about the Mechanical, but for the Civil, I felt the same way. I did the practice exam about two weeks before the real deal and ended up with a bad score. I didn't have a copy of the NCEES practice exam so I thought for sure I was done for. When I showed up to the exam I thought it was a piece of cake and I did very well. That's why I always tell people to base your studying on Lindeburg because it causes you to over-prepare. I think going off of NCEES causes you to under-prepare.

 

[Matt-NM]

When I took the Lindeburg (Mechanical w/machine depth) I think I got a 40/80 and wound up passing the real test. The problems were very involved, so I had a hard time during the exam deciding how to approach them as far as working on them for a set amount of time and then moving on or just giving myself more time on the exam since I knew it was more involved than the real thing. As it turned out, I ended up guessing on a fair amount of the problems.

The real exam is not as involved as the Lindeburg but more difficult than the NCEES sample exam, at least in my opinion. So I think your score on the practice exam is good for the difficulty of the exam. Do the NCEES practice exam as soon as you can so that you can get used to the format. It is quite a bit different than the Lindeburg study materials. Good luck.

 

[Shaggy]

I agree with the above posters and just wanted to add... When you do the NCEES practice exam, don't do it all in one sitting (trying to emulate the exam). You only have so many 8 hour test sessions in you. The last thing you want is to be burned out when it really counts.

 

[Matt-NM]

Agreed. I did two eight hour sample exams and that was more than enough. I started doing the Kaplan as a third and decided against it about 10 minutes in. That and the Kaplan material wasn't very good anyway. I'd give at least a two week rest, and preferably more, between the last sample exam and the real thing.

 

[goodal]

I just took the NCEES practice test (HVAC) in two 4 hr settings like the real thing on Saturday. I felt really good about the morning and only OK about the afternoon. Turns out i missed the same amount in both sessions. I made 57/80 = 71%. Which is OK, but after i graded it, a few answers i was positive were correct, werent, and i got very lucky a few others after working them incorrectly and got the right answer. It was very helpful in showing me that one of my week spots is refrigeration so thats something im going to focus on for a few days. I have studied the MERM for 5 months and am relieved to find that the NCEES material is not nearly as hard. Lets hope the real test follows their practice material.

Good lucky everybody!!!

 

[Sschell]

^if anything, the NCEES practice test is slightly easier than the real thing... Make use of your remaining time to study the areas you missed questions in.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I took the NCEES practice exam two weeks before the real test. It gave me some idea of where my weaknesses were in both knowledge and references.