Water Recources/ Enviromental Afternoon

[RGOSSETT]

I took the PE Civil Exam last Friday, and did the WR afternoon session. I felt almost overprepared for the expected problems for anything WR related, and pretty good about enviro minus a couple topics. After taking the afternoon portion of the test I was blown away with the questions they decided to ask, and no matter how much I studied idk if it would have helped at all....

Did anybody else feel this way?

 

[jenni179]

This was my first time taking the exam. I did not major in Civil in school so I had to learn over 50% of the material from the CERM and other sources. I thought some of the morning problems were random and one problem shouldn't of even been asked since it covers a topic not listed from NCEES. I can’t go into any more detail for obvious reasons

I spent 6 months studying/learning for the civil material in the morning and the environmental material in the afternoon. I also thought some of the questions they chose to ask were very random and not the best representation of the material. I understand they want to throw stuff at you and see if you will sink or swim but I really thought they were going to ask certain topics but they didn’t come up. It seems like they focused on specific topics repeatedly and kinda forgot about the rest like an evil stepchild.

I thought I did better in the afternoon though than the morning but I don’t feel confident either way. But I’m proud of myself for learning so much material and for pushing through when I wanted to give up on more than one occasion. I will most likely be taking the exam again but that’s ok because this time I will be able to truly review problems and focus on my speed instead of solely trying to comprehend the material.

 

[Eddierizzle]

Like I mentioned in the Transportation forum, I thought the morning was straight forward although I think missed a few here and there, hopefully not enough to cost me passing this time around. But I thought the afternoon Water Resources was half and half. Maybe 8 of them I had a hard time answering. I honestly don't want to have to go a third time of taking this exam.

 

[RJs]

The questions were really random in PM. And far beyond expectation. I knew most questions were tricky (they provided a lots of unnecessary data) but I spent much time on reading on 1/2 page long questions. I ran out of time when at least 10-14 questions were remained unanswered. I am crossing my fingers.

 

[PowermanX590]

I took the PE Civil Exam last Friday, and did the WR afternoon session. I felt almost overprepared for the expected problems for anything WR related, and pretty good about enviro minus a couple topics. After taking the afternoon portion of the test I was blown away with the questions they decided to ask, and no matter how much I studied idk if it would have helped at all....

Did anybody else feel this way?

I would agree about being over prepared; but that is certainly better than being under prepared. Though, it seemed that there really was quite a spread in the level of difficulty of the problems. Some seemed so utterly easy that it was almost too easy....like a trick or something. Then there were others that took 20min to solve and you still ended up with answer that was halfway in between two choices. In the end I did finish early. I feel pretty good about it. I just wonder how many tricks I fell for.

 

[Giselle_RT]

I took the PE Civil Exam last Friday, and did the WR afternoon session. I felt almost overprepared for the expected problems for anything WR related, and pretty good about enviro minus a couple topics. After taking the afternoon portion of the test I was blown away with the questions they decided to ask, and no matter how much I studied idk if it would have helped at all....

Did anybody else feel this way?

I would agree about being over prepared; but that is certainly better than being under prepared. Though, it seemed that there really was quite a spread in the level of difficulty of the problems. Some seemed so utterly easy that it was almost too easy....like a trick or something. Then there were others that took 20min to solve and you still ended up with answer that was halfway in between two choices. In the end I did finish early. I feel pretty good about it. I just wonder how many tricks I fell for.

I feel exactly the same way. Some of the problems were just way too easy to be true, including some of the afternoon problems. So I'm wondering if I was tricked as well. However, there were a few problems in the afternoon that I was not able to finish because they were too long and I could get an answer that was there. I guessed a total of seven problems in the afternoon and I am not sure how bad that could be.

The wait is KILLING me!!!!!

 

[FusionWhite]

The wait is KILLING me!!!!!

After only 5 days? Im still on the euphoria of not having to study anymore. Sometimes when Im sitting around watching TV, I still think "I really should be studying". The feeling of realizing that, no in fact I dont have to study is so nice.

 

[lvanegas]

I felt the same way. There were so many questions that there was no way to get them. I also thought I had prepared well for the exam this time but I left the exam feeling unsatisfied with it.

 

[Ruehl]

I agree with all of you. When i took my WR exam this october i felt like having more time to read the questions and solve it rathar than looking for a similar question in the books. No wonder i needed more time

 

[RJs]

I felt the same way. There were so many questions that there was no way to get them. I also thought I had prepared well for the exam this time but I left the exam feeling unsatisfied with it.

Same here. I thought I was well prepared but I didn't have time to complete all.

Now, it is time NOT to discuss or WORRY about the past exam but to RELAX. The stress will start to build up after two months when it is time to get result. Relax until then.

 

[sac_engineer]

I felt the same way. There were so many questions that there was no way to get them. I also thought I had prepared well for the exam this time but I left the exam feeling unsatisfied with it.

Same here. I thought I was well prepared but I didn't have time to complete all.

Now, it is time NOT to discuss or WORRY about the past exam but to RELAX. The stress will start to build up after two months when it is time to get result. Relax until then.

Based on testimonials from my co-workers who took the water/env depth, with multiple attempts for some, I'm getting the impression that the exam is becoming more difficult, especially with the enviro topics. There was a time when water and enviro were seperate and that many examinees were taking the water depth, even if they were in other fields. I'm guessing that there's a sea change on the the perception of the water/enviro exam so that no one should think it's just about knowing how to apply equations by Bernoulli, Hazen-Williams, and Chezy-Manning. I firmly believe it's become more difficult to pass the water/enviro than it was a few years ago, but I'm also certain that many who are in the water field would experience some challenges with questions pertaining to enviro, and vice versa.

 

[civ_wre_nc]

I really have nothing new to add to the discussion but to echo what most of you have said:

I thought I had prepared well this time but in the exam found morning and afternoon harder than the April exam. I only hope that the curve adjustment is accordingly. Do folks with previous/more experience have a way of predicting the cut-off score for this particular. I heard for April 2010 it was about 53-54 questions generally.

 

[stuckinjersey]

no question that the afternoon was so much harder than the April exam, I thought in April that I did great in the afternoon and bad in the morning and I thought maybe it would be enough to pass. Unfortunately, thats exactly what happened and I missed it by a few questions! and I was back for October.

I thought the morning was about the same as last time. Seems like the questions in the morning are always way more geotech based (even the structural and construction questions). but yeah, the afternoon was hard, i did not have time to finish. I guessed on a few

 

[maximus808]

Hey guys, I took the October Civil PE (trans depth.) Sorry to hear that the afternoon was difficult. My background is water but I'm weak in environmental which made me pick Transportation for my depth. I thought to myself, would it be easier to teach myself environmental or trans and that's how I based my decision. I know it's hard to switch depths, but if you're weakness is wastewater, try looking into the trans depth. The concepts and theories are not that difficult to grasp. You will do especially well in the "Other Topics" which is about 20% I believe of the afternoon depth and covers the Open Channel Flow. If you get the right resources and study the right material for trans, it's very doable. I felt the morning this exam was slightly better than last April as the conceptual questions were easier to find in the CERM as well as the structural. The harder geo and structural questions were doable and I was able to get an answer that was part of the A,B,C, or D. The afternoon trans was a lot better this October than last April. More straight forward questions and just be sure to have the AASHTO Greenbook, MUTCD, and Roadside Design Guide. Like both times I took this, I think I opened my HCM like twice. But good luck to all you guys, and just remember we are all in a race to the finish line, if don't pass this time, we didn't finish the race and just have to keep on going

 

[laborndcluv]

I have taken this test WAAAAYYYY too many times, and as one poster said the Water/Envi section has definitely gotten harder. Basically you are taking two depths instead of one (which is ridiculous). For NCCES to make a whole separate Construction module in the afternoon and combine Water/Envi is asinine. If you work in the field of Water Resources, you know that Water and Envi are two totally separate things. It almost seems as if the whole NCEES board is are Structural Engineers or something. Why wouldn't they just add construction questions to the Structural or Geotech depth??? Although I have worked in the Water Resources field for over 10 years, I have given up. I took the Geotech depth and with very minimal studying, felt EXACTLY the same way I do when I study HOURS for the Water/Envi depth. WOW...The geotech depth was hard for me, but I felt better when I saw everyone else flipping through the book also Even if I do not pass this time, I am confident that I can study and pass, unlike the Water/Envi, where I could do 500 problems and still feel lost.

 

[PEPG]

I have taken this test WAAAAYYYY too many times, and as one poster said the Water/Envi section has definitely gotten harder. Basically you are taking two depths instead of one (which is ridiculous). For NCCES to make a whole separate Construction module in the afternoon and combine Water/Envi is asinine. If you work in the field of Water Resources, you know that Water and Envi are two totally separate things. It almost seems as if the whole NCEES board is are Structural Engineers or something. Why wouldn't they just add construction questions to the Structural or Geotech depth??? Although I have worked in the Water Resources field for over 10 years, I have given up. I took the Geotech depth and with very minimal studying, felt EXACTLY the same way I do when I study HOURS for the Water/Envi depth. WOW...The geotech depth was hard for me, but I felt better when I saw everyone else flipping through the book also Even if I do not pass this time, I am confident that I can study and pass, unlike the Water/Envi, where I could do 500 problems and still feel lost.

I did the exact opposite - couldn't pass geotech and switched to WR/Env. I thought geotech was much harder than WR/Env, I passed my second attempt switching to WR. Don't ask me how many times I tried geotech.

Anyway - I am glad it is over (passed Oct 2008). Do you know i STILL feel like I should be studying for something every six months. It is wierd.

 

[Superman]

Guys don't worry!!!! When I took the test I thought I did really good in the morning portion but I thought I did horrible for the evening portion. Everyone feels this way. But I passed the first time. So don't think of it too much and pray; definetly prey. Just remember nothing is impossible in GOD's hand.