What was your post feelings and results of the exam

[maximus808]

On October 29 after the exam, did you think you did well, poor, or just borderline pass/fail? And what was your result?

This is my second time taking the exam and I remember the during the April 2010 Exam, I felt that I wasn't sure of over 20+ questions and if I passed or failed it would've been close. The result, fail - 52/80 according to the percentage diagnostic breakdown.

As I'm still waiting on the results for the October 2010 Exam, I felt much better both morning and afternoon compared to last April. I would say maybe 16 total questions at most I believe that I was not sure of....and I a majority of those were educated guesses where I could result in an A,B,C, or D answer using calculations/dimensional analysis breakdown. The others I believe I got it. We get our results at the end of next week. I have to hope and pray

What was your thoughts and result of the exam? Were your feelings right?

 

[Rine]

This my first time taking the exam (PE Civil-Transportation) and I passed. I put in between 200-300 hours including attending School of PE, and I felt great the day of the exam, not really feeling like I was guessing on anything, and finishing an hour early both sessions. In the following 9 weeks that confidence had decreased to roughly zero by today (I got the results this afternoon). I really regretted turning in the exam early, but apparently I did okay. School of PE was a great investment, however I do believe that work above and beyond that is definitely required (for me, anyway). Best of luck to you, and I hope you got it this time.

 

[mgauvin]

This was also my first attempt at the PE Civil WR. I studied between 200 - 300 hours and did it all on my own...mornings, lunches, night time and weekends. I was totally diligent about my process. After the exam I wasn't sure how I did but I hit every question and felt like I didn't guess on anything...but felt unsure about a few questions (under 10). I was just so happy I got through the exam I didn't care anymore. I passed and wish everyone else luck who doesn't know their results yet.

 

[MrAnderson41]

I took the Mechanical Engineering Thermo & Fluids Depth. I put in about 200-300 hours just like the other guys here said all on my own (~2 hrs a night from June-Oct). I felt like I hit it out of the park on the morning exam but in the afternoon I only felt so-so. I really thought the afternoon could go either way for me. As Rine also said, as time went on my overall confidence degraded to the point I just wanted to get the fail letter so I could start studying again. I ended up getting the passing letter and am so glad I don't have to go through all of that again. I think the last couple weeks of waiting were worse than the studying or the exam itself.

 

[amboy]

I took up geotech depth...that was a difficult breadth and depth exam...but i passed...what i did?...solve 20 easy problems out of 40 within 2 hours and then solve at least 10 moderate problems in 1 hour then the remaining 10 difficult problems will be solved using the remaining time hoping to get at least 25%....advice when you take the test.....solve...and....solve....and solve....i also took up a school of pe class travelling 3 hrs every weekend.

 

[principal]

I also took ME Thermo/Fluids. I felt I studied quite a bit so I wasn't going in blind, I am not a good test taker however...

I thought that I did well on the morning. Finished in about 2 hours, figured 35/40 minus stupid unit errors that I didn't realize. Come the afternoon, different story. First pass through took quite a bit of time and I couldn't even answer half the questions. I did not think I did well. I had to guess, non-educated, on several questions.

Walking out of the test I thought I failed. However, a few days later I started to think about my performance. I figured 70% was only 56 correct. That allows for 24 misses, which is quite a bit, and who knows what the actual pass score is. So I actually started feeling better about the test as time went on, because the morning should have pulled me through unless I totally bombed on the afternoon (which was possible). Waiting for results I was 50-50 on if I passed. I'd fluctuate on how I felt depending on the day, but I always felt better about it after the fact, compared to when I heard 'pencils down'.

Result, pass.

Best of luck to those still waiting and those who will be sitting in April.

 

[pez309]

The October 29 test was my first attempt (Civil - Water Resource) and I passed. I took a review course (helpful for first 4 hour section of the test) and put in about 40 hours of studying. I meant to put more in, but was somewhat unmotivated. However, I did finish my Masters in Water Resource Engineering in Winter 2009, so I was pretty confident I had the material down for the depth section. After the test I felt that I had passed. I did tell my boss and some others that I thought the test wasn't so bad, but not to spread that around in case I failed. I completed the morning section in about 3 hours and spent the remainder of the time checking my answers. I completed the afternoon about 15 minutes early and did not get to check my answers as much as I would have liked to. I brought a ton of textbooks (about 15 in a rolling duffel bag) and only really used 4 or 5. I did not find the test to be nearly as stressful as the FE test (while I did pass that in 1 try I went in cold, so I was pretty nervous). That was a few years ago).

My strategy for both tests (PE and FE) was to do problems immediately that I could solve very quickly and skip everything else. Then, go back and solve slightly harder problems and then go back and solve slightly harder ones and keep doing that until all that's left are problems that either I can't solve or think that the time solving them is better spent checking my work for other problems. On those problems I try to eliminate nonsensical answers and just guess.

I can't stress enough, get the problems you know how to solve right. Check your work on those. Don't spend 30 minutes on a single problem. I don't mean to be harsh, but if it takes 30 minutes you don't know what you're doing and are probably going to get it wrong. Spend those 30 minutes checking the work of the problems you "know" you got right. I found silly errors in at least a couple problems I "knew" I had right when I initially solved them.

I kind of digressed from how I thought the test was to test strategy (which probably belongs in a different thread), but I hope it helps. Good luck to those who did not pass.

 

[kengineer]

After the Civil morning I felt really good about the exam. The Structural afternoon I didn't feel quite as good. Probably because immediately after getting into my car I realized I made about 3 stupid mistakes. I thought I would fail because of those 3 questions and was mad the entire drive home.

I ended up sitting down and going through each problem in my mind, as much as I could remember. I figured, at most, I missed 5 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. I drove myself crazy changing that list for a few weeks. Initially, I thought I missed about 11 in the afternoon, but I was able to determine a few of my educated guesses were right. Then worried that I had made other mistakes I wasn't aware of.

From failing the exam before, I definitely felt better about this one. I had also studied a lot more. Since I passed the EIT without much studying, I didn't do much for the PE the first time. This time, I did School of PE, got the CERM, Goswami and kept a spreadsheet study log and reached 300 hours.

In the back of my mind, when I would let myself admit it, I felt like I had passed. I didn't want to get my hopes up and I did start to worry the longer the results took to come out. When I got the notice that I passed I was extremely relieved, although not entirely surprised. I felt like I had done enough work to pass the test. When I failed before, I felt more like I was at a casino and just hoping to get lucky.

 

[oilfieldsteve]

i walked out of the exam feeling like i probably passed, but didn't want to admit it to myself (Petroleum). 4 of us that took the exam discussed things and we were able to recall ~75 of the 80 questions between us. i felt really confident about 55 of them, and reasonable sure about another 8 or 9 of them. we figured that the ones we didn't remember were probably either so hard or so easy, we just answered / guessed very quickly and moved on.

after thinking about it, i knew i made a couple of errors where i over-thought a problem, and those 2 or 3 problems had me tied in knots for a while. i started to doubt the # of problems i was confident about, thinking "well, if i screwed up those 2, what if i did the same thing on a few others?" finally i just put it out of my mind, but all the anxiety came back as the release of results got closer and closer.

anyway, i passed. i'm in texas, so i know i scored an 86%, which would work out to a 69/80. so my 55 + 9 that i felt confident about leaving the exam was pretty close. i must have guessed correctly (or just forgotten an easy question) to get the other 5.

 

[CincinnatiControlsGuy]

I took the EC&C electrical PE exam and I made educated guesses on a total of 4 problems. I felt very confident that I passed as soon as I walked out the door and I ended up passing it on the first try this October.

HOWEVER, I studied a ton for this exam and spent a ton of money preparing for it. I actually started studying back in March with my Calculus book. I wanted to be as strong as possible mathematically and I believe working these types of problems helped immensely, even though pure mathematics problems are not part of the exam outline. I finished that around late June and bought this package from PPI: http://ppi2pass.com/ppi/PPIShop?ct=ELECTRI...=EEEP2&psp=. There was literally nothing else on the market for the EC&C exam. About halfway through that package I panicked and ended up going through my circuit analysis book from college in its entirety. This calmed me down a bit and I was able to make it through the PPI package. Even after all of the studying I still felt like they could burn me big time by going heavy on RF theory; reading previous posts regarding NCEES straying big time from a test's outline scared the hell out of me. I had told my parents at one point that I was thinking about backing out and going for April as I could probably go through all of my textbooks from college that were pertinent to this exam. In any case, I'm glad I over-studied for this exam and I don't care if I spent $1.5K+ on the experience (includes hotel, materials, fees, etc). Walking out of the exam with confidence made it all worth it.

 

[trussnorris]

This was my first time taking the exam. I took the Civil - Construction. I studied maybe 20 hours for the exam. I didn't really know what to study, as there isn't good reference material for the construction depth. So I focused on getting stronger at things I already knew (structural) and familarizing myself with the study guide books and the civil handbook. When I walked out of the morning session I thought I would fail. I know I got at least half right, and probably got 7 or 8 of the remaining by narrowing it down. I found the afternoon to be much easier. There were only 2 I didn't really know how to do, and maybe another 5 that I was able to narrow down.

I figured that if I passed I would have barely squeaked by. I knew there was a chance, so I had hope. My general feeling when I got my passing result was relief. Relief that I wouldn't have to do that again. Because I still don't know what I would study. I figured if I didn't know it, no amount of studying would help. I'd have to retake university courses, and I really didn't want to do that. I don't have any of those refresher courses in my area here.

 

[ORDucks]

This was my first time taking the exam. I took the Civil - Construction. I studied maybe 20 hours for the exam. I didn't really know what to study, as there isn't good reference material for the construction depth. So I focused on getting stronger at things I already knew (structural) and familarizing myself with the study guide books and the civil handbook. When I walked out of the morning session I thought I would fail. I know I got at least half right, and probably got 7 or 8 of the remaining by narrowing it down. I found the afternoon to be much easier. There were only 2 I didn't really know how to do, and maybe another 5 that I was able to narrow down.
I figured that if I passed I would have barely squeaked by. I knew there was a chance, so I had hope. My general feeling when I got my passing result was relief. Relief that I wouldn't have to do that again. Because I still don't know what I would study. I figured if I didn't know it, no amount of studying would help. I'd have to retake university courses, and I really didn't want to do that. I don't have any of those refresher courses in my area here.

Thats exactly how I felt. I thought the morning was awful, and spent the hour lunch break disappointed. The afternoon wasn't as bad. I haven't gotten my results yet, though- nothing is fast in Oregon. Hopefully this week.

 

[KansasStateGeoTech]

nothing is fast in Oregon.

Except the Ducks offense.

 

[Relvinim]

I took the Machine Design depth and started studying way back in January for the Oct exam. I am 23 yrs out of college so I knew I needed a lot of catching up especially in thermo and fluids. I would say I put in 200-300 hrs. I was really concerned i wasn't ready until I started practicing with all the NCEES sample exams, the 6MS and the Lindberg sample exam. I started getting a feel as what to expect on the exam and felt more comfortable.

With that being said I felt the morning session was more challenging than I expected. The afternoon was much more difficult but I was better prepared. Deep down inside I felt like I passed but wasn't too sure. I felt like I guessed on no more than 4 problems and the rest I got answers that matched or made an educated guess. I felt like I could have gotten either a 90 or a 50%. I am so glad I passed because my confidence would have been shattered and the idea of studying again makes me quiver with fear.

 

[ipswitch]

I felt like I did good. I got no more than 12-15 wrong. Spent the proper amount of time studying and did practice problems from three different sources. Spent over 300 hours in preparation. If I didn't pass I would be one depressed bastard. But I know that's not the case.

 

[geypo]

I took the civil - water resources depth and spent about 300 hours studying, passed. I walked out feeling good for the morning part because I made 2 educated guesses and had time to double check my answers. However, that was not the case for the afternoon part because I made 7 - 10 educated guesses and didn’t have time to double check anything. This drove me crazy for about a week after the test and as other people have stated here, my level of confidence started shrinking by the week after the exam. Good luck to all of you that don’t have your results yet and congratulations to all of you that passed !

arty-smiley-048:

 

[avd]

This was my first time taking the exam. I took the Civil - Construction. I studied maybe 20 hours for the exam. I didn't really know what to study, as there isn't good reference material for the construction depth. So I focused on getting stronger at things I already knew (structural) and familarizing myself with the study guide books and the civil handbook. When I walked out of the morning session I thought I would fail. I know I got at least half right, and probably got 7 or 8 of the remaining by narrowing it down. I found the afternoon to be much easier. There were only 2 I didn't really know how to do, and maybe another 5 that I was able to narrow down.
I figured that if I passed I would have barely squeaked by. I knew there was a chance, so I had hope. My general feeling when I got my passing result was relief. Relief that I wouldn't have to do that again. Because I still don't know what I would study. I figured if I didn't know it, no amount of studying would help. I'd have to retake university courses, and I really didn't want to do that. I don't have any of those refresher courses in my area here.

Thats exactly how I felt. I thought the morning was awful, and spent the hour lunch break disappointed. The afternoon wasn't as bad. I haven't gotten my results yet, though- nothing is fast in Oregon. Hopefully this week.

for some reason I was very anxious taking the test, not nervous anxious.

exactly my sentiments.... I took the OCT 2010 construction exam too. I guess on 8 question in the AM, and figured out I got more wrong.

The afternoon session, I found a little easier, I knew how to solve every problem, but I couldn't match up my solution to the given answer for at least half the questions on the first pass. Once settled down, I was able to find each and every mistake I made, my last 20 minutes was repeatedly trying to figure out the last question I was stuck with,(I finally got it with less than 5 minutes to go).

I walked out very angry, because I knew I should have passed the test with a little better preparation.

I really wouldn't call what I did studying, it was more like a review with a little refresher of where I was really rusty.

Any congrats to the passers, and good luck to any1 who has take this again... you only fail if you give up.

But, I too felt relief with my pass letter, that is the exact way to describe my emotions when the PDF opened, pure unadulterated relief.

 

[Caseyuconn]

I took Civil - Transportation for the first time this October. When I left I felt really good, unsure on 2 in the AM unsure on 2 in the PM. The morning session was exactly what CERM said it would be. I felt like there were no surprises in the AM. The afternoon was more time consuming, partially due to fatigue, however equally as straight forward. Best advice I can give is 1.) make studying your second job for three months. Do it every day after work and all day on weekends. 2.) follow the NCEES breakdown for the exam you are going to take, know what each item is and there won't be any surprises.

Result was a PASS, wish they gave a score for passing.

 

[DBC]

I took Civil-Transportation and passed. I came out feeling fairly ok after the exam. I felt like I had personally prepared as much as I could have on my own, so if I had failed it wasn't for lack of preparation.

I started casually studying a year before the exam, hoping to take it early. I think I would agree with the 200-300 hours that others have said. I'm a terrible test taker. Absolutely awful. Especially with multiple choice. So I gave myself a lot of lead time to prepare. I read through nearly all of the CERM book, decided on the transportation for the PM, and I did as many transportation problems as I could fit in - every question in the CERM practice problems book and the entire six minute solutions manual. I figured this would prepare me for nearly half of the exam - 75% of the afternoon and 20% of the morning. Then I studied water resources because 25% of the afternoon would be geotech and water resources, as well as 20% of the AM. I did CERM practice problems questions and the AM six-minute solutions. Same thing with geotech, although I skipped a few questions when I got fed up. I would recommend anyone taking Civil go through the geotech questions until you can answer them without looking anything up. If I had failed, it would have certainly been because of those questions. I didn't study structural because that was my major and I was certain that the morning questions were going to be simple structures theory - anything more complicated would require structural code,. I also did the engineering economics questions from the CERM practice problem manual. I did one NCEES practice exam. I knew I had prepared for:

80% of AM (water resources, transportation, geotech, structures)

100% of PM

I, like many, did all the easy and moderate questions first. If I worked on a problem for more than 2 minutes and realized it would take a bit of extra effort, I marked it in the exam and marked it on my answer sheet, and returned to it later. I answered at least 30 questions in 2 hour 45 minutes, took a break, then answered at least 8 of the last questions before making an educated guess on 2. I didn't come close to running out of time. I worked the afternoon section the same way and took about the same amount of time for everything. Finishing everything so quickly gave me a bit of confidence on the exam.

It might have been wiser to study for absolutely everything, but I started with my PM subject since that would help with part of the AM and the entire PM. If I had to study again, I would go all out with practice problems. There were a few problems that looked like geotech or construction problems at first glance but were really structural or engineering economics. Doing practice problems helped me determine what the problems were really testing. I got to the point where I could do curves problems in my sleep and how to convert mph to fps, how to get acceleration, etc. I used some of those calculations over and over and over again. Being really fast at the problems I knew gave me extra time to work on the problems I didn't understand.

Even after it all, I still felt very iffy on whether I had passed. It was a tough exam with a lot of extraneous information and I could have easily screwed up quite a few problems. I kind of want to see the answers to a few questions I was struggling with. I wouldn't have been surprised with a FAIL on the exam, but was very pleased when I passed.

 

[JEre]

I took Civil Transporation for second time, I am different than most and thought the AM was tough. During the lunch break I was really pissed off about it. I took School of PE and thought I was going to destroy the AM. I guessed on 6 and wasn't sure on 4 more. What got me pissed was the fact that I knew they were easy problems, I just could not get a solution on a bunch of the Geotech/structure problems...sooo annoying!

The PM was a different story, I thought it was waaay easier than I remembered it in April (altho I did study around 200 hrs including school of PE, and only 40 hrs the first time). As I was taking the PM I was thinking to myself, when is the problem coming that pisses me off?? It never came, I flew through it confident as could be and when I left I was 99.9% sure I passed the exam (which I did). So I guess I am ass backwards to what most test takers thought of the Civil AM.