Worse Score This Time by 10%

[CntrlEngrPE]

Came across this thread with a lot of discussion from dejected test takers who are yet to succeed in the exam...I failed the FE and PE multiple times but one saying kept me going and I hope it helps others out to...it said that failure IS an option..what is not an option is giving up.. I allowed myself the room to feel miserable after failing...but gave myself say 'until the next Tuesday' where I told my self I would allow myself to sulk...but Wednesday onwards...Im going to start all over again...when I eventually passed, I realized one major flaw in my preparation for the times I failed...I just did not do enough questions..so my 2 cents are..if you want to pass...hit the questions..HARD. And go tame that beast..if you cant...try and try again ...success will ultimately be yours...I promise. 

 

[tj_PE]

Thanks that's a very in-depth review for EET WRE and sounds helpful I think I'll sign up.  Do they have referral discount ?

It seems like I'm just missing something that is keeping me from doing well on the exam.  The exams are so different each time, even the way the questions are worded are different.  I'm still having headaches when I think about those depth questions.  The April 2017 PM portion was much better worded and easier to understand.

I just signed up for the EET Breadth and WR Depth webinar courses.  Here's hoping that the third time in April 2018 is the charm.  Getting married the weekend of the October 2018 test, so that option is out.

I did the EET review for civil/structural and cannot praise them enough. And just in case you need to feel better about how you did, I just failed for the fifth time. I'm a horrible test taker.  I am going to keep taking it until I pass or NCEES tells me I can't take it anymore (ha, not really). Keep your head up!

the difference for me from fail to pass was literally just my approach to taking the exam. doing 3-4 passes instead of just 1-2. I'm terrible at studying/foccusing, so I really only honestly studied for about 16-24 hours between the two.

reading every question completely, but only answering the ones that had super fast easy answers, 

going back through and reading every remaining question completely, and answering the ones with short calculations or a quick definition look up,

going back through and reading every remaining question completely, and answering the ones with more complicated questions but I was confident that I could figure out,

then going back through and working the rest of the problems. marking an answer even if i wasn't sure, but making a tick next to that number on the answer sheet. at 15 mins I filled them all in and cleaned up my answer sheet. 

My first try, the proctor didn't give us our 5 and 1 minute warnings, so I just started wrapping up at the 15 min mark. maybe leave one more problem to solve, but you don't want to leave anything blank. And having the wind-down time to decompress before you're filed out like lemmings for lunch was beneficial to me. 

I would say, if you have practice exams, keep doing them with different approaches and see what feels most efficient to you. (you can do this in your last few weeks when you're going through practice exams anyway) 

 

[tj_PE]

I saw this on the Texas board.  Does that mean I will have to resubmit SERs and other application info if I don't pass the third time in April?  Looks like its a sign to take the EET course.

In the standard application system, I get 4 consecutive attempts to take the exam. If I start taking them early, will that still be the case?
No, the system of accounting of permitted exam attempts has changed. Previously, once approved for the PE exam, an applicant received four consecutive exam attempts to pass the exam. If a person was sick, was late to the exam, opted to not take the exam, or had another issue, that counted as one of the four attempts.

The new model is that each approved applicant / EIT will receive three total attempts to take the PE exam. That means three times that you actually sat for the exam and received some sort of result (pass / fail / invalidated, etc) So, if you are sick or miss an exam, that will not count against you. However, once you have taken the first exam, you must use the three attempts in a four year window.

Yep correct.  I am in Texas too so have one more shot.

I would email the board and ask what that means as far as applying. In WA you have to reapply, but it's basically just saying you intend to test again, and they use all your previous credentials. basically paying the application fee again. we didn't get 3-4 tries before having to reapply, it's every time. hopefully neither of you have to test this system out, though!

 

[txjennah PE]

I would email the board and ask what that means as far as applying. In WA you have to reapply, but it's basically just saying you intend to test again, and they use all your previous credentials. basically paying the application fee again. we didn't get 3-4 tries before having to reapply, it's every time. hopefully neither of you have to test this system out, though!

My understanding is that once you get those 3 tries, you need to resubmit your SER with an additional year of experience.

I'm glad to hear what the process is like in WA; my fiancé is applying for a job there so if he gets it, I'll probably do the next round there.

 

[leggo PE]

I think you are already aware that all the wrong choices are designed to trick you if you have made a mistake.  You may have fell for many of those traps.  My advice is to study the material much slower but more careful this time.  

I 100% agree with this, because I am fairly certain it happened to me. Granted, I took the civil structural PE exam three times, but I'm pretty sure I fell into easy traps several times on my first two attempts. Heck, I probably did on my third attempt too, but just on not as many questions.

The exam is not trying to trick you. It is just trying to make sure you are understanding the questions correctly and solving them with the correct assumptions and procedures.

 

[caychanh]

I just emailed the Texas board to ask for clarification.  It would be disappointing to wait a year or two until I can retake the exam, especially after the decoupling rule change.  Once the required experience is met, we should be able to continue to take the exam until we pass.  

 

[tj_PE]

My understanding is that once you get those 3 tries, you need to resubmit your SER with an additional year of experience.

I'm glad to hear what the process is like in WA; my fiancé is applying for a job there so if he gets it, I'll probably do the next round there.

WA is the best! I hope you come join us up here! 

 

[samopuddles]

I took the exam last April and got 54% and this time I got 44%. I studied much more this past time and even when going through the exam, I felt very confident in my answers. I did the test booklet first and then transferred it over the Scranton. Remembering back to the test, I feel like I did go back and check to make sure both sheets matched up. Is it possible I could have been off by a line? I know I got the geometrics stuff right, but got 0/3 this time.

Should I retake this test a 3rd time or just give up? I feel like I should give up.

Don't give up, you made it this far. You need to really exam your test taking strategies and figure out what is going wrong. For example, my biggest problem is that I have a tendency to breeze through a question and jump right in. This would sometimes cause me to start figuring out something I either didn't need to or might be wrong and waste time. I just force myself to read each question slowly and ask myself what it's asking and how I'm going to approach it. 

I doubt you went into the exam the second time with a poorer grasp of the material. Just do a lot of practice exams under simulation conditions and see what's causing you problems. You can absolutely do it.

 

[mlavanway]

Don't give up, you made it this far. You need to really exam your test taking strategies and figure out what is going wrong. For example, my biggest problem is that I have a tendency to breeze through a question and jump right in. This would sometimes cause me to start figuring out something I either didn't need to or might be wrong and waste time. I just force myself to read each question slowly and ask myself what it's asking and how I'm going to approach it. 

I doubt you went into the exam the second time with a poorer grasp of the material. Just do a lot of practice exams under simulation conditions and see what's causing you problems. You can absolutely do it.

I appreciate that! People who have not been in my situation trying to make me feel better but I know people on this board can make me feel better because they have been in the same situation I have which is why I simply created an account to come here looking for help and support. My wife told me the same thing that there was no way I knew less this time. I am thinking about the EET stuff because I have massive amounts of notes already and a review course is the only thing I have not done and I've heard amazing things about this particular one! I have just been considering stopping my career and not getting that license or going for it another time. Mostly just not to have to deal with the stress with my wife and son and new daughter here born this February.

 

[IwantthatPE]

http://www.eetusa.com/classes/civil-pe/depth/wre

Do you think this would be worth it?

Don't give up! I highly recommend this course. I took the on demand and you are able to access the videos at your own convenience. 

 

[samopuddles]

I appreciate that! People who have not been in my situation trying to make me feel better but I know people on this board can make me feel better because they have been in the same situation I have which is why I simply created an account to come here looking for help and support. My wife told me the same thing that there was no way I knew less this time. I am thinking about the EET stuff because I have massive amounts of notes already and a review course is the only thing I have not done and I've heard amazing things about this particular one! I have just been considering stopping my career and not getting that license or going for it another time. Mostly just not to have to deal with the stress with my wife and son and new daughter here born this February.

Yeah like I said it's possible you may know the material pretty well but are not passing because your test taking strategy is bad. Also this is an exam that takes anywhere from probably 100 hours to 300 hours of effective studying to pass. I know I had at least 200 in it, but I don't do much design work compared to most so it was a lot more work for me.

What made the test click finally for me was taking each and every practice exam I had (4 of them) over and over again until I could get a 100% under test simulation conditions. Just keep at it. 

 

[caychanh]

Well for Texas Board below is the response I got.  It makes me nervous to try to take the exam a third time.  Basically sit out two exams (1yr) before trying again.  I've heard some people go to other states that didn't have this rule to take the exam.  I was so close this round, I can't imagine waiting another year to take the exam.  I might forget everything by then  .  

"The one additional year of experience begins after you are notified of the last failure of the exam.  You would be required to sit out two exams if the final exam is not passed."

 

[Lucas H]

Well for Texas Board below is the response I got.  It makes me nervous to try to take the exam a third time.  Basically sit out two exams (1yr) before trying again.  I've heard some people go to other states that didn't have this rule to take the exam.  I was so close this round, I can't imagine waiting another year to take the exam.  I might forget everything by then  .  

"The one additional year of experience begins after you are notified of the last failure of the exam.  You would be required to sit out two exams if the final exam is not passed."

Oh no, this rule is dumb! I will definitely go to other states instead of sitting out for a year! 

 

[Lucas H]

I did SOPE for the April 2017 exam, then EET WRE Depth for the Oct 2017 Exam.  EET's WRE depth course is far superior.  Hands down.  The EET binder is also in order of the test specifications - making it quicker and easier to find the info you're looking for.  The EET binder includes equation sheets at the beginning of each section, too.  So, you don't have to dig through piles of pages to find the equation you're looking for.  SOPE's course materials weren't as organized and some of the equations were scattered in the notes.  SOPE also references the CERM a lot and tells you to go there for further study (instead of just reviewing the material).  I found that pretty annoying.  Anyway, I highly recommend EET's WRE Depth review!!

I second this one! I took school of PE and passed at my first attempt this round but I understand why ppl taking this course cannot pass! It is just refreshed notes and you need to use cerm all the time to hunt for the answer in the exam day! Depth is terrible and thank god I used manuals a lot so I didn’t depend on the notes from SOPE! There is no way I can pass just by using the damn notes! 

 

[BEL]

@smrob I am super close to doing EET Depth WRE. The binder alone seems to be a great resource for the test. Would you say you used that EET binder for the majority of the exam? 

I used almost nothing else. Granted, I still failed, but I'm planning to take EET WRE depth again (for free since I failed) and pay for the breadth section this time which I didn't take last time. 

 

[CivilGuy00]

I used almost nothing else. Granted, I still failed, but I'm planning to take EET WRE depth again (for free since I failed) and pay for the breadth section this time which I didn't take last time. 

So were you close to passing? It scares me a bit that even with that binder, it was still a fail...I mean I understand it won't give you answers directly but people have said it will give you all you need. Did you do well in the Depth portion? Man this test blows.

 

[CivilGuy00]

So were you close to passing? It scares me a bit that even with that binder, it was still a fail...I mean I understand it won't give you answers directly but people have said it will give you all you need. Did you do well in the Depth portion? Man this test blows.

Nm I read your older post. Your score rose only slightly. 

 

[BEL]

Nm I read your older post. Your score rose only slightly. 

My afternoon section was 26/40 after taking EET WRE, it went up from the first time I took it. The morning section my score went down. I'm not really sure what happened,  I did well on all the practice tests and didn't feel nervous during the test. I've never been a bad test taker but apparently the PE is a different animal…  

I expected my afternoon score to be higher, the morning score doesn't surprise me because I spent very little time on the AM section per the advice of EET. 

 

[smrob]

So were you close to passing? It scares me a bit that even with that binder, it was still a fail...I mean I understand it won't give you answers directly but people have said it will give you all you need. Did you do well in the Depth portion? Man this test blows.

The binder is a great resource, but best things about EET are the amount of practice problems and the simulated timed exams.  After failing the first time, I reevaluated my study approach.  I didn't do a lot of problems the first time.  For the EET depth review, I did every single practice problem (there are a few hundred) and all of the practice exams.  I timed myself, too.  The EET review is great, but you must also do the practice problems to fully grasp the concepts.

 

[caychanh]

I can see why it is so hard to pass for repeat test takers.  We usually end up with same study and practice material and we keep working out the same problems and read the same handouts and expect a better result once we have a better grasp.  Then we sign up for a course for depth and breadth sections and we can only slightly get better results, because we are almost starting off fresh again.  Its frustrating and annoying journey and then wait 5 or 6 weeks for results and dreaming about what we did wrong during the exam.  My study time has usually been off hours and some occasional reading handouts during some free time as well as during work an hour or two each day which equates to about 200 hours for each time I took the exam.  I take an hour bus ride to and from work so I will start reading handouts and materials every day at least twice.  I tend to just dose off, listen to radio, or read about sales (slickdeals) on my bus rides in the past.  I've got a few days to decide to take the EET WRE depth course for 5% discount, even though I feel like I need to do better in morning section as well.  I have 2012 SOPE material to work on which helped me do a little better in the AM section this round.  I've organized the reference books, but I have done a poor job organization handouts and practice problems to use as reference.  Good luck to all who are planning to take April 2018 exam.