Worse Score This Time by 10%

[CivilGuy00]

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. 

Yeah I don't understand it either. I left the morning session feeling great thinking I got 30 out of 40. Afternoon was harder but still got answers for the questions (maybe all traps, apparently). But still felt fine overall. And yet, I had a buddy who took the Power PE, felt terrible about it and passed. It doesn't make sense to me.

 

[CivilGuy00]

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.

Yea I agree. I switched up my approach during the FE and did just straight problems and went into studying for the PE that way. Up to now I have done probably 300+ problems a couple times through at least. So I need to get new problems and hopefully the binder can help as well. 

 

[BEL]

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.

That makes sense. I think this time around I'll focus less on watching the lectures and more on doing the problems. I did a lot, but not all of the problems. I didn't major in civil engineering in college so maybe I just need to keep seeing this stuff several times before it finally really clicks. 

For the morning EET review I think I'll still plan to watch all the lectures (and do all the problems) especially since that's so weak for me-structures and soils have definitely been the worst, though construction is pretty bad too. 

The whole thing is just really frustrating and discouraging. I was ready to move on with my life. 

 

[smrob]

That makes sense. I think this time around I'll focus less on watching the lectures and more on doing the problems. I did a lot, but not all of the problems. I didn't major in civil engineering in college so maybe I just need to keep seeing this stuff several times before it finally really clicks. 

For the morning EET review I think I'll still plan to watch all the lectures (and do all the problems) especially since that's so weak for me-structures and soils have definitely been the worst, though construction is pretty bad too. 

The whole thing is just really frustrating and discouraging. I was ready to move on with my life. 

I feel ya!  I'm a WR gal and structures and soils are my worst subject areas.  I spent a lot of time the first go-round trying to master those areas, and not enough time on my WRE depth review.  The second go-round, I decided not to worry about structures (except for a few concepts that I already understand, i.e. trusses, shear/moment diagrams).  I decided to do really well in WR, Transpo, and Construction, then so-so in soils.  May not work for everyone, of course.  Study time is valuable, and I found value in really knowing 3 of the subjects and mostly knowing the 4th.  If I got more than 1 structures problem right on the exam, it was probably by pure luck.

 

[envirotex]

That makes sense. I think this time around I'll focus less on watching the lectures and more on doing the problems. I did a lot, but not all of the problems. I didn't major in civil engineering in college so maybe I just need to keep seeing this stuff several times before it finally really clicks. 

For the morning EET review I think I'll still plan to watch all the lectures (and do all the problems) especially since that's so weak for me-structures and soils have definitely been the worst, though construction is pretty bad too. 

The whole thing is just really frustrating and discouraging. I was ready to move on with my life. 

More problems = More better

Practice, practice, practice.

And then copy and bind your worked problems into a notebook.

 

[SEISMIC JOE]

I just want to start by saying sorry to those who have to go through this tough experience again. I just thought I narrate my experience and methods. Hopefully I’m able to help one or two people.. Im Structural BTW

During my first try, my tactic was to read (on my own) all the references I could find and solve as much sample questions before the exam. I think I studied 2 to 3 hours on weekdays and 5 hours on weekends two months before the exam (about 160 hrs total). I studied (without the class) and took the SOP references I got from a friend to the exam. I solved all the sample questions in NCEES, Goswami, and Lindburg. I still did badly on the exam. I think I got 26 (AM) and 24 (PM).

On my second attempt, I googled other people’s studying tactics and adopted a lady’s tactic who woke up at 4:30am everyday to study starting two months before the exam. I found this very helpful as it added some extra hours of studying each day and also gave me some quality study time without distractions as most of my family were still asleep at 4:30am. I also signed up for the SOP on-demand and in-class courses. I will not advice everyone to signup for both courses unless your job reimburses for classes as doing both at once could be pretty pricey. I found doing both classes to be very helpful as I was able to catch some of the details that slipped by me during the on-demand course at the in-class course. I also added Six-Minute Solutions and Giancaspro, Phd,PE to my sample question repertoire. I found Six minute solutions to be very helpful as it points out the traps that made me choose the wrong answers during practice. That way I was able to avoid them during the exam. I also felt Giancaspro’s sample questions were a lot more realistic so it conditioned me into exam mode very quickly.

Another technique I adopted was taking time to mark my answers on both the scantron and question paper during the exam and making sure they both correlate during the last 5 mins of each section. I’m so glad I adopted this technique as I found a lot of questions I marked wrong due to skipping some questions in the PM section and was able to correct them by performing this check.

I do hope some of my methods are helpful to some people.

 

[caychanh]

I found Six minute solutions to be very helpful as it points out the traps that made me choose the wrong answers during practice.

I like this advice.  I think I didn't work enough six minute problems to avoid some of the Civil WRE depth section traps.  I know I was able to avoid at least 5, but I might have missed the other 5 so I didn't pass.  

 

[trackerjacker]

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. 

And then you can't even know exactly what to expect after taking it once, because it sounds like people have experienced very different exams from one cycle to the next. 

 

[massPEtaker]

I was in a very similar situation to the original poster and want to offer a bit of advice and my story. The first time I took the Civil Water Resources exam I was enrolled in the School of PE course for April 2016 and I ended up with somewhere around 60% .I was pretty close but I decided that the depth was my issue so I tried my hand at EET depth for Fall 2016 and actually ended up with a significantly lower score at 52% or something. I used to have the numbers memorized.

I took a season off to just hit the reset button and it definitely helped me in passing the October 2017 exam. I also enrolled in both the breadth and depth classes at EET and I could not recommend that more. I knew leaving that exam that I was going to be fine after my latest attempt. In total, take some time away so you aren't studying angry and have a clear mind. Think about taking a full review class if you haven't.