Would you want to know your raw test score up front?

[NWARLZ]

Raw score here. I would just like to have some idea.

As for the grading, it is much more complicated now that it is Scan-tron. With the implementation of computers, cheating is much easier. Once all the papers have been graded, there are other programs that analyze the results, find similarities and other indicators of cheating. Also, any problems that have received comments from testers are also reviewed. Once everything has been reviewed, they may or may not remove a question due to inaccuracies or other issues. This requires a new grading/scoring of all tests.

The problems are submitted by volunteers. They get $15 per question if it is used. Obviously they have a database of questions. But, any new ones that are used may not have been reviewed for accuracy or proper wording of the problem statement.

 

[S28]

NWARLZ, if the process you described is correct, it amazes me that new questions aren't reviewed for accuracy or proper wording of the problem statement BEFORE the exam. I'm not saying you aren't correct, as I've heard the same thing from other people... Isn't there a committee of PE's of some sort with knowledge of the current required references, who sit down, look through the exam and make sure everything that is being asked is fair game?

 

[NWARLZ]

Surely there must be. I just don't know if it is the same group/comity that completes both reviews.

 

[Kholmes]

I would want to know that I wasn't COMPLETELY failing, like 30% or something. If it were that low consistently, I would know to throw in the towel LOL.

 

[brian84]

I am curious to know my raw score and final score.

 

[Mark Leyner]

The PE exam, like many professional credentials or certifications, is a minimum-proficiency exam. In terms of the credential received for a passing score, there is no difference between a candidate with the minimum successful passing score and any other candidate with a passing score above that minimum up to, and including, a perfect score.

There are threads about pay raises and new opportunities for freshly-minted PEs, but the reality of the PE w/r/t the business world is that like professional pilots, professional engineers with the same credential are seen as interchangable commodities through the lens of for-profit businesses (and probably also through the lens of government agencies and non-profits).

Accordingly, your individual score is relatively meaningless to anyone other than you. Either you have the credential to perform the work or you don't. The relative merits and pitfalls of such a system are subject to ongoing debate. But, in the United States at least, we enjoy a high level of reliability and safety while subject to a process that does not recognize or differentiate engineering skill at the fundamental licensing level.

 

[memory]

I would like to know my raw score out of morbid curiosity. I realize that since I passed I can be deemed reasonably proficient in engineering, but I'd really like to know the answers to a question or two on the test that have been nagging me since April.