It seems to me (and this is my casual theory, not my scientific conclusion) that if you don't pass the first time around, it's because either (a) You weren't properly prepared; or (b) You're not capable of passing, for one or more of the reasons above. If it's (a), then you curse yourself for letting that happen, knuckle down, study better/harder, and pass on the 2nd try. If it's (b), you eventually give up after failing X times. The ever-dwindling percentage of folks who pass on the 3rd/4th/millionth try must be very close and just need a little more studying or a little easier test or a little better juju to get over the hump. If anything, it gives me confidence in the system that passing rates drop off exponentially, as it means the test is doing a good job of weeding out non-hackers while rewarding deserving candidates, and that the answer to passing is not so much "try, try again" but "get better".The data suggests that if you fail the first time, the probability of passing on second or subsequent times is about 25-30%, probably the reason that the candidate failed the first time-- either lack of preparation, inabiility to pass a multiple guess test or failing to understand the material. These tests are not hard-- they are very broad and comprehensive, however, the questions are designed for an engineer who has been out of school from 4 to 6 years.
I think that the hard part is if you are just working in one facet of the discipline, then having to recall and relearn all of the other facets of the discipline that are identified on the testing protocol on the NCEES web site is where the challenge comes in. The breadth part (width of material in a specific discipline) is probably the killer for most folks. Again, another reason to take the PE exam as soon as you can after graduating from school.
I ended up taking it 30 years after my BS degree-- of course, I had knocked around a fair amount and went back to graduate school multiple times, however, I was just as scared and nervous as the candidate that was just 4 years out. I did pass the first time-- however, I worked hard to get there.
This is also where the while trying to calculate the passing score comes into play and why we try to discourage the practice. People are oh i just barely missed the mark and don't neccessarily put enough work into studying for the next time....and end up at the same spot as the first just barely not passing.It seems to me (and this is my casual theory, not my scientific conclusion) that if you don't pass the first time around, it's because either (a) You weren't properly prepared; or (b) You're not capable of passing, for one or more of the reasons above. If it's (a), then you curse yourself for letting that happen, knuckle down, study better/harder, and pass on the 2nd try. If it's (b), you eventually give up after failing X times. The ever-dwindling percentage of folks who pass on the 3rd/4th/millionth try must be very close and just need a little more studying or a little easier test or a little better juju to get over the hump. If anything, it gives me confidence in the system that passing rates drop off exponentially, as it means the test is doing a good job of weeding out non-hackers while rewarding deserving candidates, and that the answer to passing is not so much "try, try again" but "get better".The data suggests that if you fail the first time, the probability of passing on second or subsequent times is about 25-30%, probably the reason that the candidate failed the first time-- either lack of preparation, inabiility to pass a multiple guess test or failing to understand the material. These tests are not hard-- they are very broad and comprehensive, however, the questions are designed for an engineer who has been out of school from 4 to 6 years.
I think that the hard part is if you are just working in one facet of the discipline, then having to recall and relearn all of the other facets of the discipline that are identified on the testing protocol on the NCEES web site is where the challenge comes in. The breadth part (width of material in a specific discipline) is probably the killer for most folks. Again, another reason to take the PE exam as soon as you can after graduating from school.
I ended up taking it 30 years after my BS degree-- of course, I had knocked around a fair amount and went back to graduate school multiple times, however, I was just as scared and nervous as the candidate that was just 4 years out. I did pass the first time-- however, I worked hard to get there.
It seems
Enter your email address to join: