April 2019 SE Results Thread

Civil Dawg · Apr 8, 2019

How's everyone feeling about the test? This was my 3rd time taking Vertical Buildings after failing twice 2 years ago. My first time I got 24/40, A, IR, U, U. Last time I felt great leaving the test but must have fallen for every trick they threw at me and ended up with 19/40, A, A, A, IR. I felt good about the morning but there were one part (out of the 5 parts) on the masonry, steel, and concrete that are keeping me up at night. I think I did well on the other parts of those questions so I'm hopeful I can get a good morning score and at least 2 Acceptable's with no Unacceptable. I also took Lateral Buildings for the first time. I had to guess on 4 or 5 morning questions but feel pretty good about the other morning questions. I think I did pretty good on the afternoon as well, but if there's one thing I've learned from taking the test before is there's no way of guessing how well you did!

As far as results, I was hopeful we would get results early this year since the exam was 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. I would expect PE results around May 17-21. The latest NCEES Licensure Exchange, however, doesn't show the SE Exam Grading Workshop during April, May, or the first weekend of June. This would mean the earliest it would be is June 7-9, with results coming out June 14-17. If that's the case, I find that completely unacceptable. How can they justify not grading the exam for over 2 months?

SouthernEngineer · Apr 8, 2019

The vertical test did not seem difficult which scares me into thinking I fell for all their tricks. The lateral test seemed incredibly difficult. One of the afternoon problems I didn't even know what they were asking for. I Deffinanly anticipate having to take the lateral again.

Nathan55 · Apr 8, 2019

Civil Dawg said:
How's everyone feeling about the test? This was my 3rd time taking Vertical Buildings after failing twice 2 years ago. My first time I got 24/40, A, IR, U, U. Last time I felt great leaving the test but must have fallen for every trick they threw at me and ended up with 19/40, A, A, A, IR. I felt good about the morning but there were one part (out of the 5 parts) on the masonry, steel, and concrete that are keeping me up at night. I think I did well on the other parts of those questions so I'm hopeful I can get a good morning score and at least 2 Acceptable's with no Unacceptable. I also took Lateral Buildings for the first time. I had to guess on 4 or 5 morning questions but feel pretty good about the other morning questions. I think I did pretty good on the afternoon as well, but if there's one thing I've learned from taking the test before is there's no way of guessing how well you did!

As far as results, I was hopeful we would get results early this year since the exam was 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. I would expect PE results around May 17-21. The latest NCEES Licensure Exchange, however, doesn't show the SE Exam Grading Workshop during April, May, or the first weekend of June. This would mean the earliest it would be is June 7-9, with results coming out June 14-17. If that's the case, I find that completely unacceptable. How can they justify not grading the exam for over 2 months?

To truly understand NCEES, you must watch the dark knight rises. Remember when Bane finally defeats batman, and he expects a quick demise?

Batman/SE exam test takers: why didn't...you just....kill me?

Bane/NCEES: You don't fear death. You welcome it. Your punishment...must be more severe.

Batman/SE exam takers: Torture?

Bane/NCEES: Yes. But not of your body...of your soul. You will learn that there can be no despair without hope. I will give you hope...to poison your souls. To let you believe you can pass. And then, when it is done, and you receive your results...and everything you have worked for is ashes...THEN you have my permission to die.

And THAT is why results take so long, and why you can never know what you missed in the afternoon to determine what to improve upon for next time.

Civil Dawg · Apr 8, 2019

SouthernEngineer said:
The vertical test did not seem difficult which scares me into thinking I fell for all their tricks. The lateral test seemed incredibly difficult. One of the afternoon problems I didn't even know what they were asking for. I Deffinanly anticipate having to take the lateral again.

Did you take Buildings or Bridge? I took Buildings and feel like I struggled my way through each question and ended up with a decent answer for each. The guy who was taking bridges said there was a Lateral PM question that he had no clue what they were asking.

ChaosMuppetPE · Apr 8, 2019

I felt like I rocked the SE lateral this time. Even with the sneaky tricks. I've taken the lateral exam a few times though, EET review this last time definitely filled in a lot of seismic unknowns for a poor old east coast engineer. I remember sitting there the first time thinking "What the heck is that?" So I feel for everyone. If I somehow by NCEES god knows what metric did not pass, I will definitely be talking to a lawyer to see my test as I will suspect either incompetent grading or malfunctioning equipment and I will not sit for this exam again. I still believe it is the ultimate disgrace in engineering that you are not allowed to see what you missed and receive a poor excuse for diagnostic that basically tells you "So sorry, better luck next time."

Good luck to all. I hate the wait, but at least this time I can prepare for a good time on release day!

SE_Hopeful · Apr 8, 2019

Took buildings both days. Lateral was on a whole different level of difficulty than Vertical, significantly harder than anything I expected.

SE_Hopeful · Apr 8, 2019

Is there any insight on what the difference between Unacceptable/Needs Improvement/Acceptable is on a percentage basis or something like that?

ChaosMuppetPE · Apr 8, 2019

SE_Hopeful said:
Is there any insight on what the difference between Unacceptable/Needs Improvement/Acceptable is on a percentage basis or something like that?

I wish I could give you better news, but I believe they grade fairly harshly. Basically, if you miss a section of a problem, it's improvement required. Miss much more than that and I think you get to see this lovely exam again.

cal91 · Apr 8, 2019

Buildings both days. Vertical was pretty straight forward, easier than I thought it'd be! Felt really solid on both AM and PM. Feel like I nailed all the bridge questions too, and no guessing.

Lateral AM felt really solid. Got all the bridge problems, didn't have to guess on any.

Lateral PM felt really solid on 2 of the 4 questions. I was a little surprised it seemed like the questions were... 1. General Analysis / Concrete, 2. Steel / Concrete Foundation, 3. Wood / Masonry, 4. Steel. I felt really solid on 3. and 4. On question 2, Felt really solid about the first half ( the steel part) but struggled to find the code provisions for the concrete foundation part. Question 1 felt really solid on the general analysis part (the majority of the question) but didn't feel like I answered the last part (the only concrete material specific part of the question).

Pur_SE_ · Apr 8, 2019

I took Vertical this go around as I was able to pass lateral in October (yay!). I felt that Vertical was somewhat straightforward. It was kinda refreshing but then again I was doubting myself on a few of the items in the afternoon. I am not sure if I was able to pick up all the "tricks" that the exam presented. However, I felt much more confident after this exam than last session.

tj_PE · Apr 8, 2019

I took Vertical only, buildings, first try.

I felt like the morning killed me on time. I could have answered my remaining questions if I had more of it. But had to blindly guess on about 7 due to the 1 minute warning.

The afternoon felt better, but not great. I suspect I will be seeing the vertical portion again. Haven't attempted Lateral yet.

ChaosMuppetPE · Apr 8, 2019

tj_PE said:
I took Vertical only, buildings, first try.

I felt like the morning killed me on time. I could have answered my remaining questions if I had more of it. But had to blindly guess on about 7 due to the 1 minute warning.

The afternoon felt better, but not great. I suspect I will be seeing the vertical portion again. Haven't attempted Lateral yet.

TJ. This makes me sad. Wish you would've studied with me.

SouthernEngineer · Apr 8, 2019

Civil Dawg said:
Did you take Buildings or Bridge? I took Buildings and feel like I struggled my way through each question and ended up with a decent answer for each. The guy who was taking bridges said there was a Lateral PM question that he had no clue what they were asking.

I took the buildings test. The second part of the second question confused me. find "x" when "X" was provided in the table.

SE_Hopeful · Apr 8, 2019

cal91 said:
Buildings both days. Vertical was pretty straight forward, easier than I thought it'd be! Felt really solid on both AM and PM. Feel like I nailed all the bridge questions too, and no guessing.

Lateral AM felt really solid. Got all the bridge problems, didn't have to guess on any.

Lateral PM felt really solid on 2 of the 4 questions. I was a little surprised it seemed like the questions were... 1. General Analysis / Concrete, 2. Steel / Concrete Foundation, 3. Wood / Masonry, 4. Steel. I felt really solid on 3. and 4. On question 2, Felt really solid about the first half ( the steel part) but struggled to find the code provisions for the concrete foundation part. Question 1 felt really solid on the general analysis part (the majority of the question) but didn't feel like I answered the last part (the only concrete material specific part of the question).

I was not as confident on the Lateral AM - I had to guess on a few problems, however I expect to at least get a 'pass' for the AM. But my experience on the Lateral PM sounds very familiar to yours. I felt like I had a decent answer/approach for everything except for the Concrete/foundation stuff, which I don't think I interpreted the code correctly for / or made calc errors, because I got results that didn't make sense. Hopefully partial credit is enough to carry me through

ChaosMuppetPE · Apr 8, 2019

SouthernEngineer said:
I took the buildings test. The second part of the .....

Just a quick bit of concern, this site is really sensitive to sharing any exam information. Be careful what you say.

cal91 · Apr 8, 2019

FutureSE said:
Just a quick bit of concern, this site is really sensitive to sharing any exam information. Be careful what you say.

I was thinking that what I shared was vague enough. If the Mod's think otherwise I won't be offended if it's removed.

ChaosMuppetPE · Apr 8, 2019

Does anyone else feel like the SE Lateral exam makes them feel like the girl in Buffalo Bill's pit from the movie "Silence of the Lambs"

Nathan55 · Apr 8, 2019

Every Lateral exam review session should begin with putting these Navy Seal motivational sayings to memory, with modifications:

1. The only easy day was yesterday (when you took the vertical exam)
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable
3. Don't run to your death (on essay problems especially)
4. Move (quickly through the exam), shoot (down tricks in easy problems), communicate (your knowledge of the code to NCEES graders)
5. No plan survives contact with (NCEES)
6. All in, all the time

tj_PE · Apr 8, 2019

also, i need to bring a seat cushion next time. not because the chairs were uncomfortable, but the rough surface made the backs of my legs itchy in the afternoon!!!

SE_Hopeful · Apr 8, 2019

The biggest thing I felt after the test was rage. Rage that the NCEES can justify charging $50 for (or even offering at all for that matter) a 'practice exam' that is not even close to the same difficulty level as the actual exam. It was a total misrepresentation for lateral.

April 2019 SE Results Thread

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