We all study differently, but there’s one critical study task everyone must do before either the PE or SE exam. You will be happy that you completed it before the actual exam because you will learn a lot from it and you will vastly increase your chance of passing the test.
So what is this must do item? I believe you MUST take the NCEES practice exam before the actual test, especially if this is your first time taking the PE or SE exam. There are four reasons why I think doing this will greatly increase your chance of passing.
1. Gauge the “Difficulty” of the Exam
The NCEES practice exam is developed by the same people who create the exam that you will have to pass. This means that the questions on the NCEES practice exam is very similar to what you can expect to find on the actual test. In fact, NCEES freely admits on its website that some of the problems in the practice exam is taken directly from the past actual exams! One thing I find difficult to gauge when studying for both the PE and SE exam is to understand the level of difficulty of the actual exam questions. After I took the NCEES practice exam I felt like I know the level of details/difficulty the test writers expect me to know. This is important because it allows me to calibrate the depth of understanding of the engineering materials that I need to study for.
2. Gauge YOUR Knowledge Level of Exam Materials
A lot of time we get lured into a false sense of security of how much we know/understand a subject. We might read the study materials and feel like we understand them really well. However, sometimes there’s a disconnect between understanding what you read and applying this understanding/knowledge to solve an actual exam problem. I remembered taking the NCEES practice exam for the first time and being surprised by the fact that I did poorly in the concrete portion of the practice exam even though I thought I understood this subject fairly well. It was a wake up call that alerted me to the fact that I didn’t understand this subject as much as I thought and that I needed to devote a little more time to study it.
I recommend taking the NCEES practice exam 4 to 5 weeks before the actual test date. This time frame should allow you enough time to study sufficiently before the practice exam (i.e. know enough to give it a good try) but also give you enough time left before the actual test to do extra studying of areas that you find you are weak at.
3. Understand What Entails a “Correct” Response
It’s important to understand what kind of questions will be asked on the exam, but it is also equally important to understand how the test graders will want you to answer those questions. I remember looking at the NCEES practice exam solutions and being surprised by some of the answer solutions. For example, as a practicing professional, sometimes I take short cuts to find a solution to a problem. However, I discovered that a lot of time NCEES expects you to give an “academic” answer that requires you to show and go through all the “proper steps” which might give you a different solution. This is especially true for afternoon SE exams, and you might not get a passing score if you don’t do it the “right” way. I recommend you to read through all of solutions to the practice exam questions even if you get them right so you can have an idea of how you should response to the exam questions.
4. Practice Makes Perfect
Although it is called a practice exam, you should try to make it as similar to the real exam as possible. Find a quiet spot and devote one day during a weekend (or two days if you are taking both the lateral and vertical SE exams) to take the NCEES practice exam WITHOUT interruption. Turn off your phone and start around 8 am, do the morning section, then lunch, then do the afternoon session. After taking the practice exam, go through and check to see how many multiple choice questions you got right and read through the solutions. For the SE exam, grade each problem with the NCEES solutions and give yourself one of the following grades: Acceptable, Improvements Needed, or Unacceptable. This should give you an idea of how much more studying you need to do and what you can improve on. Doing the practice exam as if it’s the real test will also make you more relaxed on actual exam day because you know exactly what to expect.
You can buy the NCEES PE practice test on Amazon
