The Test

Tomorrow is the day.

The day John takes his Professional Engineering exam from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES).

It is 8 hours long and 80 questions. (That is 6 minutes a question for the mathematical types like him.)

Some of the questions from the review class have taken him 30 minutes of work and multiple pages of equations.

The first four hours are general and can cover anything he studied in four years of college. The second four hours are specifically on Materials and Machine design for him. There are other options depending on your experience.

He has had 14 classes to prepare since the middle of February totaling 42 hours. On top of those he was studying at least 10 hours a week. This week alone he has already spent 40 hours preparing.

Did I mention he is a little stressed about this?

Engineers take their tests seriously. The rules for this exam cover several pages.

They are allowed to bring any bound material as a reference. He has a small rolling suitcase packed with his right now. They are only allowed a calculator from the approved list.

Devices not permitted are pretty much anything but his calculator and watch (for example "anything with a keypad" - I'm quoting the policies here.)

They are not allowed to write at all in anything except the exam booklet. They provide the extra space for work necessary in the exam booklet. If those taking the test write in their own reference materials, they can be dismissed from the test.

The candidate agreement lists 11 different offenses for which you can be dismissed from the test. Besides writing somewhere besides the booklet, it includes having an unapproved calculator, a cell phone in their possession, and things like starting before instructed and failing to stop when instructed.

The item that gets me is this one - "Using a non-NCEES writing instrument or eraser to complete any portion of the exam." They provide mechanical pencils with an eraser and 'preloaded with three pieces of 0.7-mm HB lead.' So don't bring your own!

The policies outline that the proctors are trained to look for these things.

Details.

This test is all about the details. Engineers love details. I know, I'm married to one.

This is actually a multiple choice test. I think that might make it harder - especially if the difference between A and B is only 0.002.

Details.

Please pray for John to have a clear head tomorrow.

On a side note, he won't hear if he passed it or not until this summer.

Those are orange ear plugs at the top of the pile in the photo for him to wear to block out the noises of others.