SE 2

[ahunt]

Hi Guys,
I took the SE 2 on Friday. I went in with the attitude that I need to provide them a good final design for the questions. I felt pretty beatup and didn't have enough time to finish with the quality I'd like. In some panic areas, I think I missed some things too.

How did you guys feel after taking the SE 2 (for those who took it and finaly passed)? Do most engineers come out feeling pretty beat? Did I go in with too much emphisis on getting the final product perfect (like we try to do at work)?

 

[271828]

It took twice for me to pass it. It seemed to me like a crapshoot. You either get something you know how to do or you're toast. On my first one, they gave us a REALLY hard seismic design problem. One of my buddies is a seismic nerd from the west coast who'd just moved east and he flunked too, so I didn't feel bad. By an hour into the afternoon, I knew I was deadmeat.

The second one had easier seismic stuff and a bunch of concrete design, so I came out of there knowing that I passed by a mile. I had a buddy who hadn't done as much concrete and he wasn't fast enough at those specific tasks, so he flunked that one too.

Anyway--that's how it was when I took it (2001-2002? can't remember exactly).

 

[DaveVikingPE]

What states are you folks from?

Do you have an application tales?

 

[ahunt]

I'm from Ohio. Funny thing is, I felt better about the seismic than anything else

 

[swivel63]

geez, i'm scared now.

LOL

 

[271828]

I'm a mid-Atlantic guy. SE in Illinois.

It took a while to get the Illinois license, but I screwed up a couple of things on the application.

 

[Bagman2524]

How does the content of the SE1 and SE2 exams differ?

 

[271828]

The Strl I exam has a lot of easier questions across the breadth of structural engineering. It includes 20% +/- bridge the last I heard. The Strl II contains a smaller number of much harder questions. Most folks I know passed the Strl I the first time, but took multiple tries at the Strl II. That was 8-10 years ago, so it could be different now.

 

[ahunt]

If I recall correctly, a few years ago the passing rate was under 10% for the SE 2.

I see last October the passing rate of first timers was over 60%. The structural 1 pass rates for first timers was 47%.

Maybe they are a little easier now?

 

[271828]

ahunt, perhaps you're right. I think the Strl II was about 15% the time I took it and the Strl I was around 50%.

I do think it's really cool that one can completely avoid bridges in the Strl II--gotta focus on the positives!

 

[ahunt]

I was so glad to be able to avoid bridges!

I wonder though, if Oct will go to AISC 13th, and IBC 2006, as well as AISC 7-05? That will be ugly if we have to re take it.

 

[swivel63]

i did notice that the passing rate is generally higher for the S-2 exam than the S-1.

what dumbfounds me is that the repeat rate for the S-1 is lower than the first time rate.

 

[271828]

swivel63, LOL, I think the repeat rate is lower than the first-timers for the Strl I because most of the superstars pass it the first time!

No offense to anybody who didn't pass it--anybody can have a bad day.

 

[swivel63]

LOLOL, that's what i tell myself to make myself feel better.....but all BS aside, i've never understood that. and it's not lower by just a smidgen, it's lower by a whole lot.

 

[swivel63]

so are there any books that one can buy to study for this exam? i'm taking it in april next year.

 

[ahunt]

I don't know if I passed it, but I thought the Seismic and Wind examples by Alan Williams did a nice job.

From what I can tell, you just need to know all the referenced codes pretty well. I also think the NCEES examples do a good job.

In the end, it all comes down to prayer.

A.

 

[271828]

swivel63: "...but all BS aside, i've never understood that. and it's not lower by just a smidgen, it's lower by a whole lot."

No, I'm dead serious. I think it's because the superstars mostly pass it the first time, so they're out of the statistical sample for the repeat tries.

I'd also speculate that a lot of folks taking it over and over again probably aren't in jobs that are helpful.

 

[swivel63]

lol, so you're saying that superstar level engineers are only about 25 to 40 percent of the population?

<== passed it first time

but i would hardly call myself anything close to a superstar just yet. and i've seen good engineers get bit in the behind by this exam.

*shrugs*

 

[271828]

swivel63, OK, forget the word "superstar" LOL.

How 'bout this: The "better" candidates more often pass the first time, leaving a smaller percentage of "better" candidates for repeat tries.

I agree that anybody can have a bad day, but that probably doesn't affect the overall percentage.

Heck, I don't even remember the point of all this.