Update: The Pennsylvania comity application process does not concern itself with the timing of the applicant's experience. Subsequent to my first post, I became licensed in New Jersey in October 2018. In addition to three years field, office, and boundary experience (either before or after the LSIT), NJ requires a four-year degree in land surveying. I was able to get the NJ Board to accept my civil engineering degree and my 30 credits of (undergraduate and graduate) survey courses as equivalent to a four-year degree in surveying. I had to pay $300 for a Credentials Evaluation (like they require for foreign applicants or those that did not graduate from ABET accredited schools), but they looked at my entire curriculum and deemed me worthy.
The NJ education requirement is more stringent than PA, so I had no issues there. I applied by comity to PA, using my NCEES record showing the dates of my experience, and was approved to take the Pennsylvania State-Specific Exam. It's computer-based at PearsonVue. They started taking appointments in June during the pandemic. I'm scheduled to take the exam tomorrow (July 17, 2020).
The PA requirement for someone with a BS CE is to have 10 surveying credits. I had 6 surveying credits as an undergrad and got 6 more at an NJ Community College. Alfred State SUNY has 8 4 credit and 2 3 credit survey courses in their Civil Engineering department, so look there first.
If you cannot pass the FS after three tries I agree you need further education.
Paul in PA
You need an AS degree or junior standing in a BS program, Back in the old days to get your AS you needed to take a specific surveying course that would not count for your BS, but if you were smart you got your AS and a head start on your experience. No matter how much experience you have, once you take the FS it starts again at zero, unless they have recently changed that.
Paul in PA
Congrats on getting to this point. Where are you taking the exam? Should be a no brainer for you.
Paul in PA
I took the exam in Center City, Philadelphia at 1800 JFK Boulevard. It was NOT (I repeat, NOT) a no-brainer. Most of what I studied was not on the exam and most of the exam consisted of material that I did not study and for which I had no reference books. I really went in blind, not knowing what kind of questions (besides material from Knud's book) there would be. I had to simply reason out some of the answers and hope for the best. My advice to the next applicant would be to sign up for the review course given by the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors (PSLS). I know they have one at the annual conference in January, but there may be another given in August. There needs to be a practice exam available for purchase so a person knows what to study. The general outline given in the PearsonVue handbook is very general. For instance, it says, "Utilities" are on the exam. But what about utilities? You can't just say, "Utilities" and expect that to help. Okay, so I'm annoyed.
All that being said, I was given a print-out after the exam that said I passed. Thank goodness.
Thanks for the info.?ÿ I am starting to follow the path of taking the PA specific exam.?ÿ I may wait until the conference in January to take the review course.?ÿ Or maybe just chance it.?ÿ
Jim
