I am going for the exam in october. I was trying to get some information on study materials. I have been using mostly the ref. manual and the newest sample examination from PPI. Will that prepare someone for the exam for a shot to pass? and does anyone know if the ppi sample is a good representation of the exam. I have an older NCEES (2005) questions and solutions book (80 questions) and it seems to have a little bit different types of questions. Also doesnt seem to explain answers very well. Does anyone know if the newer 2010 version is any different?
Thanks!!
Make sure you get the latest practice exam from NCEES. What is your educational experience - two year, four year, or experience only?
Make sure you know how to use your calculator programs well. That saved me so much time on the test. I had a lot of GIS and GPS on mine. Other than that the test is not easy. Just remember you know more than you think you do. Print off the question percentages from NCEES and go through each section and study. Good Luck.
experience only. I was hoping to go this past april but the state didnt approve me in time. I studied alot in the few months leading up to that and felt pretty confident. Meaning after using the ref manual to study I did pretty good on the sample exam from PPI (time and correct answers) Ive been using that to stay sharp and going through the manual and notes again. are you familiar with the PPI sample exam at all? Are you refering to the NCEES sample PROMBLEMS and solutions book when you say NCEES sample EXAM? because that is all i could seem to find on the website.
I did a 1 hour webinar with advice for those preparing for one of the licensing exams.
There is no cost or obligation to watch. You do have to provide a name and email address but we promise to never share that information with anyone else.
Larry P
NCEES has a booklet with the latest exam prep and it's on their website. Sounds like you have it.
As other people have said on this site, the test is hard.
Do the easy problems first (qualitative), go back and do another round, and save the hard ones for last. Manage your time wisely.
I recently took and passed the April exam; my advice is to study up on GIS and know the different types of data and what their respective roles are. Math was a small part of the exam, mostly ratio type stuff with some questions having a huge amount of fluff. Be sure to trust look for 'not to scale' on drawings wings as they throw a few out there. I believe that there was only a couple questions about curves, like sag/crest and circular and parabolic. In my opinion the NCEES book booklet did nothing other than expose me to some odd problems, it did little to assist with exam prep. I also did some from 1001 questions and I thought that was better. I wish you all the best, and be sure to go through the exam at least twice and be confident in your answers.
I have a copy of R.B. Buckner's Land Survey Review Manual, ISBN 0-910845-49-2.
Found it to be a valuable tool in my adventure to becoming licensed!
BL
cool. thanks. do you know of any good GIS references off hand or do you think the sample problems in the 1001 ?s book would prepare for that?
No I don't, I took a intro to GIS class and that combined with personal knowledge helped me out. The ESRI stuff is kinda lame. I would mainly look into the file types, and image types (raster and vector) and how they relate to the whole dataset. I'd send you my book but I sold like a bad horse.
Does your state surveyors society have a exam preparation course?
For GIS it was the basic stuff with the types of data used in GIS. You can Google all of it. Do not get to far over year head with it. Just know the data and what it consist of.
Sounds like the exam has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years since I took it. From what I remember there was no GIS, GPS, or even file type questions. Mostly math, trig and some simlpe algebra.
I used the PPI LSRM as really my only study guide and passed no problem. I would suggest shelling out the $ for the newest version, it will certainly help you more than one that is 7 years old.
-V
The 1001 really helped me and also the Surveyor Reference Manual from PPI was great. Still have it on my desk just in case.
Good luck on the exam. I am planning on taking mine in the spring and am doing it on experiance as well. How much experiance are you required in your state?
LWilliams
six years. how about there?
thanks alot! and just for the license
thank you!
I am from Wyoming which has no experiance clause but will be taking it in South Dakota where it is 11 years. I am coming up on 15 years in February. Slowly taking college classes as well while raising a young family.
:good: Definitely 1001 surveying problems. I believe it has a self assessment test in it. Helps on the PS too. I bought GIS for dummies too. It helped on a question or two B-)
I went the experience only route also, not a option in most states now... I think it has some advantages but I still plan on going back to school. BTW, join a local surveying chapter and get involved in improving tbe profession. B-) You will learn alot there!
