Surveying measurements and their analysis - R. B. Buckner
DDSM
> boy - I screwed that process up....passing it on the first time and all.....:-P
Me too, Twice. Once for Texas, no NCEE and once for Oklahoma, NCEE.
I "like" your comment Jered 🙂
It may be a little late this time, but in my opinion the best thing you can do is to get a study group together. Also there are exam preparation courses offered through land surveyor associations. The series I manage here in Washington ends this Thursday. It is a great bargain at $150 for 12 classes and we had extra room this year. For last minute studying the 1001 questions book is great. Good luck!
Basic exam taking strategy will help too.
Go through the exam and do all the problems you can get quickly (the ones where you can pick the right answer in under 10 or 15 seconds, usually word problems).
Then go through and do the medium harder ones.
Then do the ones with heavy calculating last.
If at any time you get hung up on a problem, leave it. This takes some overcoming our task-oriented tendency. I have a strong desire to do things in order so I have to overcome that.
Do the problems you got hung up on at the very end if you have time left.
I personally don't check problems at the end (just as likely to mess up a good answer as fix a bad one). When I have filled in an answer for every problem, I put my pencil down. I resist the temptation to go back and start checking even if there is time left at the end.
I would add that basic trig functions and ratios provide the bulk of the mathematics needed to pass the FS exam. At least that was my experience.
Thanks Seth! I actually have been attending the LSAW classes on Thursday nights in Kirkland.
No calculations?
My ass!!!
> Land Surveyor's Workshops has some great training material
>
> http://landsurveys.com/store/cart.php
>
> Larry is a hoot to take a seminar from and he is good people. Feel good about buying from him.
>
> At this point if you don't know it cramming for the test will not help much. From what I remember the FLS is mostly basic stuff with little to no calculation. Terms, technical questions, etc that you should know by now.
>
> Relax. Eat a good meal the night before and try to get some rest. Your brain will be busted after 8 hours of exam. You will do fine and if you fail you will know what you are up against next time.
>
> Good luck!
You're not allowed anything other than the supplied pencil for the FS.
Lots of good advice but I will focus on the "exam taking strategy" pointed out by JB, Chris, Dave K and anyone I missed. I have a bit of experience with multiple question testing and I believe if you understand the nature of that type of testing it's self, you can apply a "strategy" that will help. I'm not advocating shirking on anything else (primarily the intent is to know your subject matter after all).
The above mentioned fellows got it right as for the strategy. Answer what you know first and avoid calculations. On the surveying licensing test I've taken, I did this, I assumed that I got the initial round correct and quickly scored myself at over 70% right off the bat! That was a great confidence builder! Second wave as others have already suggested, third round an so on.
Understand like others pointed out the correct answer is in front of you! The difficulty of a multiple choice test is the strength of it's "distractors" (incorrect answers that appear to have good validity or contain only partially correct portions of the answer, designed to lure you away from the correct answer). By the third round, you should be able to eliminate at least half (or more) of the distractors thereby increasing your odds.
In my experience, NCEES really likes to add additional unnecessary information and data (I call it static) to their questions. READ EACH QUESTION CAREFULLY; I feel in part they are testing your ability to comprehend the imaginary situations and glean the essential data or facts you really need from the inapplicable data. They WILL provide a distractor for the bogus data! Sorting out the pertinent information will eliminate these.
Like JB said " questions will begin to answer other questions", that has been my experience as well, Look for that.
Unless you ABSOLUTELY know you answered something incorrectly, do not change an answer, odds are better that you got it right the first time! Do not second guess!
Study, study, study but not on the night before! Approach the test well rested and alert.
Like most others, I HATE testing! The days leading up to one can be miserable but once you sit down, let all that go and approach the test with confidence!
Now...Go "GIT EM"! ;-)
CV
I agree with the if you don't know it now, then it's too late for this go around. I would definitely watch my time, and don't spend too much on one question.
If I remember correctly, there were four choices on each question, but there were more than 4 bubbles on the answer sheet (scantron). I went and filled in say "e" on the hard ones. That way, when I was done, I could go back and look at the hard ones.
I heard the horror story of one test taker that got off by one number and missed over half the test.
Good luck
For me that was the hardest one...
Jimmy brings up a really important point regarding the possibility of getting your answer sheet out of sequence (assuming they are still using a Scantron answer card)! There are not so many questions to not afford a quick check that your answers are marked properly. They will brief you not to write or mark the booklet in anyway (I did), no repercussions thus far and it has been a few moons ago. I think I am safe ,........... wait, what's that sound? I hear helicopters! Oh $&%*!
;-)
CV
From the guy who passed the first time....
...and who took no math past the tenth grade.
The test is not about surveying, it is about test taking.
You already know enough about surveying, and almost all of the advice you need has already been given here.
You might not get all of the sleep you need the night before, so bulk up on your sleep the week before the exam. Eat some breakfast.
The advice already posted about parsing the questions for difficulty is the most important single concept to understand. Some of the problems may be extremely complex. Bypass them until you are done with all of the easier ones. You are not at work, so you determine the priorities.
In a multiple choice exam, no instructor is going to be looking at your computations. Your only grade on a question is whether you pick the correct answer. You do not need to work everything out to the last second of angle, or last square foot of area. You only need to go as far as finding which of the five answers is correct. Mark the answer and go on.
You will do just fine and pass the exam the first time. You might even get the highest score. I did.
From the guy who passed the first time....
At about age 83 or so my Dad took the Louisiana PE exam (as he was planning on designing a bridge in LA after 50 years of designing them here in MS) on an open book mailed it to him process. He worked all the problems and sent the exam back with his answer sheet. Few weeks later they called him and told him he flunked with a score of like 20. Far short of freaking out, he told them "it just can't be" and sure enough he passed with flying colors....once they used the correct grading sheet.
If I could pass on one bit of advice that I have told others it would be this:
1) Figure out what part of your normal day your mind is the "sharpest". For me, not being a morning person, I feel as though I am really "on top of things" late afternoon into the evening.
2) 2 or so weeks before the exam, start rolling back (or ahead) your biological "clock" so that when that exam hits your desk you are coming into your peak mental time frame. If that means going to bed at 3pm the day before and waking at midnight then finding something to keep you busy other than last minute studying before exam time at 8 am, you'll be ready for it.
From the guy who passed the first time....
""""In my experience, NCEES really likes to add additional unnecessary information and data (I call it static) to their questions. READ EACH QUESTION CAREFULLY; I feel in part they are testing your ability to comprehend the imaginary situations and glean the essential data or facts you really need from the inapplicable data. They WILL provide a distractor for the bogus data! Sorting out the pertinent information will eliminate these.
Like JB said " questions will begin to answer other questions", that has been my experience as well, Look for that.""""
i'm with cv, above, on this one. know how to frame the problem, then compute/approach it.
if you skip questions, to go back later, don't lose your place on the answer lines
00 For SITs, make sure you download the FS PAKS (you can find the listing at http://888SURPASS.com ). This listing includes a detailed outline of the subjects covered on the National Fundamentals of Surveying (FS - formerly SIT) exam. The FS exam changed dramatically in October of 1999. Make sure any advice you are receiving on the FS exam is timely!
Simple rules.
Before
Study like the dickens and then do nothing the day or even two before the test. Rest, relax and do a hobby you enjoy.
If the test is a long drive then go the day before, grab a nice motel room, eat and relax.
Test Day.
Get there early and take a nap or walk around the buildings. This will settle your nerves.
Answer the easy ones that you don't even have to think about and leave the tougher ones to come back to.
Answer the tough ones but if a real stumper then go on to the next one. If you have time at the end then go back and look at the hard ones again.
READ the questions carefully. Some seem very simple but have gotcha's to see if you are really understanding the question.
Post Test
Sweat and worry for like three freaking months awaiting the results.
Deral
Is this test scored by simple number right, or does it penalize guessing by a formula that subtracts for wrong answers, with 0 for unanswered ones? Some of the college prep tests used to have that kind of formula, and it alters your strategy. You have to narrow down the possible answers to maybe 2 before it is worthwhile to guess.
Everyone here is giving good advice. I just took the FLS exam in October and passed it on the first time. Make sure when you read the questions, read it through once and then before you answer the question, read it through again. There is no penalty for guessing wrong answers. If you are still working when there is 10 minutes left, go back through all the questions you haven't answered and just start filling in the bubbles. If you happen to finish before time is up, just make sure you go back through your work. Make sure you only take in the required items, no cell phones, no caps, etc. They will void your test if they find any unauthorized material. At the end of the day, your brain will be pretty dead. The actual information on the test did not seem all that hard, just use your time wisely. Now just wish me luck as I am also getting ready to take the LS exam next week.