Oregon PLS Test

Mike,

Study hard but lighten up before the test. When I took the exam back in the stone age with a couple of my friends we spent the night before shutting down the local strip club. Two out of three of us passed the test the next day.

If you don't know it the night before, you are not going to learn it.

John

> Sitting for the April PLS..
Of the 3 states I've written Oregon was the most difficult. Not that the questions were all that hard, just that the time was very short. It was a 2 hour format when I took it (1998), I understand that it is 4 hours now.

Don't get sucked in by "open book". You won't have time to look up answers. At best, you can check a reference or refresh your memory. But you better know exactly where to look.

I recall being required to write a legal description of a supplied sketch, questions regarding specific provisions of ORS, etc. Walking out was like waking up from a vivid dream - I couldn't remember the questions 5 minutes after the time was up, just had a feeling of being wrung out.

I have not taken it but plan to in the near future. I've heard talk about some sort of prep course offered specifically for the Oregon exam but never verified such a course exists.

Maybe it's something offered by the PLSO?

Either way, good luck to you!

I have taken the Oregon Law courses through OSU (I and II) and a PLSS/DLC course through OIT, but I have not heard of any others. The NCEES portion is a closed book now, and the curriculum listed in OSBEELS for the state portion is pretty vague. I have not seen anything in writing as to it being closed book as well.
If you come across anything else for review material let me know, and I will try to remember to do the same.

Good luck to you and thank you all for your responses.

That is how I felt after the fundamentals, looking forward to that feeling again!o.O

I have been studying for quite some time, however my plans are to get as much sleep the night before the test as I can.

Thanks

Of my 3 successful state exams, Oregon was my first and the hardest. I recall writing a lot. 2003 vintage. I think only 5 passed out of like 20 something and luckily I was one of them. Sounds like you have properly prepared. Don't sweat it. 😉

> I have taken the Oregon Law courses through OSU (I and II) and a PLSS/DLC course through OIT, but I have not heard of any others. The NCEES portion is a closed book now, and the curriculum listed in OSBEELS for the state portion is pretty vague. I have not seen anything in writing as to it being closed book as well.
> If you come across anything else for review material let me know, and I will try to remember to do the same.
>
> Good luck to you and thank you all for your responses.

Your doing the right things! Pay attention to that "vague" list.

They do test on all of those subjects, some just more than others.

Take a hard look on platting, subdivisions and partitions, boundaries
and what controls them (since Oregon really limits your professional
responsibilities to boundaries primarily. Law and PLSS is a great place to start on those. Make sure you read the OAR's as well as the O.R.S. references as well.

Keep up the good work!

I agree with Mark (Norman). Of my three professional exams, Oregon was the hardest for the reasons he mentioned.

You may feel the Syllabus provided is vague but you will see that it is much closer to the exam format than you give it credit for.

http://www.oregon.gov/Osbeels/docs/Syllabi/ORSpecificLandSurveyingSyllabus.pdf

My standard test taking advise is pretty generic but:
Read the whole test first.
Do question that you can answer in one minute.
Do question that you can answer in Five minutes.
Complete sections where you may need to look up answer verifications from the same source. IE ORS, OAR.
Legal description writing section. (Item 3)
Perform Calcs where needed for remaining questions.
Review answers.

ORS
OAR

PLSS Section subdivision and marking of monuments

Practice hand calculating and writing a road description, pay attention to calls in your description

Good luck. Study early and often. Eat and sleep well before the exam.

The week before my exam my boss gave me the best advice ever. In his words "You better pass this f&*%ing test!" Of course now that I have passed he is looking at hanging up his boots in the next five years.

I guess when I say vague, I mean there are not to many like study materials that revolve around the statutes that ask similiar test questions to test your knowlwedge and or see what you are weak/strong in.

Once again I appreciate all of your responses and I will study on, hand writing legal descriptions is one I need more time with.

Thanks again for all of your responses.

This is appreciated advice, with the time crunch in mind, I do not believe I would have made this as an initial approach.

Practice hand calculating

By this I presume your referring to traversing through for closure?

Yes sir.

Hello all,
I know I'm a little late to this party but I am taking the next Oregon SS Exam and I have so far compiled all of the statutes listed in the syllabus as well as purchasing a textbook on Oregon Land Donation Claim cases. Is there anything else I might have missed that would be helpful in regards to Oregon specifically? I live in CA so local courses won't help me much. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.

If you can't show up in person for the OSU workshops in September I'd suggest you at least buy the notebooks. Then thoroughly acquaint yourself with the cases contained therein. There will be questions regarding one or more of them and you simply won't have time to read them for the first time during the exam.

I think I can make that work. Thanks.

In addition to all the good advice above, I would add that you have a good grasp of Geodetic concepts. The Vansykle (sp?), GPS for Land Surveyors, text is a good one and the fourth edition just came out on Amazon.