In this installment of my posts on the scheduled transition to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) format for the Mechanical PE Exams in 2020 and the Civil PE Exams in 2023 (https://ncees.org/exams/cbt/), I want to look at the difference in the experience of taking a CBT PE Exam and taking a Pencil-and-Paper PE Exam. Understanding the difference is an important consideration, because, for many people what keeps them from passing is the nervousness generated by the exam experience itself and not their lack of understanding or ability to solve problems.
One key change in the exam experience is that the CBT format uses what is called Linear On The Fly (LOTF) testing, meaning that each examinee will get a different exam. Currently, when the NCEES administers the Pencil-and-Paper PE Exams, everyone in the country takes the exact same exam in their discipline. Yes, the questions for one exam cycle will be different from another, but everyone is facing the same changes each time. However, with the CBT exam, you might get a lot of questions in an area you are not very familiar with and the person beside you, or one who comes in another day, gets just the right number of questions in the areas they are familiar and very few in their weak areas. This sets up a much bigger “roll of the dice” factor, and I have a “minimum of high regard” for that philosophy of testing. It will, however, be the case for the CBT format.
If that doesn’t make you nervous enough, then watch the NCEES YouTube video showing what will happen when you arrive at a Pearson VUE Testing Center to take your exam. The sight of someone having to pull out all the pockets of their pants and do a 360º turn in front of the administrative assistant is a bit disconcerting. The assistant is smiling, but the adversarial nature of the things you are required to do is unnerving, to say the least. First, you read the rules, show an approved ID, provide a digital signature, have your picture taken, and then provide a palm vein scan. You are told to put everything but the few allowable items into a locker. Next, another ID check and palm vein scan, and you are given your work pad and pen and escorted to the testing room door where you are to read, yet again, the rules. You are then escorted into the small testing room and the cubicle where you will spend the next eight hours taking the exam, carefully watched by a proctor over security cameras. At your cubicle, you watch a short tutorial on how to proceed with the CBT exam, then the clock starts and will literally count down the seconds until your time is over. You can take breaks (palm vein scan going out and coming back), and you are intensely watched so that if you access your locker you don’t violate one of the rules. There are numerous security procedures that you must follow precisely or your exam will be invalidated. You can learn more about the new CBT experience from a series of NCEES videos.
In contrast, for a Pencil-and-Paper exam, you arrive along with hundreds of other people and are shown to a large table in a very large open auditorium where you can begin to set up all the references you have brought. Yes, no cell phones or computers, but you can have just about anything else including food and drink, though at some locations these are restricted. In the CBT cubicle, you can’t even chew gum. In the pencil and paper environment, there is an air of excitement and expectation, that you are part of a bigger world. Yes, you are sitting in a pre-assigned seat and someone asks for your ID, but that is it. You sit waiting for the exam to begin among a great many others with the same ambition of becoming a PE. Instructions are read to you by a person at the front of the room, usually at a podium. A team of proctors circulate, helping people get settled. Professional, but very friendly. During the exam, if you have to use the restroom, you simply raise your hand. Once the Pencil-and-Paper exam starts, there is a big clock on the wall and periodically the time remaining will be announced. Again, none of the intimidation generated by the CBT format.
Those are my impressions of the two vastly different exam experiences, and the Pencil-and-Paper exam wins hands down in my book. I can tell you that without a doubt I would not be looking forward to taking the exam under CBT format conditions. I would like to think that it would not affect the outcome, however, I am sure my stress level would be maxed out during the entire experience. If the CBT experience does not appeal to you, then your only option is to take the Pencil-and-Paper PE exam now and pass! Once the change has been made to the CBT format, there will be no other options.
- Dr. Tom
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