Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi, I'm Joe Paiva with a mini course on the top ten tips that I recommend to prepare for
and to take the Land Surveying Examination.
Let's start with the top ten tips.
Number 10 is when possible, attend an exam review course. Why? For one thing, you'll
get the viewpoint of other attendees, as well as the instructor, on the material that you
need to know. Sometimes, hearing other peoples' viewpoints can help you understand the material
better or hear it expressed differently.
You'll also hear anecdotes about exam day and how to prepare for the exam that other
people have gone through.
Finally, if you have some issues with trying to figure out how to get into the discipline
of preparing for the exam, it can help you a lot by giving you a boost for that purpose.
Number nine. Calculate how many minutes you have for every question on the exam. You'll
be given information on how many questions you'll have for each exam segment. So calculate
it out and be prepared so that you can do a time check periodically to see if you're
keeping on track, and maybe it'll help you to stay away from spending too much time,
when perhaps it should move on and come back to answer a tough question later.
Number eight. The bubble sheet. The bubble sheet is the sheet that you fill in, let me
point to it here. Look very carefully, there's lots of bubbles and lots of numbers. And it's
very easy to lose track of which particular question you're answering. And if you make
a misstep and, for example, color in the bubble on exam question 24, when you actually intend
to color in the bubble of exam question 23, you may then answer several in sequence that
are perhaps correct, but applied to the wrong bubbles on the answer sheet. So do check that.
Actually budget some time to check this thing periodically.
Number eight Special Accommodations. You should know that if you have special needs, perhaps
you're on crutches, you're using a wheelchair that day, you have to take special medications,
perhaps during the exam or even inject insulin, do check ahead of time and let them know that
you will be needing these special accommodations.
It's not just those kinds of things, it may also include things like special cushions
for your back and so forth. Perhaps you have trouble hearing. These are all things, if
you let them know way in advance and not hours or days, but weeks and months, then you will
be properly accommodated and have a much better exam experience.
Number six. ID. Make sure that you bring a government issued photo ID to the exam. This
is essential. No photo ID, no exam. That's basically it.
Now I have as an illustration a university student ID card. These may not be considered
official government ID, so be very careful. A driver's license, so if you don't drive,
a non-driver's license or passport, something like that is a much better option for your
official ID.
Traffic. Understand the traffic situation at your exam location. Check out your exam
location if you've never been there before, and preferably, you check it out on the day
and at the time that you'll be taking it. Because traffic patterns can change and if
you're in a metropolitan area, you may discover that you can't make it to the exam on time.
And if you can't make it on time, you will miss the exam. You will not be admitted late.
So understand traffic patterns.
And subsidiary to that is figuring out things like parking. It may be that it's impossible,
and so you may have to go to other choices, like staying in a nearby hotel, having somebody
drive you there, using public transportation.
Same thing with checking out where you might have a meal. Your best option most people
will recommend is bringing a sack lunch.
Number four. Acquire a good library of books. You'll need some during the exam and you'll
certainly want them as part of your preparation process. You want to be a professional, so
be a professional and start building your library. If you haven't started, this is a
good time to do it.
So over here on my table I have some of the recommendations. So let me first point out
some of the must-haves that I think you should have, at least for the open book part of the
exam, which will be the two-hour state-specific portion. As you know, the rest of the exam,
which is administered by NCEES, is now closed book.
So the first thing, there is Definitions of Surveying and Associated Terms. This is an
older copy, there are newer copies. Having the newest one is helpful, but if you don't,
at least bring the copy that you do have.
Something else that I strongly recommend is Black's Law Dictionary. Now for this, I will
have to walk over and show you what Black's Law Dictionary looks like. Quite a hefty thing.
If you can't get your hands on one of these, another good option is the abridged version
of the dictionary. Still a good reference to have, not just for the exam, but for study
purposes, as well.
And then, a general surveying text, something like, I have a couple of examples here. Elementary
Surveying by Wolf and Ghilani. Or Surveying by Moffitt and Bossler. You will note that
these are all not the latest editions and that'll be good enough, as long as you don't
have one that's not the original 1940 version.
And finally, a general text on legal principles by...the ones I recommend are the ones that
were done a long time ago by Brown. One of them, and I have the original copy I bought
when I was studying for the exam. This one is Boundary Control and Legal Principles.
There are new editions now by Robillard and others. Or Evidence and Procedures for Boundary
Location. And here's my older, my original copy, and a much newer one by Robillard, Brown
and Wilson.
So work on those and make sure for the open book part of the exam, you have these along,
at a very minimum.
Number three. Look up and get and learn how to use the approved calculator on the exam.
What do I mean by look up? There are only certain calculators that are permitted on
the exam. I have one of them here, which happens to be the HP33S. You may not be an HP person,
you may prefer one of the others. You really only have three manufacturers to choose from.
But you need to know how to use it. So use it as part of your study program. It's fine
to have the instruction manual on hand during the open book part of the exam, but remember,
a lot of the exam is closed book, so you need to know how to use the calculator before you
get to the exam.
Also remember to bring spare batteries or a charger or if there's no way to replace
the batteries or the battery pack, then a spare calculator. You definitely want to be
without that.
So go the NCEES.org website and look up calculators, because in November of each year, NCEES will
publish the calculator policy for the subsequent year. And you will see the calculators that
are permitted and only those calculators will be allowed at the exam.
Number two. Do get the typical exam question and solution booklets from NCEES. They're
very helpful in preparing to know the style of the questions and so forth.
There are other books similar, in the sense that they're called typical exam questions.
And they're nice to have as study aids and certainly do look at them and perhaps you'll
want to acquire some. But really, the NEES booklets are essential to help you get into
that mode of question.
If you do take a sample test, because there are some sample tests that you can take as
part of the process, then do it under similar conditions to the exam. So if it's supposed
to be closed book, make sure it's closed book.
Time yourself if you know how many minutes you're supposed to allocate yourself for the
exam. Use the appropriate calculator and so forth.
Here's an excerpt from the NCEES website. This has to do with the Fundamentals of Surveying
Exam, what we call the first part. This part has now become computer-based testing, which
means there's no exam booklet any longer. Instead, what you do is you go to the NCEES
website, download the practice exam and try it out, so that you can have a simulated exam
under those conditions and similar to what you'll experience when you go in to take the
official exam.
And finally, number one. Read, read all about it. Read about what you are going to experience.
Read about the syllabus. NCEES publishes the equations and other reference material that
you're given. You need to look all those things up. So go to the NCEES.org site and read everything
about the exam. Go to your licensing board's website and read all about the exam and the
licensing process.
Plus, the Board will send you email or U.S. mail documents that you should read thoroughly.
There are numerous stories in my career as an instructor of exam prep classes, where
I've heard about people missing an exam because they didn't read the instructions carefully.
And finally, in some states, there will be a third party that's contracted by the licensing
board to actually proctor, or administer, the exam. You will usually be informed of
who they are when you get the authorization to take the exam from the licensing board.
So make sure you read those documents carefully and login or register, if that's needed, online
before you get to the exam.
Also, there may be extra fees that you need to pay this third party. What you don't want
to have happen is to find out about what you didn't read, only during the exam. That can
be one of the most demoralizing things that can affect your performance and the exam,
regardless of how well you have prepared yourself.
So that's it for my top 10 tips. This is an excerpt from the NCEES website. Again, this
one happens to be on the Fundamentals of Surveying Exam, but you can read, read them, all, you
need to read them all when you go to the website yourself.
And with that, I'll end my top 10 tips and wish you good luck on your exam experience.