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.