Harry here – this is a special note to all my Fall 2014 students.
Last exam my students asked me to write a pep talk for their exam. I went viral (many printed it and read it while waiting for the exam to start) and now I find myself writing another one, but even more inspiring. So let’s get to it! Here are some of the reasons why you will succeed tomorrow:
- You have sacrificed 5 weekends dedicated to School of PE instruction. You have trained your minds (and butts – HA!) to stay focused for 8 out of 9 hours straight. Think of the advantage up you have over those that did not take a review course and trained themselves to stay focused.
- You have taken a dedicated review course that focuses on +90% of the material that will show up on your exam. Odds are very high that the question is covered in the notes. If not, consider that you may be confusing yourself or over-complicating the question. If too hard, simply step away and come back to it later.
- During your studying, you have already trained yourself to pay attention to what the question is asking you – especially the units! After you read each question, mark at the top of each page the units for the answer.
- You have already learned & practiced the technique of reading the exam first and ranking the problems. Remember to solving the E (easy) ones first, then the M (medium) and finally the H (hard.)
- Bring a watch and pace yourself. Be methodical and you will be just fine – my promise.
- You are prepared. This is not a Ph.D. qualification exam. It is an exam to test the basics of engineering. Yes, there will be challenging problems but there will also be some easy ones to balance the exam.
- You have the tools necessary to pass this exam. Bring your CERM, School of PE notes, reference texts and manuals, dictionary (A Dictionary of Civil, Water Resources & Environmental Engineering hopefully) and your calculator.
Stay relaxed during the exam. You studied very hard, now approach tomorrows exam as a willing challenge. Remove all negative thoughts from your mind now! Promise yourself to think about nothing but … passing … until the proctor says “pencils down” Friday afternoon.
You should be very excited for tomorrow and not in any way timid. Come on, get fired up! Be confident in yourself, you deserve to be. I believe in you, so should you! I’d wish you good luck but you are so prepared you don’t even need it. Are your ready? Good, now go earn the P.E.!
Please, please, please remember to send me a note at harry at goldenratiopublishing.com after the exam – especially after you passed!
by 
