You are taking two test to become Licensed

• NCEES Exam
• State Specific Exam

Why are you taking the test

• To advance your professional stature and your career

Is it a good idea to take it once to see what it is like?

NO! The State board has continually shown that the percent that pass the exam drops based on how many times you have taken the exam.

What will it take to pass the exam

• Work
• Support
• Knowledge

Test Preparation

Understand what is going to be on the test. Hopefully you know it is going to cover Land Surveying, but what areas in Land Surveying? How much of what areas in Land surveying?

Well you can find out pretty easily.

The NCEES Specifications can be found HERE

The State of California’s test plan can be found HERE

If you have looked at those plans you can see that they are pretty broad based. At least you have an idea of what percent of an area is going to be covered. It is clear that it is mostly boundary of one sort or another, but there are a number of other areas.

You need to set your own test plan. List out all those areas and the percent of the test that they cover. Next Think about your strengths and weaknesses. Are you an expert in ALTA surveys, then maybe you don’t need to spend a majority of time going over the ALTA specifications. Do you process subdivision maps all time, then maybe you don’t need to spend as much time on the Subdivision Map Act as others. Never done construction surveying, then maybe you need to spend some time on that. Set a percentage of your knowledge of each subject so that you have 100%. This will take some thought about what you know most; don’t worry about the test plan percents yet.  So come up with 100% of your knowledge. Now you can set up a formula if you wish to compare your knowledge and the amount of testing in a certain subject, however this is not an exact science, so spend some time to play around with it. Think about what you need to learn.

Study Time

Now you have to determine how much time you can spend preparing for the test. Come up with a schedule. Give yourself at least 3 months if you are comfortable with most the material. Remember, you can’t study during all your spare time and you will start to tire of studying. You need to set a practical schedule. If you think you can carve out 16 hours a week, figure on 12 hours a week; determine when those 6 hours will occur and keep to that schedule. The additional time can be a buffer for you when you come across a topic that takes more study time.

Use your calculations and schedule to determine how much time you should spend on each area. You should work an area, do sample questions on an area and then come back to the area later on.

The most important aspect of study time is to get on a schedule and stick to it as best you can.

Study Material

First and foremost go to the NCEES website and check out their Calculator Policy (which can be found HERE ). Get one of these calculators and use them for all your calculations, even when you are not studying for the exam. Get comfortable with the calculator. This policy gets updated from time to time so make sure you are looking at the current list.

Next, check out our Reference Material Page and see what material you might need.